Writing skills success - LearningExpress 2009
Lesson 16. Easily confused word pairs
Pretest
I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out.
—Katherine Dunn, American novelist (1945- )
LESSON SUMMARY
Threw or through? To, two, or too? Brake or break? This lesson and the next review a host of words that are often confused with other words, and show you when to use them.
This lesson covers some of the most commonly confused word pairs you are likely to use in your writing. If you learn to distinguish these words, you can avoid errors in your writing. These words are divided into three separate sections with practice exercises at the end of each section. The italicized words following some of the entries are synonyms, words that can be substituted in a sentence for the easily confused words.
Three-Way Confusion
Lead/Led/Lead
■ Lead as a verb means guide, direct. As a noun, it means front position. It rhymes with seed.
■ Led is a verb, the past tense of lead, meaning guided, directed. It rhymes with red.
■ Lead is a noun that is the name of a metal. It rhymes with red.
Examples:
Geronimo led (guided) the small band to safety.
We hope the next elected officials will lead (guide) us to economic recovery.
A pound of styrofoam weighs as much as a pound of lead (the metal).
Jake took the lead (front position) as the group headed out of town.
Quite/Quit/Quiet
■ Quite is an adverb meaning completely, very, entirely. It rhymes with fight.
■ Quit is a verb meaning stop, cease or stopped, ceased. It rhymes with sit.
■ Quiet as an adjective means calm, silent, noiseless. As a verb, it means soothe, calm. As a noun, it means tranquility, peacefulness. It almost rhymes with riot.
Example:
The firm was quite (very) surprised when its most productive investment specialist quit (stopped) work and opted for the quiet (calm) life of a monk.
Right/Write/Rite
■ Right is an adjective meaning correct, proper, opposite of left.
■ Write is a verb meaning record, inscribe.
■ Rite is a noun meaning ceremony, ritual.
Example:
I will write (record) the exact procedures so you will be able to perform the rite (ceremony) in the right (proper) way.
Sent/Cent/Scent
■ Sent is a verb, the past tense of send. It means dispatched, transmitted.
■ Cent is a noun meaning one penny, a coin worth .01 of a dollar.
■ Scent is a noun meaning odor, smell.
Example:
For a mere cent (penny), I bought an envelope perfumed with the scent (odor) of jasmine, which I sent (dispatched) to my grandmother.
Sight/Site/Cite
■ Sight as a noun means ability to see. As a verb, it means see, spot.
■ Site is a noun meaning location, position.
■ Cite is a verb meaning quote, make reference to.
Examples:
At 95, my grandmother’s sight (ability to see) was acute enough to sight (spot) even the smallest error in a crocheted doily.
This is the proposed site (location) for the new building.
You must cite (make reference to) the source of your information.
To/Too/Two
■ To is a preposition or part of an infinitive. Use it only to introduce a prepositional phrase, which usually answers the question where, or before a verb. Use to for introducing a prepositional phrase: to the store, to the top, to my home-, to our garden, to his laboratory, to his castle, to our advantage, to an open door, to a song, to the science room, etc. Use to as an infinitive (to followed by a verb, sometimes separated by adverbs): to run, to jump, to want badly, to seek, to propose, to write, to explode, to sorely need, to badly botch, to carefully examine, etc.
■ Too is an adverb meaning also, very.
■ Two is an adjective, the name of a number, as in one, two, three.
Example:
The couple went to (preposition) the deli to (infinitive) pick up two (the number) dinners because both of them were too (very) tired to (infinitive) cook.
Where/Wear/Were
■ Where is an adverb referring to place, location.
■ Wear as a verb means put on, tire. As a noun, it means deterioration.
■ Were is a verb, the plural past tense of be.
Examples:
The slacks were (form of be) too tight.
The tires showed excessive wear (deterioration).
They will wear (tire) out these shoes if they wear (put on) them too much.
Where (location) are the clothes you were (form of be) planning to wear (put on) tomorrow?
Practice
Circle the correct word in the parentheses. Answers can be found at the end of the lesson.
1. The (sent, cent, scent) of freshly baked bread filled the house.
2. I (cent, sent, scent) for the police dog, which quickly picked up the (cent, sent, scent), helping us solve the case. He was worth every (cent, sent, scent) we invested in him.
3. When you (right, write, rite) the final report, please be sure you use the (right, write, rite) statistics.
4. The (right, write, rite) of baptism will be performed at Sunday’s service.
5. If you (quite, quit, quiet) talking for a minute and give us some (quite, quit, quiet), I will be (quite, quit, quiet) happy to ask the others to maintain this (quite, quit, quiet) atmosphere for the duration of the meeting.
6. While in the (lead, led) at the competition, Morris’s pencil (lead, led) broke, which (lead, led) us to believe he would lose.
7. The health inspector will (lead, led) the effort to educate citizens about the dangers of paint chips that might contain (lead, led).
8. The researcher asked permission to (sight, site, cite) my study in his report.
9. From the top floor, we were able to (sight, site, cite) the (sight, site, cite) that was chosen for the new office building.
10. (Where, wear, were) did you vacation last summer?
11. I planned to (where, wear, were) my new sneakers, but I forgot (where, wear, were) I put them.
Easy Misses
Brake/Break
■ Brake as a verb means slow, stop. As a noun, it means hindrance, drag.
■ Break as a verb means separate, shatter, adjourn. As a noun, it means separation, crack, pause, opportunity.
Examples:
During our break (pause), we spotted a break (crack) in the pipeline.
