Common Grammatical Mistakes Part 2 of 5

Grammatical Mistakes in Writing

Part 2 of 5: More Homonyms

Last week we explored some homonyms and talked about how easy it is confuse them. We are going to explore some more homonyms today. Remember homonyms are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

Wear vs. Where and We’re vs. Were

Wear commonly refers to clothing or something that is on the body.

Wear is also used to indicate show deterioration or change.

Example A: I think that you should wear the shield to protect yourself from the dragon.

Example B: The presence of a dragon will wear on the nerves of the villagers.

Where is used to question a place or show location of an object

Example C: Where is the dragon that you were talking about last week?

We’re is the contraction for we are.

Example D: We’re looking for the dragon but he has disappeared.

Were is the past tense of the 2 person past subject for be.

Example E: We were at the cave and did not see the dragon.

Whether and Weather:

Whether is used as a conjunction and can also be used to indicate a choice.

Example F: Whether the dragon has left or whether dragon has stayed, we don’t know if he is alive.

Example G: I doubt whether the knight actually slayed the dragon.

Affect and Effect:

Affect is often used to show how an action provoked an emotion.

Example H: The presence of a dragon affected most of the villagers, who now live their life is fear.

Effect often refers to something that is brought on by a cause.

Example I: The dragon was terrorizing the villagers and in effect a knight was sent to slay the dragon.

Then and Than

Then is commonly used an adverb to indicate a sequence of events or a point in time.

Example J: First we found the sword and then we saw the body of the dragon.

Than is often used as a conjunction to compare to subjects.

Example K: The knight was so much smaller than the dragon. He was being squished by the bulk of the dragon.

Sources:

http://www.dictionary.com

Kleinedler, Steve, et al. 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses.

Boston, MA. HoughtonMifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 2004.

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