Commonly Confused Words
Yesterday we were talking about editing, and many of the comments were about the words we sometimes see misused in published books. It got me thinking about the many words I commonly see used wrongly in manuscripts. So I thought today I’d give you a little list and some tips on correct word usage.
This list is specifically taken from my own notes on mistakes I’ve seen lately, but obviously there are many more confusing words! A book I highly recommend is 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionary. It’s fun reading and a great resource to keep on your shelf. (I do).
lead-led-lead
You can lead a horse to water. (verb, present tense)
She led the class in a song. (verb, past tense)
Pencils used to be made of lead. (noun)
lie-lay
Time to lie down for a nap. (verb, present tense)
Yesterday she lay on the grass and daydreamed. (verb, past tense)
If you are going to use “lay” as present tense, it’s only if you are going to lay something down. The present tense verb “lay” needs to have an object.
affect-effect-effect
Will this post affect the way you write? (verb)
If so, I hope it has a positive effect. (noun)
I’m trying to effect a change in the way writers use grammar. (transitive verb meaning to cause or bring about)
passed-past
I passed by Starbucks and didn’t stop! (verb, past tense)
I can’t drive past Starbucks without being tempted. (preposition)
The one-dollar cup of coffee is in the past. (noun)
its-it’s
It’s time for a lesson in grammar. (contraction for “it is”)
Choosing the appropriate word has its difficulties. (possessive form, adjective)
The ONLY time you use an apostrophe is when you want a contraction meaning “it is.” There is NO apostrophe in the possessive form.
advice-advise
Help – I need some advice! (noun)
Please advise me on my publishing journey.
altar-alter
They stood in front of the altar to get married. (noun)
Before the wedding, she had to alter her dress. (verb)
reins-reigns
When you’re on a horse, you should hold the reins. (noun)
Please try to rein in your feelings. (verb)
The king reigns over his country. (verb)
(Note that when you “rein in” your feelings or you try to “rein in” your kids, it’s a metaphorical use of the original “rein” which pertains to horseback riding.)
discrete-discreet
This blog has several discrete parts. (adjective meaning separate or distinct.)
Please be discreet when discussing details of your contract. (adjective meaning to be prudent or use discernment; or to be unobtrusive or unnoticeable)
All you grammar police out there: Obviously I’ve just given simplistic examples here, and I haven’t covered all uses of each word. Feel free to add your two cents (and good sense).
What words do YOU have trouble getting right in your writing?
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Further and farther, mantle and mantel. Both of these pairs trip me up.
Farther is about physical distance. Farther down the road, farther to the left, etc.
Further is more or unreal distance. She went further. There are further explanations.
Simplistic, but effective. It’s easy. Just remember that farther is always about measurable and actual physical distance, and further is for everything else.
Mantle is a covering, like wearing a mantle or the earth’s mantle. Mantle can also be a verb.
Mantel is what caps the architecture surrounding a fireplace. Mantel is never a verb, always a noun.
“Coarse” and “Course”
I’ve seen people say “The blood coarsing through my veins”
Oh my. The one I have the hardest time with is awhile vs a while. I would LOVE a clear explanation. Anything I’ve read online simply hasn’t helped me in the long-term.
This! Awhile and a while always ALWAYS trip me up. No matter which one I’ve written, my prereaders always change it. Ha! So frustrating. Would love to see a good answer to this one.
I enjoyed this blog.
I rock these sorts of tests at 100%.
I wonder if I could do as well with the “100 words”. I’m sure I’d miss a couple. When I don’t know the rule, I can still tell if it’s correct or not… though it is better to know the reason and the rule of *why*.
Into and in to is the duo I clash with. The one I got into an argument over is the phrase ‘all right’. My friend persisted that ‘alright’ was proper. And yet my words to him went in to one ear and out the other.
I told him what ‘the book’ said about all right vs. alright. He launched in to a barrage of reasons why ‘the book’ was worthless. The book I referred to is Paul Brians’ ‘Common Errors in English Usage’.
If we’re going to use words like don’t instead of do not and can’t instead of can not, I fail to see why people get upset about alright. English is very much a spoken language and a contracted word has a slighly different meaning than the expanded word.
To and too still trips me up every once in a while.
