Righting the Write Words - Part 2

After my last post on Righting the Write Words I received a couple of emails about similar words which were not covered in that post. So, now I have a part two! Thanks for your suggestions. Remember, these are ways I remember how to use the words, and not necessarily the best ways.

These are words we all come across from time to time, and I'm sure, if not for a split second, you question yourself on which word to choose. If you're like me, you skip on over to dictionary.com to look them up.

I'll try to keep them in alphabetical order, so if you made a suggestion and it didn't start with "A", by all means, scroll down! And there you go.

Now, for part 2 of Righting the Write Words!


Advice is a noun and it's what your husband gives to the guy who is getting ready to take your daughter on a date for the first time.

Advise is the verb and it's what your husband does when a guy is getting ready to take your daughter on a date for the first time.



Ades are fruit drinks.

Aides are people who help.

Aids is what someone does when they help.

AIDS is an acronym for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome



Aisle is a passageway.

I'll is a contraction of "I" and "will".

And, isle is the last four letters of my name! Why is it so hard for people to spell Carlisle? It's the name "Carl" and the word "isle" which means a small island. You don't spell my last name Carlyle or Carlile. It's Carlisle!



Board is a piece of wood or a group of people.

Bored means I'm just not interested in what you're saying right now.



Device is a noun and can be anything from my iPad to this interesting piece of code that's tracking your IP address as you read this text. Just kidding, but that would be a device.

Devise is a verb and it's what I did to create that IP tracking code. I devised the plan and invented that device.



Discreet means careful or confidential.

Discrete means individual or distinct.

Tim just says it's where he parks his car. In discreet. Get it?  

Eh hem, anyway...


Foreword is an introduction to a book written by someone other than the author. I never did get this one. It's like a son writes a foreword on a book his mother wrote and it's about her son who has A.D.D.

This is a story from the point of view of a mother dealing with a son who acquires a condition known as A.D.D Attention Deficit Disorder. The son is deeply sorry for the pain he inflicted upon his parents during these very trying times, but alas, her story is intriguing and you will be emotionally touched, as was I. -- Author's loving son.

Forward is the opposite of backward.


Hangar is a shed or shelter for airplanes.

Hanger is what you use to hang up your clothes.


You hear sounds and you sit here to listen to them.


Lead is a metal element (noun - pronounced "led") and it's confusing because...

Led is the past tense of lead (verb - pronounced "leed"). See? Confusing!



Naval pertains to ships.

Navel is your belly button or a type of orange. But why? I never understood this. What does your belly button have to do with a type of orange?


Ordinance is a law.

Ordnance means military weapons and ammunition.


Peace means calm.

Piece means a portion of something.

I called Farmers & Merchants Bank some time last year to inform them of a grammatical error on a sign outside their branch office. Piece of mind was not what I believed they meant to convey to the public. The next day, a whole different message was up, something about discounted jumbo CDs.


Peak is the top of a mountain.

Peek is a verb and means to glance furtively.

Pique means to wound someone's pride or to excite interest.


Than is used for comparison.

I thought you were smarter than that.

Then is used for everything else. Not really. It's used for time, sequence, and in addition to.

1. She wasn't home then. (time)
2. Then I came back. (sequence)
3. It cost $500.00. And then there's the tax and shipping. Then you need to tip. (in addition to)

A vial is a small container for holding liquids.

Vile is an adjective which describes something or someone as being repulsive or depraved.


And finally, my favorite!

Who vs. Whom

Who refers to the subject and whom refers to the object. Sure, that's confusing, so here's my test to decide which to use.

If you can replace the word with "he" or "she" then who is correct.

If you can replace the word with "him" or "her" then whom is correct.

Examples:

Who wrote the letter?
She wrote the letter.
  not 
Her wrote the letter.

Whom did the principal scold?
The principal scolded her.
  not 
The principal scolded she.

