by Tx Tall Tales
I would edit the macro to highlight "cloths", since it is frequently used on this site in lieu of the proper word "clothes".
Thank you for this.
I don't write stories, but I do know the proper word to use when talking about or describing a situation.
As I reader it bothers me as it sometime destroys the moment.
No, I would not end reading the story (ie: "baby.. bathwater") but a properly written project is far more enjoyable..
Your first sentence screws the pooch... using an apostrophe to pluralize 'homonym.'
Into/in to
waste/waist
ensure/insure
enquire/inquire
Plus, you've misspelt 'concious'! It SHOULD be 'conscious'!
I'd also add:
lets/let's
than/then
breath/breathe
aureole/aureola/areola
cloth/clothe (as someone else suggested)
lay/laid/lie
sat/set
cents/sense/since/scents
write/right
Some searches would need to find whole words only, others not so much.
Also, if you're using Word you can/should turn on grammar checking and verify the things that Word itself highlights. Sometimes it's right, sometimes not.
Just my to/too/TWO CENT'S/sense/since/scents worth... ;)
It's a good start. One that often catches me is "dominate/dominant". Dominate is a verb. "She dominated him", "I can dominate with the best of them". Dominant is a descriptive noun, an adjective. "She is dominant", "he is a dominant male". Mixing them up just brings the sentence to a halt.
Just installed it and it works beautifully. This will help. On one of my last stories I meant to say "meet" and it came out as, you guessed it, "meat." JUST STUPID!
Thanks. I admire your work.
The one that causes me to want to stop reading is "breath" instead of "breathe" (and the other way around). If our narrator says "I had to catch my breathe"... or ... "I began to breath through my mouth"... it just makes me cringe.
site/sight/cite
site. a location "a building site."
sight. something to look at. "The Grand Canyon of the Colorado is a beautiful sight."
cite. like a footnote, or as a citation, what the homonym police give you when you misuse/misspell a word. Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear weapons. "The author was cited for using principal when he meant principle."
One I see all the time is "taunt" when "taut" is what's required (e.g. "she stroked his taunt stomach"). I'm sure there are others which will come to mind later.
....and get back to "2 moms 2 laps"!!!!! And people, quit fuckin giving this 5 stars, it's NOT fucken hot! DUMBASSES!!!!
I see someone mentioned "taunt" but one of my personal peeves is finding "taught" nipples (or tummy) instead of "taut". I found it to be so prevalent on Lit that I had to ask a Brit friend if "taught" might have been some idiosyncratic British variant (it's not).
Now, if only more of our authors USE it. I can't tell you how many stories I've given up on, because the author doesn't know the difference between loose and lose, and so many more. It's jarring, and if repeated I will stop reading. Too many people think a spell checker is sufficient.
Breath and breathe need to be on this list too. Many writers make that error. Thanks for sharing.
You might add a couple more, then/than.
I see these two misused so often.
Thanks for the how to lesson.
In addition to great story lines and characters, how refreshing to not get jarred by stupid grammar. I caught only one in one of your Gamer Grrl stories: adieu where you meant ado. Otherwise, I love the care to every aspect of your writing.
Shudder
Shutter
people shudder, windows have shutters.
Lose
loose
waist
waste
While all of the above are not homonyms, they in general are not friends to those who rely on spell checkers as proof readers.
This is a bad idea. You are enabling writers to ignore their craft and try to let a computer program do what they need to know how to do already. If a person does not know to use 'too' instead of 'to', Mind instead of mined, bored vs. board, border vs. boarder etc and if they have no clue how to use quotation marks or indent - they need to go take a class in 'English Grammer and Composition', Creative Writing, and another helpful class would be basic Journalism. People cannot become writers simply because they download a program, or because they have a fantasy. I have read many stories by authors in America and Great Britain who write as if it were their third language. Henry Higgins in 'My fair Lady' said,' Why Can't the English Learn to Speak!'. Well, I say: "Why Cannot Writers Simply Learn to Write!" This is basic. One does not hang out a sign proclaiming himself a automotive painter and arm himself with spray cans of paint. You need to learn, and hone, your craft or find some other outlet for your passions. Thank You. I'm not a proofreader, and it has been many years since I stood in front of a class and I'm not perfect. But if I were writing to entertain others I would at least go to the trouble of trying to learn to do it right. And, yes, that is Right instead of Write! Learn Punctuation by all means. It is incredibly distracting to try to follow dialogue when the author clearly has no clue where to place commas and quotation marks. 'He said' and 'She said' are used way more often than necessary and though it puts forth the thoughts, it chops up the flow of the conversation. Encourage Knowledge, not Shortcuts to Ignorance and mediocre work.
