Home
>
Writing
>
Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 3 of 6

Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 3 of 6

ELICIT, ILLICIT

Elicit means to extract or draw out; illicit means not legal.

EVERYONE, EVERY ONE

Everyone means every person in a group; every one means each person and is always followed by "of".

"Everyone needs to know how to swim."

"Every one of you should be able to swim."

FAIR, FARE

Fair means average, good-looking, pale, unbiased (what a lot of meanings for one little word!); fare is the money you pay to go somewhere by bus, train, plane, taxi, etc. It can also refer to a passenger. As a verb it means do, as in:

"I didn't fare as well in my exams this year as I'd hoped."

FAZE, PHASE

The most common error is the use of phase when the writer means faze. To faze someone is to fluster or confuse them, whereas phase is mostly used in reference to a stage in someone's life--though it can be a stage in almost anything else:

"Like most children, Danny's going through a phase of refusing to eat his vegetables."

"Nothing fazes my mother, who can produce a meal for unexpected guests at a moment's notice."

FOREWORD, FORWARD

Foreword is the preface in a book, usually written by someone who is not the author; forward means ahead, near the front.

FORTH, FOURTH

Forth means forward; fourth is after "third".

FOUL, FOWL

Foul can mean dishonourable (by foul means), disgusting (a foul smell), entangle (rubbish dumped in the river can foul fishing lines); fowl is a bird.

GORILLA, GUERRILLA

Gorilla is a large ape; guerrilla is a particular kind of soldier.

HANGED, HUNG

A criminal is always hanged; a picture is hung:

"We hung the portrait where everybody could see it."

"John Smith was hanged yesterday at dawn."

Just remember, "I'll be hanged if they're going to hang me," and you won't forget the difference again!

HERD, HEARD

Herd is a group of animals; heard is the past tense of hear.

HERE, HEAR

Here refers to a location (as in "over here"). Hear is always what your ears do. I can't see why writers should get confused here, but they must do because I have seen this more than once. (And, no, that's not a sample sentence!)

IRREGARDLESS, REGARDLESS

There is no such word as irregardless; the correct word is regardless.

HOLE, WHOLE

Hole is an opening; whole means complete.

ITS, IT'S

This is confusing because possessives normally have an apostrophe, but in this case it's is short for it is and its is possessive--always.

"Its colour is green and it's quite beautiful."

Other possessives that don't have an apostrophe are theirs, hers, yours and his--though I doubt anyone is likely to try putting one in his!

About The Author

Laraine Anne Barker writes fantasy for young people. Visit her web site at http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz. Fantasy for Children & Young Adults for FREE stories and novel excerpts. Sign up for the NOVELLA OF THE MONTH CLUB, absolutely FREE!

recurring cleaning service Mundelein ..

In The News:

New phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 3 of 6

Writing