In mid-May, 2009, at the end of the grading period, a spate of faculty & staff e-mails circulated listing simple errors that are repetitively found in today’s writing. You would do well to learn the distinctions among the words below and to maintain those distinctions in your own writing.
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Then versus than. Then = sequence. Note all the e’s. Than = comparison. Note: no e is involved.
Woman versus women. Woman = singular word, equivalent to man. You wouldn’t write, “A men walked down the street.” Do not write “A women walked down the street” — or anything equivalent.
Affect versus effect. Affect is usually a verb (meaning to influence something) while effect is usually a noun (meaning the result).
Imply versus infer. The writer or speaker implies while the reader or listener infers.
There versus their. Remember there contains “here” and thus indicates location. Their contains “heir” which conveys possession, and of course they’re is a contraction of they are.
To versus too versus two. To is a preposition, too is an adverb, and two is a number!
It’s versus its. It’s is a shortened verb form meaning “it is” while its is a possessive pronoun.
Lose versus loose and chose versus choose. Proofread carefully!
Whether (yes/no situation: two possibilities) versus if (generic situation, open-ended possibilities).
Whether versus weather.
Few and many (‘count noun’ situations) versus little and much (‘mass noun’ situations).
Number versus amount. It is not “the amount of people….” but rather “the number of people.”
Principle versus principal.
Desert versus dessert.
Definite versus defiantly. “This generation spells definite as ‘definate,’ so the spell checker suggests ‘defiantly.’ This leads to wonderful sentences in which the students defiantly plan to do this or that or claim to be defiantly this or that. Actually, I wish they were more defiant.”
Avoid mangling the contractions would’ve, could’ve and should’ve into the nonsensical would of, could of and should of.
Your versus You’re
Sculptor versus sculpture
Not every full-length work can be called a novel.
Do not misuse unique (as in very unique). Either something is unique or it isn’t unique. There is no in between.