WAY overdue. It's a shame it is even needed. Here's to American education. It's better to be a fool for a lifetime than to feel a fool for a few minutes in class. PC be damned!
Thanks. Have enjoyed you're stories immensely managing to ignore the ridicules ass-to-mouth inclusions. You break the stereotype of the communication-deficient Texan.
If only offenders would use your macro, learn the differences between the listed homonyms, and then correctly edit their stories, their scores would improve.
Also, I suggest you add "we're", "ware", and "where".
I expected some guidance on picking out the right word as I think many authors don't really know which is the correct word to use. Of course many do but just make typos.
On this subject, your stories seem to misuse to and too quite a lot (but not all the time), nonetheless, I love your work - keep it coming.
With many thanks
Phil
Common grammatical mistakes
Please correct me if any of this is not correct.
Sorry I can't bold or italicize here. I used CAPS instead. Also, there are probably some tabs buried in here, so the formatting might not be right.
Classic wrong words (homophones)
There are probably lots more of these but these are the ones I have either heard spoken or seen in e-mail messages:
THERE: Pronoun indicating a place: Put the package over THERE.
Pronoun as subject of a sentence: THERE are lots of people here today.
THEIR: Possessive
THEIR house looks expensive.
I like THEIR car.
THEY'RE: Contraction of ‘they are’
THEY'RE leaving tomorrow.
Let’s see what THEY'RE going to do.
YOUR: Adjective indicating possession
May I borrow YOUR lawn mower?
YOU'RE Contraction of ‘you are’
YOU'RE going to do well on the test.
THROUGH: Let’s go THROUGH the documentation tomorrow.
He just walked THROUGH the door.
THREW (past tense of throw): He THREW the ball to second base.
HERE (nearby location): Put the book HERE on my desk.
HEAR (using your ears): I like to HEAR the birds sing.
PIECE (part of something): Please give me a PIECE of pie.
PEACE (serenity, absence of war): There will be PEACE in the house when he leaves!
The best (or perhaps the worst) example of this one was: …..speak now or forever hold your piece. Yikes!
TO (Preposition) Please go TO your room.
TOO (Also) You should invite Jim, TOO.
(To an excessive degree) That meal was TOO big to finish.
TWO (2) He drank TWO bottles of water.
BARE (without clothes or covering): There was a BARE spot on the floor where the carpet had worn through.
BEAR (the animal, to endure) The BEAR ambled away into the woods.
The news was almost too much to BEAR.
Past participles (often not used):
GO Present: Let’s GO to the store.
Past: He WENT to the store.
Past part: He should have GONE to the store.
DO Present: Please DO your homework
Past: She DID her homework before dinner.
Past part. He should have DONE his homework yesterday.
RUN Present: Let’s RUN over to Julie’s house.
Past: He RAN to the store.
Past part: He could have RUN a better race.
Future: Internal PCI scans will be RUN later today.
FORGET Present: Don’t FORGET to bring the salad.
Past: I FORGOT to lock the door.
Past part: I might have FORGOTTEN to tell him about the meeting.
Other wrong words:
Should of, could of: Incorrect
Should have, could have: Correct
I should HAVE cut the grass yesterday
He could HAVE scored on the single.
Apostrophes should only be used to indication possession, never plurals:
Incorrect: She has two brother’s.
Correct: She has two BROTHERS. (plural)
Correct: I borrowed my BROTHER'S lawn mower. (possession)
Lie / Lay
LAY is a transitive verb. It requires an object. If there is no object, you should probably use LIE. Please LAY the coats on the bed. COATS is the object.
LIE is a reflexive verb. Implicitly, you are the object. English does not show this. Romance languages do. Please LIE down and take a nap.
Here is the confusion: LAY is also the past tense of LIE! So this is correct: He LAY down and took a nap earlier this afternoon.
Missing ‘to be’ in verbs:
Incorrect: My grass needs cut.
Correct: My grass needs TO BE cut.
Just think, if Shakespeare hadn't known this his famous soliloquy would merely have been “or not”!
I saw this on a T-shirt:
Grammar: The difference between
Feeling YOU'RE nuts
and
Feeling YOUR nuts
!!!
Doesn't mean what you think it means
Misuse of this one word has ruined many marvelous stories you've written
then/than; everyday/every day; straitjacket; 'til/until/till; breath/breathe; a/an; why/while; yeah/yea; lose/loss/loose; this & that kind/these & those kinds; It would be appreciated if/Please or I'd appreciate; who/whom; I/me!!!; he/him. she/her.
