FREQUENTLY MISUSED WORDS

The words listed below are often used incorrectly, sometimes because they are chosen by sound rather than by meaning. To prepare you for the first proofreading quiz, I have listed the most commonly confused words that appear on themes.

1. a, an, and: A, an are articles, sometimes called determiners. Use a before nouns or adjectives that begin with consonants, an before those that begin with vowels. And is a coordinate conjunction, used to join words, phrases, clauses. Ex. We ordered an Apple Powerbook and a hard drive from the bookstore.
2. a lot, allot: A lot is commonly used to mean "much, many, a great deal." Because it is informal in tone, you should not use it in your papers or reports. Allot means to distribute, assign, or give. Ex. The panel chairperson will allot fifteen minutes to each speaker.
3. accept, except: Accept is a verb meaning to receive or get. Except is a preposition meaning excluded. Ex. The manager accepted all of the items delivered yesterday except the new software.
4. affect, effect: Affect is a verb: to influence. Effect is a noun meaning result or consequence. It can also be used a verb meaning to cause or bring about. Ex. Inflation has many unfortunate effects .
5. amount, number: Amount refers to bulk items, those not individually counted; number refers to items that are counted individually. Ex. A large amount of time will be spent compiling data. The number of patients accepted into the study is limited.
6. fewer, less: The rules here are the same as in #5. Fewer is countable; less is for bulk items. Ex. Fewer technical writing classes are being offered this summer, so grading papers will take less time.
7. loose, lose: Loose is an adjective, the opposite of tight. Lose is a verb meaning to misplace. Ex. If we lose the government contract, we will be at loose ends.
8. passed, past: Passed is the past tense form of the verb to pass, meaning to go by. Past is a noun of time. Ex. The Civil War occurred in the past . We often passed the cemetery when taking our evening walk.
9. personal, personnel: Personal refers to an individual; personnel refers to a group of employees. Ex. Personnel often request leave for personal reasons.
10. use, suppose; used, supposed: These are the present and past tense forms. The confusion over the past tense results from pronunciation. The verbs in the past are followed by the preposition to, and the d and t sounds combine. Remember to put a d on the end when writing these verbs in the past tense. We used to enjoy working overtime, but now we don't get paid for it.
11. than, then: Than is a subordinate conjunction, the signal word for adverb clauses of comparison. Then is used as a transition, meaning next or later. Ex. First, we determined that Hank is taller than Marjorie; then we asked Hank to retrieve the book from the top shelf.
12. to, too, two: to = preposition, too = adverb (very, also), two = number 2. Ex. To prepare the bid, two workers will have to work too many extra hours.

These next pairs are possessive pronouns and pronoun-verb contractions that sound the same and so are easily confused. Remember that possessive pronouns are possessive in form and that you don't have to do anything to them to make them possessive. If you can't tell the words apart, read the sentence aloud, and substitute the uncontracted pronoun and verb. If they sound right, use the contracted form; if the sentence sounds nonsensical, use the possessive.

The snake shed (its, it's) skin. The snake shed it is skin. (Sounds nonsensical). The snake shed its skin.

• their, there, they're: Their is a possessive pronoun, there is an adverb of location, and they're is the pronoun-verb contraction of they are. Ex. Two companies in the building over there are rehiring their employees who had been laid off. They're happy to return to work.
• your, you're: Your is a possessive pronoun. You're is the pronoun-verb contraction of you are. Ex. You're now ready to place your resume on the class home page.
• its, it's: Its = poss. pro. it's = it is contraction. It's often necessary to have a class attendance policy.
• whose, who's: whose = poss. pro. who's= who is contraction.

  Ex. Who's collecting the money for Bosnia relief?

The final group is made up of three pairs of verbs: lie/lay, set/sit, and rise/raise. I have listed the principal parts of each verb below. The problem again is one of sound. The verbs marked with an asterisk will take an object, i.e. you have to lay or set or raise something (like raise the flag). The other verbs will not take an object.

Ex. He (laid, lay) down to take a nap. He placed (put) down to take a nap (sounds nonsensical).  He lay down to take a nap.