Commonly Confused Words

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Commonly Confused Words
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Introduction
In the English language there are some words that
are spelled differently but sound exactly the
same, and there are some words that are spelled
the same but are pronounced differently. Then,
there are those words that do not share the same
spelling or pronunciation but are often confused.
These are your commonly confused words.
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Introduction

• Homonyms
• Its / Its
• Your / Youre
• To / Two / Too
• Whose/Whos
• There / Their / Theyre
• Confusables
• Where / Were/Wear
• This / These
• Everyday / Every day
• Then / Than
• Except/Accept

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Its and Its

• This is one of the most troublesome pairs because
  the possessive pronoun ITS does not carry an
  apostrophe as in The cats claws.
• Since this is a possessive pronoun, it may help
  to think of the S in ITS as already belonging to
  the word.
• The apostrophe is used in the contraction ITS
  (short for it is).
• Its common for the cat to lick its claws.

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Your and Youre

• Again, this is a case of a possessive pronoun and
  
• a contraction.
• YOUR shows that something belongs to you.
• YOURE is short for You are.

Youre wasting your time with this project.
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To, Too, and Two

• TO
• preposition
• Walk to the car (toward)
• infinitive indicator
• To skate
• TOO can mean also or indicate degree
• TWO is the number following one
• The two girls wanted to go to the skating rink
  too, but it was too late.

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Whos and Whose

• WHOS
• always means who is or who has
• Whos your date for the dance?
• Whos got my car keys?
• WHOSE
• Possessive pronoun something that belongs to
  who
• Whose dirty socks are on the floor?

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Their , Theyre, and There

• THEIR (possessive pronoun) belonging to them
• THEYRE (contraction) They are
• THERE (adverb) At or in that place (primary
  def.)
• Theyre leaving their tired dog over there.

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Where, Were, and Wear

• Similarity in spelling and improper
• pronunciation often cause these to be used
• incorrectly.
• WHERE (pronounced wair or hwair)
• at or in what place.
• WERE (pronounced wur) past tense of are
• WEAR (pronounced wair)
• Where were you hiding?

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A Little Trick
HERE HERE HERE

T
W
Think here
If you confuse There / Their, Where / Were and
Here/Hear Remember that the words that have to
do with place have the word HERE in them.
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Then and Than

• Than is a conjunction used in comparisons
• Then is an adverb denoting time.

• Bob noticed that some mice were much bigger than
  others. Then, he realized they werent mice at
  all!

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Except and Accept

• Except is a preposition meaning but or
  leaving out. It can also be a verb to mean to
  leave out
• Accept means to receive
• An easy way to remember the difference is that
  the x eliminates.

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Review Remember the Difference?

• Homonyms
• Its / Its
• Your / Youre
• To / Two / Too
• Whose/Whos
• There / Their / Theyre
• Confusables
• Where / Were/Wear
• This / These
• Then / Than
• Except/Accept