An affair is a matter, an event or a situation: the whole affair means “the whole business, all of it”. In the plural, affairs means matters: current affairs (news and events happening now), foreign affairs (a country's relations with other countries). An affair is also a romantic relationship, usually a secret one. It doesn't mean a trick to get people's money: that's a scam, or fraud in the news and official documents.
affair: will you get the meaning right?
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the whole affair; a family/quiet/grand + affair (= event); current/foreign/business + affairs; have an affair with + person; an investment/phone + scam (not affair)
- The wedding was a small family affair with only twenty guests.
- I like to follow current affairs, so I listen to the news on my way to work.
- The whole affair was so embarrassing that nobody in the office mentioned it again.
What changed
First versionHe lost all his savings in an investment affair.
RevisionHe lost all his savings in an investment scam.
In some languages a word that sounds like affair means a fraud, but investment affair means “a situation involving investments”, with no hint of deception. A scheme that tricks people out of their money is a scam, and in official language fraud: investment fraud.
Be careful with have an affair: it doesn't mean “to have dealings with someone”, it means to have a secret romantic relationship, usually when someone is married. To have dealings with someone is deal with: I have to deal with difficult clients every day.
Your turn
The police warned pensioners about a phone ___ in which callers pretend to be from their bank.
Show the answer
scam — Criminals call people pretending to be from their bank to get their money, and this kind of trick is a scam. Affair doesn't suggest deception at all: a phone affair would sound like a romance carried on over the phone.
Write about a celebration you went to recently: a wedding, a birthday or an office party. Name the event and say whether it was modest or grand.
My sister's birthday party was a quiet affair: just six friends, pizza and board games at home.
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