Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog post, we will discuss Compliment vs. Complement and the differences between the two. I wrote a blog post about this five years ago but am revisiting the topic since I've seen a lot of confusion lately. Compliment and Complement are examples of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings – and they trip more people up than you think. So, let's dive right in, shall we? Compliment

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog, let's discuss the difference between Stationary vs. Stationery. Do you know when to use each one? Stationary vs. Stationery are examples of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings – and they trip more people up than you think. So, let's dive right in, shall we? Stationary with an "ary" refers to something that isn't supposed to move. It's fixed in place, unchanging, and imm

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog, let's discuss the difference between Principal vs. Principle. Do you know when to use each one? Most of you might be saying, "Why, yes, I do!" But for others, it's not that easy – even for a veteran writer and editor. Principal and Principle are examples of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings – and they trip more people up than you think. In today's post, I'll be going

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog, let's discuss the difference between Bail vs. Bale. Do you know when to use each one? Most of you might be saying, "Why, yes, I do!" But for others, it's not that easy – even for a veteran writer and editor like myself. For example, I was editing a few articles at the Denton Record-Chronicle when I came across this sentence: "I’d probably jump on hay bails because that was really hard for me to do when I was littl

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog post, let's discuss the difference between Than vs. Then. Do you know when to use each one? Most of you might be saying, "Why, yes, I do!" But for others, it's not that easy. These are perfect examples of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings – and they trip more people up than you think. But don't worry. We are here to clear up the confusion. Than is used as a comparison.

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog post, let's discuss the difference between Here vs. Hear. Do you know when to use each one? Most of you might be saying, "Why, yes, I do!" But for others, it's not that easy. These are perfect examples of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings – and they trip more people up than you think. But don't worry. We are here to clear up the confusion. Here is used to refer to the

If you're a fan of the Edit This® blog or at least stop by to read our fun content every once in a while, then you know we have a fascination with homophones. And that fascination is warranted, too. Homophones are those words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings (roll and role, reign and rein, flair and flare, etc.). They are everywhere in the English language, and their subtle nuances are enough to trip up even the savviest of us writers and editors

We'd all love for everything we write to be error-free. Unfortunately, grammar mistakes happen even to the best of us, whether it's in a text message, social media post, article, or you're a business owner working on your next blog, press release, or newsletter. As a writer and editor at Edit This® who works with companies every day on written copy, I can promise you it's always good to have an extra set of eyes looking over your material. There are, of course, plenty of long

Don't you love the English language? Just when you think you've got it all figured out, and you're churning out amazing, error-free content that clients are engaged in, you come across a word or two that make you stop and think twice about your grammar skills. That happened to one of our clients this week as they were deciding between Roll and Role in their advertising copy. Do you know the difference? These prominent homophones, words that sound the same but have different m

My wife loves to tease me for being a Grammar Nazi. But am I really? I mean sure, it unnerves me every time someone mixes up your and you're in a text message or on Facebook, and I feel like I'm breaking out in hives when families think using an apostrophe makes their last name plural on a holiday card (it doesn't, folks). And yes, I'm usually the one who corrects them first. I admit that. But to be a true Grammar Nazi, that would mean I'm infallible when it comes to the Engl

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. In today's blog post, we will discuss the differences between Waver and Waiver. Do you know the difference? These are perfect examples of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings – and they tend to trip a lot of people up. But don't worry; we're here to clear up the confusion. So let's dive in, shall we? Waver means to steadily move back and forth or shake with a quivering motion. It also re

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson, where we'll be talking about the difference between Pour, Pore, and Poor. These are perfect examples of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. If you keep up with trending topics, you might remember pour and pore in the news recently when President Donald Trump was mocked for a typo-tainted tweet. Have you made the same mistake? Don't worry; we're here to clear up the confusion. Pour mean

While writing last week's blog, I used the word pedals in one of my sentences when, based on what I was discussing, I should have used peddles. Luckily, none of you saw it because I caught the gaffe in a self-edit before hitting the publish button. Still, that incident got me thinking about how easy it is to make a mistake like that. I certainly know the difference between pedal and peddle — and even petal. These are examples of homophones, words that sound the same but have

Welcome to another Edit This® grammar lesson. Today, we will explore the differences between there, their, and they're. Do you know the difference? Many people say they do, but just yesterday a colleague at the Denton Record-Chronicle pointed to an instance where one of our younger writers used they're instead of their in an article. We fixed the flub before going to print (no harm, no foul), but that goes to show how easy it is to confuse this trio of words if you aren't pay

I did a grammar lesson two weeks ago on the difference between last and past. It turned out to be a popular post, so I've decided to do another one. Compliment vs. Complement – What's the difference? This is a perfect example of homophones – words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. As you can see, compliment is spelled with an "i" and complement is spelled with an "e." Homophones are strewn throughout the English language and can cause quite a bit