Table of Contents Part 2:
Chapter 5: Same sound, different meaning? Chapter 6: Difficult Misconceptions Chapter 7: Subjects and Prepositions by Paddy Chapter 5: Same sound, different meaning?
But Squeek, some words sound the same and are almost spelled the exact same? How can we tell the difference?
If you ever run into that problem, here's a nice list of the proper uses of the most commonly mistaken words.
accept / except
affect / effect
bare / bear
carat / caret / carrot / karat
cite / sight / site
dual / duel
fair / fare
for / fore / four
its / it's
passed / past
sense / since
their / there / they're
then / than
to / too / two
weather / whether
whose / who's
who / whom
your / you're
(Be glad I'm not going this far :
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html )
Let's begin.
Accept / Except (
More information)
Accept - Accept is a verb. Its meaning is "to take something in". Accepting something is receiving something.
I accept this Grammy award on behalf of such and such. Except - Except is a special word used in order to exclude something from a previous statement.
Everybody here is smart except for such and such. Affect / Effect (
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Affect - Affect is a verb. To affect something is to cause it to do something it may not have normally done.
I affected the thermal reactor by throwing in some candy. Effect - Some like to explain effect as what comes after an affected item. It is what HAS happened to the item.
What effect can drugs have on your mind? Bare / Bear (
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Bare - Bare means raw, or down to nothing. People often use the phrase "bare minimum" in this case.
We're down to the bare necessities for survival here. Bear - Almost always associated with an animal. For some reason, there are two special cases. "Bear with it" and "Bear children" are those two special cases.
Winnie the Pooh is a bear. Carat / Caret / Carrot / Karat (
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Carat - The measurement of weight in a precious stone. Can be used as "karat" as well when referring to gold alloy.
This is a solid 15-carat diamond. Caret - Carets are your friends. A caret is used so many times and is misused so many more. This is a caret -> ^ . It is used as an exponential display device, an insertion device in proofreading, and to make some annoying anime-esque faces.
^_^ / 2x^2 = 2x squared. Carrot - So simple. A carrot is a vegetable. It is nothing else. It is that nice orange vegetable that we all seem to enjoy eating.
Bugs Bunny loves carrots. Karat - Used to measure the proportion of pure gold in an alloy. Also used alongside "carat" to display gold easier.
24K gold is really hard to find. Cite / Sight / Site (
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Cite - To cite something is to reference it. You must use citations when quoting somebody else in order to avoid a call of plagiarism.
Cite your sources to prove your worth! Sight - Vision-related. Sight is your sense of seeing things. You can also use this term when referring to a rifle with a scope on it.
That's a sight for sore eyes! Site - Location-related. A site is a place. A website is also a place. Very easy stuff here.
The construction site was off-limits to most people. Dual / Duel (
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Dual - Two of something.
I have a dual monitor setup on my machine Duel - A two-person battle.
I challenge you to a duel! Fair / Fare (
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Fair - A description of the plausibility of something or an event. You can say that something "is not fair", which means it is one-sided or just not according to your standards.
I did not think it was fair that the fair closed early this year. Fare - Money for a ride, or how someone handles something.
They did not bring their fare money. I hope they fare well without it. For / Fore / Four (
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For - This word is used to allocate a location to which something is going. When you do something, you do it FOR something.
I'm raising money for the children. Fore - Golf term. It is what you shout when you hit the ball and realize there's a possibility somebody may get hit by it. Also used to describe something in front of another thing.
Careful attention must be taken to present the foreground as well as the background. Four - Alphabetical representation of the number "4". There is no other purpose. Please note that adding a "0" onto this makes it "forty", not "fourty".
I can count to four. Its / It's (
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Its - Showing possession of an object that is not a human. "The dog's bone" becomes "its bone." Rule of thumb: replace with "his" or "her" and see if it still makes sense.
You don't want to mess with its stuff. That thing will destroy you. It's - IT IS. Simply that. The only exception is that sometimes it means "IT HAS". There's no other time to use this. Rule of thumb: replace with "it is / has" and see if it still makes sense.
