Language: grammar and vocabulary
Words that are easy to confuse
Choose correctly between words that sound alike or look alike — accept and except, affect and effect, advice and advise, its and it's, lose and loose.
Some words are easy to confuse because they sound the same. Others are easy to confuse because they differ by one letter in the middle, where nobody looks. Both kinds slip past a reader and past a spellchecker, because each of them is a perfectly real word — just not the one you meant.
The noun-and-verb pairs
advice and advise, effect and affect, belief and believe. For advice/advise and effect/affect: the one with the c or the e is the naming word; the one with the s or the a is the doing word. belief and believe are their own pair — the one ending in f is the naming word. She gave me some advice. She advised me to wait.
The test that settles affect and effect
Try putting the or an in front of it. The effect works, so effect is the noun. An affect does not, so affect is the verb. The rain did not affect the match, but it had an effect on the crowd.
its and it's
it's is short for it is or it has, and nothing else. its belongs to it, like his and hers, and it never takes an apostrophe. If you cannot expand it to it is or it has, it does not get the apostrophe.
The ones that differ by a single letter
stationary stands still; stationery is what you write on. A principal runs a school; a principle is a rule. A desert is dry; a dessert is sweet — and it has the extra s because you always want a second helping.
Worked example
Choose between accept and except for both gaps: "Every shop stayed open ____ the baker's, and he would not ____ the new rule."
In the first gap, the goalkeeper is being left out of the group.
except means leaving something out — it is the one that shrinks the list.
Try it together
Let us fix one short paragraph, one word at a time.
The draft reads: "The principle said the roof would not effect the timetable. Everyone accept the caretaker agreed. I do not know weather they were right."
1.The head of a school is meant. Write the correct spelling to replace "principle".
Have a go
Which sentence is correct?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.