Here's a one-of-a-kind I saw yesterday: "...is in it?"
I applaud your efforts, a depressing number of writers desperately need such a list to avoid the most common offenders.
It is no substitute for a fresh pair of eyes though, someone else's, or you own by forcing your brain to read what's actually there rather than what it expects, it can be accomplished in several ways:
-Putting a chapter aside for a while, at least a few days perhaps even a few weeks, so you can look at it anew.
-Forcing yourself to read slower than your normal reading speed when proofreading.
-Reading it out aloud to yourself or someone else.
-Printing it out, people tend to notice details more easily when on paper rather than on a screen.
A few general approaches to keeping your English skills sharp
-Making sure you read more published writing than amateur one, so that you don't sabotage your internal spellchecker.
-spend a little bit of time here and there doing online grammar and punctuation exercises. The small Oxford Grammar book is also pretty good to have.
-always be conscious of whether you are using informal or formal speech in your everyday life not only in your writing, basically don't be careless when using English, because sloppy habits can carry over. Avoid text-speak like the plague :-)
You should add "then/than" to your list, I think I remember you making that mistake a few times (using then when you mean than)
Another common one is "awhile/a while" though I can't remember if you have made that error.
Discreet - careful and circumspect in one's speech or actions
Discrete - individually separate and distinct
You know, this is not just here at Literotica. Many wannabe writers even at non-erotic sites make these same mistakes. If there is a writing 101 or a How to 101 for writers, these common mistakes should be included in each of those courses/articles/write-ups.
This one needs to be added.
A shutter is protective window covering, NOT something any woman might do in passion.
I wish the original writer would add all the proposed suggestions and add them to his published macro.
So I'm adding another pair of words
Hanger and Hangar
And I want to add that not only is this type of mistake found among the amateur writers, but it is also found, and this causes me even more aggravation, in the writings of professional writers.
I spend half my week reading news articles about IT technology and you would be appalled. I tried to pm one such writer about a simple mistake and he was offended. I simply gave up on reading any of his articles after that.
In the comment by PhotoMeister dated 09/17/15
He said, "Here is the confusion: LAY is also the past tense of LIE! So this is correct: He LAY down and took a nap earlier this afternoon."
It is not!
Proper English would be, laid, the past tense of lie, as in, "He laid down and took a nap earlier this afternoon."
But this is really a niggle.
Please, PhotoMeister, do NOT take offense. We just are better at proper use of English than most people. What I especially HATE is the overuse of the word "that" by newscasters and TV reporters, people who should have been better educated in the use of English, when they should use the more proper words "who," or "which," depending on whether they are talking about persons or things.
Or, for that matter, the overuse, in print, of dashes, when commas, ellipses, semicolons or even a period would be so much better.
And just to help anyone reading this, there's a small app called Grammerly to help with spelling which I find tremendously helpful. Google it to find out more about it.
I appreciate your efforts to help authors improve their writing skills. When I taught college I would do a basic writing workshop to point out some common errors in college papers. What I found to be the most effective tool, however, was to have the student read their paper out loud to themselves. In doing so, it forced a student to slow down and read it word for word instead of letting their mind insert or change words that were not on the page, which they did when they read it silently to themselves. The ear will pick up many of the mistakes that the eye will gloss over. In addition, it will help an author catch an awkwardly phrased sentence. Finally, if possible, have another person read the work before submitting it. Even if they don't know grammar, they will often be able to recognize when an idea or the idea's presentation is missing something. Once again, it is obvious to the author what he or she is trying to say, but it might not be clear to a reader. Authors need to remember that they can have a fantastic idea for a story, but a poor presentation will destroy that great idea's chance at becoming anything worthwhile. You might as well do a Charlie Brown smudge and go for a picture saying your 1000 words. Thanks for your contributions to the site and all the other authors who do so. It takes a lot of courage to put something very personal out to the general public for consumption. I might not like the story or the grammar, but I do respect a person's efforts. It is unfortunate that the commentators on this site often forget this common courtesy. PS, I'm sorry I'm doing this post as anonymous. I don't have the courage I used to have due to health issues.
For some reason the following are often misused...
Father...farther...further
Bother...brother
Bought...brought
Though...thorough...tough
An...and
Lie.,.lay...lain. And lay...laid...laid
Set...sit...sat
Most...almost
No...know
And, yes, I know there are many more.
