It’s time to get a grip on English. We gotta clinch it. Or do we clench it? Uh-oh…I sense word-choice insecurity.

I recently came across this sentence during an editing project: “They will be crushed,” the warlord said, clinching his fist.

Word Alert!

Historically, clinch and clench have had the same general meaning, but in recent times, “clench” is preferred when talking about grasping something tightly. Therefore, in the example above, it would be better to replace the underlined word with “clenching,” to mean gripping tightly or tightening one’s body part, like a jaw or a fist. Don’t clinch your fist; clench it.

“Clinch,” on the other hand, is the preferred word when it comes to securing or settling definitively, as in clinching a business deal. Don’t clench those deals; clinch them.

Twist That Tongue

Now that we’ve got a grasp on clinch versus clench, how about a tongue twister? With prompts from me, AI generated this sucker of a sentence:

It was a cinch to clinch the win as the coach watched, clenching his crutch on the couch outside the church, next to a conch shell.