Commonly Confused Words

1. Commonly Confused Words

2. Transitive Intransitive • Action • Your subject must have an object to receive the action of the verb • He hit the dog. • She ate the éclair. • I shoved the door shut. • State of being • Cannot take objects or complements • The audience laughed. • The driver accelerated on the freeway.

3. Transitive Intransitive • Lay • Please lay the tax forms on the table. • Set: “to put” or “to place” • She set the dough in a warm corner of the kitchen. • Lie • The tax forms lie on the table. • Sit: “to be seated” • I sit in the back row in three of my classes.

4. It Gets Worse!

5. Examples • Sue was so exhausted that she laid lay down for a nap. • The patient had laid lain in an uncomfortable position all night. • The prosecutor lay laid the pistol in the table close to the jurors • Letters dating from the Civil War were laying lying in the corner of the chest.

6. Accept & Except • Accept: A verb meaning “to receive.” • I will accept all the packages. • Except: a preposition meaning “excluding” • I love all my classes except math.

7. Advice and Advise • Advice: noun • Advise: verb • We advise you to follow John’s advice.

8. Affect and Effect • Affect: a verb meaning “to influence.” • Effect: a noun meaning “result.” • The drug did not affect the disease, and it had adverse side effects.

9. All ready and already • All ready: “completely prepared” • Already: “previously” • Susan was all ready for the concert, but her friends had already left. • Allready is not a word in English!

10. A lot • A lot is TWO words. • Sam has lost a lot of weight. • Alot is not a word in English!

11. Between and Among • Between: use with two entities • You have a choice between carrots and beans. • Among: use with three or more entities • The prize was divided among several contests. • Amongst: don’t use it unless you’ve taken a time machine back 200 years!

12. Coarse and Course • Coarse: “crude” or “rough in texture” • The coarse weave of the wall hanging gave it a three-dimensional quality. • Course: a path, a playing field, or a unit of study • Of course: certainly • I plan to take a course in car repair this summer. Of course, you are welcome to join me.

13. Its and It’s • Its: a possessive pronoun • It’s: a contraction of the two words “it is” • It’s always fun to watch a dog chase its tail. • Its’ is not a word in English!

14. Lead and Led • Lead: a metallic element; it is a noun • Led: the past tense of the verb lead. • He led me to the treasure that was encased in a lead box.

15. Than and Then • Than: a conjunction used in comparisons • That pizza is more than I can eat. • Then: an adverb denoting time. • Tom laughed, and then we recognized him.

16. There, Their, and They’re • There: an adverb specifying place; an expletive (placeholder) • Sylvia is lying there unconscious. • There are two plums left. • Their: a possessive pronoun • Fred and Jane finally washed their car. • They’re: a contraction of “they are” • They’re later than usual today. • They’re there in their place.

17. To, Too, and Two • To: a preposition • Too: an adverb meaning “also” • Two: the number 2 • Too many of your shots slice to the left, but the last two were just right.

18. Weather and Whether • Weather: the state of the atmosphere. • Whether: refers to a choice between alternatives. • We wondered whether the weather would clear.

19. Your and You’re • Your: a possessive pronoun • Is that your new bike? • You’re: a contraction of you are. • You’re in the finals.