Lose/loose/loss always cause havoc for me. LOL!
Yes, me too. I have to stop and think when I use any of those three words.
Stationary and stationery trip me up every time.
There’s an easy way to remember the difference between those words.
Stationery – has an E because it includes Envelopes.
Stationary – has an A because it’s Always stopped.
Awesome way to remember these words — every time I *still* have to “Google” them. I don’t know why I haven’t been able to get the spellings and meanings to stick in my head.
Good one. My mnemonic is to remember that you buy stationery at a stationer, although that is more useful to me as a Brit since when I last lived there we still had such things.
I always look up the lie/lay lay/laid thing just to make sure I’ve got it right. Think I’ve finally nailed that one. I’ve only recently learned the difference between further & farther. Geez, who knew? But it’s passed & past that always trips me up. I try to remember one is a verb, the other an adverb…right? Argh!
Now you just have tackle the whole afterward/afterwards or backward/backwards thing. Americans hate the S at the end, but the proper English way is to include it. Why is that?
Nancy, I love your reference to ‘the proper English way’. As a Brit writer, my laptop keeps trying to make me write with American spelling, however often I set it to UK spelling.
I’m an American writing an English protagonist. That can be tricky at times. I always have to remember that S & that grey is spelled with an E, not an A.
Well there’s synchronicity – I’m British and currently writing an American protagonist. I’ve decided I’ll need to get one of my American friends to read the first draft and tell me if the dialogue grates anywhere. It’s tricky!
I saw Nancy’s reference to American folks and afterward/afterwards. (Of course, being American, I giggled afterward.)
She is absolutely right. I cringe when I see an “s” added on the end.
(I’m not sure why, Nancy, but I’d wager we dislike the “s” because American speech patterns tend to be lazier overall as compared to Brit speak.)
I’m Colorado born and raised and I’ve always said afterwards and backwards. I didn’t realize it wasn’t American. I’ve said forwards, too.
Same here. California born and raised, and I’ve always typed/said backwards, afterwards, and forwards.
Same here! I’m from California as well, and always added s to those words until my aunt, a newspaper editor, drilled it into me that this was wrong.
I don’t think it is as simple as saying Americans leave off the S. To my ear, it sounds better to say “Afterward, we went for ice cream” rather than “Afterwards, we went for ice cream.” But “We went for ice cream afterwards” sounds better than “we went for ice cream afterward.”
How unpatriotic of you! ;^)
I’ve always said afterwards. I didn’t realize that there shouldn’t be an S at the end until last week when my spellchecker pinged it.
I’ve lived all over the US so it’s hard to tell where I might have picked up that bad habit… possibly Kansas.
It drives me crazy when I see wonder and wander mixed up!
She wandered down the road.
She wondered what all the commotion was about.
I’m sad to say that while I’m speeding across my keyboard I often get lose/loose mixed up along with, their/there/they’re. Thank God for edits, right? I may have also spelled angel as angle a few times too.
Wow, this is great! I am taking part in a writers event in a month and I have to edit other writer’s chapters. This will help me so much, since I tend to make all the same mistakes. Thanks!
Thanks for this, I aim to buy the book, to / too trip me up occasionally, but as a new author I am still learning and these blogs are great… Thanks
I thought this is a problem with the non-english speaking writers but it seems it’s a common problem !
By the way, your website theme is exacly what I choose for mine !
Bless you Rachelle
Lie/lay always trips me up because I second guess myself.
Lose/loose is my pet peeve.
You will lose your pants if they’re too loose.
I think I’m finally getting the hang of lie/lay, but I have to stop and think for a moment whenever I need to use any sort of past tense of either. Once you throw “lain” in there…ooh boy.
Lay and lie are confusing. I think if we actually use “lain,” as in “I had just lain down…” we’ll sound pretentious. It’s a word readers will trip over. But it kills me to use the wrong word–I’d just reword the sentence.
Thanks for this post, Rachelle. I’m often caught by to and too; I have to watch it’s and its. With the latter I have overome it with the possesive clue! I’m a writer/magazine journalist for South African publications and live in East Africa.I and enjoy your blog and the ideas and encouragement you give. Blessings, Jo
Whose and who’s
I am so thankful I am not the only one who makes these mistakes! Thank you for this post. It made me feel better.
