Need a little advice (or should that be advise?) about when to use certain words? Are you feeling alright (or all right?) about your ability to distinguish between (or is that among?) alumni, alumnae, alumnus, and alumna? Could you use an angel (or an angle?) on your shoulder to give you some guidance? Are you anxious—or are you eager?—to overcome your brain freeze about when to use particular words?
Not to worry! This section contains an extensive list of words that are commonly misused or confused. Also included are a number of mnemonics to help you remember the differences when this book isn’t handy (although you should carry it with you at all times!).
Here are the words that cause some of the greatest amounts of perplexity and befuddlement:
• a, an: Use a before words that begin with a consonant sound (a pig, a computer); use an before words that begin with a vowel sound (an earring, an integer). The sound is what makes the difference. Write a habit because habit starts with the h sound after the article, but write an honor because the h in honor isn’t pronounced (the first sound of honor is the vowel o).
What an honor and a privilege it is to meet a history expert like Prof. Maltby.
• a lot, alot, allot: Okay, let’s begin with the fact that there is no such word as alot. If you mean a great number of people or things, use a lot. Here’s a mnemonic for this: “a whole lot” is two whole words. If you mean that allocate, use allot. A mnemonic for allot is allocate = allot.
Tomorrow night, the mayor will allot a lot of money for various municipal projects.
• accept, except: Accept has several meanings, including believe, take on, endure, and consent; except means excluding. If your sentence can keep its meaning if you substitute excluding, use except.
Except for food for the volunteers, Doris wouldn’t accept any donations.
• adapt, adopt: To adapt is to change; to adopt is to take and make your own.
After Mary Elizabeth and Ron adopted the baby, they learned to adapt to having little sleep.
• advice, advise: Advise is what you do when you give advice. Here’s a mnemonic to help you remember: To advise you must be wise. Good advice is to drive slowly on ice.
Grandpa tried to advise me when I was a youngster, but I wouldn’t listen to his advice.
• affect, effect: Affect is usually a verb (something that shows action), usually means change or shape, and—as a verb—has its accent on the second syllable. (There is a meaning of affect as a noun, but unless you’re a psychologist you needn’t worry about it.) Effect is almost always a noun meaning result or outcome, appearance or impression (effect has a rare use as a verb, when it means to achieve or cause). One mnemonic to help you remember is this: Cause and effect (that is, if you want the word that is to be used in this phrase, you want effect—the word that begins with the last letter of cause).
The effect of the announcement of impending war won’t affect Adam’s decision to join the military.
• aggravate, annoy: If you mean pester or irritate, you want annoy. Aggravate means exaggerate or make worse.
Steven was annoyed when his boss aggravated the situation by talking to the press.
• aid, aide: If you help, you aid; if you have a helper or supporter, you have an aide.
The aid from my aide is invaluable.
• aisle, isle, I’ll: An aisle is in a theater; an isle is an island (a shortened form of the word); I’ll is short for I will.
I’ll walk down the aisle to meet my groom; then we’ll honeymoon on a desert isle.
• all ready, already: If you mean all is ready, use all ready; if you mean in the past, use already.
I already told you we’re all ready to go out to dinner!
• all right, alright: All right is always two words, although you often see the incorrect spelling alright. You wouldn’t say something is aleft or alwrong, would you? (Please say you wouldn’t!)
Is it all right if we eat in tonight?
• all together, altogether: All together means simultaneously or all at once; altogether means entirely or wholly. If you can substitute entirely or wholly in the sentence and the meaning doesn’t change, you need the form of the word that is entirely, wholly one word.
You’re altogether wrong about the six friends going all together to the dance; each is going separately.
• alumni, alumnae, alumnus, alumna: You can thank the Romans for this confusion; Latin has separate words for masculine, feminine, singular, and plural forms. Here’s the rundown: One male graduate is an alumnus; one female graduate is an alumna; several female graduates are alumnae; and several male graduates or several male and female graduates are alumni. You can see why the short form alum is often used informally; when you use it, you don’t have to look up the right form of the word.
