Witch word is which? Easy-to-mix-up vocab

Witch word is which? Easy-to-mix-up vocab

By Rebecca Cuthbert.

So many words are easy to mistake for same-sounding homophones, or for words that are close in spelling or meaning. Here are a few I see often, as a teacher and an editor.

Farther vs. Further

I'm a word nerd. In my college years, I noticed these were used interchangeably by most folks, and I also knew that couldn't be right. So I asked one of my professors. The distinction is types of distance. "Farther," with an A, refers to physical distance--distance you could measure, if you wanted to. Example: "I live farther from the airport than Doug, so he will pick you up." "Further," with a U, refers to psychological or emotional distance. Example: "Your assumption that I care about celebrities' diets couldn't be further from the truth."

Affect vs. Effect

These ones get tricky, but we'll talk about their common usages. "Affect," with an A, is a verb meaning to bring about change. Example: "Your judgment of my side ponytail doesn't affect me; I know it's rad." "Effect," with an E, is a noun: "I love the special effects in the movie Alien."

Hoard vs. Horde

"Hoard" is a verb, meaning to gather and guard a particular item or items, like "Stop hoarding all the good chocolate; no one wants the Mr. Goodbars" (Editor's note: D.L. will never turn down a Mr. Goodbar). Horde, though, means a large group of people or things, and it usually has a negative connotation. Example: "Oh no! This horde of zombies descending on our town is worse than the horde of vampires we dealt with last week!"

Ensure vs. Insure vs. Assure

Here's a triptych for you.

"Ensure" is a verb meaning to promise or confirm. So, an example could be "I have ensured all zombie traps all around the perimeter are operative." "Insure," with an I, refers to that thing we all need to drive our cars legally, i.e. "I need to insure my car before I put it on the road." "Assure" is close to "ensure," but it means to comfort someone. So, "I assure you madam, no zombies will breach our defenses tonight (because they're already here! Mwahahahahahahaha!)."

Everyday vs. Every day

This is the bane of my existence as a writer instructor and editor.

"Everyday" as one word is ONLY EVER an adjective WHEN USED BEFORE THE NOUN IT DESCRIBES, as in "daily." So, an example is "I must have my everyday coffee or I will choke the first person who speaks to me." When "every day" is two words, it means "each day." So, "I must have two cups of coffee every day or I will choke the first person who talks to me." As I tell my students, if you think of these words' equivalents, they are easy to keep straight. "Everyday" = "Daily." "Every day" = "each day." One to one, two to two.

Than vs. Then

"Than," with an A, signifies comparison. So, "I am shorter than D.L." (This is true; he is very tall.) "Then," with an E, signifies either time or order of operations: "When it's three o'clock, I will let myself take a nap, but then and only then." Or, "Put on your underwear, then your pants. Not the other way around (unless you're a superhero)."

And last, but perhaps most frustrating to every writer in the world...

Lay vs. Lie

Okay, folks. Here we have to use the term "reflexive verb." This means an action you do WITH or TO yourself. Essentially, a reflexive verb means that the speaker is both the subject and the object of a sentence (remember that a subject DOES the thing; the object gets the thing done TO it.) So, when you say, "I have to shower," it means you are showering yourself.

Now that we've got that down, "lie," when used in this context, is the preset tense of a reflexive verb meaning to put yourself in a horizontal position. So, "I have a headache and need to lie down." What makes this extra tricky is that "lay" is the PAST TENSE form of this reflexive verb. So, in past tense, "I lay down for about an hour because I had a headache." And past perfect tense? Well, friends, that is the weird-sounding word "lain." "I had lain down for about an hour before Margo called and told me it was time to drink margaritas." Got it? So, for the reflexive verb, we have "lie" for present tense, "will lie" for future tense, "lay" for past tense, and "lain" for past perfect tense (when something was done BEFORE something else in the past). Phew. That's a lot.

"Lay," then, is the present tense of the verb that means to put something down. So, "I lay the zombie trap, then wait--my prey will come to me this time" or "Lay the tray down over there, and don't spill the margaritas." The past tense of this verb is "laid." So, "I laid the zombie traps and waited." The past perfect tense? "Had laid." "He had laid his cards on the table, jumped up, and screamed that he was rich." So here, we have "lay" for present tense, "will lay" for future tense, "laid" for past tense, and "had laid" for past perfect tense. Got it? Probably not. So print this out and tape it to the wall above your desk. 

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