Writing skills success - LearningExpress 2009
Lesson 17. More easily confused words
Pretest
Words have a longer life than deeds.
—Pindar, Greek poet (522 b.c.e .-443 b.c.e.)
LESSON SUMMARY
Some of the most commonly used words in the English language are easily confused with other equally common words. To avoid confusing readers, you need to know which ones are which.
This lesson covers more of the most commonly confused word pairs, those you are likely to use in your writing. If you learn to distinguish these words, you can avoid errors. The words are divided into three separate sections with practice exercises at the end of each section. The words in italics following some of the entries are synonyms, words that can be substituted in a sentence for the easily confused words.
Small but Tricky
By/Buy
■ By is a preposition used to introduce a phrase (by the book, by the time, by the way).
■ Buy as a verb means purchase. As a noun, it means bargain, deal.
Examples:
We stopped by (preposition) the store to buy (purchase) some groceries.
That car was a great buy (deal).
Dear/Deer
■ Dear is an adjective meaning valued, loved.
■ Deer is a noun referring to an animal, a fourlegged one that lives in the woods and looks like Bambi.
Example:
My dear (loved) daughter’s favorite movie is Bambi, about a deer (animal).
Die/Dye
■ Die is a verb meaning pass away, fade.
■ Dye as a verb means to color, tint. As a noun, it refers to coloring, pigment.
Example:
We waited for the wind to die (fade) before we decided to dye (color) the sheets.
Hear/Here
■ Hear is a verb meaning listen to.
■ Here is an adverb meaning in this place, to this place.
Example:
Please come here (to this place) so you can hear (listen to) what I have to say.
Hole/Whole
■ Hole is a noun meaning opening, gap.
■ Whole as an adjective means entire, intact. As a noun, it means entire part or amount.
Examples:
The whole (entire) group heard the message.
They patched the hole (opening) in the wall.
Knew/New
■ Knew is a verb, the past tense of know. It means understood, recognized.
■ New is an adjective meaning fresh, different, current.
Example:
I knew (understood) they were planning to buy a new (different) car.
Know/No
■ Know is a verb meaning understand, recognize.
■ No as an adverb means not so, not at all. As an adjective, it means none, not one.
Example:
As far as I know (understand), we have no (not one) more of these shoes in stock.
Meat/Meet
■ Meat is a noun meaning food, flesh, main part.
■ Meet as a verb means assemble, greet, fulfill. As a noun, it means assembly.
Examples:
Before a track meet (assembly), it is better to eat foods high in carbohydrates rather than meat (flesh).
The meat (main part) of his message was that our efforts did not meet (fulfill) his standards.
One/Won
■ One can be an adjective meaning single. It can also be a noun used to mean a single person or thing.
■ Won is a verb, the past tense of win. It means prevailed, achieved, acquired.
Example:
Jacquez is the one (noun referring to Jacquez) who won (achieved) the most improved bowler trophy this year.
Seam/Seem
■ Seam is a noun meaning joint, joining point.
■ Seem is a verb meaning appear.
Example:
Does it seem (appear) to you as if this seam (joint) is weakening?
Practice
Circle the correct word in the parentheses. Answers can be found at the end of the lesson.
1. Would you run (by, buy) the store on your way home to (by, buy) a gallon of milk?
2. The best (by, buy) in the store is that new book written (by, buy) the famous talk show host. You should (by, buy) it.
3. My (deer, dear) friend and I saw five (deer, dear) in my backyard.
4. If you want to change the color of that shirt, you can (die, dye) it.
5. The rosebush started to (die, dye) soon after we planted it.
6. I can (hear, here) the speaker much better now that I am sitting (hear, here).
7. The (hole, whole) flood began by water leaking through a (hole, whole) in the pipe.
8. I just (knew, new) the (knew, new) toaster would be a good as my old one.
9. I didn’t (know, no) that that you had (know, no) idea how to get to the restaurant.
10. We asked to (meat, meet) the chef so we could tell her how much we enjoyed the (meat, meet) dish we ordered.
11. The undefeated varsity baseball team (one, won) the game by only (one, won) point.
12. I (seam, seem) to remember that the tailor did a flawless job repairing the (seam, seem) on my coat.
Often Used and Misused
Choose/Chose
■ Choose is a verb meaning select. It rhymes with bruise.
