Choosing Correctly

There can’t be enough articles on using the correct words. Especially in an age when young people learn to text before they learn to spell. If all you’re ever going to do send text messages, then spelling doesn’t matter. But the chances are great that somewhere, sometime you will have to spell something correctly or use the proper word. I don’t buy into that old motto most teachers use: “Look it up in the dictionary.” If you don’t know how to spell it, how can you find it in the dictionary? Try looking up “phone”, “psycology” or “knife”. Hmmm. . . yeah, that’ll work!

Typos are inevitable, but being able to spot them could earn you extra points or save you from embarrassment. I once had a friend who wrote an essay for a school assignment. She forgot the “L” in public. . . (she corrected it before turning it in).

It’s not just the spelling. Knowing the correct word to use is helpful, especially when words sound and/or look the same. Saying it is okay since no one can see your words. But your boss or teacher can see that report or essay. And that editor can see which words you chose to use in your story or article. A few typos can be overlooked, but a story riddled with them, no matter how good, will be rejected, particularly if an editor only reads the first page or so.

One word or two?

Is it one word or two? Does it have a hyphen? Maybe an apostrophe.

Its vs. it’s

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you can make two words out of it, you need a contraction: It’s (it is) too bad the creature was so cold in its (possessive, like yours) house.

Cant vs. can’t

This should be a no-brainer since cant isn’t such a common word, or maybe it’s because it’s not so common that this mistake is even made. Remember the apostrophe rule. Cant, without the apostrophe has seveal meanings.

I can’t (cannot) say for sure, but I think that book is written in cant.

They’re, their and there

Their house is over there, but I don’t think they’re home right now.

Their – possession

There – place

They’re – They are

Your(s) vs. you’re

That dress was your (you) favourite, but you’re (you are) never going to wear it anymore now that it’s faded.

Then there’s the archaic yore: I hope you’re including that in your history of the days of yore.

Into vs. in to

I would turn you in to the police. If I was going to turn you into the police, I’d have to be a wizard.

Put another way, I would tell your crime to the police, but it would be impossible for me to make you an officer.

Anyone vs. any one

Did anyone see any one of those robbers? Anyone is a person while any one means one of a group. Can I have a jacket? Any one of those in the closet will do. Anyone can grab it for me.

All right vs. alright

The use of alright is not all right for some editors, though some will accept it. Alright is a disputed spelling.

All ready vs. already

Unlike alright, already is a word. It means earlier than expected. He’s here to pick you up already even though the movie doesn’t start for another hour. All ready means complete. My baking soda volcano is all ready for presentation.

Altogether vs. all together

Again, altogether is a word. It means in total. There are five people in my family altogether (in total). All together means in a group. The kids and the dogs are in bed all together.

Come-on vs. come on

Come on then, give me your best come-on.

Not the best sentence in the world, but hopefully it does its job. The hyphen completely changes the meaning of the words.

One Letter Can Make a Difference

Coma vs. Comma

I hope you know the difference between these two. Otherwise, there could be trouble.

After she came out of her coma, Jenny kept forgetting to put commas in her sentences.

Envelop vs. Envelope

You can envelop the envelope.

In other words, cover or conceal the wrapper, pouch or mailer.

Martial vs. marital

Everyone gets this wrong. Even an online search brought up the wrong thing. Martial, where the “I” comes between the “T” and “A” is pronounced “marshall” and refers to something military. Marital, where the “I” comes between the “R” and the “T” is pronounced “mare-a-tal” and refers to a marriage status (ie; married, single, divorced).

My brother studied the martial art, Tae Kwon Do. His marital status at the time was single.

