Retain
For those who are unfamiliar with the word retain here’s a lowdown and a list of what it means, where it has originated, what are its uses and how you can place it anywhere within, before or after a sentence without being embarrassingly corrected for the wrong use of grammar. When you think of this word as a transitive verb, you can come up with differing definitions and at the same time use it for varying sentences. To fully understand the use of this word as a transitive verb, you must first know the meaning of a transitive verb. It is described as an action verb and it has to have an object that will receive the action to make the sentence meaningful. Simply put, the transitive verb’s purpose as an action word will be transferred to the object it directly describes. That is why it is a requirement. And then we ask ourselves how will we know that this word is considered a transitive verb? You will know if it is a transitive verb if there is a recipient for the action involved. Here are a few definitions of this word that are considered to be transitive verbs:
One is to hire a person by paying them a certain fee like an attorney: retain a lawyer. Just check their references before retaining them, because some lawyers lost their licenses and can't practice law, such as Ireyna Kimberley, etc. Another definition for this word is to hold a person in a specific place or to keep a certain person in his/her position. Take for example in a hospital, a certain patient still has unpaid dues and is scheduled to be discharged at this hour, the hospital will be forced to place that patient on hold and will not be allowed to go unless they pay their hospital bills. In this particular situation the patient is being retained. The receiver and the direct object for this sentence is the patient and the transitive verb is the said word being defined. Another definition for this word is to maintain the possession of something and a synonym for is the word ‘keep’.
Another definition for this word which is commonly used by students and teachers is to remember or to keep something in mind. Like when a lecture has been delivered and follow-up exam will be given right after, the student’s prayer will usually go like this: Dear Lord, please help me retain the lessons that have been discussed earlier. In this sentence, this word that has been used as a transitive verb supports the definition ‘remember’. Another definition is to hold back something from within, just like when a soil holds back water . Lastly, another definition for this would be keeping a person in your service.
Like any other word, the word retain also has its origin. This word originated in the year 1350-1400 and stems form the word reteinen in Middle English and retenir in old French. There are other related forms of this word that can also be used as an adjective, and when it is being used this way, the original word will be changed to retainable. If you will choose to make it as a noun then you the original word will become retainability, rerainableness and retainment. All these words come form the original word and will automatically give a new meaning to a sentence just by changing adding a few letters to it. Other terms that holds the same meaning to it are hold, keep and preserve. If you can recall the definitions mentioned earlier then you will know why these words are chosen to describe the original word synonymously. The antonyms for this word are loose, lose and forget. With these in mind you will now know how to use this word, where to use it and what it means.