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Righting the Write Words - Part 1

I've been running into plenty of these situations lately where writers are ignoring the rules of grammar or just not proofing their work as diligently as they should. I've made these same mistakes, so don't go all whiny on me about my being some sort of snot for posting this. Grammar is very important to me, and as a reader, if we're going to have an intimate relationship, please learn to keep it clean.

It's okay with our drafts, because our spellcheckers don't always alert on these commonly mistaken words. This is more a simple reminder for myself. The more I preach it, the more likely I am to pay attention when selecting my words. I'll start with the obvious, and I'm providing some more words toward the end of this post, those I had to look up to remind myself of the meanings.

So here they are!


Contractions examples:

Who's is the contraction of who and is and shouldn't be confused with the other.

Whose is the same as asking who will take ownership of something.

"So, whose idea was it to put the goldfish in the toilet?"

It's is the contraction of it and is and shouldn't be confused with the other.

Its is actually the possessive pronoun like his and hers and indicates belonging.

"When were you going to tell me about the new dog and its seven puppies I found in the garage?"

There, their, and they're examples:

1. I ran like hell and I left my keys over there.
2. The looks on their faces tell me I shouldn't go back.
3. They're bound to come after me at some point.

To, two, and too examples:

1. I'm heading to the store.
2. I'm buying two loaves of bread.
3. Would you like to come, too?

And more confusing words


Whether - used to introduce an alternative.

"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry."

Weather - it's what two boring people talk about when they have nothing interesting to say.

"Yep, looks like rain. Been some nasty weather around lately."

Affect - is a verb meaning to have an influence on.

"Her stupidity is affecting my ability to do my job."

Effect - is a noun meaning a cause of change brought about by an agent.

"He had a major effect on the outcome of that game."

Loose - is an adjective meaning not fastened, contained or restrained.

"Your dress is too loose. Maybe try a smaller size?"

Lose - is a verb and has many meanings such as not to win, to mislay, etc.

"Check mate, you lose."

Accept - is a verb and has many meanings among which are to receive something.

"I accept your apology."

Except - is a preposition meaning 'with the exclusion of'.

"You can have all the Eagles albums except their greatest hits."

Elicit - is a verb meaning to bring or draw out/gather information.

"Don't try to elicit a confession from me. I told you already, I didn't do it."

Illicit - is an adjective meaning not sanctioned by custom or law.

"She performed illicit sexual acts on the stage."

Passed - this is the past tense of the verb to pass.

"He passed me the ball and I ran it in for the touch down."

Past - the time before the present, no longer current.

"In the past, we would just draw straws and the person with the short straw was shit out of luck."

Complement - to complete, make whole, or bring to perfection.

"That blue color complements your eyes."

Compliment - an expression of praise, admiration, or congratulation.

"She's always fishing for compliments."

Dependent - relying on or requiring the aid of another.

"My schedule next week is dependent upon my mother's arrival."

Dependant - one who relies on another, especially for financial support.

"As my dependant, my daughter will remain enrolled in my health care program until she finishes college."

And, to avoid any confusion in the future, remember this:

A councillor is a member of a council (noun), which is a deliberate body of people.

A counsellor is a person who counsels (verb) others.


Are there other words you find yourself looking up to ensure you're using the write one? Affect and effect are my problem ones. I look them up every time I want to use one or the other, because I never remember which is witch.

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G is for Grammar, Grace, and Gratitude

There are elements of writing which make us unique from one another. The two most important are style and voice. When you are going for brand, you want to be different, especially when you have a quality product. No woman wants to show up at the Ball and find another woman wearing the same dress. You want to stand out and be noticed, because your brand is what defines you. You might feel differently if you operate in a country which makes money in the mass production of rubber dog shit.

Grammar

Unlike style and voice, grammar is the one thing where there is no standing out for the better, only for the worse when you do not comply. We all need to unite under the same rules which dictate proper grammar. There’s no doubt I am one of those people who would need to hire an editor to comb through my writing. 

