# Writing > General Writing >  A "Listicle" of Frequently-confused Words

## AuntShecky

Just what you need right now-- another "Listicle."

There's no set number, but here's a chance for my fellow LitNutters to make a listicle of word-pairs which either give you trouble or irritate you when you notice that somebody else has chosen the wrong one. Here are a few to start off:

*its/it's*

*you're/your*

*stentorian/stertorous* I've got to watch myself from typing "stentorius."

*reluctant/reticent* They don't mean the same thing!

*efficacious/effective* Think "before" and "after."

*"energizing"/"enervating"* These are opposites.

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## Calidore

Don't forget there/their/they're.

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## Hawkman

Lay/laid/lie/laying/lying 
Similar to, different from, compared with (the correct forms)
Off of
Bored of
Would of
Should of
All failures to correctly conjugate verbs - apply declensions to nouns & adjectives

Etc. etc. etc.

By the way, if you make a listicle of questions does it become a testicle?  :Biggrin: 

Live long and prosper - H

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## Calidore

An incomplete listicle would be a particle.

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## mona amon

> stentorian/sterorous I've got to watch myself from typing "stentorius."


Aunt Shecky, did you mean "stertorous"?

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## AuntShecky

> Aunt Shecky, did you mean "stertorous"?


Yep-- I told you those words drive me nuts ( or more nuts than I already am.)

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## cacian

great thread. the word ''row'' it is either a series of patterns/rows or a row with your partner/friend/stranger.
'two' and 'tow' I tend to misspell them when I type too quickly.
'bizarre' and 'bazar' they could almost be the same.
freekish and freak.

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## AuntShecky

empathize/emphasize

cavalry/Calvary

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## Grit

who is/who's/whose

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## AuntShecky

*strait-laced* Not "straight." It's hyphenated, too.

*flout/flaunt*

*stanch/staunch*

The "t" is silent "hasten" or "listen," yet some folks pronounce the "t" in "often," I think the reason is over-correction.

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## AuntShecky

English is rich and intriguing, especially with its extensive vocabulary. I adore my language, but sometimes its peculiarities cause confusion, even to a native speaker.

The folowing words drive me cah-ray-zzzy!:

*sign off (on)/ sign on*
"The President signed off on the latest plan to fix the ACA website."
(meaning he approved it.)

But "sign on" means the same as "sign off":
"The workers signed on to the new insurance plan."

And *"written off"* is the opposite of "sign off":
The company has written off its old debts.

The word "*sanction*" means one thing, or its opposite, according to context. 
Some NATO members have imposed economic sanctions upon the belligerent nation.(coercive measures.)

The company sanctions better communication with its employees. (approves)



Shameless Plugs:
The following posts are gathering cobwebs:


Auntie's Anti-humor take on Halloween.

Lines impersonating poetry in the Auntie's Anti-Poems thread

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## AuntShecky

*peak/peek*

Today I noticed that a LitNutter wrote "peak" when I'm sure he meant "peek," though confusion over the spelling of these two words often appears.

The next two pairs of FCW came up yesterday on a cable news channel whose staff should know better.
The first on the looping "scroll," the other uttered by a distinguished commentator.

*effected/affected*
". . .reporting that eighty percent of Americans will not be adversely _________by the Affordable Care Act." ("Affected" is the appropriate word.)

*farther/further* 
"Farther" refers to literal distance--For instance, "Virginia is close to Washington, D.C., but Texas is farther."

"Further" has a sense of intensifying or adding on, as using the rhetorical word "furthermore" in a speech or an argument.The usage note in my dictionary offers the following examples: "further into debt," "a further reason," "pursuing this matter further."


*"Words matter.
Pay them heed.
Tend them well."*
--Lawrence Weschler and Walter Murch
[I]"The Trouble with Bubbles"[/I]

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## Delta40

This one drives me nuts!

Loose/lose

Has the world gone mad? I figure people who use loose in place of lose must use looose in place of loose!

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## AuntShecky

> This one drives me nuts!
> 
> Loose/lose
> 
> Has the world gone mad? I figure people who use loose in place of lose must use looose in place of loose!


What's good for the goose is good for the goosess, and what's good for the loose is good for the loosess. Pace, Dr. Seuss.

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## Delta40

> What's good for the goose is good for the goosess, and what's good for the loose is good for the loosess. Pace, Dr. Seuss.


Ha ha. You mean we'll arrive at the day when:

Choose/chose?

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## Ecurb

"Comprise", "compose", "constitute". "Is comprised of...." is always wrong.

