Homepage for: Word Confusions . . .

The Word Confusion came about due to the poor word choices that kept cropping up in the books I was reading or reviewing. It was driving me mad, and I decided a series of posts that cleared up the confusion would be useful to self-editing writers. For more detail on the “anatomy” of a word confusion, see below.

Don’t feel bad…it’s not just self-publishing authors who screw up. I recently did a re-read of J.D. Robb’s In Death series, reading them one after another, and hoo, boy. Someone over there has no clue. This reading marathon pointed up how often and frequently Robb’s editors are NOT catching words used improperly! I don’t think much of whoever is proofreading over at Berkley. That or they’re getting confused over which words are Eve’s purposeful misuse and which are not.

Explore the current posts on words which confuse many authors. Explore them for your own problem words and reduce or eliminate them from your own publications. And just to make things easier to find, check out the index for any word that confuses you — at least that I’ve written a post on, anyway!

This list is in no way complete, and I’d love it if you’d send your own suggestions and comments . . . I don’t necessarily promise to include them, but . . .

If you know someone who could use some help with their own Word Confusions, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this self-editing aid for future updates.

Word Confusion Posts

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A

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B

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C

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D

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E

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F

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G

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H

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I

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J

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K

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L

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M

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N

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O

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P

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Q

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R

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S

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T

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U

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V

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W

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X

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Y

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Z

Anatomy of a Word Confusion

Each word includes:

1. Which part of grammar it belongs to and a link to the grammar definition (in the Grammar Explanations section)
2. A definition of the word
3. Sentences provide examples of how each word is used in its various grammatical categories
4. Verbals and derivatives
5. The “History of the Word” is included as an aid for writers working on historical tales. Choose to use the olde version or not, how ever it may help deepen your story.

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Pinterest Photo Credits

Problems, Problems… by Ion Chibzii, from Chisinau, Moldova, was taken sometime in the 1970s and is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Revised as of 31 Oct 2024
By: Kathy Davie