Homophones | Wreaking havoc on writers and editors everywhere

Homophones are those annoying words that sound exactly alike but have different meanings and are often spelled differently.

They give English teachers nightmares, cause headaches for students, and drive editors crazy.

We writers need to be diligent about homophones because spell-check won’t catch them, and many readers cite misspelled homophones as pet peeves.

And we never want to annoy our readers! That’s a cardinal sin.

HOMOPHONES AND SPELL CHECK

The problem with most homophones is that if we’re typing too quickly or not paying close attention to what we’re writing, we could accidentally end up with a properly spelled word, except it’s the wrong word. It doesn’t work in the context of…

Read more | writingforward.com/grammar

Photo credit | “小さなスパイス*” by k♫ on Flickr

Posted on juin 12, 2014 in English grammar

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