The main goal of communication is to effectively convey one's thoughts so that the receiver may understand them clearly. This usually means that having some grammatical errors and typographical errors are accepted and definitely okay as long as the idea of the message is understood.
However, there are times when the rules of writing must be followed with little to no room for mistakes that can signify one's incompetence. It is one thing that I realized as I wrote multiple research papers. Just a tiny error that would normally be okay in casual writing would turn your research paper from a good one with a high chance of being published to research that is set aside for more well-written ones.
This is the reason why I am making this article. I wanted to share 10 confusing words and how to properly use them. These are the terms that normally went unnoticed so there is a high chance of us misusing them.
Just a disclaimer that this article is not meant to bring down people who make mistakes in their writing. This is written with the sole purpose of informing others, and it is up to you if you will apply it to your writing or if you will choose not to do so.
The terms that I am including in this list are just personally the things that I also find myself getting wrong too when I am writing in a rush. I am making this list so that I know what to look for when I am proofreading academic papers before passing them. Hopefully, they might be able to provide some guidance to you as well. If you find that you normally commit these mistakes, do not panic! All of us make mistakes sometimes and it is completely okay. As I have written a while ago, mistakes like that are often ignored as long as it is understandable in a casual setting. This list is more for the professional writing we have to do (because they are picky about grammar and spelling).
His, He's
His refers to ownership/possession. It is the possessive case of the pronoun him which tells that his refers to something that belongs to him.
For example:
"His grades are exceptional.", here you can see that the grades the sentence is referring belong to a man.
He's is a contraction of he is. This is normally confused with the previous word because of the similar pronunciation, but it is usually easy to tell when writing although when one is rushing, they might not notice the mistake. Let us see how we can use this word in an example.
"He is someone renowned for his world-class skills." is the same as "He's someone renowned for his world-class skills." Contractions are normally sued for casual writing and are not typically used for formal writing.
They're, Their, There
They're is a contraction of they and are.
Example:
"They're not prepared for the disaster that comes."
Their is a word that refers to ownership/ possession. It is the possessive case of the pronoun them, which means their means belonging to them.
Example:
"The group of students gathers their things as the field trip ends."
There is an adverb that means in that place.
Example:
"There is no place better than home."
Accept, Except
Accept is used to convey an agreement to something that is said or proposed. It may also mean that what was mentioned is true.
Example: The fresh graduate read the contract carefully before he finally accepts the job offer that was extended to him.
Except on the other hand is used to exclude a matter. It means that something is not included in the statement.
Example: She invited everyone to attend her debut except for her ex-boyfriend who cheated on her.
Affect, Effect
Affect is a word used to convey an action of influencing something to change.
Example: The unexpected appearance of a typhoon affects their travel plans; they had to reschedule it for next time.
Effect is used to refer to the product/outcome of something.
Example: Strangers' unsolicited criticisms of an artist's artwork had the effect of making him discontinue his art journey.
This a short article as I still have finals for today so I am stopping here. I have more words to share with you guys soon. Hopefully, I will be able to find the time to share them with you later. Until then, they will be waiting in the drafts for a little while.
If you want to read more of my articles, I have made a list of all the past articles I published to make it easier for you to find one that might catch your interest.
Here is the link: https://read.cash/@ZehraSky/may-2021-articles-summary---59e3f5b8
I finally published a weekly summary for the first week of June. Feel free to check it out if you want to read more recent articles of mine.
Here is the link: https://read.cash/@ZehraSky/week-1-june-2021-articles-summary-6e15cf71
I would also like to say thank you to everyone who read, liked, and upvoted my articles. Your overwhelming support is the reason why I am still writing even when I want to stop again. Thank you to these wonderful people who keep supporting me.
Quite common mistakes a lot of people make. And while communication is getting a message across, respecting the language is also necessary, even when it is casual writing.