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## synodbio

later/latter

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## AuntShecky

*nauseated/nauseous*

Many folks get these two backward.
Jarrod said he felt _nauseated_. He wasn't certain when he began feeling ill, but he believes it was some time shortly after eating his mother-in-law's _nauseous_ bean casserole.

In other words, it's probably not a good idea to say "I'm getting nauseous." That's for others to decide!

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## Nick Capozzoli

> *nauseated/nauseous*
> 
> Many folks get these two backward.
> Jarrod said he felt _nauseated_. He wasn't certain when he began feeling ill, but he believes it was some time shortly after eating his mother-in-law's _nauseous_ bean casserole.
> 
> In other words, it's probably not a good idea to say "I'm getting nauseous." That's for others to decide!


"Nausea" is noun that derives from the Greek word for "boat" and refers to seasickness. "Nauseated" is a past participle of the verb "nauseate," which means "to make seasick." It can be used in both an active and passive sense, _e.g._, "The boat nauseated me" or "I was nauseated by the boat." "Nauseous" is an adjective that means "seasick." Knowing these meanings, it's easy to determine their proper usage. 

It is therefore correct to say that "Jarrod felt nauseated" or "Jarrod felt nauseous." There is a slight difference in meaning. The first indicates that Jarrod felt that something had nauseated him (made him feel nauseous) and the second just says how he feels (nauseous), without any reference to an agent that caused his "nausea."

*...he believes it was some time shortly after eating his mother-in-law's nauseous bean casserole* *is simply wrong*. The bean casserole may have been _nauseating_, but it cannot be "nauseous." So far as I know, beans in any form are not capable of experiencing any sort of affliction, including nausea. 

There's nothing grammatically wrong with "I'm getting nauseous." It means "I'm beginning to feel nauseous" or "I'm beginning to feel nauseated [by something]."

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## AuntShecky

> *...he believes it was some time shortly after eating his mother-in-law's nauseous bean casserole* *is simply wrong*. The bean casserole may have been _nauseating_, but it cannot be "nauseous." So far as I know, beans in any form are not capable of experiencing any sort of affliction, including nausea. 
> 
> There's nothing grammatically wrong with "I'm getting nauseous." It means "I'm beginning to feel nauseous" or "I'm beginning to feel nauseated [by something]."


Allow me to cite _The American Heritage Dictionary_, Dr. C. The listing for "nauseous" is as follows:




> *1.* Causing nausea, sickening. * 2.* Intellectually repulsive. _"What proper person can be partial/To all those nauseous epigrams of Martial?"_ (Byron). *3.* Nauseated. See Usage note.
> *Usage* Employment of _nauseous_ in the sense of _nauseated_ (experiencing nausea) is
> considered unacceptable by 88 per cent of the Usage Panel.


Here's Theodore M. Bernstein in _The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage_:



> "A thing is _nauseous_ if it makes one sick to the stomach; the unfortunate victim of this malaise is _nauseated._ The common misuse of nauseuous appears in this passage: "When he sits too long, turns his head too abruptly, or walks any distance, he gets dizzy, loses balance, and becomes nauseous." He doesn't become _nauseous_ unless he turns other people's stomachs; he becomes _nauseated._A person who feels sick is no more nauseous than a person who has been poisoned is poisonous."


For Wilson Follett, the Grand-Daddy of all Grammarians, the confusion between the two forms of the word arises from the concepts of transitive and intransitive, not merely terms describing verbs but as way of 


> "denoting a general blindness to what may be termed the _point of view_. This ignorance or indifference affects not only the use of verbs but the choice of nouns and adjectives. When, for example,
> we have two adjectives, _nauseous_ and _nauseated_, it should be clear that the first applies to the substance that causes the state named in the second. To call oneself nauseous except in self-depreciation is to ignore the point of view of the word."


 From _Modern American Usage: A Guide_,edited by Jacques Barzun. (And yes, it says "self-depreciation," not "self-deprecation" in the book.)

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## Jack of Hearts

Is there going to be a "testicle" on this "listicle"?





J

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## AuntShecky

> Is there going to be a "testicle" on this "listicle"?
> 
> J


Maybe just a quizzical. But if there is, everybody had better get the question on "nauseous" correct! (See #20 above.)

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## tshering

everyone in my part of the world uses nauseous for both meanings......nauseated is almost a taboo

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## EvoWarrior5

EDIT: Wait never mind, it must be about two or more words that are confused with each other. I had a frequently misspelled word. My bad!

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## AuntShecky

> EDIT: Wait never mind, it must be about two or more words that are confused with each other. I had a frequently misspelled word. My bad!


Fair game, as far as yours fooly is concerned. Doesn't matter what confuses us -- spelling, sound-alikes, usage.
I like your Barthes post-mod quote, but reports of the death of authors are greatly exaggerated.