Although Mary Jo and her sisters are alumnae from Wellesley, Mary Jo is the alumna who receives the most attention; her brothers Martin and Xavier are alumni of Harvard, but Martin is a more famous alumnus than Xavier.
• allusion, illusion: An allusion is a reference; an illusion is a false impression. If you want a word that means mistaken idea, you want illusion.
Kay told Jerry that she was under the illusion he’d be her Prince Charming; Jerry didn’t understand the allusion.
• altar, alter: If you change something, you alter it; you worship before an altar.
We’ll alter the position of the altar so the congregation can see the new carvings.
• among, between: Think division. If only two people are dividing something, use between; if more than two people are involved, use among. Here’s a mnemonic: between for two and among for a group.
The money was divided between Sarah and Bob; the land was divided among Billy, Henry, and Lillian.
• angel, angle: An angel has wings; the degree of an angle is often studied.
The angel’s wings are set at ninety-degree angles from its body.
• anxious, eager: These two words are often confused. If you’re anxious, you’re nervous or concerned; if you’re eager, you’re enthusiastic.
I had been anxious about my medical test results, but when they proved negative I was eager to kick up my heels.
• anybody, any body: Anybody means any one person (and is usually interchangeable with anyone). Any body refers (pardon the graphic reference) to one dead person.
Anybody can help to search for any body that might not have been found in the wreckage.
• appraise, apprise: To appraise is to give value to something (to see how much praise it needs); to apprise is to inform.
The auctioneer called to apprise our family about how he would appraise various items for us.
• bad, badly: When you’re writing about how you feel, use bad. However, if you’re writing about how you did something or performed or reacted to something, use badly (twisted your ankle badly; played badly in the game).
Gregg felt bad he had scored so badly on the test.
• bazaar, bizarre: The first is a marketplace; the second means strange, weird, or peculiar.
The most bizarre purchase that came from the bazaar was a pair of sandals without any soles.
• bear, bare: A bear can tear off your ear; if you’re bare, you’re nude.
The bare bathers were disturbed when the grizzly bear arrived.
• besides, beside: If you want the one that means in addition to, you want the one that has an additional s (besides); beside means by the side of.
Besides her groom, the bride wanted her dad beside her in the photo.
• breath, breathe: You take a breath; you inhale and exhale when you breathe.
In the cold of the winter, it was hard for me to breathe when taking a breath outside.
• cavalry, Calvary: The cavalry are soldiers on horseback (the word isn’t capitalized unless it begins a sentence); Calvary is the hill where Christ was crucified (and is always capitalized).
The cavalry wasn’t in attendance for the march up Calvary.
• can, may: If you can do something, you’re physically able to do it. If you may do it, you have permission to do it.
You can use “ain’t” in a sentence, but you may not.
• cannot, am not, is not, are not, and all other “nots”: For some strange reason, cannot is written as one word. All other words that have not with them are written as two words. Go figure.
• capital, capitol: The capitol is the building in which the legislative body meets. If you mean the one in Washington, D.C., use a capital C; if you mean the one in your state, use a lowercase c. Remember that the building (the one spelled with an o) usually has a dome. Use capital with all other meanings.
The capital spent by the legislators at the capitol is appalling.
• carat, caret, carrot, karat: A carat is a weight for a stone (a diamond, for instance); carat is also an alternate spelling of karat, which is a measurement of how much gold is in an alloy (as in the abbreviation 18k; the k is for karat). A caret is this proofreading mark: ^ (meaning that you should insert something at that point). Finally, a carrot is the orange vegetable your mother told you to eat.
Set in an eighteen-karat gold band, the five-carat diamond was shaped like a carrot.
• censor, censure: To censor is to take out the bad material; to censure is to place blame (don’t censure someone unless you’re sure).
The full Senate voted not to censure the senator for trying to censor the email that came to other congressional employees.
• cite, sight, site: Your sight is your vision or a view (you use your sight to look at a beautiful sight); to cite is to make reference to a specific source; a site is a location, such as on the Internet.
The colors on the website you cited in your paper were a sight to behold.
• climactic, climatic: Climactic refers to a climax, a pinnacle; climatic is related to the weather (the climate).
