Common Pitfalls

Affect, Effect

• Affect (verb) - the changing phenomenon to something
  • That drought affects Angela's corps in a nasty way.
• Effect (noun) - the change itself; the abstract itself for affect
  • The drought has a nasty effect on Angela's corps.

Exception (rare - usually avoided)

• Effect (verb) - "make change"
  • Kimiko hoped that the new mayor would effect change in her town.
• Affect (noun) - someone's affect
  • Percy has a smug affect.

Hear, Here

• Hear (verb) - listening to a sound
  • I hear birdsong.
• Here (adverb) - denotes something is close-by
  • The birds are here for the foods!

Accept, Except

• Accept (verb) - go along with
  • I accept the gift.
• Except (conjugation and preposition) - to remove something
  • I like everything except that.

There, Their, They're

• There (adverb / adjective) - where the location is
  • I went there. There's my dog!
• Their (possessive adjective) - for they
  • Sue and Freya ate their ice-cream!
• They're (contraction) - for they are
  • They're not home right now.

To, Two, Too

• To (preposition) - towards something
  • I'm headed to Frank Cerisano's Pizzeria.
• Two (noun) - a number, 2, double of 1
  • I ordered two pizza
• Too (adverb) - similar to 'also'; expressing urge of similarity
  • I ate too much pizza. I felt awful.
  • My sister wanted the pizza too.

Complement, Compliment

• Complement (verb) - work well with something
  • That hat complements your suit.
  • I want to find an upgrade that complements my car noisy engine sound.
• Compliment (verb) - to praise
• Compliment (noun) - the praise itself
  • I take that as a compliment.
  • Thanks for the compliment.
  • One day, I will find a way to handle compliments gracefully.

Desert, Dessert

• Desert (noun) - a dry, sandy land
  • It's crazy to walk into the desert alone.
• Dessert (noun) - a savory, sweet delights usually served after a great course of meal
  • I like my dessert to be an ice-cream!

Less, Fewer

• Less - used to refer countable nouns and mass nouns
• Fewer - used to refer countable nouns only
  • I got less grains of sand. (countable)
  • I got fewer grains of sand. (countable)
  • I got less sand than yours. (mass)
  • I got fewer sand than yours. (mass, uncommon)
  • No less than hundreds... (countable)
  • No fewer than hundreds... (countable)

NOTES

• This is a style, not a grammar issue. There is no right or wrong. Rather, it's more of the common/uncommon use.
• It was a side-effect from Robert Baker's opinion in 1970.

Advise, Advice

• Advice (a noun) - the opinion itself
  • Bertram gives terrible advice.
• Advise (a verb) - to provide opinion
  • Bertram advised us not to surf.

Aloud, Allowed

• Aloud (an adjective) - said it out loud / to be heard
  • Ginny muttered aloud.
• Allowed (an adjective) - permitted
  • Grinny is not allowed to enter that room.

Break, Brake

• Break (verb) - to crack or to split
  • Jesse breaks the vase.
• Brake (verb/noun) - to slow down / thing that causes to slow down
  • Jesse slams on the brake to slow the car down.

Infer, Imply

• Infer (verb) - someone drawing conclusion
  • When people infer something that another person said without asking them to clarity what they want, confusion can result.
  • Serena is making inference based on the large amount of data.
• Imply (verb) - someone said something but not explicitly stating
  • Hanna crankily accused someone eaten the cookie in general; she implies you.

Principle, Principal

• Principle (noun) - a rule / guide / discipline
  • My principle is not compromising.
  • My principle is always be humble.
  • The fundamental principle in engineering design is not to break the law of physics.
• Principal (noun) - the head of a school/academy
  • My principal name is Mr James. Donald Howard.

Pore, Pour

• Pour (verb) - means empty something
  • She poured some syrup onto the pancakes.
• Pore (verb) - means studying something thoroughly
• Pore (noun) - means small opening (usually on skins)
  • She cleansed her pores with that soap solution.