Answer: Hold Your Peace/Piece and Speak Your Peace/Piece

Monday, 20 November 2017 22:19
chomiji: Tenpou from Saiyuki Gaiden. with the caption Not necessarily by the book (Tenpou - Not by the book)
[personal profile] chomiji

Reader [personal profile] rebcake had a question about two venerable idioms concerning speaking out—or not. Is it proper to say “hold your peace," or is it “hold your piece"? What about “say your piece"—or “say your peace"? We’ll take a closer look with the help of old friends from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

( “Let’s )
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Commonly confused words: amoral and immoral

Monday, 25 September 2017 11:26
chiroho: (benz slk230)
[personal profile] chiroho
In this week's commonly confused words, we will look at the difference between amoral and immoral. Participating in our examples will be the cast of ( Person of Interest )
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Commonly Confused Words: Poison / Venom / Toxin

Monday, 11 September 2017 20:36
chomiji: Tenpou from Saiyuki Gaiden. with the caption Not necessarily by the book (Tenpou - Not by the book)
[personal profile] chomiji

As Lewis Carroll's Alice observed, if you drink from a bottle marked "poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you sooner or later. But what about venom or a toxin? Today we'll take a look at these three terms and figure out what makes them different from one another.

( With the help of the cast from Star Trek: The Original Series )
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ANSWER: Toe the line vs Tow the line

Monday, 3 July 2017 10:57
traycer: (Default)
[personal profile] traycer
Someone wanted to know, is it toe the line or tow the line?

Let's discuss this with help from the people of Stargate Command.

( Read more... )
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ANSWER: Off vs Of

Monday, 5 June 2017 12:05
traycer: (Default)
[personal profile] traycer
[livejournal.com profile] minesomine asks: When do you use "off" versus "of", and how do you remember the difference?

With examples from The Dresden Files

( Off vs Of - Moving onward... )
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Commonly Confused Words: Allude / Elude / Elide

Monday, 20 March 2017 21:15
chomiji: Tenpou from Saiyuki Gaiden. with the caption Not necessarily by the book (Tenpou - Not by the book)
[personal profile] chomiji

Today's set of easily confused words is as mellifluous as it is puzzling. We'll try to clarify the situation with the help of the Knight of Lost Words, October ("Toby") Daye, and her friends.

( All right, let's go! )
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Commonly Confused Words: weary/wary/worry

Monday, 13 March 2017 23:26
ariestess: (autumn leaves -- from dhamphir)
[personal profile] ariestess
Welcome to another round of Commonly Confused Words. I'm your host, AJ, and today we'll be unraveling the differences between weary, wary, and worry, with the help of our friends from Once Upon a Time and Damien, as well as Dictionary.com.

( weary vs. wary vs. worry )
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Commonly Confused Words: Decent / Descent

Monday, 6 March 2017 07:33
whymzycal: Demon-shaped steam rising from tea (tea demon)
[personal profile] whymzycal
Happy Monday, grammar friends, and welcome to our next look at a pair of Commonly Confused Words!

Today we’re going to look at decent and descent, two words that are often mistaken for one another because their spellings are so similar. With examples from ( the Avengers and Star Trek. )
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Commonly Confused Words: Appraise/Apprise

Tuesday, 28 February 2017 07:32
melayneseahawk: (meaning of life)
[personal profile] melayneseahawk
Hello, and welcome to another article on Commonly Confused Words! Today’s topic is a pair of words that I confuse all the time, so I thought I’d settle it once and for all: what is the difference between “appraise” and “apprise”, and what are some ways to remember which is which?

First, let’s start with some definitions...

( appraise/apprise, with examples from Steven Universe and Star Trek (2009) )

Tune in next week for another set of Commonly Confused Words!

(The Star Trek example is shamelessly borrowed from Deastar’s marvelous So Wise We Grow.)
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Commonly confused words: alley, ally, allay, alloy.

Monday, 13 February 2017 14:39
mab_browne: (Hannibal)
[personal profile] mab_browne
Welcome to this Fandom Grammar post on commonly confused words. We have a list of four for you today: alley; ally; allay; and alloy. Our fannish examples will come from NBC Hannibal. May I allay any potential concerns with a promise of no scary or gory references?
( Allies and alleys – not the same thing )
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ANSWER: "envy" versus "jealousy"

Monday, 31 October 2016 09:54
[identity profile] achacunsagloire.livejournal.com
Happy Halloween, dear Fandom Grammar readers!  Since we find ourselves once again on that most famous Day of Ghouls and Fright, it is only fitting that we examine two very terrible, very different, but often mistaken words whose definitions are no less insidious for the error: envy and jealousy.  Such a daunting challenge requires the assistance of those who have experience investigating humankind’s inner malice.  So, aiding us in our investigation of these two “evils within” will be Detective Sebastian Castellanos and the other characters from The Evil Within.

