Some of my best friends are homophones, Pt. 2

[gwyn]

A few weeks ago, I talked about the concepts of homophones/homonyms/homographs, and why they can really affect an audience's interpretation of a writer. Now that the concept is underway, I thought I'd put down a list of the most common errors I see in fanfic (that last part is important -- there are enough problem words in the general world, but since this is for fans, I want to concentrate on the things vexing fan readers and writers the most).

Mostly this is because it's almost impossible to teach someone to recognize problem H/H words if they don't know they have a problem. Even the pros go haywire, and I have friends who I know are very aware of the different spellings and meanings of words, and still use the wrong ones all the time, don't check their posts over (or can't recognize their errors, I'm not sure), and then look like dorks. And they're smart people who I know are very aware of these problem words.

So if smart people make these blunders, then what's a poor person who just doesn't have the hang of the word game to do? Keep this list, go out and get a bigger list off the web (there are a surprising amount of home-school texts out there, I've discovered, that provide lists and flash-card type drills for these things), print everything you can find listing trouble spots, and refer to it. Get a dictionary, and if you think you have even the slightest trouble with a word (hmmm, maybe I saw something like that once...), look it up. Get that excellent Webster's Pocket Dictionary I mentioned before, that gives you problem words and tells you which one you want. And make bloody sure your beta knows these things and can catch them for you. We all have our intolerances, and even though I preach tolerance, this one tests me like freakin' Job in the desert -- and I'm not alone. So here are some problem pairs that you don't want to listen to people shrieking hysterically over.

accept (to receive) I accept the nomination for Sunnydale High class president.
except (other than) Everyone liked the ballet except Cordelia.

affect (to have an influence on) Chris's drinking affects his shooting.
effect (result) Ezra's new gun had quite the effect on everyone.
These two are also problematic in that effect can be used like a verb (to effect change), and affect like a noun (he had a flat affect). But don't sweat this if it's one of your problem pairs -- get the basic, most common part down, and you should be okay most of the time.

already and all right These two are actually spelled differently, even though they seem like similar words. I think, in some respects, this is changing enough that alright may soon become as common, but for now, it's still considered a variant.

allusion (indirect reference) Spike made allusion to the fact that he and Angel had had sex.
illusion (erroneous perception) Illyria created the illusion that she was Fred.
I don't see the first one a lot, but when I do, it's almost always wrong. This one's worth special attention.

bare (unclothed) Oz woke up in the forest, bare-ass naked.
bear (to carry, or an animal) Dawn couldn't bear the pain of Buffy's death.
This may be one of the most common errors I see in fic. It's also possibly the most laughable -- there's nothing more high-larious than someone writing about someone not being able to bare the sadness, or bear their soul to someone else.

board (a piece of wood) Harry was on board with the new Dark Arts teacher.
bored (a state of being) Hermione is often bored with people who aren't as talented as she is.

brake (stop) Sonny hit the brakes and the Ferrari fishtailed.
break (smash) Castillo could break your neck with one hand tied behind his back.

conscious (aware of) Jim was conscious of more sounds than a normal person.
conscience (moral guide) The incident weighed heavily on Blair's conscience.
While these two may not be strict homowhatsits, nevertheless, they're constantly confused in fanfic. I've lost count of how many people have written "I have a guilty conscious" or things like that. These two should be red alert words for all.

desert (to abandon, or the place with sand) Duncan knew Methos wouldn't desert him in a crisis.
dessert (the course after dinner) But he knew Amanda would leave if someone lured her with dessert.

elicit (to bring out) Eddie elicited sympathy from everyone because of his bad luck.
illicit (illegal) Monty was into all kinds of illicit activities.
For two rarely used words in most common discussion, these two show up a lot in fanfic. I'm assuming it's because of the illicit nature of fic in general. ;-) But they're also almost always used wrong.

grate (to shred, or a frame of parallel or crossed bars) Lana grates on Clark's nerves.
great (wonderful) Though he thinks Lex is always great.

hear (to perceive by ear) I hear there are a lot of vampires in this town.
here (in this place) Let's not stay here, then.

its (belonging to it) & it's (contraction of it is) We've been over this one a lot, so look in my memories section for this one.

know (to be certain) Michael knows Nikita loves him, but doesn't show it.
no (opposite of yes, or not any) If he asked her, she would say no.
If there's one H/H problem that I do not get, it's this one. How you could mix up one of the first words any of us learn as kids -- no -- with another is just beyond me, yet I see it every darn day, in fic and on LJ.

