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Hello lovelies, and welcome to #writenowwednesday! We’ve been pumping out book reviews pretty hard lately, so I thought I’d take the time to get some more writing tips in here. Let’s talk about commonly misused words!
Whether you’re writing real estate copy, or you’re vying to give Shakespeare a run for his money, it’s important that you understand the differences between these often troublesome words.
If you’re ever unsure, you can turn to your best friend, Google, or you can use Grammarly to review your copy and point out possible errors! I’ve been using their services recently and I’m loving it. It can be difficult to edit your own work, which is a topic we’ll get into another time, so it’s pretty handy!
Now, have a look at this list and let me know if you’re guilty of misusing any of these doozies!
- Regardless and irregardless.
The difference: irregardless is not a word. - Imply and infer.
To imply is something the speaker does; they hint at a message, for example.
To infer is something the reader does; assuming what the message is, without evidence. - Fewer and less.
Fewer is used when we’re talking about something we can quantify in numbers.
Less is used when we can’t! - Farther and further.
Farther relates to distance.
Further is figurative; we need not delve any further into that. - Affect and effect. This one gets me all the fucking time.
Affect is a verb. Example: Wrapping my head around this is really starting to affect me.
Effect is a noun. Example: Wrapping my head around this is having an effect on me. - Exasperated and exacerbated.
Exasperated is the feeling of annoyance.
Exacerbated is when a problem is made worse. - Compliment and complement.
A compliment is a nice thing you say to/about someone.
A complement is something that goes well with something else. - Your and you’re.
“Your” is always the possessive.
“You’re” is always the contraction of you + are.
I love my mom to death, but she never uses “you’re.” She often texts me and says “your nuts!” and I can’t help but reply with “what about my nuts?”
- Could of and could have.
“Could of” is never correct. (Same with “would of” and “should of”). - Principal and principle.
A principal is the person in charge of a school.
A principle is a moral, rule, or doctrine.
PHEW. There are so many more where these came from, but we’ll save those for another time. Misused phrases/sayings, for example, deserve a post unto themselves!
Back in my days of writing FanFiction exclusively, I remember so many people would misuse these words, and/or put “(sp???)” right next to the word. The message was clear enough that they were admitting they weren’t sure of how to spell the word, but for fuck sakes, Google it!
From a reader perspective, it can be a major turn off to come across that when you’re engrossed in a story. It takes reader out of the world that you so painstakingly worked on, so it’s very important to keep your copy as clean as possible.
What are some other words you tend to mix up? Are there any you’re unsure about? Let’s chat!
Til next time, darlings! I hope this list will help you get your stories out into the world!