Elizabeth Morrison - The Right Word: Correcting Commonly Confused, Misspelled, and Misused Words

The Right Word

Correcting Commonly Confused,
Misspelled,
and Misused Words

Elizabeth Morrison

Copyright 2014 by Elizabeth Morrison

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

THE RIGHT WORD
EDITED BY JODI BRANDON
TYPESET BY EILEEN MUNSON
Cover design by Howard Grossman
Printed in the U.S.A.

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Text Copyright Elizabeth Morrison
Exisle Publishing Ltd 2012
Published by arrangement with Exisle Publishing Ltd

The Career Press, Inc.
220 West Parkway, Unit 12
Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
www.careerpress.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Morrison, Elizabeth (Teacher)

The Right word : correcting commonly confused, misspelled, and misused
words / By Elizabeth Morrison. pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60163-335-4 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-429-0 (ebook) 1. English
language--Usage--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. English language--Errors
in usage-Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. English language-Orthography and
spelling--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. English language--Textbooks for
foreign speakers. I. Title.

PE1460M67 2014

428.1--dc23

2014009775

To all teachers
who endeavor tirelessly
to assist students
to understand the complexities
of the English language.

Acknowledgments

This project has taken quite a considerable time, and I would like to thank my husband, Ron, for his unfailing support and enthusiasm, and my family, my friends, and the staffs at Exisle Publishing and Career Press.

Disclaimer

Although this book is intended as a general information resource and all care has been taken in compiling the contents, neither the author nor the publisher and their distributors can be held responsible for any loss, claim, or action that may arise from reliance on the information contained in this book.

This book was originally designed to assist students (particularly those for whom English was a second language) with the difficulties they encountered when writing. Many of my students studying communications were from non-English-speaking countries.

Problems with English usage became evident when students encountered words that had the same sound but were spelled differently and had different meanings (e.g., cite/ sight/site). Spellcheck could not be relied on every time to identify a word spelled incorrectly, particularly if it seemed correct in the context.

These words are known as homophones. (The word homophone derives from the Greek homos, meaning same, and phone, meaning sound.)

Searching for the correct spelling of homophones using a dictionary can be quite daunting and time consuming, as many times they appear under different letters of the English alphabet (e.g., knot/not, air/heir, cue/queue, right/ rite/write). To overcome this problem, the homophones in this book appear in alphabetical order and all have cross-references to the full entry. (For example, cue/queue appears under C with a cross-reference to Q.) To assist understanding, I have included, in most cases, the correct usage of homophones in phrases or sentences as well as definitions. If a common saying is included, it will be in bold so the reader better understands the term in everyday language.

After I started working on this book, I realized that many of the general population, even if a native speaker, would find it very useful. Certainly many people have difficulty with the correct spelling and usage of words such as principal/principle, stationary/stationery, and their/there/ theyre. Also, some translators, particularly those writing subtitles for English-speaking audiences or providing technical information for English-speaking customers, should find this book beneficial.

In a separate section, I have included other words that can cause considerable confusion (e.g., elicit/illicit, childish/ childlike, imply/infer, and others such as alright/all right, altogether/all together). A list of commonly misspelled words has been added also.

To all who have problems with words that have the same or similar sound or words that can be confused, this guide should be of great benefit.

Eye am shore ewe knead too reed The Write/Right Word two rite well.

Elizabeth Morrison
April 2014

A

a/A/eh

a: The first letter of the English alphabet (a, b, c..); also used before nouns as emphasis (this is a beautiful beach; he is a prince among people)

A: The first in any series (A, B, C, D); a grading mechanism (John received an A for mathematics); in music, a note and a corresponding scale (one of my favorite pieces of music is Edvard Griegs Piano Concerto in A Minor)

eh: An expression used to indicate not hearing correctly what was said (eh, what did you say?)

A/a/eh (see a/A/eh)

acts/axe

Acts: To indicate performances or actions (his many acts of bravery were recognized by a grateful public; she acts as a substitute when the star is ill; she acts her age) or artistically (there were three acts in the play); to describe government rulings (acts of Congress)

axe: An implement used to cut wood (he used an axe to cut down the tree); to eliminate (they decided to axe the television program when the ratings fell)

ad/add

ad: A shortened form of advertisement (did you put an ad in the newspaper to sell your car?)