It's a shame so many people confuse this rule. Passed / Past (
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Passed - Showing something is following the action of passing. Hard to explain, but you would use this with passing gravy, or passing an exam.
Billy passed the gravy. (Whoa, so creative)
Past - Time / distance. The opposite of "future" is "past". When something just moved ahead of you, they got past you. When using in the form of action, usually a verb comes before it.
We drove past his house, but all the lights were off. Sense / Since (
More information)
Sense - A sense is one of the five things you can do to identify something. It is also a form of expressing intellect.
It's common sense that the sense of smell is the best! Since - Generally a replacement for the word "because".
Since you're here, why not clean the (whatever)? There / Their / They're (
More information)
There - If it's not "their" or "they're", it's always "there". Generally expresses a location of an item, but means other things. Just remember the first line I said and you'll be fine.
There goes the neighborhood... Their - Only one thing: possessive. This is to show a group of something's something. Very simple.
I can't believe everybody left their backpacks here! They're - They are. Only they are. Nothing else, ever. If you cannot replace "they are" for "they're", you're wrong in using it.
What are they doing? They're destroying private property! Than / Then (
More information)
Than - Comparison word. That's all.
Why are you not smarter than I am? Then - Used both to express a non-specific time and the second+ item after something else occurs.
If x=9, then y=17. First you add 5 to x, then 14 to y. To / Too / Two (
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To - If it's not "too" or "two", it's "to." Usually used before a verb to have it in base format.
We're going to go to the mall. Too - Also and excessive. One or the other and nothing else. You can include something in something (also, as well) and use "too". You can say something is "too much" of something.
I, too, think that at 10% sales tax is far too much. Two - Alphabetical representation of the number "2." This is the only use for this word.
Now I've forgotten how to count to four and can only count to two. Weather / Whether (
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Weather - Climate in a specific area. Describing rain or snow is describing weather.
The weather outside is sunny with a low chance of rain. Whether - Used to determine if something is one way or another.
I can't decide whether to vote for Bush or Kerry. Whose / Who's (
More information)
Whose - Possessive. When used as a question, it is asking who some item belongs to.
Whose hat is this? Who's - Who is/has. There is no other rule for this.
Who's been eating from the cookie jar? Who / Whom (
More information)
Who - Subject form. Explained by Guido.
Who are you? Whom - Object form. Explained by Guido.
To whom are you giving this? Your / You're (
More information)
Your - Possessive. Many other meanings, but the simplest way to remember to use this is if "you are" doesn't fill in for the word.
It's your time to die. You're - You are. Nothing else. If it doesn't fill in, it's "your".
You're going to regret that.
Fin.
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Chapter 6: Difficult Misconceptions Amount / Number (
More Information)
Amount refers to a
quantity of something. You use words like "little", "less", and "much" when referring to amounts.
Number refers to the
number of something. You use words like "few", "fewer", and "many" when referring to numbers.
Basically, "number" is used for things you can count.
Bring / Take (
More Information)
You bring things to events you are coming to. You take things to events you are going to. This is hard, I know. Read the guy's site.
Good / Well (
More Information)
Good is an adjective. Well is an adverb. Use them as such. Read his site.
Itch / Scratch (
More Information)
Quite simple, really. You cannot itch something. It just isn't possible. An itch is a feeling you get that makes you want to scratch. So simple.
Set up / Setup (
More Information)
A setup is like a configuration. My computer setup rules. DJShox's musical setup is quite nice. You have to set up the setup at one point. That is to say, you need to put everything in place during the set up.
That / Who (
More Information)
Generally speaking, "that" refers to an object that is not human and "who" refers to a person who is human (see the example here?). It's impolite to refer to a person as a non-human.
That / Which (
More Information)
This is a difficult distinction, but it is generally assumed that "that" will not be preceded by a comma and "which" will be. I have nothing else to offer on this one.
