Words that Confuse and Confound Us
As I was working on a novel years ago, the word "feckless" came to me. I must have encountered it somewhere in my life, but I had no idea what it meant. I thought it sounded like a kind of cruelty and I wanted to apply it to the phrase "feckless desert" to indicate how the desert can be a passive killing machine: unforgiving heat, lack of water, bone-drying sun, along with vicious plant and animal life.When I actually looked up "feckless" in the dictionary, I discovered that it meant "lacking initiative or strength of character, irresponsible"...So, I was wrong about the word, confounded by it and have had occasion to use this word only a couple of times since then. I would also add that I think it could be used to mean "ineffective."
Writers should make a consistent practice of looking up words they want to use. Just thinking a word means something (as I had done) is not good enough and can sometimes cause astute readers to break into fits of laughter over the misuse of words. The Internet is a good place to find complete lists of misused words, homonyms that cause confusion, and even words that are often spelled wrong by a single letter that completely change the meaning. I've thrown out a list of words that come to mind, below in no particular order. These are by no means exhaustive, but they may be instructive.
Conscience/Conscious. Guilt machine vs. awake and aware.
Faint/Feint are occasionally used interchangeably, but their meanings are completely different.
Further/Farther. One means "in addition to" and the other means "a greater distance."
However/how ever. However (one word) and how ever (two words) do not mean the same thing. However cannot be substituted for how ever. However is a coordinating conjunction, an adverb, and means something akin to "but." How ever means something like "by any method" in a sentence like this:
How ever you want to assemble this desk is up to you.Unfortunately most writers these days use "however" in the above sentence. It is not correct. Many editors do not catch the distinction, either.
Sometimes, over time, two- and three-word phrases first become hyphenated and then become one word. The only example I can think of at the moment is the phrase "none the less," which over time has become "nonetheless," and should always be spelled as one word.
Accept/Except. They're not interchangeable, but many writers try. All applicants will be excepted (which I guess means that no one will be accepted).
Ascend/Descend. These words do not need "up" and "down" to complete their meaning.
Affect/Effect. This is another pair of words that many writers confuse, because "effect" can be used as a verb, but is usually a noun. Affect can sometimes be used as a noun but is usually a verb.
The effect (noun) of the bomb blast was devastating on the building. We will only effect (verb) change if we work together. You can affect (verb) the outcome of the election by voting. It was the affect (noun) of sophistication he assumed that put off most women.
Lose/Loose. The first word means to misplace; the second word means "not tight."
Diner/dinner. A diner is where you have dinner, albeit probably not a very fancy one.
Desert/Dessert. The desert is not a good place to have dessert.
Afraid/scared. These are not interchangeable. But people often use "scared" when they mean afraid. I'm scared of snakes. No, actually, you're afraid of snakes, because snakes scare you. You could say, "I'm scared by snakes." Think of the verb "scare" as requiring an actor to do the scaring. On the other hand, "afraid" does not take an actor and is generally an adjective.
Bring/take; come/go. Oh boy, when to use these words is very subtle and actually has to do with where you are in relation to where you are going. It also has to do with who is receiving the action. There are exceptions, but it's fun to try to figure out these differences. Below are some specifically constructed sentences to illustrate when to use bring vs. take or come vs. go.
I'm going to take a casserole to the party.
John asked me to bring a casserole to the party.
Take the files out of the office and bring them to me at the restaurant.
Bring the files with you when you come to the restaurant to see me.
Take the files with you when you go to the restaurant.
I will be going to Spain in the fall.
I will be coming to see you in Spain in the fall.
I would also suggest that writers look up these paired words for a better explanation about their subtle usage.
Less/Fewer. This is one of the most misused word choices in daily speech that we make, and I am guilty of it, too. "Less" indicates an indeterminate or approximate value; whereas "fewer" indicates a determinant amount. "There is less milk than I thought," but "there are fewer ounces". Fewer people stood in line than yesterday. Less milk, fewer eggs. Note that the countable quantities are specific (ounces, people, eggs). The approximations are milk and other liquids that need to be measured, rather than ounces of milk—or less of anything that is not readily quantifiable. It's a toss-up about grains of sand. We'd probably be all right to say less sand on the beach, rather than fewer grains of sand, etc.
Here are a few words with different spellings that sound the same and have different meanings. Careless writers make these mistakes even though I suspect they know the difference.
To, too, and two
There, their, they're, and sometimes there're (this last should never be used)
Were, we're and yes, even where.
The apostrophe is erroneously used in words the writer wishes to make plural, but there are occasions when the apostrophe is used to form plurals. Confused? Don't be. The only time an apostrophe is used to signify a plural is with acronyms, single-letter and numerical plurals: Cross all your t's, dot all your i's, and how many 2's are in 10? In all other cases, only the "s" or "es" is used to pluralize a word. The Donaldsons and the Gibsons are coming for dinner. If there are apostrophe "s" combinations, then it would be possessive. That's the Donaldsons' car in the driveway.
And so, since the Donaldsons are here, I better go.
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