I know what you are thinking: I’m a writer, not an editor! I say you should learn how to edit. Learn proper grammar. If I were an editor reading gross grammatical errors in the first pages of a manuscript, I’m going to miss the story. Why? Because I would be horrified at how much work lies before me in the next 200 pages. Brand is important to your image, but grammar is important to your integrity.

Brand : clothing :: grammar : hygiene

Grace

It is difficult to accept criticism, but if we are to improve our skills, we have to rely upon our fellow readers and writers to give the feedback when there is a problem. I have been reading and writing in many different forums over the past 15 years and I can tell you some of the more common reactions from writers when they are given negative feedback on their work. However, I won’t. Why? Because I’m a positive person and I believe in sharing positive things, with the exception of the big, black woman who beat myass.

Instead, I want to share the most positive reaction to criticism, and that is grace. Have the grace to accept the criticism. You are not agreeing with the criticism when you accept it. There is a magical thing which happens when you accept criticism with grace. You discover a funnel of information by which you can choose to apply to your future work. Ta da! This leads to our next topic.

Gratitude

The biggest transformation in me since I’ve been writing is the gratitude I feel toward my fellow writers. The number of critiques I have received from both of my writer groups and from those of you out in the blogosphere have helped me to improve, not only my writing skills, but also the way in which I share with all of you.

This gratitude I feel is what keeps me contributing content in this wonderful world we share. And thus was born this idea for a blog post dealing with the letter “G”.

Have you found gratitude for others in your writing journey?

Visit my Alphabet Links:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Editing Tips For Your Draft

It’s Grammar Time!

I've been reading more posts about how we process revisions on our manuscripts. Well, I don't have a manuscript yet because I've been procrastinating for the past 5 years! However, I do have many short stories, blog posts, and essays which have had their share of "polishing".

In the past 3 years, I've received much feedback from my critique groups and my instructors at Gotham Writer's Workshop, but I’ve also learned to critique with what I call my 5 Scans.

1. I scan for ' you'

Notice the space before. My intention is to find all instances of "you", "your", and "you're" without picking up words like “bayou”. When you write, I'm sure your mind isn't on every single use, or misuse, of words you may have typed. This is why it's important to do this scan. I cringe whenever I see these types of mistakes published, so I'm sensitive about finding them in my own work. And, I do find them!


2. I scan for ' the'

Notice the space before. I do this because my intention is to find all instances of "their", "there", and "they're". However, I don't want my word processor to highlight "bathe". I do this for the same reason I do the first scan above. If you don’t understand these first two scans, please email me.


3. I scan for 'ly '

Notice the space after. My intention here is to find and eliminate as many of the "ly" adverbs as I can. My instructors hated them, and now, so do I.


4. I scan for 'start' and 'began'

If written in past tense (obviously I will scan for 'begin' if I had written in present tense). There are so many times we want to write things like:

It started to rain.

Well then, did it stop right away or did it continue? If it continued then it didn't start to rain, it obviously rained.

Likewise:

He began to sing and his voice was heavenly beautiful.

He sang, didn't he? If you heard him sing and his voice was beautiful, then he didn't just begin to do it. He did it. He sang!


5. I scan for ' that '

Notice the spaces before and after? How many of these irritants do you think I found in the last critique I did? 82!

If you're referring to an object, switch it out with "which" and if you're referring to a person, switch it out with "who" or "whom", whichever applies. Better even, if you can eliminate it altogether and make it more active, do it.

The blue boat is the one that won the race
The blue boat is the one which won the race
The blue boat won the race.

He was the one that met me at the park.
He was the one who met me at the park.
He met me at the park.

This is the dress that I wore to the prom.
This is the dress I wore to the prom.

So those are the 5 scans I do, no matter what I've written. My drafts always have these basic mistakes, but I don't want to worry about them while I am compiling and being creative. However, I don't want them to slip through the cracks, causing me a great deal of embarrassment.

Do you scan your work? And if so, what words do you scan for and why?