( This won’t hurt—too much. Let’s get started, shall we? )
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Blast from the past: it's/its and your/you're

Monday, 9 November 2015 18:52
ariestess: (grammar -- from cmzero)
[personal profile] ariestess
Welcome to another installment of Blast From the Past. This week we're going to look at a couple more sets of easily confused words: it's/its and your/you're. [livejournal.com profile] melayneseahawk first covered them back in 2008, and then [livejournal.com profile] chiroho tackled them in a 2011 BftP. So let's give both of these easily confused duos another glance with a little help from our friends over at Once Upon a Time, shall we?

( Blast from the past: it's/its and your/you're )
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ANSWER: Shoo-In or Shoe-In?

Monday, 2 November 2015 17:19
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Commonly Confused Words – A lot/allot/alot

Monday, 19 October 2015 18:40
randi2204: EVIL! (dawn - the slayer)
[personal profile] randi2204
Welcome to your Monday, fellow grammarians!  Today we’ll be looking at a thorny little question about some words (or possible words) that are all spelled very similarly and sound alike when spoken.  [livejournal.com profile] lanalucy asked us “What is the difference between ‘a lot’ and ‘allot’? Is ‘alot’ a word?”  Let’s dig right into this with some help from our friends in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(  There are a lot of lots to allot.  )
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Blast From the Past: their/there/they're and to/too/two

Monday, 12 October 2015 20:52
ariestess: (beta-whore -- from ctorres)
[personal profile] ariestess
Welcome to this week's installment of Blast From the Past! This week, we've got a two-fer of commonly confused words for you: their/there/they're and to/too/two. Both were orignally covered in January 2008 by [livejournal.com profile] green_grrl, then both got individual focus in their own BftP: the former in November 2011 by [livejournal.com profile] chiroho and the latter in October 2011 by [livejournal.com profile] supercheesegirl. So let's see if we can get a brief refresher on these two homophone triads with a little help from our friends over at Witches of East End.


( Blast from the past: their/there/they're and to/too/two )
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ANSWER: "sit" versus "sat" versus "set."

Tuesday, 6 October 2015 00:29
[identity profile] achacunsagloire.livejournal.com
Happy Monday, Fandom Grammar watchers! Today, we’ll be answering a question submitted by one of our watchers, [livejournal.com profile] lanalucy:

“What are the differences between ‘sit,’ ‘sat,’ and ‘set?’”

An excellent question as both writers and readers tend to mix up these three—particularly “sit” and “set”—quite a bit. Lara and the rest of the characters of Tomb Raider will help us discover the answer.

( And the answer is just under this cut: )
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Commonly Confused Words: Assure / Ensure / Insure

Monday, 28 September 2015 20:52
chomiji: Tenpou from Saiyuki Gaiden. with the caption Not necessarily by the book (Tenpou - Not by the book)
[personal profile] chomiji

In today's column, we'll examine a trio of easily confused and closely related words, with the help of the cast of C.J. Cherryh's science fiction novel Merchanter's Luck.

( Let's go! )
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Commonly Confused Words: "jail"/"gaol" versus "prison."

Monday, 14 September 2015 21:39
[identity profile] achacunsagloire.livejournal.com
Happy Monday, Fandom Grammar watchers! In this week’s Commonly Confused Words, we’ll be looking at the difference between two law- and confinement-related words that readers and writers alike often mix up: “jail” and “prison.”

( Let's take a look under the cut: )
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Commonly confused words: censor, sensor, censer, and censure

Monday, 31 August 2015 18:33
[identity profile] chiroho.livejournal.com
This week's commonly confused words will include three homonyms, censor, censer, and sensor, as well as censure, which has a slightly different pronunciation but is often confused with them. The examples will be using our friends at Person of Interest.

( I need a sensor for the censer before the censor censures me )
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Answer: When to use hoard versus horde

Monday, 17 August 2015 08:06
[identity profile] green-grrl.livejournal.com
Our question today is when to use hoard versus horde. Both words have to do with a mass quantity, so they are often used interchangeably. But this is an error, as they do have separate, distinct meanings. Here's how to know when to use which, ( with examples using characters from The Hobbit. )
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