Which is correct: rack your brains or wrack your brains; rack and ruin or wrack and ruin; nerve-racking or nerve-wracking? This article tells you which you should use.
rack your brains
If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something. For example:
She began to rack her brains to remember what had happened at the nursing home.
The correct verb to use is ‘rack’ but the phrase wrack your brains is also commonly used.
rack and ruin
If you say that a place is going torack and ruin, you are emphasizing that it is slowly becoming less attractive or less pleasant because no-one is bothering to look after it.
Wrack and ruin is also commonly used, although ‘rack’ is considered the standard usage.
nerve-racking
A nerve-racking situation or experience makes you feel very tense and worried.
They spent a nerve-racking day waiting.
It was more nerve-wracking than taking a World Cup penalty.
‘Nerve-racking’ is the standard usage, but nerve-wracking is also commonly used.
The presentation of a speech can be a nerve-wracking experience.
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