20 Words Writers Screw Up Often

Misused words that negatively impact (or rather affect) your writing

While out on a hike the other day, the plantar fasciitis in my right heel kicked in, so I said to Mango, “Let’s head home. I don’t wanna go any further.” Mango is pretty good with English. She knows sit and stay, perks up instantly to walk, and I suspect she understands home. But I doubt she picked up on my improper word choice in this instance. I corrected myself anyway: “Farther,” I told her. “I don’t want to go any farther.”

I’m a writer. Words matter. Whether it’s important to teach a dog grammar is another story.

Regardless, my verbal slip reminded me how often I get words wrong, even when I know one from another, and how frequently I see misused words when I edit the writing of others. And so I made a list. It’s a somewhat snarky list, and not an exhaustive list. But I hope it has a positive effect on your writing, complementing your skills to help ensure you don’t appear as stupid as me. As I?

Affect vs. effect: The former is a verb, the latter a noun. There are exceptions, used with rather complex phrasing, IMO, but let’s be sure we first master the basics. If this newsletter post has any effect at all, I hope it affects your writing positively.

Can vs. may: You may write a story that I’d love to read, but can you? See, permission is granted—it’s up to you—but I have no clue whether you’ve got the necessary skill. All right then—not allright, btw—if you can (meaning if you have the time) you may keep reading (if you have the inclination)…

Complement vs. compliment: Your chances of writing a story I’d love to read are higher if you have a solid grasp of everything on this list, because such knowledge would be a great complement to your writer’s toolbox. And if I end up loving your story, I’ll pay you a nice compliment. Would that we could end on that note. But here’s a weird one: If I were to offer to edit your story for free, that’d be what we editors call a complimentary edit, kind of like a complimentary breakfast (though without coffee, juice or food). Don’t ask me why.

Data: Data are correct, except when they’re not. The problem is, datum is a strange word, while the word data is not so strange. That’s it. That’s the entry.

Ensure vs. insure: Ensure helped extend my Dad’s life a few years back, after serious intestinal tract surgery that left him not eager to eat solid food. The branded drink, packed with protein, vitamins and minerals, ensured he had decent nutrition. The illness and hospital stays and procedures ended up being tremendously costly, but thankfully Medicare insured him against many of those costs, and supplemental insurance covered most of the rest.

Hone. As in hone in. You can hone a knife. And you can hone your writing skills. Start by remembering this sharp rebuke: You cannot, under any circumstances, hone in on something. But like a carrier pigeon returning to its place of residence, you can home in on whatever the hell it is.

Image: Pexels/Mauro Tandoi

Impact: Yeah, yeah, language changes, blah blah blah. Maybe you’re one of those people, for whom impact means the same thing as affect… or even effect. That’s cheating! Impact has a more impactful connotation, in either verb or noun form. Save it for when something truly smacks, whacks or thwacks, and don’t go trying to get around knowing the difference between affect and effect. Am I a linguistic curmudgeon? Sometimes. But only in matters of tremendous impact.

Irregardless: Is this even a word? C’mon. It means regardless, so irregardless, just use regardless, OK?

Lay vs. lie: I have no clue. I’m not gonna lie: I have to look it up every time. You’re on your own. 

Literally: If you literally mean literally, fine. If not, please, just don’t. You might wish to write, “The movie literally blew my socks off.” But of course you mean it figuratively blew your socks off. But it would be silly to write, “The movie figuratively blew my socks off.” We all know what you mean, so maybe skip the cliché altogether and invest your ink in more useful decriptions.

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Whew! We’re halfway through. Literally. Ten out of 20. Take a break. Stand up and stretch your legs. Or lie down if you wish. Or lay down. I really don’t care. Now let’s see what lies ahead, because I don’t think, grammatically speaking from our current perspective in time, that anything can lay ahead, even though there are 10 to go…