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!

---

The Unwritten World Of The Reality Of Letterwriting

You may wonder why I have chosen this title of... Read More

Conflict - How To Keep Your Readers Turning Pages

Some writers are just too kind.They hate to put their... Read More

How to Finish Your Self-Published Book Fast

Started a book and then got bogged down? Like many... Read More

Linguaphone Language Learning Solutions

Language Training - A key to Global CommunicationLanguage Training is... Read More

Top 10 Tips to Complete a Creative Writing Project Without Losing Your Creativity

Have you ever started a creative writing project with great... Read More

The Self-indulgent Writier

A writer can never be self indulgent whether writing fiction,... Read More

Resignation Letters: Dont Let Yours Backfire On You...

It turns out that "tips and templates on how to... Read More

A New Way To Self Publish

More and more good authors are turning to the Internet... Read More

Creating Great Business Correspondence

Obtaining the skills for writing good business correpondence is important;... Read More

Getting Published Is Different For Everyone: Two Paths Among Many

One obvious question that can get overlooked in the process... Read More

How To Self-Publish Your Own Books, Manuals, Reports Or Newsletters

You can make a lot of money by writing and... Read More

The Cost of Being a Writer

You are the only one who knows what being a... Read More

On Writing and Poetry: Harry Calhoun in Conversation

"This is just brilliant. The whole interview is incredible? I'm?... Read More

Does Your Fight Scene Pack a Punch?

Long ago, movie directors mastered the technique of creating a... Read More

Every Result is an Asset

Not long ago, I went to an Internet Marketing Seminar.... Read More

The Magic of Layout in Your Story

"The Magic of Layout..."???Okay... "magic" might seem a bit over... Read More

Advice for New Writers

With the advent of email communications in the workplace, it's... Read More

A Freelancers Journey, Part One

Today it begins.I have always known I was a freelancer.... Read More

Suspense Novels Made Easy

Suspense novels are probably the easiest novels to write. Suspense... Read More

Untrue Father (A short Story)

Kallu was a tenant of Santosh Kumar Nayak. Santosh Kumar... Read More

Mind Mapping Your Journal Entries

Clustering, also called Mind Mapping, is a great way to... Read More

How to Pitch a Story

Ever wonder why we refer to convincing an editor a... Read More

Before You Write Your Book, Organize Its Parts - Part 1

If you are a serious writer who wants to publish... Read More

A Single Technique

Writing is hard work, and like all hard work, one... Read More

Become an Instant Author by Playing Well with Others

You wrote a tips booklet. Maybe more than one. Oh... Read More

Making Better Word Choices ? 4 Examples

Choosing the wrong words can have a poor effect on... Read More

Documenting Everything: Your Journal is Your Logbook

Sailors had it for years. Great explorers had it as... Read More

How to Avoid the 11 Biggest Mistakes of First Time Authors

"If you want to change your life," Harry Beckwith wrote... Read More

A Quick Guide to ISBNs for Self-Publishers

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It is a... Read More

Inspiring the Poet in You!

Poems. Just the mention of them makes me smile. Why?... Read More

How New Authors Can Keep Their Manuscripts Coherent

In large publishing houses, many manuscripts penned by first-time authors,... Read More

Best Writing Advice I Ever Got

I've been in the communications business a long time?over 25... Read More

Discover the Magic of the Most Beautiful Words in the English Language

'Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always... Read More