I have a problem with several listed above, mainly, their, there, and they’re.
One of my bugaboos is fewer versus less. We should use fewer when the object in question can be counted and less when they can’t be – so at the checkout, go to the one advertising “Ten items or fewer,” not “Ten items or less.”
So it’s also wrong to say, “Tell me in twenty-five words or less what your greatest fear is.”
Thanks; feel better for getting that off my chest!
Some fellow editors yesterday on Facebook were discussing a trend for writers to say, “a slight grin.” Whereas grins by definition are large. But editors can fall prey to the so-called “editor’s disease,” whereby we have our favorite pet peeves that we immediately axe. So it’s good to discuss trends in places like this blog and FB. Oh, and in our collective wisdom, we decided that grins should remain large, could be cheeky, but shouldn’t be slight.
Amy, that’s a great summary of our “slight grin” discussion.
That fewer/less thing bothers me a lot too–and so does spelling “alot” as one word. Grr.
I also find that a lot of authors have trouble with pore/pour. You can pore (gaze intensely) over a book or your work, but you pour water out of a pitcher.
Another common one I find interesting is misuse of “glance.” It has a very specific meaning–a very quick, often sidewise look. But authors seem to think it’s just a synonym for “look” and sometimes even use as a synonym for “stare” or “gaze.”
As in “lingering glance.”
Yes, that one bugs me, too.
Re: grin
Really? See, I always think of grins, unless they are described as large, as being small smiles. A “slight grin” would be a slight quirking up of the lips, mainly the corners. Hmm, I wonder if my personal definition is out of sync with the dictionary now. I’ll have to investigate!
I’ve always thought of a grin as a small smile, too. I looked it up and Websters says a large smile showing all the teeth.
I’ll believe them, but that’s not how I picture a grin at all.
That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought of that. So ’10 items or less’ at the checkout is incorrect?
As for grins, I have occasionally written, ‘she said with a small grin’ I consider grins to be any size depending on the mood, I think of a grin as a wide smile, without showing teeth!
Yes, less vs. fewer! Drive me nuts. I remember in J-school, my editing teacher correcting us. “There may be fewer people, but there are no LESS people.”
Thanks for a great post. I always get myself tied up in knots with affect and effect. Thank you!
I have huge problems with the verbs ‘lie’ (ex. to take a nap) and ‘lie’ (not tell the truth), especially when it comes to their past tenses, I always mix them up or write something completely different that is just pure nonsense. Then I ask my friends, and they don’t know either, so it only make sme more confused. But I think I got it now after your post (:
I just learned yesterday that “fortuitous” means accidental — not fortunate.
My pet peeve is the misuse of apostrophes when a plural is intended — like the sign I saw at the lunch counter yesterday that said “meat’s” instead of “meats.”
I will admit here I’ve never used the word “discrete” and did not know its meaning until you revealed it! I use the word discreet often, and always thought when I read “discrete” that it was a misspelling. Thanks, Rachelle!
I find that my fingers tend to type discrete before they will type discreet. I think that is because of how many times I’ve written the phrase “discrete math”.
I am a regular offender in the affect/effect and lay/lie categories. I also have a problem knowing when to use ‘that’ and when to leave it out.
A couple that drive me nuts when I see them misused:
Defuse and diffuse
Continual and continuous
One that I really struggle with:
Wrack and rack
I always want to write, “She wracked her brains,” or “He was wracked by grief,” but I recently found out “rack” is the proper spelling in those cases.
I had no idea that rack is correct! Thanks for that info!
I only recently learned this one as well, and am pretty sure I’ve used it wrong many times in the past.
A good way to remember which to use:
Rack = comes from the idea of a torture rack
Wrack = think “wreck”, like a shipwreck, “wrack and ruin”
(From Emma Ruff, English teacher in my sophomore year in high school): “You lie sometimes or someplace, but you lay some-thing or someone.” I’ve remembered that since 1961.
Michael N. Marcus
Oops. Sorry. There should not have been a hyphen in “something.” I didn’t notice it when I copied and pasted.
Hmm — that brings up another issue.
Many people say “cut and paste” when they really mean “copy and paste.”