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## EvoWarrior5

> Fair game, as far as yours fooly is concerned. Doesn't matter what confuses us -- spelling, sound-alikes, usage.
> I like your Barthes post-mod quote, but reports of the death of authors are greatly exaggerated.


Thank you. I'm not sure if I even agree with it but I liked the way of thinking and how it sounded.

As for what I had posted, I had definitely / defiantly / definately etc. There's actually a (very small) site about this, d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com.

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## AuntShecky

> As for what I had posted, I had definitely / defiantly / definately etc. There's actually a (very small) site about this, d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y.com.


Disparate/Desperate is another troublesome spelling pair.

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## AuntShecky

*happen/transpire*

Yours fooly aligns with the camp which maintains that these two aren't synonymous. There is a subtle distinction, as the latter connotes the idea of being made known.

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## AuntShecky

*affected/effected* (Redux)

In a graphic broadcast on MSNBC this morning: "20 Million effected by Polar Vortex"

Uh, will somebody tell me again why English majors are "unemployable?"

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## MANICHAEAN

rout / route / root.

Ah come on, don't get me going!!

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## AuntShecky

Two more examples indicating that cable news networks are hiring MBAs instead of English majors:

This caption to a graphic:
"A Bridge Under Troubled Waters" "Under?" What do they mean--The Lincoln Tunnel?

"The Republican and Democratic parties are one in the same." The accepted idiom is "one _and_ the same." 

As my English 12 teacher said several Presidential administrations ago: "If you insist on using clichés, at least get them right!"

And while I've got the podium so to speak, why oh why do so many people put apostrophes in simple plurals?
All that is needed is an "s" or "ies.":


The Simpsons
armories
symphonies

Use an apostrophe to indicate *possession* in nouns. "Joe's cap" "Lila's son." Apostrophes are found in plural _possessive_ nouns: "The Simpsons' residence" "The armories' roofs"

Possessive pronouns --its, his, her, hers, your, yours, theirs--do not use apostrophes. 
In pronouns, only contractions (pronoun plus a verb ) take apostrophes:
"Baby, it's cold outside." "You're joking, right?"

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## Lyn05

Hi everyone,

This seemed like the right place to ask this so... What is the difference in meaning between the words 'independence' and 'autonomy'? I came across the following line in a reading:

_Paradis (2001) made the case for independence but not autonomy on the basis of a study of French-English 2 year old's knowledge of syllable patterns..._

So there seems to be a difference between the two words.

But looking at definitions from Webster's dictionary (below), I still can't figure it out. :Confused:  Does anyone have a clue?



> Independence: the state or quality of being independent; freedom from the influence , control or determination of another or others
> 
> Autonomy: the fact or condition of being autonomous; self-government; independence
> 
> Autonomous: a) having self-government; b)functioning independently without control by others

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## AuntShecky

*principle/principal*

A capsule movie review in the newspaper this past Sunday had it wrong:




> "A detective and the principle suspect in a group of child murders are both held prisoner by the father of one of the victims."


Principle-- a noun, meaning the ultimate source or cause of something; a fundamental truth; a rule of conduct; essential element; scientific rule.

Principal-- an adjective (and the correct word for the newspaper sentence)--*first* in rank, authority, importance, or degree. As a noun, it means the chief or head person, such as the chief administrator of a school--"There's a 'pal' in 'principal,' " as well as the lead actor or musician in a production. It can also mean the amount of a financial investment or a loan, minus the interest.

Often the confusion between the two words is simply a matter of spelling.

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## AuntShecky

> Hi everyone,
> 
> This seemed like the right place to ask this so... What is the difference in meaning between the words 'independence' and 'autonomy'? I came across the following line in a reading:
> 
> _Paradis (2001) made the case for independence but not autonomy on the basis of a study of French-English 2 year old's knowledge of syllable patterns..._
> 
> So there seems to be a difference between the two words.
> 
> But looking at definitions from Webster's dictionary (below), I still can't figure it out. Does anyone have a clue?



Forgive me for taking so long to get back to you on this,Lyn05, but honestly, it took me this long to figure out a possible coherent answer. Also, in "full disclosure" I was hoping some outstanding LitNutter would field this one. You're right about the dictionary; I consulted a couple and they seem to give similar definitions. "Autonomy" and "independence" are pretty much synonymous. So we can look at context and connotation.

Both "autonomy" and "independence" can apply to both people and societies or nations. "Independence" could, perhaps, apply to a domesticated animal, or a rescued creature having been returned to the wild, i.e., no longer dependent upon humans for its survival. 

