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!
MORE RESOURCES:
 guardian.co.uk | Steven Tyler Is Just Writing A Book! No Drugs (Allegedly) PerezHilton.com (blog) A spokesman for Steven Tyler has said that the Aerosmith frontman is just taking a quick break due to a shoulder injury and he is working on his ... TYLER IS WRITING HIS MEMOIRS |
 Hindu | 'Writing is a solo pursuit' Hindu I really believe what happens in the writing experience happens in the reading experience. If there is velocity in the writing, then there will be the same ... |
Parting Shot: Writing In Alexander for Biletnikoff Award Kansas City Star By Mike dearmond - Posted on 20 November 2009 Danario Alexander is not a finalist for the award given annual to college football's best receiver. ... |
 Contactmusic.com | Cruz's record label wants him to stop writing hits Ireland Online He said: “I kept writing them and the record company kept shouting at me because I kept giving all the songs away. “I'm not really precious like that. ... Taio Cruz: Breaking charts as well as hearts |
 Times Online | What's This Mania? Twilight's New Moon Radar Redux: Baltimore Arts and Culture (blog) Listen, I study Creative Writing in school. I love literature. I value writing and even more so, I value good writing, unique writing, writing which ... New Moon star Kellan Lutz on gummi bears and running from fans A Fan's 10 Favorite Things About 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon' Reflecting on the 'Twilight' Backlash |
 Film School Rejects (blog) | 'Underworld 4' on the Way With 'Shield' Scribe Writing Moviefone According to the Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog, the task of writing the fourth film falls upon John Hlavin, best known as a writer and story editor ... Underworld 4 being scripted by John Hlavin |
Dacre Stoker: Writing a sequel to a beloved classic National Post There are many mysteries surrounding Bram Stoker's writing of Dracula. These include: what resources he used or knew of, how much he actually knew about the ... |
'Precious' Screenwriter Talks Passion For Writing CDInsight Geoffrey Fletcher, screenwriter of "Precious," talked of passions for film writing before coming out with the hit drama. Fletcher said he took up film at ... |
Analysis: Darwin vs. Genesis, a literary smackdown Toronto Star Genesis, it has to be said, is tough to beat as a piece of writing. It contains both the best of the wilderness, emerging over several generations from the ... |
 New York Daily News | Martha Stewart pans Rachael Ray's cooking - and cooking writing New York Daily News Stewart told ABC News' Cynthia mcfadden that Ray's approach to cooking - and cookbook writing - is "not good enough for me." In her first TV interview since ... |
Using Technology to Improve Your Final Draft
One Saturday afternoon, I sat in a packed conference room with about 150 other would be writers, listening to a conference instructor tell us the keys to self-editing our manuscripts. The number of people in the room spoke to how important it is to make sure your work is crisp, and as close to publishable as possible.
Basic Writing Tips - Some Controversial, All Correct
As a previous article ("Making Better Word Choices - 4 Examples") explained, writers can take steps to prevent simple, and common, errors from degrading their writing. Five areas of writing that cause authors problems are discussed in this article.
A Writers Tools
William Faulkner, the great Mississippi writer, said, "The tools I need for work are paper, tobacco, food, and a little whisky."Every writer needs certain tools to accomplish the task of being a writer.
Whose Story Is It?
Whenever you sit down to plot a story (or even to think about a story) one of the first things you have to ask yourself is this: "Whose story IS it?"It seems like a simple question - but your story can succeed or fail depending on how you handle this. Told from the wrong point of view, a story can founder before the first chapter has come to an end.
Leveraging Your Writing
A frequent conversation I have with my writing clients is how to best utilize their writing to gain more exposure and to create more income. If there is one thing that will accomplish both of these objectives, it's learning how to leverage your writing.
Business Writing Tip: Question & Answer Format
Traditionally, business writing uses the "one thing after another" format, which usually means a plain recitation of the facts, circumstances, or whatever else needs to be said.But, we have a number of other options, and some of them may provide more responses or better responses.
Writing Business Letters That Get The Job Done
Despite the widespread use of e-mail in commerce today,traditional business letters are still the main way that the majority of businesses officially communicatewith their customers and other businesses.This is especially true when businesses want to formalizean agreement or an understanding.
The Writing Life
In the 7th grade I wanted to be an architect but it turns out math is involved. Who knew? My 8th grade English teacher talked me into working on the school newspaper and I was hooked.
Masquerading As Novel ~ Can Author's Work Convey Important Perceptions?
While novels do not usually attempt to convey concepts about the need to protect ourselves, this one does. For Sale By Owners:FSBO.
The Unwritten World Of The Reality Of Letterwriting
You may wonder why I have chosen this title of this post. Well from my experience is that it is really hard to put the feeling into words about what letter writing means to me.
How To Write Thank You Letters With Class
When I first started tracking the information preferencesof people visiting my Writing Help Central Web site I wassurprised to find how many folks were seeking informationon how to write thank you letters. In fact, "thank youletter" information and sample templates are the third ranked destinations at that Web site.
The Writers Identity: Exploring the Writer Within
Les Edgerton writes in his book, Finding Your Voice, that the best way to find your voice is to write autobiographically. "Writers will never find a powerful, evocative voice until they learn to be bone-deep honest with themselves, open and vulnerable.
Publish Your Novel on the First Try
Rejection. This scary word plagues virtually every writer this side of John Grisham.
Call Yourself a Writer? Where Are Your Notes?
Writers are notorious collectors of slips of paper. They tear articles from magazines in the doctor's waiting room; they rip corners off newspapers in friend's houses because they need to write down something witty; and they stuff their bags and pockets with serviettes, cigarette packs, and discarded train tickets just because note making's second nature to them.
Finding The Book Writing Resources, Tips, And Help You Need!
Writing can be more difficult that just compiling your thoughts on a few pieces of paper. In fact, it can be a challenge to find something new, interesting, and publishable to write about.
What Can Go Into A Plot?
Creative Writing Tips -We all tackle plotting differently. How you plot will be individual to you, as it is with every writer.
Write a Letter, Make a Difference
Today I took the dog for a walk and realized that there is a letter that I must write. Near our house, we walk up a once paved road that is now mostly rock and mud.
Writing Requires Self-Control
The only way to become a writer is to write. That requires a great deal of self-control and dedication, not only writing when the urge is upon you, but even when it is not.
Proofreading for Profits
How to avoid mistakes that undermine your credibilityYou're probably already familiar with the spell checker built into your software. Some work automatically as you type, others only run when you activate them.
How To Write Your Way To A Fortune
We've all seen those ads that grab our attention and makes us want to pull out our credit cards and buy. Don't you wish you had that same power to persuade? but contrary to what you may have been told these skills can be learned So you're not a natural born writer so what! The first thing you need to ask yourself is who is my target audience and how many marketers are doing what i want to do? Competition is fine it shows you have a market for your products or services.