■ Chose is past tense of choose; it means selected. It rhymes with hose.
Example:
Henry chose (selected) flex hours on Friday afternoons. I will choose (select) the same option.
Loose/Lose/Loss
■ Loose is an adjective meaning free, unrestrained, not tight. It rhymes with goose.
■ Lose is a verb meaning misplace, to be defeated, fail to keep. It rhymes with shoes.
■ Loss is a noun meaning defeat, downturn, the opposite of victory or gain. It rhymes with toss.
Examples:
The chickens ran loose (free) in the yard.
The knot holding the boat to the dock was loose (not tight).
Where did you lose (misplace) your gloves?
The investors will lose (fail to keep) considerable capital if the market suffers a loss (downturn).
Suppose/Supposed
■ Suppose is a verb meaning assume, imagine.
■ Supposed as a verb is the past tense of suppose and means assumed, imagined. As an adjective, it means expected, obligated.
Examples:
I suppose (assume) you’ll be late, as usual.
We all supposed (assumed) you would be late.
You were supposed (expected) to have picked up the copies of the report before you came to the meeting.
Than/Then
■ Than is a conjunctive word used to make a comparison.
■ Then is an adverb telling when or meaning next.
Example:
Then (next), the group discussed the ways in which the new procedures worked better than (conjunction making a comparison) the old.
Use/Used
■ Use as a verb means utilize, deplete. It rhymes with lose. As a noun, it rhymes with goose and means purpose.
■ Used as a verb is the past tense of use and means utilized, depleted. As an adjective, it means secondhand.
■ Used to can be used as an adjective, meaning accustomed to, or as an adverb meaning formerly. (Note that you never write use to when you mean accustomed to or formerly.)
Examples:
Just use (utilize) the same password we used (utilized) yesterday.
What’s the use (purpose) in trying yet another time?
We should consider buying used (secondhand) equipment.
We used to (formerly) require a second opinion.
Residents of Buffalo, New York, are used to (accustomed to) cold temperatures.
Weather/Whether
■ Weather is a noun referring to the condition outside.
■ Whether is an adverb used when referring to a possibility.
Examples:
The weather (condition outside) took a turn for the worse.
Let me know whether (a possibility) you are interested in this new system.
Practice
Circle the correct word in the parentheses. The answers can be found at the end of the lesson.
13. Ms. Wallace interviewed each candidate twice to (choose, chose) the best person for the job.
14. Although it was hard to (choose, chose), Tabitha (choose, chose) the chocolate cake with the raspberry filling over the white cake with strawberry filling.
15. After the (loose, lose, loss) of her job, she began to (loose, lose, loss) confidence.
16. The shoes she ordered from the catalogue were too (loose, lose, loss).
17. I can tell when I (loose, lose, loss) weight because my pants get (loose, lose, loss).
18. It’s 7:30; aren’t you (suppose, supposed) to be at the airport by 8:00?
19. I waited until I’d collected more (then, than) enough donations, and (then, than) I contacted the director of the homeless shelter.
20. We (use, used) to buy (use, used) records whenever we went to thrift stores, but now we have no (use, used) for them.
21. You are (suppose, supposed) to enjoy your vacation (weather, whether) or not the (weather, whether) is beautiful.
Killer a's and al's
Accept/Except/Expect
■ Accept is a verb meaning receive, bear.
■ Except is a preposition meaning but, excluding.
■ Expect is a verb meaning anticipate, demand, assume.
