Sunday, June 30, 2013

Common mistakes...

Here's another edition of common mistakes I see in MSs I read, and even in some published books!

There is a difference between 'chord' and 'cord'.  A chord is a series of musical notes.  So if something gets to you, it strikes a chord.  If you strike a cord, you're probably hitting a piece of rope.

If you're starting a lawnmower or outboard motor, you're pulling a cord.

I've seen this one two or three times in the last week or so, and thought it might be time to clear it up.  Another one I keep seeing is 'heroine' and 'heroin'.  There's a big difference guys!  Your heroine is the feisty female lead in your story.  Heroin is a very addictive opiate.  Mixing those two up can make for some very giggle-worthy phrases, believe me!

What are some other common mistakes you see?
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7 comments:

  1. UnknownJune 30, 2013 at 2:59 PM

    I normally see more mundane mistakes, like you're/your, sight/site and to/too.
    But I'm lucky that my Firefox browser automatically underlines in red anything that it believes is spelled wrong and saves me from making a fool of myself when leaving comments! lol

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    Replies
    1. Kate LarkindaleJune 30, 2013 at 4:10 PM

      I see a lot of those too, but I've already done a blog post on those ones. These are new ones I've started noticing more and more frequently....

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  2. S.A. LarsenッJune 30, 2013 at 6:08 PM

    I've seen similar common misuage of words that give unintended meaning. We all have writing quirks with certain words and sensitivity with other words. One that comes to mind is hoard/horde.

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  3. NickieJuly 1, 2013 at 6:35 AM

    Hehehe, heroine and heroin. Maybe the heroine is able to kick a heroin habit?

    The two that I confuse (I know the difference, but my fingers like to type them wrong) are emboss and embalm. Yep, big difference there.

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  4. Kate LarkindaleJuly 1, 2013 at 11:34 AM

    Hoard and horde are good ones too.....

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  5. J E OneilJuly 1, 2013 at 7:19 PM

    I'm always surprised at the words I see mixed up. I remember cringing when I read "birth" when it was supposed to be "berth" in a finished book. But I might laugh if I saw someone describe his/her female lead as a heroin.

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  6. Maurice MitchellJuly 2, 2013 at 2:05 PM

    It's funny that when I read that I thought "That's obvious," but I still have to look up "their" every now and then. I better not throw stones.

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