Last year’s weather featured many climatic oddities, but the climactic point came when snow arrived in June.
• coarse, course: If something is coarse, it’s rough; oars are coarse. A course is a route, a class, or part of the idiomatic phrase “of course.”
The racecourse led the runners over coarse terrain.
• complement, compliment: If something completes another thing, it complements it (complete = complement). If you receive praise, you’ve gotten a compliment (I like to receive a compliment).
The jewelry will complement the outfit the star will wear, and she will surely receive many compliments on her attire.
• conscience, conscious: Your conscience tells you whether something is right or wrong; if you’re conscious, you’re awake and aware.
On the witness stand, Marie said she wasn’t conscious of the fact that her conscience told her not to steal the ashtray from the hotel room.
• continual, continuous: Continuous actions go on uninterrupted; continual actions are intermittent.
The continual rains lasted for ten days; because of that, the Blacksons had a continuous problem with water in their basement.
• core, corps, corpse: A core is a center or main section; a corps is a group or organization; a corpse is a dead body.
At the core of the Marine Corps corporal’s sleeplessness was his discovery of a corpse while on a training mission.
• council, counsel: A council is an official group, a committee; to counsel is to give advice (the stockbroker counseled me to sell).
The town council decided to counsel the youth group on the proper way to ask for funds.
• desert, dessert: A desert is a dry, arid place or (usually used in the plural form) a deserved reward or punishment (just deserts). The verb that means to leave is also desert. The food that is so sweet is a dessert.
While lost in the desert, Rex craved a dessert of apple pie à la mode.
• device, devise: A device is a machine or tool; to devise means to invent or concoct something.
To devise, you must be wise. Will this device work on ice?
• discreet, discrete: Discreet means cautious, careful, or guarded in conduct (be discreet about whom you meet). Discrete means separate or disconnected.
The dancer’s discreet movements were discrete from those performed by the rest of the chorus.
• dual, duel: The first means two (dual purposes); the second is a fight or contest (the lover’s jealousy was fuel for the duel).
The dual reasons for the duel were revenge and money.
• elicit, illicit: To elicit something is to extract it, to bring it out; something illicit is illegal.
The telephone scam artist engaged in the illicit practice of trying to elicit credit card information.
• emigrate, immigrate: To emigrate is to exit a country; to immigrate is to come into a country.
Ten people were trying to emigrate from the tyranny of their country and immigrate to the United States.
• eminent, imminent: Someone well known is eminent; something that might take place immediately is imminent.
Our meeting with the eminent scientist is imminent.
• ensure, insure: To ensure is to make certain of something; insure is only for business purposes (to insure a car).
To ensure that we continue to insure your house, send payment immediately.
• everyday, every day: Everyday means routine or daily (everyday low cost); every day means every single day (low prices every day). Use single words if you mean every single day.
The everyday inexpensive prices of the store meant that more shoppers came every day.
• faze, phase: To faze is to intimidate or disturb. As a noun, a phase is a period of time; as a verb, it means to establish gradually.
I wasn’t fazed by his wish to phase out our relationship.
• fewer, less: Use fewer to describe plural words; use less to describe singular words.
The new product has fewer calories and less fat.
• figuratively, literally: Literally means precisely as described; figuratively means in a symbolic or metaphoric way.
When Pauline called, she asked if I was off my rocker; I thought she meant figuratively and wondered why she thought I had gone crazy. However, she intended to be taken literally, as she wondered if I was still sitting outside in my rocker.
• flaunt, flout: If you flaunt something, you show it off (flaunt your new jewelry); to flout is to jeer at someone or something in a contemptible way, or to intentionally disobey (flout the laws).
In an attempt to flaunt his new car to the girls on the other side of the road, James decided to flout the law and not stop at the red light.
• forego, forgo: If you mean something that has gone before, use forego (a foregone conclusion); if you want the word that means to do without something, use forgo (the one that is without the e).
It’s a foregone conclusion that Meg and Marion will forgo sweets when they’re dieting.
