Word Usage: Six of one, half dozen of another

I was doing some more rabbithole searches to confirm a word usage in my work-in-progress and found tons ofinstances of questionable word usage. Inspired by a recent Facebook meme friendposted, today I’ll share a few examples of what I found—because I have to admit to being a bit of a grammarnerd.

(p.s. The result verbiage are excerpts from the various internetsources.)§§
Further and fartherPeople often use both further and farther tomean “more distant.”Further can be an adverb, an adjective, or a verb, meaning “additional.” Further as a verb: “He’d do anything to further his owninterests at the company.”
Farther means “at or to a greater distance” and cannot beused as a verb. In Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys says: “And some boats,like me, seemed to float farther and farther from land.”
Are further and farther impossible totell apart from one another? If you remember that only further canmean “moreover,” you shouldn’t have much difficulty.
Than and thenThe word than is used for comparisons to show whoor what something is compared against. For example, “cats are smarter than dogs.”The word then is used to show time, as in “at that time” or “afterthat happened.” For example, “I exercised then took a shower.”
Past and passedPast refers to time or events that have alreadyhappened, while passed is the past tense of the verb pass andis used to indicate completed actions or events. For example, “Shefinally passed the driving test, leaving all her doubts in the past.”
This and thatThis, that, these, and those aredemonstratives. We use this, that, these and those topoint to people and things. This and that aresingular. These and those are plural. We use them asdeterminers and pronouns.
Versus vs. versesVersus is a preposition that refers to comparing two ormore things or being against something. There are many advantages of a gasoline car versus adiesel car (and now we have to also compare both of those versus an electric orhybrid car).
Verses is a noun that refers to the lines of a poem orsong. It is the plural form of the word verse.  The verses of the poem “Daffodils” by WilliamWordsworth are eternally famous and enjoyable.
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Stephen King: “Books are the perfect entertainment: nocommercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent.”
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  Okay, that’s it fortoday. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same. Raisingprayers for a happy and safe you and yours.
cj
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