Home
>
Writing
>
Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 5 of 6

Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 5 of 6

PASSED, PAST

Passed is the past tense of pass. Past means a time that has gone.

"Time passed and we all forgot the incident."

"In times past it was the custom for women to wear hats in church."

PEACE, PIECE

Peace means the absence of war (or even noise); piece is a portion of something.

PEAK, PEEK, PIQUE

Pique means to excite or irritate; peek means to peep or snoop; peak as a noun means the summit or tip, and as a verb means to climax. So, you pique someone's curiosity; you don't peek or peak it. If someone annoys you, you become piqued rather than peeked or peaked.

PLAIN, PLANE

Plain means obvious, also unadorned or lacking in good looks; plane is a carpenter's tool or an abbreviation of aeroplane.

PATIENCE, PATIENTS

Patience means forbearance; patients are people under medical care.

POUR, PORE

You pour sauces, gravies, etc, over your dinner, while pore means to study something--so, "pore over the book", not "pour over the book", which reads as though you might be damaging the book with an unnamed liquid substance!

PRESENCE, PRESENTS

Presence means being near at hand; presents are gifts.

PRINCIPAL, PRINCIPLE

Principal means chief or main, also the amount borrowed in a loan; principle means regulations or ideals.

"The principal reason for the company's failure was lack of money." (or)

"The new principal is making a real difference to our school."

"We are paying both principal and interest each month on our mortgage."

"She is completely without principles and would steal from her own mother."

"The principle of a clause like this in your employment contract is to protect you against unfair dismissal."

QUIET, QUITE

Quiet means without noise; quite when used in fiction usually means moderately, but can also mean totally or entirely. Use of the wrong word here could, of course, simply be a typing error that went unnoticed in the proof-reading stages!

RAIN, REIGN, REIN

Rain is the water that comes down from clouds; reign means to rule; rein is a strap, usually leather, for controlling an animal, especially a horse.

RAISE, RAZE

These two are exact opposites. Raise means to lift or build up and raze means to pull down:

"We will raise the reputation of our village to new heights."

"He instructed his army to raze the village to the ground."

REALITY, REALTY

Reality is real life; realty is real estate.

REFERENCE, REVERENCE

I don't know if this confusion is common. I didn't even realise the words COULD be confused until I saw one wrongly used in something written by ... a writer! Maybe it was just a typing error. Reference is something referred to, reverence means respect.

RESIDENCE, RESIDENTS

Residence is a house; residents are the people who live there.

RESPECTFULLY, RESPECTIVELY

Respectfully means politely; respectively means in the order stated.

"The containers stood in a row and were numbered 1, 3, 2, 5 and 4 respectively" means they were standing in this order rather than numerical order.

RIGHT, RITE, WRITE

Right means correct; rite is a ceremony, usually religious; write means to make words.

ROAD, RODE

Road is a long surface for cars and other vehicles; rode is the past tense of ride.

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!

professional maid services Deerfield ..

In The News:

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.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

A new phishing scam targets family photos with fake "Cloud Storage Full" alerts. Criminals steal credit card information through fake sites. Learn protection tips.

South Korean scientists create ultra-thin fabric muscles that turn clothes into robotic assistants, lifting 33 pounds while weighing under half an ounce.

Archer Aviation has acquired Hawthorne Airport for $126M to launch an LA air taxi network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, featuring AI-powered eVTOL operations and next-gen aviation tech.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Fake AI apps disguised as "ChatGPT" and "DALL·E" are flooding app stores with dangerous malware that steals data and monitors users without detection.

Pairs/Groups Of Words Often Confused - Part 5 of 6

Writing