Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
We agents read a great many manuscripts, proposals, and of course, published books. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we find poor grammar and misused words less than impressive. When the error occurs in a published book, it’s a serious *facepalm* moment.
So I’ve been thinking about the words I commonly see misused in manuscripts, and I wanted to give you a brief list and some tips on correct word usage.
This list is taken from my own notes on mistakes I’ve seen lately, but obviously there are many more confusing words! A book I highly recommend is 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses. It’s fun reading and a great resource to keep on your shelf. (I do).
So here are some commonly confused words, and hints for using them correctly:
lead-led-lead
You can lead a horse to water. (verb, present tense)
She led the class in a song. (verb, past tense)
Pencils used to be made of lead. (noun)
Time to lie down for a nap. (verb, present tense)
Yesterday she lay on the grass and daydreamed. (verb, past tense)
If you are going to use “lay” as present tense, it’s only if you are going to lay something down. The present tense verb “lay” needs to have an object.
affect-effect-effect
Will this post affect the way you write? (verb)
If so, I hope it has a positive effect. (noun)
I’m trying to effect a change in the way writers use grammar. (transitive verb meaning to cause or bring about)
passed-past
I passed by Starbucks and didn’t stop! (verb, past tense)
I can’t drive past Starbucks without being tempted. (preposition)
The one-dollar cup of coffee is in the past. (noun)
its-it’s
It’s time for a lesson in grammar. (contraction for “it is”)
Choosing the appropriate word has its difficulties. (possessive form, adjective)
The only time you use an apostrophe is when you want a contraction meaning “it is.” There is no apostrophe in the possessive form.
advice-advise
Help – I need some advice! (noun)
Please advise me on my publishing journey. (verb)
altar-alter
They stood in front of the altar to get married. (noun)
Before the wedding, she had to alter her dress. (verb)
reins-reigns
When you’re on a horse, you should hold the reins. (noun)
Please try to rein in your feelings. (verb)
The king reigns over his country. (verb)
(Note that when you “rein in” your feelings or you try to “rein in” your kids, it’s a metaphorical use of the original “rein” which pertains to horseback riding.)
discrete-discreet
This blog has several discrete parts. (adjective meaning separate or distinct.)
Please be discreet when discussing details of your contract. (adjective meaning to be prudent or use discernment; or to be unobtrusive or unnoticeable)
All you grammar police out there: Obviously I’ve given simplistic examples here, and I haven’t covered all uses of each word. Feel free to add your two cents (and good sense).
What words do YOU have trouble getting right in your writing?
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“She closed her eyes and turned her face to his, awaiting her beloved’s kiss with baited breath.”
* Ugh. Any openings in the monastery?
One more, if I may.
* While not a grammatical problem, the unschooled use of incorrect jargon can lead to howlers. Aviation is especially prone to these, and the example below illustrates, I hope, the care which should be taken in research:
***
The first time I took my best girl up for a flight, I wanted her to have the experience of controlling the machine.
I called out to her, over the roar of the motor, “Grab the joystick”, and that was the first time she broke my jaw.
Lead, led, and lead will never be a problem if you just use lead, led, and Pb.
“JMW Turner’s muse was led by innovation, and would lead to red lead among his pigments.
* Try saying that three times fast before coffee, or worse, AFTER coffee.
I’ve loved Turner since I first discovered him in an art history class.I bet he used a lot of cadmium yellow in addition to red lead. Cd and Pb- both highly toxic. Did painters die young if they licked their brushes to shape the tip?
At least if a writer chews on a pencil “lead”, they only eat some graphite.
Good question, Carol. Licking the end of the brush may have contributed, but the greater exposure came from the fact that most artists ground their own pigments, and madness rather than early death was more likely. Two examples are van Gogh and Goya.
* van Gogh’s increasingly erratic behaviour is well-documented, and most likely linked to his career, but Goya’s is rather more interesting. He was taken very ill at the age of 46, with symptoms that matched those of acute chemical toxicity, but recovered and lived for another 35 years.
* Goya’s work was, however, forever changed. He went from style and subject that call to mind Thomas Kinkaid to a darker vision,more in keeping with Hieronymus Bosch. Whether that’s the direct result of physical changes to the brain through toxicity, or a spiritual reaction to his experiences can’t be known.
I see “your” instead of “you’re” so often in articles and blog posts–eech! Your not doing you’re proofreading.
I get discrete and discreet mixed up. For years Affect and Effect confused me. But when I realized Affect is a verb that helped me to keep things straight.