Examples:
This client expects (demands) nothing except (but) the most sophisticated options available.
Will you accept (bear) the responsibility for this decision?
We expect (anticipate) everyone to come except (excluding) John.
Advice/Advise
■ Advice is a noun meaning suggestion, suggestions.
It rhymes with ice. (Hint: Think adv ICE.)
■ Advise is a verb meaning suggest to, warn. It rhymes with wise.
Examples:
We advise (suggest to) you to proceed carefully. That was the best advice (suggestion) I’ve received so far.
Affect/Effect
■ Affect is a verb meaning alter, inspire or move emotionally, imitate. Affected, besides being the past tense of affect, can also be used as an adjective meaning imitated, pretentious. Affect is also a noun referring to feeling or emotion.
■ Effect as a noun means consequence. As a verb, it means cause.
Examples:
How will this plan affect (alter) our jobs? What effect (consequence) will this restructuring have on profits? Will it effect (cause) an increase?
The movie affected (moved emotionally) Marian. He affected (imitated) an English accent.
The affected (pretentious) speech fooled no one.
Capital/Capitol
■ Capital as a noun means either assets or the city that is the seat of government. As an adjective, it means main, very important, or deserving of death.
■ Capitol is a noun referring to the building that houses the government.
Examples:
How much capital (assets) are you willing to invest?
I think that’s a capital (main) objective.
First-degree murder is a capital (deserving of death) crime.
Albany is the capital (city) of New York.
No legislators were injured in the explosion in the capitol (building).
Personal/Personnel
■ Personal is an adjective meaning private.
■ Personnel as a noun means staff, employees or as an adjective means dealing with staff or employees.
Example:
The director of personnel (staff) keeps all the personnel (employee) files in order and guards any personal (private) information they contain.
Principal/Principle
■ Principal as a noun refers to the head of a school or an investment. As an adjective, it means primary, major.
■ Principle is a noun meaning rule, law, belief.
Examples:
The principal (head) of Calbert High School used the principal (investment) of an endowment fund to cover this month’s salaries.
The principal (primary) objective is to make decisions that are in keeping with our principles (beliefs).
Practice
Circle the correct word in the parentheses. The answers can be found at the end of the lesson.
22. Surely you didn’t (accept, except, expect) Weldon to (accept, except, expect) responsibility for this decision when everyone (accept, except, expect) him was consulted.
23. (Accept, Except, Expect) for Mr. Nelson, Mrs. Lawrence didn’t (accept, except, expect) anyone else to (accept, except, expect) the committee’s costly construction proposal.
24. The soothsayer will (advice, advise) you to seek her (advice, advise) often.
25. The new work schedule (affected, effected) production in a positive way.
26. How will this new work schedule (affect, effect) production?
27. What (affect, effect) will this new work schedule have on production?
28. We plan to tour the (capital, capitol) building whenever we visit a state’s (capital, capitol) city.
29. The (personnel, personal) information you submit to (personnel, personal) will be kept strictly confidential.
30. The employees’ (principal, principle) concern is workload.
31. The (principle, principal) of the school is a man of great (principle, prinicpal).
Answers
1. by, buy
2. buy, by, buy
3. dear, deer
4. dye
5. die
6. hear, here
7. whole, hole
8. knew, new
9. know, no
10. meet, meat
11. won, one
12. seem, seam
13. choose
14. choose, chose
15. loss, lose
16. loose
17. lose, loose
18. supposed
19. than, then
20. used, used, use
21. supposed, whether, weather
22. expect, accept, except
23. except, expect, accept
24. advise, advice
25. affected
26. affect
27. effect
28. capitol, capital
29. personal, personnel
30. principal
31. principal, principle
TIP
Make a conscious effort to use the correct forms of these easily confused words in your writing. You may find it helpful to copy the words and their synonyms onto a separate sheet of paper. This will provide a good review and serve as a handy reference you can keep with you as you write.