loose (not tight) Sydney's clothes felt more loose on her than she liked.
lose (opposite of win) Vaughn hoped he wouldn't lose his cool when he saw Sark.
This one makes. me. want. to. kill. Kill!

meat (flesh) Buffy treated Spike like a piece of meat.
meet (encounter) Still, he hoped they'd meet up for sex later.

passed (past tense of pass) Jack passed through the Stargate first.
past (after, or a time gone by) Daniel's interest in girls was a thing of the past once he met Jack.

peace (the absence of war) Seth was hoping to find some peace in Deadwood.
piece (a portion of something) Saul was hoping they could stake out a piece of land and make a living.

principal (most important, or the head of a school) Principal Snyder is an evil little gnome.
principle (basic truth or law) Giles believed he had no principles.

rain (precipitation)/ reign (to rule)/ rein (the strap for controlling an animal)
Dudes, figure it out! You don't rain or reign someone in, you pull on the reins.

right (correct)/rite (a religious ceremony)/ write (to compose text) Willow wants to make sure she gets the rites right, so writes them down.
Hang your head if you can't get this one right! Seriously, though, I can't count how many times people confuse right and write. Hell, I mistype them all the time.

scene (where an action occurs) Angel always liked to make a big scene.
seen (past participle of see) Drama queens always like to be seen and noticed.

sight (the ability to see) Kurdy was a sight for Jeremiah's sore eyes.
site (a place) They wanted to know the site of Valhalla Sector.

stationary (unmoving) Leo is a stationary fixture at the president's side.
stationery (writing paper) Jed writes Leo love notes on presidential stationery.

than (used for comparison) Fraser is a nicer guy than Ray.
then (at that time in the past) When Ray met Fraser, then he knew what friendship meant.

their (belonging to them)/ there (the opposite of here)/ they're (contraction of they are) also discussed here at length before, and also still a big problem.

threw (past tense of throw) Pez threw the Witchblade in the garbage.
through (in one side and out the other) Ian drove the sword through Irons's chest.

two (following one)/ to (toward)/ too (also, or in excess of) Also much discussed before, but you can easily remember "to" as being like "go" -- just replace the g, and you'll know which one you need when you're indicating movement.

waist (the middle of the body) Kirk's waist was getting a little thick with inactivity.
waste (discarded material) Spock thought it was a waste of material for Kirk not to be a captain.

weather (atmospheric conditions) Mulder thought the weather was controlled by the consortium.
whether (introduces alternatives) Skinner often wondered whether or not Mulder was insane.

who's (contraction of who is) "Who's the captain here?" Mal demanded.
whose (belonging to who) They were all aware just whose ship Serenity really was.

your (belonging to you) "Your ignorance is astounding," Picard told Riker.
you're (contraction of you are) "You're not the boss of me!" Riker shouted, even though the captain was his boss.

Comments

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

::applauds you wildly::

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Thanks for these.

[superplin.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is one of my favorite pet peeves. (Which seems kind of contradictory, doesn't it? Hee.) I actually use 'alright', even though I know it's non-standard, just because I like it.

I had never even heard of people confusing 'lose' and 'loose' before the Internet, and it is so very prevalent I have to wonder what is going on. I mean, strictly speaking they aren't even really homophones, what with one having the 'z' sound and the other the sibilant 's'. Very strange.

However, you left off the one that could possibly drive me to violence, one I see many people messing up, including lots and lots of very skilled writers: phase vs. faze. Every time I see, "That didn't phase me a bit," I honestly feel my blood pressure spike. Which is probably a good thing, since it tends to be on the low side, but is an unpleasant feeling nonetheless.

Wow, that turned into a vent, didn't it? Sorry! Apparently I feel very strongly about homophones. Who knew? Plus, I love these grammar columns of yours, every single one.

(Just to prove I'm a hypocrite: I sometimes catch myself mistyping homophones. Sometimes I probably don't catch myself, which is even worse. It's one of the things that makes me worry I may be headed down a scary path of dementia in my old age.)

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

You know, I've actually corrected that in text for people and they yelled at me about it. Told me I was wrong. Maybe it's the Star Trek we grew up with -- everything's all phase this and that. But then, that's pretty much how everyone treats me in my job, telling me that I'm wrong even though they don't know shit.

Maybe I'll have to do another part and collect the ones people wish I'd mentioned. I tried to focus on the fanficcy types of things, but apparently there's a bigger issue for it than I realized!

[superplin.livejournal.com]

But then, that's pretty much how everyone treats me in my job, telling me that I'm wrong even though they don't know shit.

God, can I ever relate to this. Utterly and completely.

