Common spelling mistakes

Do you have a cheat sheet of spelling mistakes you commonly make? You should. Sometimes the mere act of writing the words down prevents the problem from occurring. Or it can serve as a reference point, especially during bouts of editing.

Here's my list:

• allusion (indirect reference) vs. illusion (a distortion of sensory perception)
• compliment (a praising or flattering remark, or to give such a remark) vs. complement (something that completes something else, or to complete)
• complimentary (praising or flattering, or given for free) vs. complementary (of things that together complete a whole)
• convince (to influence by logic, proof or reason) vs. persuade (to appeal to another's emotions, feelings, etc.)
• discreet (tactful or diplomatic) vs. discrete (separate or distinct)
• effect (ramification, sound effect, or to cause or to bring about or effect change) vs. affect (have an effect on, pretentiously display emotion) — it helps to remember that affect is used most commonly as a verb, whereas effect is usually a noun
• luxuriant (characterized by abundant growth) vs. luxurious (of, relating to, or marked by luxury)
• principal (a person of primary importance or, as an adjective, most important) vs. principle (a fundamental rule or law — noun only)
• stationery (office supplies) vs. stationary (not mobile) — associate the word letter and its vowel "e" with "stationery" and you're sure not to forget the difference between the two words
• sensuous (implies the gratification of the senses or the indulgence of the physical appetites as ends in themselves) vs. sensual (relating to or providing pleasure through gratification of the senses)
• unmoral (not influenced or guided by moral considerations), nonmoral (cannot be right or wrong, outside the sphere of morals or ethics), amoral (without moral standards), immoral (not moral, conflicting with generally or traditionally held moral principles).

Hope this helps! When in doubt, there's always Merriam-Webster Online.

Proofreading 101 cont'd: homonyms

Today's topic: homonyms.

I'm sure most of us are straight on synonyms and antonyms. Homonyms, in case you're wondering, are those pesky little pairs of words that often trip us up when writing. A homonym is one of a group of words that share the same spelling or pronunciation (or both) but have different meanings. Good editors and proofreaders should catch them but why give them the pleasure? Writers are editors too.

Here is an example:

Two ships pass in the night.
Did the two ships go past each other?
Or did they go passed each other?

When writing, if we're lucky, our thoughts gallop along and we haven't the time to waste thinking about whether it's proper in this case to use "past" or "passed". However, during the editing process, when we typically have more time to reflect, we should know the answer.

Think of this pair of homonyms as follows:

• "Passed" is always a verb, formed by adding -ed to the present tense verb "pass" (technically, then, "passed" is a past participle of the verb "pass").
• "Past" can be a noun (meaning what has already happened, as in yesterday or days of yore), an adjective (meaning "former", as in "this past week"), a preposition (as in "half past nine"), and an adverb (meaning "beyond" such as "I walked past the store"). BUT "past" is never a verb.

So the answer to the above question is....

....drum roll please...

Past! The correct answer is "Did the two ships go past each other?" In this case, "past" modifies the verb "go", so it is an adverb.

However, it is also true that the two ships "passed" each other.

Confused! I know I am!!!

For a list of commonly confused homonyms, visit this link. Good luck!

Proofreading 101 cont'd: who vs. whom

I've got another trick for you, this time to help clear up confusion between who and whom.

To check your who/whom usage, try replacing who with "he" and whom with "him", and recast the sentence. Here's an example:

Who/Whom wrote the book?
He wrote the book. Therefore, "who" is correct.

Let's try another:

To who/whom did she dedicate the book?
She dedicated the book to him. Therefore, "whom" is correct.

These are a bit tougher:

The head of marketing consults with writers, who editors say always listens.
Check: Editors say he (the head of marketing – for our purposes, we'll assume he's male) always listens.

The head of marketing consults with writers, whom they admire because he listens.
Check: They admire him because he listens.

So...problems with who and whom should plague you no more; just replace with he and him and you're done!

(Marketing departments working together with writers is another matter entirely.)

Proofreading 101: that vs. which

I was tempted to post a picture of our only pet fish, Flame, but I was afraid something like this might happen, owing to the number of cats spotted here lately.

Instead, in an effort to return us to the art of writing, I've decided to dedicate my next few posts to proofreading. The fact is I do a great deal more proofreading and editing of fiction that I do the actual writing of it. So here goes.

Here's our first lesson: the difference between "which" and "that", a real toughy.

Strunk and White go on about restrictive and non-restrictive pronouns, which is well and good. I prefer this little trick. Try using an appositive, which is teacher speak for the stuff you place between parentheses. Use your ear as you write. If you get the sense of the appositive, use which and place a comma before it. If, on the other hand, you get the sense of something specific, which requires further clarification, use that with no comma before it.

Examples:

"I bought Amanda Ashby's book, which is a real page-turner."
Check: "I bought Amanda Ashby's book (which is a real page-turner)." This makes perfect sense—of course it does, Amanda's brilliant! duhh!—so go ahead and delete the parentheses and add a comma before which.

"It is Bronwyn Storm's latest book that has me shouting for more."
Check: "It is Bronwyn Storm's latest book (that has me shouting for more). " This doesn't make sense— actually, her first work published by The Wild Rose Press is a short story—because it's not any book (no kidding!), it's a specific one, and we need more information. Plus what's in parentheses makes no sense at all on its own. So use that and no comma.

Make any sense?