Saturday, November 9, 2013

Public Service Saturday: Silly Spelling Slip ups

I am indulging my inner nerd today, and addressing spelling. Yes, spelling. This is a personal pet peeve that often causes me to wince while reading blogs, facebook, or anything really.

As I scroll through facebook I often see certain words misspelled. Some are obvious typos, some are just difficult words, and some are " near words". "Near words" are words that are close in spelling but very different in meaning. Today, I would like to simply bring your attention to these words and how easy it can be to mix them up.

1. Lose vs. Loose- I remember it this way: I only want to lOse it once, but I want it to be extra lOOse.

2. Breathe vs. Breath - you can be SHORT of breath ( get it... it's a shorter word). Or just remember you hear an "e" when you say breathe ( not at the end of the word.. but nonetheless it will help you make the connection)

3. Your vs. You're-  These two words are homophones, and are easily confused. A quick fix is to say the phrase out loud and insert the are. Does it make sense? Then use You're.
Ex.  You are tall. Check!                       You're tall.
       You are dog is cute. No Check.    Your dog is cute.

I'm sure there are way more words that are missused or mixed up. I'm curious to know which ones bother you....

These are just some silly tips my brain uses to keep tricky words straight. Hopefully, it will help you too. So go forth and Status Update properly!

** please note- this is not a claim to spelling or grammatical perfection. I will make mistakes. Feel free to lovingly correct me so we can move on together.**

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