We are thrilled to have Opal Campbell share a guest post with us today on 10 Common Word Errors. We are taking the 5th on how many of these mistakes we have made… in the last week:)
Being a writer is hard enough without having to worry about whether or not we are using the right word in our work. And sometimes just having a little sheet that helps navigate those tricky ones is a HUGE help. So, without further ado…..here is a list of some common word errors.
- Effect vs Affect
Effect = is a result
Affect = is an influence
- Less vs Fewer
fewer for items that can be counted
less for things that cannot
example: fewer marbles less time
- Lightning vs Lightening
Lightning is an act of nature.
Lightening is what you do to hair.
- Breath vs Breathe
Breath is what you take.
Breathe is what you do
- Rein vs Reign
Rein are the straps on a bridle used to guide a horse.
Reign is what a king does over his kingdom.
- Allowed vs Aloud
Allowed is acceptable.
Aloud is heard.
- Further vs Farther
Farther is a literal distance it is farther to the store than the church
Further is an abstract distance I’ve driven further than you
- Led vs Lead
Led is what you did to that group of children yesterday.
Lead is what was in the paint way back when
- Passed vs Past
passed = verb : we passed the store
past = location : the church is just past the store – or – it happened in the past
- Loose vs Lose
Loose is how we want our pants to fit.
Lose is what we want to do to weight….or an crazy ex that won’t take a hint.
Opal Campbell has been a member of the publishing industry since 2008. She currently works for a growing digital first publisher as well as making a variety of video projects for authors and publishers.