Brake (slow) gently when driving on glare ice by applying slight pressure to the brake (drag).
Passed/Past
■ Passed is a verb, the past tense of pass, meaning transferred, went ahead or by, elapsed, finished.
■ Past as a noun means history. As an adjective, it means former. As an adverb, it means by or beyond.
Examples:
The first runner passed (transferred) the baton to the second just as she passed (went by) the stands. Three seconds passed (elapsed) before the next runner came by.
Harriet passed (finished) her bar exam on the first try.
I must have been a dolphin in a past (former) life. Avoid digging up the past (history) if you can. Nathan walks past (by) the library every day.
Peace/Piece
■ Peace is a noun meaning tranquility.
■ Piece as a noun means division, creation. As a verb, it means patch, repair.
Example:
If you can piece (patch) together the pieces (bits) of this story, perhaps we can have some peace (tranquility) around here.
Plain/Plane
■ Plain as an adjective means ordinary, dear, simple. As a noun, it refers to flat country, also sometimes written as plains.
■ Plane is a noun meaning airship or flat surface. It is occasionally used as a verb or adjective meaning level.
Examples:
They wore plain (ordinary) clothes.
It was plain (clear) to see.
The meal we ate on the plains (flat country) was quite plain (simple).
It was plain (clear) to us that the enemy did not see our plane (airship) sitting on the open plain (flat country).
Scene/Seen
■ Scene is a noun meaning view, site, commotion.
■ Seen is a verb, the past participle of see, meaning observed, noticed.
Example:
We caused quite a scene (commotion) at the scene (site) of the accident. It was the worst we had ever seen (observed).
Threw/Through
■ Threw is a verb, the past tense of throw, meaning tossed.
■ Through is an adverb or a preposition meaning in one side and out the other. Use through to introduce a prepositional phrase: through the door, through the lobby, through the mist.
Example:
Fred threw (tossed) the ball through (in one side and out the other) the hoop.
Weak/Week
■ Weak is an adjective meaning flimsy, frail, and powerless.
■ Week is a noun meaning a period of seven days.
Example:
The patient’s heartbeat was so weak (frail) that the doctor was certain he would be dead within a week (seven days).
Which/Witch
■ Which is a pronoun dealing with choice. As an adverb, it introduces a subordinate clause.
■ Witch is a noun meaning sorceress, enchantress.
Examples:
Which (choice) one do you want?
This car, which (introduces subordinate clause) I have never driven, is the one I’m thinking about buying.
I don’t know which (choice) witch (enchantress) I should dress up as for Halloween.
Practice
Circle the correct word in the parentheses. Answers can be found at the end of the lesson.
12. (Which, Witch) (which, witch) costume did you decide to wear to the party?
13. When we were (threw, through) with exams, we (threw, through) a big party to celebrate.
14. When she saw the biker ahead (brake, break), Sally slammed on her (brake, break) to avoid the (brake, break) in the concrete path.
15. Have you (scene, seen) the love (scene, seen) in the movie?
16. The confused (which, witch) didn’t know (which, witch) ingredients to use in her potion.
17. The (scene, seen) at the Grand Canyon was breathtaking. Have you (scene, seen) it before?
18. Even a (week, weak) after returning from the hospital, Virginia still felt (week, weak) and needed rest.
19. It took only one (peace, piece) of good news to restore her (peace, piece) of mind.
20. The private (plain, plane) had a (plain, plane) tan interior.
To Split or Not to Split
Already/All Ready
■ Already is an adverb meaning as early as this, previously, by this time.
■ All ready means completely ready, totally ready.
Examples:
At age four, Brigitta is reading already (as early as this).
We had already (previously, by this time) finished.
Are we all ready (completely ready) to go?
Altogether/All Together
■ Altogether is an adverb meaning entirely, completely.
■ All together means simultaneously.
Examples:
These claims are altogether (entirely) false.
The audience responded all together
(simultaneously).
Everyday/Every Day
■ Everyday is an adjective meaning ordinary, usual.
■ Every day means each day.
Examples:
These are our everyday (usual) low prices.
The associates sort the merchandise every day (each day).
Maybe/May Be
■ Maybe is an adverb meaning perhaps.
■ May be is a verb phrase meaning might be.
Example:
Maybe (perhaps) the next batch will be better than this one. On the other hand, it may be (might be) worse.
Always Split
■ A lot. There’s no such word as alot. There’s a word allot, which means to portion out something.
Example:
I thought it was all right that we allotted tickets to a lot of our best customers.
Practice
Circle the correct word in the parentheses.
21. I (where, wear, were) my (everyday, every day) clothes almost (everyday, every day).
22. There (maybe, may be) more storms tomorrow, so (maybe, may be) you should plan something else to do.
23. If you had been (already, all ready), we could have (already, all ready) begun.
24. He always makes (some time, sometime) in the afternoon to exercise. You should try it (some time, sometime).
25. There were (a lot, alot) of spectators at the game Friday night.
Answers
1. scent
2. sent, scent, cent
3. write, right
4. rite
5. quit, quiet, quite, quiet
6. lead, lead, led
7. lead, lead
8. cite
9. sight, site
10. Where
11. wear, where
12. Which, witch
13. through, threw
14. brake, brake, break
15. seen, scene
16. witch, which
17. scene, seen
18. week, weak
19. piece, peace
20. plane, plain
21. wear, everyday, every day
22. may be, maybe
23. all ready, already
24. some time, sometime
25. a lot
TIP
How many easily confused words can you spot in your reading? Try substituting the synonyms you learned.