Many times, people abuse words by choosing a word that looks or sounds similar to the word they want to use. Often people mishear the words or just listen instead of reading the words, and then use those words in the wrong context. But even accomplished writers make mistakes when they use the wrong word, intending to use a different word, but when their brain searches for the desired word, it finds one so close that the author writes it down on the page, and then later, when revising. , the author’s eye may miss the wrong word because the brain mentally substitutes the correct word in its place, fooling the eye.

The following are seven sets of sentences with words that are often misused or accidentally used but are not corrected when reviewed due to their similarities. For each example below, see if you can determine which sentence is correct.

Example 1

  1. I was awarded with high cholesterol as a result of my eating habits.
  2. I was rewarded with high cholesterol as a result of my eating habits.

The correct answer is 2. An award is something that is given to you as a result of an achievement, such as an Oscar or an achievement award. A bounty is perhaps best known as something given to you for turning in a wanted criminal “dead or alive” so the meaning is close, but if you consider it as a result of his actions then you get a “bounty” . In general, an “award” is something physical like a trophy, or at least tangible, while a “reward” might be the result of an action he took, such as eating junk food, which resulted in high cholesterol.

Example 2

  1. Today you are helping to cure polio.
  2. Today he is credited with curing polio.

The correct answer is 2. Contributing is giving something. To be “attributed” with something is to be recognized as connected with it. Another example would be: “I contributed the book to the library” in the sense of giving away or donating the book. Whereas, “The authorship of the book is attributed to the Greek poet Homer” means that the credit/acknowledgment for writing the book goes to Homer.

Example 3

  1. Once the shock has resided.
  2. Once the shock has subsidized.

The correct answer is 2. Subside means to decrease or go down. To reside is to live in a place or to be situated somewhere. Here’s a sentence that would use both words: “The floods subsided around the town where they resided. In this case, the people live in a town (reside) where the flood water has risen but is now receding (decreased).”

Example 4

  1. It happened to me on the highway.
  2. It happened to me on the highway.
  3. It’s time for the movie to start.
  4. It’s time for the movie to start.

The correct sentences are 1 and 3. “Past” refers to time while “pass” is to go beyond something. The confusion arises because “past” is also the past tense of “past”. If you’re not sure which one to use, remember that “happened” is always a verb. “Past” is the past tense of the verb, or is it a noun in the sense that it is the “past”, as opposed to the future. In sentence 4 above, because the verb is “is”, “past” describes time as an adjective; therefore “past” as a verb cannot be used to describe anything because it is not an adjective. If you’re still not sure which word to use, try substituting “beyond” or “before.” If either of those words worked in its place, then “past” would be correct in that sentence, but perhaps it would be better to use “beyond” or “previous” instead. For example, “The last contest winner was Joe” would allow “previous” to be substituted, or “I drove past him” would allow “beyond” to replace it, but you couldn’t say “He beats me on the road.”

Example 5

  1. Everyone was invited except Maria.
  2. All were invited to accept Maria.

The correct sentence is 1. “Except” means “make an exception for” and could simply be replaced with “but”. By comparison, “accept” is a verb and really means the opposite of “except.” “Except” means to exclude, whereas if you “accept” something, you would include it. As a verb, you could use “accept” to say “I accepted the job offer,” but there is no such word as “excepted” that you can use in this situation.

Example 6

  1. I don’t believe the prophecy is true.
  2. I don’t believe the prophecy is true.

The correct sentence is 1. I rarely see “prophecy” used, and as a result I see “prophecy” frequently misused. Prophecy is a noun. It is the prediction that someone has made about the future. “Prophesy” is a verb and is the act of making a prophecy, a prediction. Here are a couple of sentences that use both words; note that because “prophesy” is a verb, it has more than one form: “The prophet prophesied a prophecy. he will Prophesy another prophecy tomorrow, or so prophesied he would.”

Example 7

  1. As the police detective hit the criminal with questions, the criminal became frustrated.
  2. As the police detective hit the criminal with questions, the criminal became frustrated.
  3. As the police detective hit the criminal with questions, the criminal felt nervous.

Here sentence 3 is correct, and note that there is no such thing as the word “nervous”, but I have seen it in print several times. People misinterpret, mishear, or confuse “nervous” and “frustrated” and have combined it into a new word. It’s kind of a clever new word since a person can feel both “nervous” and “frustrated”, but those are two separate feelings. In the example above, the offender should be feeling “nervous”, which means that he is nervous and has difficulty answering the questions due to his nervousness. He might be frustrated if the detective didn’t listen or believe him, or he might be frustrated just being questioned, but in any case, nervous is probably the best choice of word here.

A basic rule of thumb to remember is that whenever two words sound close to each other, it’s always better to ask someone else to proofread your work because it’s too close to your material and your brain can play tricks on you. In some cases, you may also discover that you’ve been misusing a word for a long time, so you’ll want to look up the words in the dictionary to make sure you’re sure of their meanings and definitions. It’s never too late to learn more about the English language, and there’s nothing to be ashamed of asking another writer you can trust to proofread your work and give you suggestions.