accept: to receive; to answer positively
except: not including; everything but

anxious: worried/nervous
eager: excited/looking forward to

affect: to pretend; to influence
effect: a result

assure: to make certain (such as with a person)
ensure: to make sure (such as with a thing)
insure: to provide or obtain insurance

beside: at the side of
besides: in addition to

between: two items that are related
among: three or more things related

choice: a decision or an option
choose: to make a decision
chose: past tense of choose

compliment: to praise
complement: something that completes

farther: literal or physical distance
further: to a greater extent

fewer: comparative with plural items
less: items that are singular

imply: to suggest
infer: to deduce

its: possessive form of it
it’s: contraction for it is or it has

lay: to place, which is always followed by an object
lie: to recline
**For present tense only. Tip: If you can replace the word in question with put, then use lay.

nauseated: not feeling well
nauseous: disgust
As per Merriam Webster: nauseous = causing nausea or disgust.

Nauseated means “experiencing nausea,” whereas nauseous means “causing nausea”—in other words, offensive or loathsome. If you feel a queasy sensation in your stomach, you are nauseated; only if you cause other people to be ill are you nauseous.

set vs. sit:
In general, set refers to an object ("Set the materials down on the table") and sit does not ("She sat for an hour, waiting for the bus").

that vs. which

• "Which" is frequently used to introduce a nonrestrictive clause, a phrase that isn’t necessary or supplies additional information and is usually set off by commas.
• For example: The burned CD, which she received from a friend, wasn’t as great of quality as the original from a music store.
• "That" is used for introducing restrictive clauses that refer to things, phrases that ARE essential to the meaning of the rest of the sentence.
• For example: The CD that consists of all of the band’s top-ten singles is her favorite.

that vs. who/whom

• In most cases, "who/whom" is the standard form when referring to human beings, especially in regards to an individual person. "That" is used when referring back to a class, species, or type. "Which" should never be used in reference to humans.
• A correct example with "who": She goes to the hairstylist who is the best.
• A correct example with "that": He is the type of hairstylist that should charge more because he is the best.

their: possessive form of they
there: in or at that place
they’re: contraction for they are

whose: possessive form of which, who
who’s: contraction for who is

your: possessive form of you; belonging to you
you’re: contraction for you are



Copyright © 2007 Ronnie L. Smith


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