Tip from Tara: Don't Lead Me On

Something else I'm seeing a lot of in my editing gig... confusion with the led, lead, and lead.

Don't lead me on. Lead is present tense. He leads me on. She leads the parade. This form of the word, a verb, is associated with being in charge, which I love to be. He he.

He led me away from the park. Led is the past tense of lead.

But if you were to say "did you led the parade?" Well, duh, that doesn't sound right. Use common sense.

However, I'm seeing the word lead everywhere and people seem to be forgetting led is the past tense of lead.

I think this error is being made because of how the word lead is used when it's a noun.

Lead is a metal.

I'll pump you full of lead. And it's pronounced the same as led, but don't get them confused!

Other words to watch for:

Barely -- barely there
Barley -- a grass

affect -- verb
effect -- noun

His angry gaze (is what is affecting me) made me shiver with fear (and that's the effect.)

confident -- one feels pretty damn good about themselves
confidant -- someone you confide in

And here's another one I keep seeing. I can't get past this.

His crimes are in the past. Past is just that: in the past, long ago.
She passed him on the road. Passed is a verb.

It's all elementary, but easy to forget as time passes.