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Chapter 7: Subjects and Prepositions by Paddy
Okay, let me start by discussing the simple sentence structure of the English language. We have an SVO system in English, that is to say, a simple sentence will begin with a subject, then have a conjugated verb which may or may not be followed by an object (Japanese, by contrast, has an SOV system).
The sentence "I hit the ball" has those three parts. "I" is the subject, "hit" is the verb, and "the ball" is the object.
I have a chain of logic with this, so please bear with me; I know y'all aren't first graders.
Now, when it comes to people and the words that represent them, there are often two different words that represent the same thing. Such words are I/me, we/us, he/him, she/her, and they/them. Obviously, these words, although they represent the same things in their respective pairs, cannot be used interchangeably, so there must be a difference.
That difference is that the first word in each pair is the subjective form, and the second is the
objective form. As you may have guessed, the subjective form is used when the idea represented by the word is the subject of the sentence, and the object is used when the idea is the object.
Example:
I hit the ball. The ball hit
me.
This is why it's incorrect to answer a ringing phone and, upon the other end asking for you, say, "This is him." You should, in fact, say, "This is he." Also, you can now understand why it's so wrong use the common phrase in its original form of, "Woe is me."
Read:
Woe is I, by Patricia T. O'Conner.
Now that that's been said, we're now ready to cover the differences between "who" and "whom."
Simply put, "who" is subjective and "whom" is objective. But there is one more thing I need to add. When you have a prepositional phrase (a
preposition followed by a noun or a noun phrase), the noun part is considered the object of the preposition. Because of this, one of those personal subjects will always take the objective form when it follows a preposition, as will whom. This also applies to whoever and whomever.
However, the object of a preposition can be an entire clause (a phrase with both a subject and a verb). Because of this, you can have the subjective form of a word following a preposition, as in the sentence, "He was before whoever was last." Ordinarily, you would use the objective form because "before" is a preposition, like when you say, "He was before me," but since the object of the preposition is a clause you need a subject, like in, "He left before I arrived."
This leads me to a VERY common grammatical error regarding comparisons.
WRONG: You are better than me at Stepmania.
Whenever you use "than" for comparisons, you need to realize that you will often leave out a verb that is understood.
RIGHT: You are better than I at Stepmania.
It is understood that you are saying "You are better than I am at Stepmania, but just because you don't say it doesn't mean it's not there. Just think: you wouldn't say, "You are better than me am at Stepmania," would you?
The last thing I want to cover is regarding prepositions. Technically, it is illegal (in the grammar sense) to end a sentence with a preposition. Now, this is one of the less-respected rules simply because being completely compliant with it can make for some extremely awkward sentences, and sometimes even I can't figure out how they should be worded. However, most of the time they make sentences look much better.
For example:
WRONG: She is the one I gave the present to.
RIGHT: She is the one to whom I gave the present.
If you pay attention to this rule, you'll start to notice how ugly the former sentence looks and sounds. Of course, there are some sentences which are just obscene even though they are correct. If I can think of one some time I'll put it up here. As a closing point, I'll leave y'all with a relevant quote:
"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put!" --Winston Churchill
And thus I end my second entry.
Paddy
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Random fun - ATM, PIN, UPC, and HIV don't need extra words after them. Telling someone to use an "ATM Machine" is like telling them to use an "Automated Teller Machine Machine". Same goes for "Human Immunodeficiency Virus ", "Personal Identification Number", and "Universal Product Code". This same rule applies to the "Rio Grande" which, in Spanish, means "Big River". Adding another "river" to it is just redundant.
For more Spanish goodness, consider the "Sierra Nevadas". "Sierra" means "mountain", so adding a second "mountain" to the mountains is just crazy talk. "RSVP Please" is also quite silly to say since we should all know that "RSVP" is French for "Reply, please" (répondez s'il vous plaît). Likewise, there is no "CD-ROM Disc" or "DVD Disc". The "D" in both those acronyms stands for "disc". You may not know that the Middle Ages are not referred to as the "Medieval Ages" because "eval" means "age".
And as another side-note, "XMas" is religiously sound, so tell all your Christian friends to bug off if they whine about it.
