“Compliment vs Complement” by Jillian Torassa English is a terribly difficult language to learn. There are so many rules, and some of them barely make any sense at all. Luckily, the difference between compliment and complement isn’t all that complicated. I’ll explain it to you, and then you’ll have one crazy English grammar rule completely under control. Ready? Here we go. Compliment—Praise (a compl-I-ment is an adm-I-ring remark) Complement—make better or whole (a compl-E-ment E-hances or compl-E-tes) Each of these words—compliment and complement—can be used as either a verb or a noun. Here. I’ll give you some examples: Compl-I-ment I would like to send my compliments to the chef, who made an excellent haggis this evening. I wanted to compliment the pilot on his aviation skills, but he was too busy flying the airplane to listen to me. He complimented me on my dancing, but I really had no idea what I was doing. I got lots of compliments on my new shoes. OR THERE’S Compl-E-ment My sense of whimsy is the perfect complement to his more serious nature. This t-shirt complements my eyes nicely. (It makes my eyes look more vivid/beautiful.) Orange and blue are complementary colors because, when placed together, they reinforce each other and create a strong, appealing contrast. I think ketchup complements grilled cheese sandwiches nicely, but everyone else thinks I’m crazy. See? It’s not too hard. Just remember: If you aren’t saying something n-I-ce to someone, you probably want to use compl-E-ment instead. And next time you feel like grammar and the English language are too overwhelmingly confusing, just remind yourself:  You know the difference between compliment and complement. At least that’s something! JT