[umbo.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I'm wont (not want!) to mess up on "stationary/stationery." But you missed one of the ones that bothers me the most--ensure and insure.

You do know I love you for these posts, right?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I cut that out of the list I stole, because it doesn't show up that much in fandom, but I may have to address it -- there are so many good lists, though, that hopefully if someone's interested, they'll find it.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

The lose/loose thing drives me spare. I start to see red, because they are *so different* from each other and no one gets it right! Argggh!

(Although I also acknowledge that I am completely incapable of spelling "conscious" or "conscience" correctly - I always thank spell check for pointing out the error.)

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I think that's the big thing that most people odn't do -- realize where they have issues and try to find ways to help themselves -- spell checks or grammar checkers or whatever. They're not total problem solvers, but they help, and it makes a difference for people.

[marsterslady.livejournal.com]

:) It makes my heart happy when you do this.

There's one that I see a friend do a lot. Allude/elude.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought about adding that to the allusion/illusion entry, but it seemed almost... maybe more than people needed, because it seems less common and I'm afraid the list is so long already! I went for the easiest, most common, I think. ;-)

[melinafandom.livejournal.com]

Just for anyone's information -- my favorite grammar site (http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar") has a huge list of these -- they call them Notorious Confusables (http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/notorious.htm).

One I see all the time in LotR is council vs. counsel -- there is a lot of seeking council from Gandalf, and going to the meeting of Gondor's counsel, etc.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link -- that's actually what I'm hoping, just to have even a few people go looking for more. It never occurred to me that council and counsel should be included -- I figured that wasn't a likely problem in fanfic, even though I see it all the time at work! I totally didn't even think of that aspect of fic -- d'oh!

[mystic-savage.livejournal.com]

Feel free to correct me any time you see an arrownious use of homophobes in my rightings.

[fishsanwitt]

Gwyn, I find these invaluable. Thank you for posting! As a beta, these are a great help :)

[deadsoul820.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've told you, but I love these posts.

And this one hit on one of my biggest p.p.s, the reign/rein one. Some of the smartest and best writers use the phrase "free reign" and I yell at the computer, "It's a horse, not a kingdom!"

Another one I see, although I know you aren't trying to put together some kind of comprehensive list, is the use of "discrete" when the writer means "discreet". (Oh dear, should that period go inside or outside of the quotation mark? I can never remember.)

Ahem, sorry to ramble. Thanks again!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I did cut that pair out of the list because I have rarely seen it used (discrete anyway) in fic, but it's one I've often had trouble with conveying to people in work situations. So many have never heard of discrete that they don't understand why, if they're spelling it that way, they're using a whole other word! A discrete one!

[deadsoul820.livejournal.com]

hehe!

[sally_maria]

Maybe it's a Stargate thing, but I seem to see "discrete" for "discreet" all the time - it had got to the stage where I wondered if it was the correct US spelling. On the other hand, perhaps it is just that once you notice it, it leaps out at you every time you see it.

[kathyh]

You are a star. I have such trouble with affect/effect and I will try and bear (checked that one *g*) your explanation in mind. The weird thing is that some of these, like bear/bare, I never had a problem with before fanfic but I've seen them done wrong so often that I start to think that I'm wrong instead.

[tiashome.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this, Gwyn -- very helpful as always! I don't get this one, though:

already and all right
How's "already" confused with "all right"?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

It's not so much the words themselves as the spellings -- most folks these days believe all right is spelled as already is. I think that more and more, that will become the case and all right is going to go away, but currently the correct form is all right, an the al-prefix is used for things like already, altogether, etc. A lot (not alot!) of folks get psychotically cranky about alright.

[tiashome.livejournal.com]

Ah ... thank you! Languages are evolving so fast these days. The Internet speak of today would seem like a foreign language to the denizens of the 19th century. Alot! ;-)

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the post! I am quite happy that I am not doing most of the mistakes listed (though I recently tend to write "right" instead of "write", the mistake that puzzles me very much. Why? I know the difference perfectly, yet I catch myself typing "right" again and again.)
The problem that I often have is confusing words like advice/advise. I know that one is a verb, and the other is a noun, yet I cannot remember which is which. The same goes for other similar pairs. I need some kind of memory trick, I guess.

[jwaneeta.livejournal.com]

horde/hoard
raised/razed
allude/elude

and my all-time craw-sticker:

discrete/discreet

These posts are such a civic-minded service, Gwyn. Thanks for them. :)

[rainkatt.livejournal.com]

You have hit so many of my peeves!! Love this!

(And I got the CD! thanks!!)