When I submitted my first novel to my publisher, I was confident about my grammar. If there was one thing I KNEW it was grammar. When I received my editor-edited ms, I realized that I had misused lie-lay-laid-lain throughout the whole novel.
Lessons in: humility, gratitude.
I recently used peruse wrong in a MS. I meant to glance at a bookshelf and peruse wasn’t the right word to convey that. Affect/effect and Lie/lay…those have a tendency to trip me up.
I like advice/advise. I don’t seem to have trouble with those but I just like them.
Scooting out of town for a few days w/ the family.
Hope you have a great weekend.
~ Wendy
I think a lot of us misuse “peruse” (including me). You can peruse a bookshelf, but it means you’re giving it a lot of attention and examining it carefully and thoroughly, not just glancing at it.
I still have no idea when to use who and when to use whom. I blame The Office on my confusion. Please tell me somebody saw that episode??
Re: who and whom, who is subject, whom is object. I usually check whether he or him would be correct in a rearranged version of the sentence. Example 1: Who should I say is calling? –> I should say he is calling. Example 2: To whom do you wish to speak? –> I wish to speak to him.
Thanks for the he/him example! That will help me when I’m figuring out to use who or whom.
People say, “what tact to take,” when they mean, “What tack to take.” It’s a sailing term having to do with changing direction and has nothing to do with being tactful.
Is it ever a good idea to intentionally use the wrong word in dialogue? Does this add to characterization or just make the reader think you’re making an error?
Sarah, yes, your dialogue should accurately reflect the way your character would speak. But you have to be careful and sometimes fudge it a little. Make sure it reads clearly as if that’s how the character speaks. You don’t want the grammatical error to jump out and looks like the author made a mistake as opposed to a character simply not speaking grammatically. Often I’ll correct simple things like lie vs. lay even in dialogue, because otherwise the mistake can distract the reader.
Since dialogue is spoken, I’d say it can reflect audible errors in usage and pronunciation–judiciously chosen to enhance the character without confusing or annoying the readers. But it shouldn’t contain spelling errors or misused homonyms s like its/it’s, past/passed, etc. In other words, I could see using “ain’t” or “I seen her comin’” but not it’s/its or past/passed or apostrophes for plurals.
Anne, when I’m editing a manuscript, sometimes it’s tough judgment call. For example, just yesterday I corrected “lay” in dialogue and changed it to the correct “lie.” I waffled on whether to change it – many people do use “lay” incorrectly when speaking, so it easily could have been true to the character. (“Go lay down for a nap.”) Yet in context, it felt like a mistake in the writing and it drew me out of the story. So I fixed it.
This same manuscript has multiple uses of words like “ain’t” and similar bad grammar, which are true to the characters so of course, I don’t try to “fix” them. Sometimes it’s those subtle errors that will end up seeming like a copyedit error instead of simply how the character speaks. Sometimes I wish we could put [sic] in dialogue!
I’ve trained myself to say “I couldn’t care less”, but most people tend to say “I could care less.” When writing dialog, I choose which one the character will use based on how correct he likes to be. In Mother Not Wanted, there is a guy who plays two characters, Xander X and Dr. Brad Edwards, both of which are fake. As Xander X, he would say “I could care less”, but Dr. Brad Edwards is exact in everything he does, so he would say “I couldn’t care less” or even “I could not care less.”
I’ve seen authors intentionally misuse a word in dialogue, then have another character comment on the misuse.
It seemed to work well.
At first I thought a dumb mistake had been made by the author, then further down the page I discovered it was a dumb mistake by the character and completely intentional by the author.
I do okay with your list, but am surprised no one mentioned my achilles’ heel:
awake/awoke/awaken/awoken
I screw it up so often, I just avoid the word altogether.
Lay/lie always confuse me, even after creating a mnemonic to deal with it.
Very telling that you chose this particular example:
I passed by Starbucks and didn’t stop! (verb, past tense)
I can’t drive past Starbucks without being tempted. (preposition)
The one-dollar cup of coffee is in the past. (noun)
Other than not being able to stop laughing when I read that you passed a Starbucks, I enjoyed the examples.
I love lists like this. Thanks! Now how do I print this out…?
I’ve had too many people argue “it’s” instead of “its” to me when they’re wrong. They like saying “It’s like Bob’s glasses.”
