| ELICIT, ILLICIT | | | | disgusting (a foul smell), entangle (rubbish dumped in |
| Elicit means to extract or draw out; illicit means not | | | | the river can foul fishing lines); fowl is a bird. |
| legal. | | | | GORILLA, GUERRILLA |
| EVERYONE, EVERY ONE | | | | Gorilla is a large ape; guerrilla is a particular kind of |
| Everyone means every person in a group; every one | | | | soldier. |
| means each person and is always followed by "of". | | | | HANGED, HUNG |
| "Everyone needs to know how to swim." | | | | A criminal is always hanged; a picture is hung: |
| "Every one of you should be able to swim." | | | | "We hung the portrait where everybody could see |
| FAIR, FARE | | | | it." |
| Fair means average, good-looking, pale, unbiased | | | | "John Smith was hanged yesterday at dawn." |
| (what a lot of meanings for one little word!); fare is | | | | Just remember, "I'll be hanged if they're going to |
| the money you pay to go somewhere by bus, train, | | | | hang me," and you won't forget the difference again! |
| plane, taxi, etc. It can also refer to a passenger. As a | | | | HERD, HEARD |
| verb it means do, as in: | | | | Herd is a group of animals; heard is the past tense of |
| "I didn't fare as well in my exams this year as I'd | | | | hear. |
| hoped." | | | | HERE, HEAR |
| FAZE, PHASE | | | | Here refers to a location (as in "over here"). Hear is |
| The most common error is the use of phase when | | | | always what your ears do. I can't see why writers |
| the writer means faze. To faze someone is to fluster | | | | should get confused here, but they must do because |
| or confuse them, whereas phase is mostly used in | | | | I have seen this more than once. (And, no, that's not |
| reference to a stage in someone's life--though it can | | | | a sample sentence!) |
| be a stage in almost anything else: | | | | IRREGARDLESS, REGARDLESS |
| "Like most children, Danny's going through a phase of | | | | There is no such word as irregardless; the correct |
| refusing to eat his vegetables." | | | | word is regardless. |
| "Nothing fazes my mother, who can produce a meal | | | | HOLE, WHOLE |
| for unexpected guests at a moment's notice." | | | | Hole is an opening; whole means complete. |
| FOREWORD, FORWARD | | | | ITS, IT'S |
| Foreword is the preface in a book, usually written by | | | | This is confusing because possessives normally have |
| someone who is not the author; forward means | | | | an apostrophe, but in this case it's is short for it is |
| ahead, near the front. | | | | and its is possessive--always. |
| FORTH, FOURTH | | | | "Its colour is green and it's quite beautiful." |
| Forth means forward; fourth is after "third". | | | | Other possessives that don't have an apostrophe are |
| FOUL, FOWL | | | | theirs, hers, yours and his--though I doubt anyone is |
| Foul can mean dishonourable (by foul means), | | | | likely to try putting one in his! |