"concious" in your macro is itself misspelt, s/b "conscious"
In many stories, here in "L", writers over use "I" and "he" and "she" and underuse "me" and "him" and "her", that is, they write "Give it to she and I" rather than "give it to her and me". If the folks mentioned are the subject of a verb (active), it is "I", "he", "she", but if they are receiving action as the object of a verb or preposition ("I hit him", not "I hit he"; and "give it to me" not "give it to I" (also the harder to HEAR case: "Tiger gave it to George and Judy and me" rather than "Tiger gave it to George and Judy and I" (which is harder to HEAR because the "to" is so far from the "me" (or the "I").
Other commenters have mentioned the difference between the "lie, lay, lain" system which is the do-it-yourself repose: "I lie down" as opposed to the "lay, laid, laid" system which is the do-it-to-something-else placement: "I lay it on the table".
Tricks to lknow, also. And tHERE is a place, like HERE. But you hEAR with your EAR. Several easy tricks like those can also help
'Tact' vs. 'tack' is also frequently misused.
"Her sudden burst of anger at his comment forced him to try another tact."
The correct word, of course, is 'tack', a sailing term referring to the lower leading corner of the sail, indicating the vessel's direction.
But often misused:
Discreet: Careful and circumspect, usually to hide one's actions (at least in the contexts frequently found in Literotica).
Discrete: Individually distinguishable. This is frequently used incorrectly instead of discreet.
Just one of my pet peeves.
Oh, there's also
Once and a while (incorrect) instead of
Once in a while (correct).
I see this all the time on Literotica. Obviously you guys copy from each other:
smirk
smərk/
verb
verb: smirk; 3rd person present: smirks; past tense: smirked; past participle: smirked; gerund or present participle: smirking
1.
smile in an irritatingly smug, conceited, or silly way.
"he smirked in triumph"
synonyms: smile smugly, simper, snicker, snigger; leer
"I hate the way they just sit there smirking"
noun
noun: smirk; plural noun: smirks
1.
a smug, conceited, or silly smile.
"Gloria pursed her mouth in a self-satisfied smirk"
If you would just replace 'smirk' with smile, you'd be okay.
One of my pet peeves is
"you have another think coming". Correct.
"You have another thing coming". Incorrect.
ALL writers and editors on Literotica should read this!
It's not a question of KNOWING! I KNOW the difference between "there/their/they're."
That doesn't stop me from typing "there" when I meant "their." Obviously proof reading and edit can and hopefully does catch this, but remember, the macro doesn't "fix" the error, it simply highlights the POTENTIAL error so that you can stop and look at it, and use your knowledge to either change it if you typed it wrong or accept (not except, LOL!) it if you got it right!
How could you leave out:
compliment - complement
heal - heel
sheer - shear
seaman - semen
........
...that past and passed were even remotely a problem until I started reading stories on this site and seeing SO MANY different authors having trouble with them, I'm glad to see it on your list. Speaking of this site, quite a few authors here seem to have a big problem with site and sight as well.
I'm an editor and I read a lot of stories here. I absolutely agree that these are the most common types of mistakes that I find. The worst offender in my opinion is peek/peak. I find that one misused in about half of the stories I read.
Peeled / pealed
Site / sight
Here / heat
There are so many I think there aren’t that many god proof readers.
On the other hand, after finding three or more I consider strongly just stopping reading a story because it probably won’t hold together.
Bill
And one that frequently messes *you* up, it seems: pique vs peak vs peek. A quick peek at the naked sunbather near Mt. Monadnock’s peak would certainly pique my interest!
It only took moments to create the macros. Thank you very much for the information.
... as far as I know. Though, I believe, it is used dialectically in portions of the South U.S.
A couple of my favorite of the most prolific writers on Literotica do this. They must be from the South?
Hee-hee, I almost used “passed tense” vs “past tense”.
shook head =no, nod head =yes. Many American writers use shake or shook when they actually mean nod
When one puts forth a subject for discussion or a boat goes aground beam on to the shore the correct word is BROACH. Some author last week had a woman wearing one. have noticed confusion between something smooth to the touch and removing wool from sheep. I have YET to read a LitRot author use the correct past tense of grind: GROUND.
It's lovely to see people who love stories discuss punctuation, grammar and spelling. It makes the world of difference for me; bad punctuation, grammar or spelling halts my reading and stops cold my suspension of belief.
I am open to take on some copy reading / editing if anyone is interested? It will be english English.
Thanks for passing this on to us. I am not an author, but I collect many stories from this site and find many have specific grammar problems that I like to correct with macros.
In your summary line, you contrast "It's/its, your's/yours, to/too/two, etc." Is "your's" even a word? I'm scratching my head over this one, I just can't see where it might be used.
Where did people go to school? I learned all your word list before I was in the 7th grade, and the meanings and the spellings. Of course, I am 91 years old and my aunt was also a teacher.