For example, I tried to submit a piece for a professional to review, and he refused, citing (among other things) the fact that I mistook the word “devise” for “device” in every instance in my story. It made me look amateurish and stupid.

So, in an attempt to prevent this from happening to others, here are a list of common words that sound the same and/or are confused several times. God willing, I will be adding more as I think of them.

Disclaimer: This list is neither exhaustive nor in alphabetical order. The definitions of the words are also not exhaustive. I just added the most common, in my opinion, definitions for the words. I tried to keep the definitions and sample sentences original to me, but in some cases I had help from the MS Word Encarta dictionary.

Your- n. A possessive noun that indicates something belongs to “you”
Your ball is over there; this is mine.

You’re-a contraction; You are
You’re not allowed to be here.

There- n. a place that is not here
The building you are looking for is over there.

Their- n. A possessive noun that indicates something belongs to “them”
Their house is pink and white.

They’re- a contraction; They are
They’re coming down the street now.

Site- n. a place where something is; a special or important place
Rocks and debris covered the building site.
The accident occurred on this site.

Cite- v. to quote
He cited Plato in his thesis.

Advise- v. to give advice
He advised me to go to Hawaii on vacation.

Advice- n. someone’s opinion on an action
He gave me some advice on where to go on vacation.

Devise- v. to scheme; to make up something
He devised a plan to break his brother out of jail.

Device- n. a machine
That device can turn gold into sand.

Peak- n. the top of something, such as a mountain
He climbed to the mountain’s peak.

Peek- v. to look secretly or quickly
He peeked into his parents’ bedroom as they argued.
n. “a quick or secret look” –MS Word dictionary
He took a peek at his presents before his parents could wrap them.

Pique- v. to incite interest
The strange device piqued Charles’ interest.

Toward/towards- mean the same thing. Toward is used in American English; towards is used in British English; same with afterward/afterwards

Past- prep. belonging to a former time or further than a place
Scrooge saw the ghost of Christmas past.
The building you want is past Main Street.

Passed- v. past tense of pass
That driver passed me and cut me off.

Lay- v. to put or place
Tenses: lay, laid, laid
He walked in to lay the child down.
He laid the blanket on the floor.

Lie- v. to recline or rest
Tenses: lie, lay, lain
“Lie down and be still,” his mother said.
He lay down and rested.
That thing has lain there for ages.

Lie- n. the opposite of the truth; also the v. to tell the opposite of the truth
He lied under oath.
A little, white lie is still a lie.

Regimen- n. a program, often to lose weight
She went on a weight loss regimen.

Regiment- n. a group of soldiers or people.
The entire regiment of troops was deployed.

Conscious- v. to be aware
He was hit hard but is still conscious.
Antonym- unconscious

Conscience- n. the part inside of a person that helps him to distinguish right from wrong
His conscience bothered him so much that he had to tell the truth.

Capital- n. the city where the government sits
The capital of the United States is Washington DC.

Capitol- n. the building where the government sits
The US Congress meets in the Capitol building.

Than- conj. A word that is used to compare something to something else
He is bigger than Jack.

Then- adv. Belonging to a specific time or indicating the order of something
I was younger and wilder back then, but I am prettier now.
In order to cook soup, first boil the water then put in the meat and vegetables.

Two- n. a number denoting more than one but less than three
There are two boys in the yard.

Too- adv. In addition to
I want to go too.

To- prep. Indicates several things, including direction, purpose, range, as well as creating an indicative
I want to go to school.
He covered everything from math to quantum physics in his speech.
I am going to learn something.

Backward and backwards mean the same. Backward is only to be used as an adjective. Both backward or backward can be used as an adverb.

Presence- n. to be somewhere
Your presence is requested at the wedding of John and Mary.

Presents- n. plural of present, meaning a gift
He received more than twenty presents for Christmas.

Its- n. a possessive pronoun indicating that something belongs to “it”
The dog was so cute, and its collar was red and shiny.

It’s- contraction. It is
It’s not that difficult to change a tire.

If you have any suggestions on more words, feel free to add them in.

Today’s Facebook post:

When I’ve got a massive story to do, having mini-goals is key. For instance, in this massive story I’ve undertaken, I separated it into parts. Now I can say that I’ve done 2 out of 5 parts and feel like I’m getting somewhere.

“Becoming a better writer means becoming a better reader.” This was the lesson taught to me by my first writing instructor in college. I believe it is the same professor who taught us a brilliant critiquing template that I have held onto for all these years.

If you have read the critiquing guidelines (as all members should have), then you will have seen this strategy before. First, say something nice about the piece. Find something good to say. There has to be something. Many times when I read a piece, the only good thing that I can say about it is that it has wonderful imagination. I can get through the worst of writing if only it has good imagination. Other times, the plot is good. Either way, there’s got to be something. The author needs to know what they are doing right as well as what they are doing wrong.

Next, state the bad things, but only do it in the spirit of helping the person. State what’s wrong, but also state a solution. For instance, if the piece is too long and wordy, tell the author that the piece is long and wordy, but don’t stop there. Suggest what sections needs to be cut and why you think so. Not only is this helping the author make the piece better, but it is also helping you. By thinking about how to make another’s work better, you are tuning your writing muscles so you can see the faults in your piece.

Afterward, state something else nice about the piece. Just find something else nice to say. It is possible to say at least two things nice about a piece. If you can’t find at least 2 nice things to say, consider not saying anything.

Somehow, I don’t think the poster is that offensive. To me, they’re not saying anything wrong–that is what happened. Mary and Jospeh did go to Bethlehem because of a census. Do I think the poster is inappropriate? Yeah . . . but it has nothing to do with Mary and Jospeh. My issue is more because it’s targeting illegal immigrants, and I have my own opinions on that.

So, what’s your opinion. Do you think it’s blasphemous and why or why not?