marston@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (David Marston) (02/21/88)
I have just picked up a copy of a handy little book:
James J. Kilpatrick, "The Ear is Human" (Andrews, McMeel, & Parker, 1985)
While I very rarely make the homophone mistakes he writes about :-), I have
encountered many NetNews articles that reveal the writer's reliance on
sounding words out. Even if the article is run through a spelling-checker,
the writer can be embarrassed by selecting the wrong one of:
aid/aide auger/augur cite/sight/site faze/phase jibe/gibe/jive
role/roll waive/wave
...to mention a few that I've seen misused on the net. About the only one
that will [probably] never get misused here is parody/parity! Kilpatrick
also deals with a few confusing sets of words that, strictly "speaking",
are non-homophonic, such as respectably/respectfully/respectively.
He illustrates the mistakes and correct forms in a very light-hearted way,
getting near the fine lines whenever possible. (e.g., "...holds the reigns
of power..." should be "reins", but the other word seems plausible).
If you get flamed about wrong word choices, get this book.
.................David Marston decvax!dartvax!eleazar!marston
marston@eleazar.dartmouth.EDU
P.S. If you have to order it, the paperback is $6.95, ISBN is 0-8362-1258-4.
Disclaimer: I make no revenue by suggesting that you buy this.