Ever wonder what the correct word to use is? Cia has written a blog entry to help show which word should be used in different instances. It's been a while since we had a Grammar Rodeo, but I find these posts to be rather informative and we hope you do too.

When writing, most authors know there are homophones to watch out for, and we all know the big ones like your/you’re/yore and there/their/they’re. But there are a lot of words that are harder to figure out because they’re not as common.

Affect/Effect

I know I’ve written this one up before, but I see it misused a lot. An affect is a verb and an effect is a noun. The way I remember it is affect = action word. If something is affecting something else, an action is occurring. Effect is the result of an action.

Examples:

I want this scene to affect my readers in a meaningful way.

The effect of the scene was devastating.

Me vs I

Using I or me can be confusing for some, usually when used with another noun (usually another person). The difference in use is whether or not the pronoun is being used as the subject or object of the verb. I could explain the difference if you don’t automatically know the difference between subjects and objects in a sentence… or I could just remind you of the easy cheat: Take the other noun out of the sentence.

Examples:

Chase and me went to the store vs Chase and I went to the store. Take out ‘Chase and’

Me went to the store vs I went to the store. Easier to figure out.

Can you send the files to Patrick and I? vs Can you send the files to Patrick and me?

Can you send the files to I? vs Can you send the files to me?

Peak vs Peek vs Pique

Most people know peak vs peek, but I often see them used equally as often instead of pique because authors don’t know that’s a whole other spelling. Peak means a pointy point, like a mountain, peek means to take a quick look, and pique means to stimulate or be irritated.

Examples:

We climbed to the peak.

She took a peek at the cake before the party.

She left the party in a fit of pique, upset at the gossip circulating among the guests.

Lose vs Loose

Really, these words aren’t anywhere close to each other in meaning, but you see authors not knowing the difference all the time.

Lose means to fail to keep/maintain or cease to have while loose means not tight, not in possession, lacking in restraint, ect…. These sentences are almost exactly the same but mean totally different things.

Examples:

Lose the ball means to get rid of it/not be able to find the ball.

Loose the ball means to let the ball go, like if you threw it.

Then vs Than

I have a simple trick to help remember which should be used and when. First, what do they mean? Then indicates time and than compares items.

Memory Trick

Then = Time such as We went to the store then the park.

Than = Compare such as The kids liked the trip to the park better than the store.

Compliment vs Complement

Another example where the words sound the same and are spelled very close… yet the meaning is completely different. You can use the letters to help remember here too. Complement means to complete or enhance something. Compliment means an expression of praise or the action of praising someone.

Examples:

Her scarf complemented her dress.

He complimented her choice of scarf.

Farther vs Further

Yet again, similar but not the same. Both farther and further are often used as if they’re interchangeable, but in reality, there is a difference in the shades of meaning in the words that both mean ‘a great distance’. Unfortunately, I don’t have any tricks for this one, you just have to remember.

Farther is used to indicate a physical distance and further is used to indicate a figurative distance.

Examples:

We went farther than any other team in the race.

Nothing he said could further from the truth.

What other words do you commonly see misused?