A reader sent this one to me. Apparently it’s not only my news station that can’t get things correct.

A reader sent this one to me. Apparently it’s not only my news station that can’t get things correct.

It’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to proofthatblog@gmail.com and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:
theirs – possessive form of they; used when a noun does not follow
there’s – contraction of there is or there are
Memory tips:
I saw this one last week on vacation and made my brother-in-law turn around so I could get a picture of it.

A friend sent this to me after she saw it at a restaurant. It’s really a shame that dictionaries are not used when they are so easily available on the cell phones most people carry like they’re an appendage. It’s easy to check on something that you might not be sure of.

It’s time for a review of recent blog posts just in case you’ve missed them. We call this Replay Thursday. Here are posts from Proof That proofreading blog and 60 Is The New 60 blog during the past week.
It’s time for “Confusing Words of the Week” where I take a set of two or three words that get confused and give you definitions and try to give you a memory trick to help you remember when to use which word. If you have words that confuse you, use the Ask PTB tab on the website or send an email to proofthatblog@gmail.com and they may appear here soon!
This week’s words are:
pole – a long, slender piece of wood or metal.
poll – (n.) the casting of votes by a body of persons; (v) to register the votes of
Memory tips:
I saw this recently on Inside Edition.

I received this unsolicited text recently. All I can do is shake my head. It should be “whose.”

I took these from a menu at a restaurant in Sedona, Arizona. I typically give a little more grace to restaurants where the owners may not use English as their first language, but in this case, they got in right in other places.


A reader sent this to me. This sign has been in her parking garage for months and she finally took a picture of it for us.