Then I have to explain that “it” is in the same category as “he” and “she” and then point out “his” and “her”, adding that “its” is following the same grammar as those two words.
Bless you for this –
“The ONLY time you use an apostrophe is when you want a contraction meaning “it is.” There is NO apostrophe in the possessive form.”
Huge pet peeve of mine. And other than the lay/lie, which is a constant struggle, mine is always having to go back and retype “ceiling,”"separate” and “occasion.” Those never come out of my keyboard right the first time.
Keep in mind that though it’s important to learn these distinctions in the interest of precise communication and making a good first impression, a few errors of this sort probably won’t sink your book. Even editors have our downfalls, and we’ve had the experience of knowing better and still getting it wrong. So while it’s good to get it right, don’t get too worried about little things. That’s what we’re here for.
Great list! I see “lead” (instead of “led”) misused all the time. Thanks for sharing this.
After reading your entry, I started to grab my chalk and eraser, but I realized I retired from teaching English years ago. Thanks so much, Rachelle. When I’m in a hurry I mistype it’s for its all the time. I know better!
I sometimes confuse PERIMETER (the continuous line forming the boundary of a closed area) and PARAMETER (a limit or boundary that defines the scope of a process or activity).
(Yes, I’m replying to myself, LOL).
Another one that used to trip me up is PRINCIPLE/PRINCIPAL.
The way I finally learned how to use the correct word: “The school princiPAL is your child’s PAL.”
I remember the difference between principle/principal as this – if you’re talking about a person, it’s principal. If not, it’s principle.
Here’s one that always frustrates me when I see it written…
DVD’s, PJ’s, SAT’s
In my mind, these abbreviations are plural, and as such should not have an apostrophe.
Am I right? Or am I being unjustifiably cranky and need to change my apostrophe shunning ways?
I, too, have the same cringe reflex when I see ‘s used to pluralize an acronym. However, I am not sure it is incorrect, at least these days. Those in the know correct me if I’m wrong, but this might be something that, in our acronym-obsessed culture (especially business/tech culture), has become acceptable usage. Anyone?
The Chicago Manual of Style calls for abbreviations and acronyms to be made plural by simply adding an s, such as IRAs, URLs, vols, etc. The use of the apostrophe for plural occurs for single characters used as nouns, such as x’s and y’s. It may be this second usage that causes people to be confused when making acronyms plural.
they’re, their, there
Where I live, many pronounce them the very same way. They drove me crazy when I was grading essays.
Farther/further. And I didn’t know discrete was a word (I don’t think).
The one I see ALL the time from really smart people is lose/loose. “I don’t want to loose this game.”
Flout/flaunt I see wrong all the time, not helped by some denotative drift in dictionaries. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flaunt
Also flounder/founder is a common error a copy editor made me aware of.
But it’s ensure/insure/assure that snags me every time.
My mistake is such an easy one. I don’t know why I do it at times. I know the differences. It just happpens.
When typing, my brain will have me type out – YOUR for YOU’RE. Sometimes it happens with THEY’RE and THEIR…but not with THERE. (follow me on that one?)
Like I’ll type, YOUR awesome. I catch it right after. I just don’t know why it happens. I think my brain just blips and grabs the first spelling.
Great post!
Affect and Effect confuse me once in a while, and Lay and Lie.
Thanks, as always, for a very helpful post, Rachelle. Could we perhaps get one like this about punctuation some time in the future? One of the greatest atrocities I come across as an editor is the punctuation in dialogue sequences. (The question mark does not go outside the quotation marks!)
I was taught that the question mark goes outside of the quotes when the question is outside the quotes, as in: Did he say, “I did it”? Whereas when the question is within the quotes, then the question mark should be, too. As in: “Did he say he did it?” However, commas and periods ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS go inside the quotes. That drives me nuts!
I have trouble sometimes with past/passed and lay/laid.
The ones that really steam me up with I see them misused are:
Imply/infer: “Are you inferring I’m an idiot?” “No, I’m implying it. You are inferring it.”
Deny/refute: “I utterly refute those allegations.” “No you don’t. You didn’t offer any proof so all you’re doing is denying them.”
I manage to confuse dose and doze in my own writing, but as a freelance editor, there are a lot that drive me crazy.
