Welcome to this edition of Words For Thought, the blog on wordrefiner.com. Like many of the previous blogs we are looking at homophones. Words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. 
I understand how important it is to have an error free manuscript. With over 40 years of experience, I have found that homophones give almost every writer fits and difficulties. Because we sound words out in our mind, it is easy to write the wrong word.
Let’s not forget typographical errors also, a slip of the finger on the keyboard can create a different word that may not be caught by a spell-checker. There are many groups of words that vary by only one letter, such as vary and very, or must, mist and most.
The correctly spelled word in the wrong context will not be flagged by most spell-checkers. Word Refiner is dedicated to uprooting all of these hidden errors and providing your document free of spelling errors that you want and deserve.
Now, onto today’s episode!

Three common words in the English language. Like so many other words, these have been borrowed from another language. We own them now. 

Homophones present an interesting problem for a lot of people, because homophones are words that sound alike.  When we read, we are saying the words “aloud” in our mind; we know what we are reading and it makes sense.  When we write, we are operating in the same fashion; reading out loud in our mind, and it is easy to choose the wrong word if you are not paying close attention.  Most spellcheckers have an inherent weakness, (God bless the person who invented the spell checker!), and they will not flag the correctly spelled word in the wrong context. Voila! You have a hidden spelling error because the spellchecker will not see it as wrong.  Some people, who are not good spellers, may or may not notice the error when reading.  The rest of us will feel like we just hit a speed bump without warning!  I find these spelling errors and others in 95% of published books. What was a great ride suddenly became uncomfortable, and the pure pleasure of reading was marred.  Fresh Eyes is one solution to this problem.  See my other blog about Fresh Eyes for more information. 

Now, on to the game! 

Confident is a great word, it comes from 16th century France, and it means having Full and Complete Trust. All three of these words are derived from an identical Latin root.
An adjective, it brings texture and color to a subject.  A carpenter is confident in his skill to fix the broken table.  I am confident the pilot can land the plane safely.

Confidant and Confidante are nouns and from the French language also. They mean a person that you share your most private and important secrets with.  The former is considered masculine, while the latter is feminine.  You are sharing with a boyfriend or a girlfriend, depending on which form you choose. 
 
There they are, three words with identical sounds and a somewhat related history.  If you use the wrong word the reader might think they hit an unknown speed bump and lose the momentum you worked so hard to build.  Use every tool available to prevent that from happening, do not give your readers a reason to not finish your story. Use Word Refiner, beta readers, critique partners, proofreaders and editors to ensure that your work is error free and as smooth as possible.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this issue of Homophones Hurt Your Writing on Words For Thought.  Follow me on twitter: @wordrefiner, for more alerts about hazardous homophones search for  #HomophonesHurtYourWriting or #TyposHurtYourWriting on twitter.
Don’t forget the free offer for writers under the “Learn More” tab on our website.

Remember: Words Have Meaning and Spelling Makes a Difference. 
​Copyright © 2015 Mark L Schultz 
​

Welcome to this edition of Words For Thought, the blog on wordrefiner.com. Like many of the previous blogs we are looking at homophones. Words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. 
I understand how important it is to have an error free manuscript. With over 40 years of experience, I have found that homophones give almost every writer fits and difficulties. Because we sound words out in our mind, it is easy to write the wrong word.
Let’s not forget typographical errors also, a slip of the finger on the keyboard can create a different word that may not be caught by a spell-checker. There are many groups of words that vary by only one letter, such as vary and very, or must, mist and most.
The correctly spelled word in the wrong context will not be flagged by most spell-checkers. Word Refiner is dedicated to uprooting all of these hidden errors and providing your document free of spelling errors that you want and deserve.

Now, onto today’s episode!

Eminent is a very common word, it means outstanding or famous in most senses of the usage.  There is an extension in the realm of law and politics.  When a governmental body uses its status to take control over private property, this is called Eminent Domain.

Imminent is a word almost as common as Eminent.  Imminent means about to happen, likely to occur very soon.  One of the most frequent phrases we see is “Imminent danger”.

Immanent is a word we seldom see.  It is used by theologians and philosophers.  The theological meaning refers to an attribute of God, that He is present everywhere throughout the universe at the same time.  Philosophers use this term in their discussions to mean something is inherent.
Quantum mechanics has a similar attribute. Einstein described it as "spooky action at a distance." He was not a fan of quantum theory.

There they are, three words with identical sounds and a somewhat related history.  If you use the wrong word the reader might think they have hit an unseen pothole and lose the reading momentum you worked so hard to build.  Use every tool available to prevent that from happening, do not give your readers a reason to not finish your story. Use Word Refiner, beta readers, critique partners, proofreaders and editors to ensure that your work is error free and as smooth as possible.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this issue of Homophones Hurt Your Writing on Words For Thought.  Follow me on twitter: @wordrefiner, for more alerts about hazardous homophones search for  #HomophonesHurtYourWriting or #TyposHurtYourWriting on twitter.
Don’t forget the free offer for writers under the “Learn More” tab on our website.
 
Remember: Words Have Meaning and Spelling Makes a Difference. 
​Copyright © 2015 Mark L Schultz 

​

Today’s blog is brought to you by the letter “G to the power of 4”. 

Typographical errors are thought to be a thing of the past by casual observers of the written word, They innocently think the computer spellchecker solves that problem. Those of us who labor in the written arts know all too better to the contrary. I find spelling errors in 95% of published books. While computer spellcheckers do a nice job of finding and correcting some typographical mistakes, they fail when the mistyped word is a correctly spelled word.  Authors and other writers understand this problem well. 

We are going to look at a prime example of this issue, there are many others that we will discuss later.  We have four words that start and end the same, the only difference is the letter in the second position: Gall, Gill, Goll, and Gull.  Here we go!

Gall has two main meanings: 1st is bad manners or impudent behavior.  The 2nd is medical, related to the gallbladder or spleen.  Gall is a bitter substance which aids in digestion.

Gill is the organ by which a fish extracts oxygen from the water and is able to breathe. Fish and some amphibians have two on their body.  Gill or gills, rather, are also a structure found on the underside of a mushroom cap.

Goll is an archaic British word meaning hand or claw. So its use is limited for a lot of writers.

Gull is a bird that populates coastal areas and is very comfortable around people.  Some call them sky-rats because they scavenge and eat almost anything like those rodents.

I was hoping to be able to use the word Gell. But it is another archaic word originating in Scotland, it means girl. So I decided to leave it out of the main list but could not resist the mention as a word-nerd.

Bonus:

We found another old word from The United Kingdom, it has five letters and thus was excluded from the main list.  We include it at no extra charge here.

Ghyll means a deep wooded ravine, or a narrow mountain stream.  It has a nice ring to it.

Thank you for joining us today.  If there are other words that you would like to see examined, please leave a comment. There they are, three words with different sounds and a somewhat related history.  If you use the wrong word the reader might think they hit an invisible tree root and lose the reading momentum you worked so hard to build.  Use every tool available to prevent that from happening, do not give your readers a reason to not finish your story. Use Word Refiner, beta readers, critique partners, proofreaders and editors to ensure that your work is error free and as smooth as possible.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this issue of Typos Hurt Your Writing on Words For Thought.  Follow me on twitter: @wordrefiner, for more alerts about terrible typos search for #TyposHurtYourWriting on twitter.
Don’t forget the free offer for writers under the “Learn More” tab on our website.

Remember: Words Have Meaning and Spelling Makes a Difference. 
​Copyright © 2015 Mark L Schultz 

​