Category Archives: confusing words

Replay Thursday

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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.

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Confusing Words Of The Week

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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 [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • ballot – a sheet of paper used to cast a secret vote
  • ballet – a theatrical art form using dancing, music, and scenery to convey a story, theme, or atmosphere

Memory tips:

  • ballot – remember the “o” is the same as in vOte
  • ballet – I just think of the sound I would make if I was on tippy toes “EEEEEEE”

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Grammar Giggles – Let’s Whip The Whipped Cream

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This was the menu for a restaurant I stopped at on my way out of town this past weekend. To “whip” cream is the action of whipping or stirring vigorously to thicken it. Once you are done, it is “whipped” cream. So this menu is incorrect. It should say “whipped” cream. But at least they were consistent!

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Confusing Words Of The Week

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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 [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • Flier – a pilot
    • Her grandfather was a flier in World War II.
  • Flyer – an advertising brochure
    • The flyer didn’t have the event’s start time.

Memory tips:

  • Flier – Remember the “i” in Flier is like the “i” in Pilot
  • Flyer – Just think about all the advertising brochures you get and how you would like to fold them into paper airplanes that look kind of like the letter “y” upside down–and they don’t need a flier
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Grammar Giggle – Proceeding

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I was working on this document recently creating a template for responses to requests for production for one of our attorneys. This is from the original requests. This is another example of an error that spellcheck will not catch because while it IS a legitimate and correctly-spelled word, it is not the CORRECT word. “Proceed” means to advance, as in proceeding in a certain direction, and “precede” means to go before, as in the years preceding 2012. And what is with the random ending bracket? I read it over several times and did not find an opening bracket. I will have to give them this–at least their cut and paste skills were on point because this same error was in every matching paragraph for each request.

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Grammar Giggle – Board?

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A friend sent this to me. She said that she reads a lot of medical records and sometimes the “typist” has some really bad errors that make it hard to understand. She said this appears to be standard questions that were asked, but you can see the error. Just because it passes spell check doesn’t mean it’s the right word!

Bored2

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Confusing Words Of The Week

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Words of the WeekIt’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 [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • persecute – to oppress
    • His intent was to persecute the shy boy to make him quit the team.
  • prosecute – to sue
    • His intent was to prosecute the neighbors for their barking dog.

Memory tips:

  • persecute – if you sound out oppress slowly, it could sound out o-per-ess
  • prosecute – it makes more sense to hire a pro to sue someone
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Confusing Words Of The Week

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Words of the WeekIt’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 [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • marital – pertaining to marriage
    • The marital assets were the home, the car, and the savings account.
  • martial – military
    • Martial law may be used in temporary emergencies like a national disaster.

Memory tips:

  • marital – You will need to look at the placement of the “i.” In marital it is before the second “a,” just like it is in marriage and before the “t” to show that the spouses are connected, just like in a marriage.
  • martial – In martial, think of the old westerns and how the marshal was in charge, so martial (pronounced just like marshal) is someone else in charge (like the marshal).
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Grammar Giggle – What Kind Of Wall?

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I am posting this to teach proofreading skills NOT as a political statement and I will not tolerate any comments on this blog regarding politics. They will be deleted. If you want to post about politics, there are plenty of places to do that, this just isn’t one of them. Thanks!

This headline recently showed up as “Breaking News” in my email:

 

Board Wall2

Well, I had a feeling it wasn’t a “Board” Wall they were really discussing, so I clicked on the “Read More” and this is what the article headline actually looked like:

Border_Wall

Again, I think this is a product of news outlets moving far too fast to be the first one out with the news and depending too much on spell check. Slow it down, people!

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Confusing Words Of The Week

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Words of the WeekIt’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 [email protected] and they may appear here soon!

This week’s words are:

  • waiver – the giving up of a claim
  • waver – to hesitate

Memory tips:

  • waiver – I am giving up my interest in something
  • waver – the flag waves when it is blowing (or wavering) in the wind
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