want and wont

[MsNyree]

what is the difference between want and wont? When do I use want and when do I use wont?

[riverkid]

what is the difference between want and wont? When do I use want and when do I use wont?

I'll answer this for you, Ms N, as I am wont to do. [as is my habit or custom to do]

'wont' is not all that commonly used. When you want [not wont] to say that "someone is accustomed to doing something" you can use wont.

He'll rise with the sun, as he is wont to do. [as he is normally accustomed to doing]

[MsNyree]

I'm comfused. Could you give me another example?

[susiedqq]

If you are in Atlanta, GA. (USA) you are confusing the pronouciation of the same word. The word is want, but in some regions of the country, it is pronounced "wont."

[Barb_D]

In truth, you can probably happily live your entire life without using "wont."

Use it only when you would say something like "As he frequently does/did."

I had a drink before dinner, something I am wont to do. (Something I do frequently.)

He ignored her, as he was wont to do (as he frequently did).

[riverkid]

I'm confused. Could you give me another example?

Hmmmm, let me see, .......

Is there anything, that isn't too personal, that you habitually or routinely do at any particular time of the day, Ms Nyree?

Let me make a pretend example for you.

Let's say that you love milkshakes and you can't get enough of them. Now further imagine that you're with your friends at the mall and suddenly you disappear.

Friend #1: "Where'd Ms Nyree go?"

Friend #2: "She's probably getting a milkshake."

Friend#1: As she is wont to do. [= as she is used to doing]

Kinda a corny example but do you see the meaning now? 'wont' is an adjective, not a verb like 'want'.

[riverkid]

Even better advice from Susie and Barb.

[faosto]

wont

   /wɔnt, woʊnt, wʌnt/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [wawnt, wohnt, wuhnt] Show IPA Pronunciation
adjective, noun, verb, wont, wont or wont⋅ed, wont⋅ing. –adjective 1.accustomed; used (usually fol. by an infinitive): He was wont to rise at dawn. –noun 2.custom; habit; practice: It was her wont to walk three miles before breakfast. –verb (used with object) 3.to accustom (a person), as to a thing.4.to render (a thing) customary or usual (usually used passively).–verb (used without object) 5.Archaic. to be wont.
Origin:
1300–50; (adj.) ME wont, woned, OE gewunod, ptp. of gewunian to be used to (see won 2 ); c. G gewöhnt; (v.) ME, back formation from wonted or wont (ptp.); (n.) appar. from conflation of wont (ptp.) with obs. wone wish, in certain stereotyped phrases

[mrmusic520]

Ms Nyree: I think this excerpt from Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" might illustrate how the two words can seem to be used in a very similar way but actually mean different things. The following is a description of a man who has changed greatly since the last time the narrator saw him:

"...a finely moulded chin, speaking in its want of prominence, of a want of moral energy; hair of a more than web-like softness and tenuity; these features, with an inordinate expansion above the regions of the temple, made up altogether a countenance not easily to be forgotten. And now in the mere exaggeration of the prevailing character of these features, and of the expression they were wont to convey, lay so much of change that I doubted to whom I spoke."

In this context, want refers to a lacking and is used as a noun. The man lacks a prominent chin and the moral energy associated with it.

Wont, on the other hand, could be replaced by seem, or would typically. The man's distinctive features seem to represent an expression that is so different from the man the narrator once knew.

Hope this helps!