My co-writer and I have a partial list here: http://girlswithpens.com/2011/06/13/english-words-commonly-misused/
Then and than can trip me up.
To often “then” slips in when “than” is the correct word.
Then, an adverb to emphasize a relationship in time or order.
Than – a conjunction to use for comparisons.
I usually have to stop and think about capital and capitol. And even though I know the difference, there, their, and they’re will occasionally still trip me up, especially if I’m only 90% focused on writing. (Hey, I’ve got 2 kids under the age of 3–I’m allowed some distractions!)
Hi Rachelle,
I have an idea I’d like to share. It’s “RATE A QUERY”
As a New Author seeking representation, I’m writing many letters and I think that it would be Incredibly Beneficial to know what Agents think of my actual Query Letter and its’ content. I think that I’m getting better with everyone that I write but maybe I’m wrong.
It could be simple really. When you reply to an Author, just rate a Query between 1 and 10, 10 being the one that convinces you that you want to see a book in its’ entirety. It would be a shame, wouldn’t it, for you as an Agent to miss a “Diamond in the Rough” because of a poorly written Query.
I’d love your opinion.
Karen, that sounds like a great idea for the agents who have too much time on their hands! (I don’t know any of those, sorry.)
Have you tried sending your query to Query Shark?
Thanks for you reply Rachelle, I’ve seen the name Query Shark floating around on Twitter, didn’t know what they were about. I will definately look into that.
I’m guilty of the affect/effect one sometimes myself. Mostly there’s a slight hesitation and then I choose the right one. I hope.
I am super picky about grammar and spelling, and even I have made some of these mistakes! I didn’t even know about the word ‘discrete’ – reminds me too much of concrete. Thanks for the heads-up!
device and devise.
I also keep a list of my most commonly confused words above my desk so I can look at them while I write. It helps a lot.
What drives me crazy is the misuse of the work “literally.”
It was so hot I literally melted. Really? Wow. What a mess.
Lie and lay are my nemeses, too! I find I avoid using them as often as possible because, for some reason, they get all twisted up in my mind. Probably because, being a Texan, everyone lays down and things get laid out. Since that is the practiced spoken language, it’s hard to figure which is correct and which is confused!
Great post though. It’s nice to see I’m not alone!
How about sell and sale? I see those misused all the time.
When you want to sell an item, you list the item for sale.
And there’s no such thing as a wheel barrel when you mean wheel barrow, nor is a chest of drawers named after a man called Chester.
Do using words that don’t exist – or didnt exist until recently – count?
Irregardless
Despite
my personal midwestern favorite:
money-wise
as it: “I wanted to address the fact that money-wise, we’re going broke”
LOL
According to Merriam Webster, “despite” was first used in the 13th century.
But I agree on irregardless; that one is a pet peeve!
Whoops, here’s the M-W link: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/despite
The biggest problem is your spell check will accept any version of the word and call it correct.
Breath and Breathe. Arg!
I looked up the word “towards” and found that you can use it with either the “s” or without it. Is there a preferred spelling of it?
Thanks for the post!
I have been paying attention to how I use toward versus towards.
I have found that I make a very precise distinction, but I have no idea if my distinction is correct or has any merit.
When talking about someone advancing closer to me I say “towards.” When I am talking about someone advancing further from me, I saw “toward.”
I don’t know here I picked that up, but it is what I do.
Breath is the noun, breathe is the verb.
I nodded my head at most of those!!! I think it is less about not knowing the “rules” and more about my fingers having a mind of their own when I’m writing. Silly things like write vs right… wave and waive, I passed 2nd grade in elementary school… so I know the difference, but even in the editing process, since it isn’t spelled “wrong” it doesn’t always trigger my brain when I’m reading back through. Usually I catch it… but it’s those irritating few that slip past that are frustrating!
Oh, and fiance or fiancee is another one I mess up.
I am constantly driven crazy by the common misuse of apostrophes with dates.
1970′s – this is possessive and refers to something that happen in 1970 specifically.
1970s – the full decade, plural
Also, when writing contractions of the above, an apostrophe is used to indicate there is something missing:
That ’70s Show NOT That 70′s Show
In the ’70s, NOT in the 70′s
HUGE pet peeve
I often see “your” when it should be “you’re.”