• foreword, forward: The word that means the opening information in a book is foreword (it comes before the first important word of the book); for any other meaning, use forward.
To gain insight into the author’s intent, you should read the foreword before you proceed forward in the book.
• foul, fowl: The animal is a fowl; the action on the basketball court is a foul; a bad odor smells foul.
The foul smell came from the fowl that had been slaughtered.
• good, well: Good is an adjective; it doesn’t mean in a high-quality manner, or correctly. If you want either of those meanings you need an adverb, so you want well.
You did well on the test; your grade should be good.
• graduated, graduated from: A school graduates you; you graduate from a school.
The year Tiya Hudson graduated from college, the school graduated 5,000 students.
• grisly, grizzly: A horrible or gruesome sight is grisly; the North American bear is a grizzly.
A grisly scene was left after the attack by the grizzly bear.
• heal, heel: To heal means to cure or patch up (to heal a wound); among other verb definitions, to heel is to tilt to one side, to give money to, or to urge along; a well-heeled person has a considerable amount of money.
You might need ointment to heal the blisters you get from trying to right the sails when the ship heels in the wind.
• hear, here: You hear with your ear. Here is the opposite of there.
Did you hear that Aunt Helen is here?
• hopefully: If you mean I hope, or it’s hoped, then that’s what you should write. Hopefully means confidently or with anticipation.
The director waited hopefully for the Oscar nominations to be announced.
• imply, infer: Both of these have to do with words not said aloud. A speaker implies something; a listener infers something.
Rufus thought the boss had implied that she would be back for an inspection next week, but Ruth didn’t infer that.
• in, into: In means within; into means from the outside to the inside.
Go into the house, look in my purse, and bring me money.
• its, it’s: It’s means only it is (before it’s too late); its means belonging to it (I gave the dog its food and water).
It’s a shame the dog lost its bone.
• lead, led: If you want the word that means was in charge of or guided, use led; otherwise, use lead.
The company, led by one of the richest people in the world, announced that its CEO was retiring; today a newcomer will lead it.
• loose, lose: Loose (which rhymes with noose) means not tight. Lose is the opposite of find or win.
Will I lose my belt if it’s too loose?
• may of, might of, must of, should of, would of, could of: In speech, we slur these phrases so that they all sound as if they end in of, but in fact all of them end in have. Their correct forms are may have, might have, must have, should have, would have, and could have.
I must have thought you would have been able to find the room without any directions.
• moral, morale: If something is moral, it’s right or ethical (that’s the adjective form); if something has a moral, it has a message or a meaning (that’s the noun form). Your morale is your esteem.
The moral high road that the politician took boosted the morale of the entire staff.
• myself, itself, yourself, himself, herself, themselves, ourselves, yourselves: None of these pronouns should ever be used without the antecedent that corresponds to it. You might write:
I myself would like to go for a drive.
But you shouldn’t write, “Mike took Pat and myself for a drive.”
• pacific, specific: Pacific means peaceful; specific means precise or individualized.
To be specific, the pacific view from Hickory Mountain is what calms me the most.
• passed, past: Passed is a verb; past is an adjective (past often means last) or noun meaning the preceding time.
In the past, twenty parades have passed down this street.
• peace, piece: Peace is the opposite of war; a piece is a part or portion (a piece of pie).
The father bargained with his small children, “Give me an hour’s peace, and I’ll get you a piece of cake.”
• persecute, prosecute: To persecute is to oppress or bully; to prosecute is to bring legal action.
We warned our neighbors that we would prosecute if they continued to persecute their dog.
• pore, pour: If you read something carefully, you pore over it. If you make a liquid go out of a container, you pour it.
After Harry accidentally poured ink on the new floor, he pored over several books to find out how to clean the stain.
• prophecy, prophesy: You have a forecast or a prediction if you have a prophecy. Prophesy is pronounced with the last syllable sounding like sigh, and you might sigh when you prophesy something dismal.
Last week the audience heard the medium prophesy about forthcoming bad weather; the prophecy has yet to come true.
• principle, principal: Principle means law or belief. Principal means major or head; it also means money that earns interest in a bank. The principal is the head person in a school; he or she is your pal and makes principal decisions.