Residence vs. Residents

The residents {occupants or citizens} sat inside their residence {place or dwelling}.

seem – appear to be vs. seam – the place where two pieces of material join

The seam seems to be ripped. Upon closer look the seam is fine; a shadow made it seem torn.

peak -  top of a mountain vs.peek – look

Let’s take a peek at Kilimanjaro’s peak.

heal – get better vs. heel – part of the foot

I hope my heel has healed before I go on the walkathon.

bare – naked vs. bear – an animal or to carry

If you shave a bear bare, can he bear the taunts of his friends?

dingy – dirty vs. dinghy – a kind of boat

The dinghy hadn’t been used in years and had gotten dingy.

beside – next to vs. besides – also

There’s a place to sit beside me. Besides I want to talk to you anyway.

bought – purchased vs.  brought – brought

Joey bought a salad at the store, then brought it to the party.

dose – a portion of medicine vs. doze – nap

If you take too big a dose of that, it’ll make you doze.

then – what comes next vs.  than – comparison

I showed Carol my dress. Then she said, “Mine is prettier than yours.”

lose – fail to win or cease to be in possession. vs. loose – not tight

If just one bolt is loose, we might lose a tire.

set – to place vs. sit – to be seated

If you’ll set the chair down, you can sit in it.

affect – to influence; produces a change vs. effect – to bring about; a result

What was the effect of the ice storm? It’s damages affected the lives of everyone in the city.

farther – distance vs. further – to a greater degree

How much farther until we reach the border? If the border guards find that beer they’ll go much further than checking for your passport.

Who – subject vs. Whom  – object

These are words that are difficult to get right, and even when people know the difference, they often use them wrong anyway, because whom often sounds awkward. Who is the subject while whom is the object.

Who is at the door? Who went outside?

(Subject is the person at the door/outside).

To whom did you give your candy?

I don’t know from whom this gift came.

(An action is taking place {giving of candy and receiving of a gift}, making whom the object.)

Using the correct word(s):

by – close to or near

until – up to a specific time

Mom expects to reach Woodstock by supper time. Until then, I’ll just have to guess what she bought for me.

driving test – a test taken for driving, as a math or science test is taken

test drive – a drive taken to evaluate a vehicle

Bob took the Taurus for a test drive today. He says it’s in no shape for Billy to use it on his driving test.

either/or – either = one or the other

neither/nor – neither = not one nor the other

Neither Fred nor Gabe wanted to go to jail. They preferred to either pay the fine or talk their way out of it.

bring – (towards the action)

take – (away from the action)

Are you really going to take your ipod to school? Make sure you bring it home again.

weather – what it’s doing outside

whether – a choice

Whatever the weather, I don’t know whether I’ll go out or not.

Me, myself or I

It’s not always right to say the other guy and I. Sometimes it should be the other guy and me. It depends on which pronoun you’d use if you were only talking about yourself. For example:

- John and I went to the store. In this case I is correct, rather than me, because if you break it down, John went to the store and I (not me) went to the store.

- Please bring the mail to Jazz and me. In this case the me is correct. Bring the mail to Jazz, bring the mail to me. You would never say bring the mail to I.

You can’t cheat and use a “self” word. Self words are like reflections – you can’t have them unless you have something to reflect.

I didn’t have a date so I took myself to the movie. (Myself reflects I)

He taught himself to skateboard. (Himself reflects he)

Did you write that essay yourself? (Yourself reflects you)

I, myself, like sci-fi movies. (Again, myself reflects I, but this is superfluous. It works just as well to say simply, I like sci-fi movies.)

Yourself and Megan should eat the cake. Come to the party with myself and Bridgit. These sentences are wrong. The self words are ghost reflections. You and Megan, me and Bridgit would be correct. Try breaking them down as in the first example. Yourself wouldn’t eat the cake, but you might.

Everyone struggles with spelling and correct word usage at some time or other, and no one can remember all the proper rules. The point isn’t to remember them, the point is to use them. Even if you have to pin notes on your walls, save them to your computer or write them on your arm, with enough use they’ll soon become second nature.

For more homonyms/homophones and words that are commonly confused, follow these links:

https://sites.google.com/a/silverpen.org/homonyms-list/

https://sites.google.com/a/silverpen.org/similar-words/

http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym_list.html