"Autonomy" imples self-governing-- that is, making one's own rules. A department within a corporation, say, could be autonomous in that the board of directors doesn't micromanage it. 

In a sense of a country-- perhaps in its history it once was a colony of a larger country. Think of the United States, or the newly-formed nations in the continent of Africa, or even the former "Soviet bloc" of nations, now more or less "independent," If it had never been under the rule of a larger country, it could be said to have always been "autonomous." An emancipated minor has formally declared herself to be no longer dependent on her parents and guardians, thus she is "independent."

I don't know if that makes any sense at all. But I have a feeling there is a subtle difference between the two words

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## AuntShecky

The following two pairs appeared on cable news this week. One commentator confused the first pair. Re: the second pair, this morning, a different commentator used "sub rosa" correctly -- and given the political context, brilliantly.

*Imply/Infer*

Imply-- to indicate indirectly, hint, suggest, allude to. 
Infer-- to deduce from the context, to gather, or conclude.
A speaker or writer implies; the reader or audience infers. Or, as Theodore Bernstein puts it, "the _implier_ is the pitcher; the _inferrer_ is the catcher."


*sub rosa/ tabula rasa*

"Sub rosa" means secretly, privately or confidentially. In ancient times, a rose was symbolic of a secret, hence "under the rose."

"Tabula rasa" literally means "a blank slate."

Confusion between these two may be, once again, a spelling error. We only have to remember the "o" as in "rose" in the former, and the "a" (as in "erase") for the latter.

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## AuntShecky

*Anxious/eager*

The two adjectives are not at all synonymous; if anything, they are opposites. When an impeding situation fills you with dread or trepidation, then you are anxious. If you are anticipating an approaching event with enthusiasm or hope, then you are eager. 

*Bad/Badly*

_Right:_ I feel bad about my neck. (Norah Ephron)
_Wrong:_ Hearing about the Ukraine, Venezuela, and Syria makes me feel badly.

Forms of the verb to be and other copulative or linking verbs do not take objects. They take subject complements -- nouns or adjectives in the nominative case. For instance, Shes young, Youre getting warm, or The conversation turned ugly. This is why the line in Eliots famous poem says I grow old, not oldly. 

The occasion to use an adverb with the verb feel is extremely rare, as when feel is used in the palpable sense rather than as a linking verb. For instance,  I burned the tips of my fingers on the toaster and damaged my nerve endings,. Ever since then, Ive lost my sense of touch, and now I feel badly.

When a telephone caller asks for you by name, you would answer This is she, not This is her, although if you arent sure, you can get around it by merely saying Speaking!

Veteran LitNutters have already been subjected to the following, but Ill post it one more time:




> A woman shuffles off this mortal coil and finds herself at the entrance to Heaven. So she knocks at the Pearly Gates.
> St. Peter asks, Who is it?
> She replies, It is _I_ , Lord.
> St. Peter slaps his forehead and cries, _Damn!_ Another English teacher!


*Begging the question*
Newscasters frequently use this phrase erroneously, as in: The East Coast is bracing for yet another massive snowstorm, which begs the question: when will this winter end?

Begging the question is a specialized term in logic; an example of begging the question occurs when the original question is used as a answer, as in a tautology. For instance, The Bible is the Word of God because it says so in Scripture.

To eliminate confusion, its probably prudent to use a different phrase, such as which raises the question, or brings up the obvious question. The weather girls report didnt actually beg the question. She posed a question begging to be asked.

*Between/Among*

The preposition between can be used only when you are speaking or writing about two people or objects: Between you and me, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. (Dont forget that between is a preposition and can only take objects, as in This dispute is between her and her husband, not she and her husband.)

When describing an relationship with more than two elements, use among. On early Sunday evening, a network report got it wrong when he said, Tonight the Oscar® for Best Picture has come down to a race between _Gravity_, _American Hustle_, and _Twelve Years a Slave_. (He should have said among, not between.)


*Fewer/Less*
Use _fewer_ when you're referring to objects that can be _counted._
The sign above this supermarket aisle says "10 items or fewer."
The beer ad we heard for decades should have said: "Fewer calories; great taste."

Use _less_ when you are referring to a mass, a condition, or a substance that can be measured, but not counted.
This box of Munchies contains less salt than that box of Crunchies.
I prefer stories that are less straight-forward and more subtle.

When referring to percentages, the "countable" vs. "measurable" guidelines apply:
Fewer than 40 percent of registered voters ever make it to the polls. (Voters are countable)
Less than 1% of the world's fresh water is available for human consumption. (Water can be measured, but not counted.)

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## AuntShecky

According to language experts,*Presently* does not mean immediately, at the moment, at this point in time, or now. It means "soon."

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