Trouble with Homonyms by Arline Chase
I saw a query letter this week with a "pear of scissors"in it. The author, who lives in a land that was once part of the British Empire, speaks English as a second language. I didn't have to read more than the query, to know the manuscript, if accepted, would be riddled with similar problems and so it was a no-go right from the start.
Now I know you all know the difference between a pear and a pair of scissors, but obviously someone had a problem. In fact EASL people by no means have a corner of this market and I have often confused compliment and complement or farther and further myself, among others. These are two that I always search and double-check in a completed manuscript, knowing my propensity for getting them wrong.
Homonyms, words that sound alike, but that are spelled differently and that have different meanings, can certainly trip any of us up. Worse, spell check will not find them for you, because they spell real words and are not "mistakes" in spelling.
Below is a list of the most often confused homonyms and other words – mistakes that undermine an author's credibility. Are any of your own particular bugbears on the list?
Aisle/isle
Allude/elude
Alright/all right – alright is a misspelling
Alter (n)/altar (v)
Ascent (n)/assent (v)
Awhile – never use a while
Bail/bale
Bare/bear
Bazaar (n)/bizarre (adj)
Blonde (n)/blond (adj)
Brake/break
Canvas/canvass
Cite/sight/site
Coarse (adj)/course (n)
Complementary/complimentary
Criteria/criterion – criteria is plural of criterion
Desert/dessert
Discreet (tactful)/discrete (separate)
Emigrate (leave)/immigrate (enter)
Enter/inter
Exit/exist
Farther (distance)/further
Formally (manner)/formerly (previous)
Fried/friend
Guess/guest
Hear/here
Heel/heal
Herd/heard
Imminent (about to happen)/eminent (distinguished)
Mantel/mantle
Massage/message
Naïve (adj)/naivete (n)
New/knew
Pane/pain
Peek/peak
Peel/peal
Present/presence
Quite/quiet
Roll/role
Rouge/rogue
Salvage/savage
Strait/straight
Tale/tail
There/their/there're
Thorn/throne
To/too/two
Trial/trail
Vain/vane/vein
Woman/women
Won't/want
Your/you're
* * * * *
Arline Chase became a publisher at Write Words, Inc. on Jan. 1, 2000. She is an award-winning author, journalist, teacher, and mentor to authors all over the world. Arline is a long-time member of the International Women's Writing Guild and has led workshops at their conferences as well as workshops and panels at Malice Domestic and other writers conferences. She is a member of the Author's Guild, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Romance Writers of American and the Eastern Shore Writers' Association. You can learn more about Arline on her website.
A version of this post appeared on her blog at Write Words/Arline Chase on December 8, 2010.
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