Something that I really have to be aware of is using “that” instead of “who.”
I re-read and caught a sentence such as, “The person that lives next door.” Shouldn’t it be, “The person who lives next door.”
lose
loose
and there
their
I once opened one of my books and saw where I had written decent where I should have written descent. That just about convinced me to stop reading my own books.
I see peek/peak/pique mis-used a lot!
Peek — look quickly (verb)
Peak — the highest point (noun)
Pique — a bad mood (noun); to excite (verb)
My curiosity was piqued at the prospect of taking a peek at the mountain peak.
I often see compliment and complement mixed up. And ensure/insure.
I constantly put an apostrophe in its even though I know it doesn’t go there. My fingers automatically type it in. They also often type your instead of you’re and you instead of your.
And about half the time, I type me instead of my. I sound like a leprechaun with everyone after me lucky charms.
Oh, I love word nerd blog posts! Fun stuff Rachelle!
It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard when people say or write:
“on accident” instead of “by accident”
or
“I seen” instead of “I saw”
I literally hate the word “literally.” It is misused and overused and should be banned.
Can we talk about pet peeves in punctuation? Here’s mine, and it’s an epidemic in writers’ blogs: the incorrect placement of punctuation outside of quote marks:
“I went to the store”, she said.
Please keep the comma safe, in the loving arms of the quote marks! Like this:
“I went to the store,” she said.
Punctuation inside the quotation marks is MLA, outside is APA. Now, a lot of folks are just generally confused by that, but some folks are just used to writing for different standards.
Leave and let are my nemeses.
It used to be obvious to me when to leave and when to let, but after hearing my wife misuse them for 30 years, I am now confused.
Toward/towards this stuns me. Another one which also confuses me is while/whilst. Then unbeknown/unbeknownst. One writer mentioned he disliked the use of the word unbeknownst.
On the whole an interesting topic. Thank you
On an unrelated note, I think every book should use the word nevertheless, whatsoever, or howbeit at least once, just for the fun of it.
Great idea!
I love it!
Wow, I spent the entire morning perusing this post. (Not glancing at it, by the way.) It’s nice to know I’m not the only word nerd out there.
It drives me crazy whenever I see judgment misspelled as judgement.
A couple other pet peeves include books of the Bible. Often people mention the book of “Revelations” or they write about “Psalms 23.”
Great post! Lotsa good stuff.
As usual, I’m late with my two cents.
My 45 year-old daughter, in her emails: confuses “their” and “there.” And she’s a professional proofreader! Hmmm.
A funny–
A handlettered sign in a cafe I frequent once read “No credit cards excepted. We appreciate your business and are sorry for any inconvenience this causes.” This didn’t inconvenience me but it sure did confuse me. I pointed out to the manager that using the word “excepted” instead of “accepted” meant they did not refuse any credit cards, probably the opposite of what she intended. She said she knew that but would leave the sign just as it was, which confused me further. I think you understand why I said nothing more on the subject.
I always get confused with the American/British words, like is it gray or grey? Or towards or toward. Even cannot or can not. Not sure if it really matters, but it totally bugs.
My book is being edited now by my publisher. It will be interesting to see what they say about those words.
Great post!
One that I don’t have trouble with, but rather, always got wrong until someone corrected me: regard.
You don’t say, “With regards to…” It’s “With regard to…”
My $0.03.
Great content Rachel! I like the new layout of your site too. Keep the content coming!
I do some editing for people from time to time and these are the ones that drive me batty:
Loose and lose.
*headdesk* They don’t even sound the same. I’ve had to start saying them in my head as spelled just to make sure I don’t start screwing up too.
And you’re and your.
Easily the two most common mistakes.
Of course, then I go and leave a word out of my response!
“as spelled out, just to . . .”
*headdesk*
Here’s the one I have trouble with: Consequent and subsequent. Can’t ever get those right (argghhh).
I need to bookmark this post!
thank you
xx
“Your” and “You’re” trip a lot of people up for some reason
English has a lot of commonly confused words. They either look alike, sound alike or, worst of all, look and sound alike but have completely different meanings. Other words look and sound different but are similar in meaning, and it’s hard to determine which is the correct one in a given context.
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