That is the most important principle our principal believes.
• quiet, quite: Quiet is calm or silence; quite means to a certain extent. Be sure to check the ending of the word you use; that’s where mistakes are made. Think: I hope my pet is quiet.
Are you quite sure that you were quiet in the library?
• real, really: Real means actual or true; really means in truth or in reality. Except in the most casual tone in writing, neither real nor really should be used in the sense of very (that’s a real good song on the radio; I’m really glad you listened to that station).
When Debbie and Phillip realized they were lost, the real importance of carrying a compass hit them.
• respectfully, respectively: If you’re full of respect for someone and want to show it, you do it respectfully. Respectively means in the order stated.
Upon hearing the news, I respectfully called Bob and Janie, respectively.
• role, roll: A role is a position or part (in a production); a roll is a piece of bread on the dinner table; to roll is to rotate.
The role of the acrobat will be played by someone who can perform a backward roll.
• set, sit: If you place something, you set it. If you’re in an upright position (like in a chair), you sit. In addition, set is transitive (it must have an object); sit is intransitive (it doesn’t have an object).
Please set the table before you sit down.
• stationery, stationary: If you mean something that lacks any motion, use stationary; if you mean something you write a letter on, use stationery.
The stationery had a picture of people riding stationary bicycles.
• supposed (to): Often the -d is incorrectly omitted from supposed to (meaning expected to or designed to).
In this job, you’re supposed to be able to write short, clear, and effective memos.
• than, then: If you mean next or therefore or at that time, you want then. If you want the word that shows a comparison, use than.
For a while, Mary ran more quickly than I; then she dropped her pace.
• that, which: For clauses that don’t need commas (restrictive clauses), use that. For nonrestrictive clauses, which need commas, use which.
The local dog kennels, which are nearby, are the ones that have been featured in the news lately.
• there, their, they’re: If you want the opposite of here, use there; if you mean they are, you want they’re; if you mean belonging to them, use their.
There are employees who think they’re going to get their 10 percent raises tomorrow.
• to, too, two: If you mean something additional, it’s the one with the additional o (too); two is the number after one; to means in the direction of something.
Did our supervisor ask the two new employees to go to Detroit and Chicago, too?
• troop, troupe: Both are groups of people, but troupe refers to actors only.
The troupe of actors performed for the troop of Brownies.
• try and, try to: Almost always the mistake comes in writing try and when you need to use try to.
The lady said she would try to get the dress in my size; I hoped she would try and keep looking.
• weather, whether: If you mean conditions of the climate, use weather. (Can you stand to eat in the heat of this bad weather?) If you mean which, whichever, or if it’s true that, use whether.
It’s now mid-April, and the weather can’t decide whether it’s spring or winter.
• when, where: If you’re writing a definition, don’t use either of these words. For instance, don’t write “A charley horse is when you get a cramp in your leg”; instead, write something like: “A charley horse is the result of a cramp in your leg.”
A bank is a place in which you can make a deposit or withdrawal.
Grammar Facts
These are considered nonstandard words and phrases (in other words, ones you shouldn’t use): anyways, can’t hardly, can’t help but, can’t scarcely, everywheres, hisself, irregardless, nowheres, off of, theirselves, theirself—and the number one nonstandard word: ain’t.
• who, which, that: Don’t use which when you’re writing about people. Some style guides have the same restriction for that and some don’t, so be sure to check.
The inspector, who gives the orders that we must obey, said that the law, which had never been enforced, would result in higher costs.
• whose, who’s: Whose means belonging to whom; who’s is short for who is (the apostrophe means the i has been omitted).
After the sock hop, who’s going to determine whose shoes these are?
• woman, women: One man, two men. One woman, two women. It’s that simple.
The local woman asked the two visiting women if they’d like a tour of the town.
• your, you’re: If you mean belonging to you, use your (this is our car; that is your car); if you mean you are, use you’re (remember that the apostrophe means the a has been omitted).
If you’re in the sun in Florida, be sure to put sunscreen on your nose.