*The words I often see confused are There, They’re and Their.
*There are other confusing words, but I can’t think of them right now. I think I need more coffee. 😉
I’ve worked hard on lie/lay in the past. I grew up saying, “Lay down” … “I need to lay down” … the word will forever come out of my mouth the wrong way, I’m afraid. Terrible habit … but it somehow reminds me of my grandmother. So … 🙂 But I think I have it correct when writing. This I know … I love thefreedictionary.com, and I use it constantly. And I’ll never feel confident with “whom” in the house. No. 🙂 Happy February!
The one that makes me squirm is improper placement of the word, “only.” Saying, “I’m only here for a week,” is not the same thing as saying “I’m here for only one week.”
Consider the different meanings of each of these lovlies:
Only I drove to the store.
I only drove to the store.
I drove only to the store.
I drove to only the store.
I drove to the only store.
I drove to the store only.
This is a fun one, Damon! Thanks!
I have an old Gregg’s Reference Manual tabbed for Set-Sit and Lay-Lie to check for the proper usage with different tenses.
I’ve just read a review copy of a novel which used the expression “if you think x, you’ve got another think coming”. Only my copy said “another thing coming”, which makes no sense.
I’m hoping it was corrected in the final print version.
Oriented and orientated.
What bugs me is that in Canada, both are considered correct.
British vs American, and all that.
Then we have “orienteered”.
Orienteering is an incomprehensible sport for people who love maps, compasses and sweat.
Not: “I orienteered the piano towards the biggest part of the room.”
Did you? Wow, you’re strong.
I orienteered my way to the bar, whereupon a boilermaker got me properly orientated, except that my eyes could not longer be oriented to meet those of my lovely companion. Pity.
The word usage which I have often seen misused, primarily in social media, is the incorrect “would of” rather than the correct “would have.” (That one almost sends me over the edge.) My common personal offense is using a plural possessive pronoun to refer to a subject which is singular. For example, “Someone left their coat on the chair.” It slips through more often than I would like it to.
Great example. That is why, unless I am directly quoting someone, I resist using contractions in my writing. I understand that many like to use a colloquial style in their writing, and I grant that there is a place for that, but I prefer “would have” to “would’ve,” and “that is” over “that’s.”
Beth, I’ve run into the illogical use of the plural possessive as well, and have rationalized it thus, in a case where gender is unknown:
* Saying “Someone left his or her coat on the chair” is awkward.
* Saying “Someone left a coat on the chair” doesn’t include the possessive, which may be important in context.
* “Someone left their coat on the chair” is a generally understood and accepted colloquialism
* The English language doesn’t really offer a good option in this case; if it did, I would of used it. 🙂
A lot of people today use ‘their’ instead of ‘his’ or ‘hers’ because it’s gender neutral and they don’t want to be “sexist.” For some reason using ‘it’ to refer to a human being isn’t considered acceptable.
We have a living language. If it didn’t keep changing it would be a dead language. But some of the changes grate/great on my teeth.
Ha!! My wife and I use “it,” rather than “he” to refer to our pest, er, um, our cat.
“Did you feed it?” “Yes, and then I tossed it outside.” 😉
Our cat was a stray who moved in. It was about six months before she let us touch her, so she was definitely an it.
Cats have long memories, Damon. The remember well when they were worshipped by the Pharaohs.(Cue the ominous Egyptian-themed music.)
@Andrew 🙂
Rachelle, you read my list! Seventy-five percent of these I know but still have to check. My auto-typing fingers often betray me. But the others? I have to go to my dictionary and grammar books to make sure. Eventually I’ll get them down (please, soon). After all, I finally don’t have to look up desert/dessert. Thanks for the reminders.
Dear Carol,
Yes, painters did die (dye?) from lead poisoning due to licking the wet paint on their paintbrush.
My great grandmother did. But I don’t know how old she was.
Hi Rachlle, thank you for the refresher on some of those tricky words and the link to the book resource. I struggle with “who” and “whom” as well as “me” and “I” – all of these are embarrassing because I have a degree in English.
Hi Rachelle, thank you for the refresher on some of those tricky words and the link to the book resource. I struggle with “who” and “whom” as well as “me” and “I” – all of these are embarrassing because I have a degree in English.
I often see writers misuse ensure/assure/insure.
To ensure something is to make sure something happens.
To assure is to communicate to a person that something will happen or has happened.
To insure is to take an insurance policy out on something.