Commonly Confused

As writers, we tend to be formal in the way that we articulate lanquage.

However, spoken language tends to be a lot less formal than the way we write.

When we try to translate spoken ideas into writing, it is often hard to remember correct grammar.

In addition, we hear incorrect grammar used so often that correct grammar is starting to sound wrong...or at least odd.

To make things even more interesting for us writers, common phrases are also likely to be written incorrectly.

 We should also be noticing that words used in speech are shortened or slurred together.

This results in letters that aren't all pronounced, which makes it easy to inadvertently leave these letters out when writing.

Knowing which word to use or how to write a phrase correctly can make a big difference in your writing.

  
It's easier for readers to take a piece of writing more seriously when the grammar is correct.

So I've been working on a list of
A) words that DO sound alike,
B) words that DON'T sound alike but confuse many people anyway
C) problem phrases that bug me enough to want to vent about them here...where I'm sure to get some sympathy/empathy responses from all of you.

Here's the list:
(in the order of the ones that bug me the most to least)

A)
Than, Then

There, Their, They're

To, Too, Two

Your, You're


B)
Who, Which, That

Lie, Lay

Set, Sit


C)
Supposed to as opposed to: Suppose to
(without the D is incorrect)

Toward
(there is no s at the end)

Anyway
(also has no s at the end)

For all intents and purposes
(Not intensive purposes)

What else can you come up with?

Comments

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For Me Sonja (Author) 2007-05-26 01:39:33 The most troublesome for me is: affect [have an effect on], and effect [outcome, product, end result]. The one I learned well years ago, but see most often misused (even by my son who is an Electrical Engineer with IBM) is, "a lot" showing up in most writing as, "allot" or, "alot". Allot is actually a word in itself. Alot is not a word at all. In my college classes I'd say, "A lot of students confuse alot allot." That would help my classmates remember. Soni

Re: Soni The Editorial Department (Editor) 2007-07-12 18:02:09 I actually have a Post-It note on my desk on the difference between "affect" and "effect." No matter how many times I reference it, it never sinks in. Affect=verb and effect=noun is the distinction that helps me best. Adriann

Jan (Author) 2007-08-31 17:50:13 I often stumble over its, it's for it is and its for the possessive form. I personally think it should be the other way around, so I stumble. I went back to school about 5 years ago to take Technical Writing and just about got talked out of it by my main teacher (who wanted to hire me out at IBM). She said that the 2 year degree was not what I wanted as I wanted to go further than that and my degree (Bachelors of Science in Biology) was beyond this 2 year thing. It was bad advice because it all fell to the wayside and I do think there is value in what was offered for the 2 year degree. She also gave us a paper much like your's Pablo, but came to a different conclusion. Specifically to give up, that what we would term "bad grammar" was becoming mainstream and while not all of it was being adopted, a good deal of it was. I suppose that the idea is if enough people use it it becomes the "right" way by definition. It really bugs me, though, like it does you and I suspect allot of us who actually paid attention in class and thought it was valuable.

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