Confusing Words

1
Confusing Words

• COM 303 Editing
• Brian Carroll

2
Who vs. Whom

• Who
• Substitutes for the subject
• Example Who let the dogs out?
• Whom
• Substitutes for objective pronouns (him, her)
• Example Whom did he question?
• And serves as the object of a preposition
• Example Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it
  tolls for thee.

3
That vs. Which

• That
• Use with essential phrases
• Example Go to the door that reads, Clinic 1.
• Which
• Use with non-essential phrases
• Example The test, which was given Thursday, was
  difficult.

4
Among vs. Between

• Between
• Use with two.
• Example He split the Calzone between Tim and
  Susan, because it was bigger than Tims head.
• Among
• Use with three or more.
• Example We divided the money among the five
  children.

5
Affect vs. effect

• Affect
• A verb that means influence
• Example The drought will affect the color of the
• fall foliage.
• Effect
• A noun that means result
• Example The medicine has unpleasant side
• effects.

6
Compose vs. comprise

• Compose
• Means to make up
• Example The class is composed of 25 students.
• Comprise
• Means to include
• Example Our class comprises five women and six
  men.

7
Making sense of sentences

• Avoid
• Fragments
• Run-on sentences
• Faulty parallelism
• Modifier misplacement

8
Fragments

• He waited but.
• The man in the plaid suit said.
• A march for justice.

9
Run-ons

• We visited the hospital, and we saw the doctor,
  and he said to come back tomorrow, and we did,
  and then he said to come back the next day, and
  we did, and then he said we were too late, so we
  went home.

10
Faulty parallelism Some more examples

• J He planned his story, wrote the article and
  turned in his paper on time.
• L He enjoys reading and to go skiing.
• L Our trip includes stops in
• London, England
• A stop in Paris, France
• Washington, D.C.

11
Misplaced modifiers

• L The tourists saw a herd of sheep on their way
  to their hotel.
• On their way to their hotel, the tourists saw a
  herd of sheep.
• Needing oil, the mechanic drove the car into the
  garage.
• The car needed oil, so the mechanic drove it into
  the garage.

12
Confusing Words

• COM 303 Editing
• Brian Carroll