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You have to set up those speakers for a truly mag setup. You can’t have a truly mag setup until you set up those speakers.
This is similar to it’s and its because it’s so often misspelled and used improperly.
Set up - is a verb that denotes the act of putting something together
Setup - is the […]

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When you compliment someone, you could be complementing his or her day. This is actually a hard one for me to remember and another one letter voyage to misunderstanding if it’s wrong.
Compliment - noun or verb - used for praise, courtesy, esteem, affection, admiration.
Complement - noun or verb - something that fills up, completes, or supplements
One way […]

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I’ve been reading Lynne Truss’s book, “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves”. It’s nice to read something from someone who is just as frightened and appalled as I am when we encounter blantant spelling, punctuation, and grammar abuses on signs, billboards, menus, flyers, programs, and just about everything that has words written on it.
It’s not that people don’t make […]

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I was in a foul mood when I went for a walk. The fowl flew away when I approached its nest. That fowl had a foul smell when it passed by me. Suddenly, a foul ball hit the flying fowl when it flew over the baseball field. (It survived and flew out of sight. The fowl […]

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When you pick an alternate route, you have substituted one route for another. If you took an alternative route, you have chosen to travel on that route rather than another.
Alternate - one in a series, a substitute for something, occurring or succeeding in turns
Alternative - offering or expressing a choice, something that can be chosen
The difference is […]

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Traversing this tortuous trail has sapped what energy I had left. My limbs and ankles have been under torturous strain for hours. When will the agony end? Where will this horrible twisting path lead to?
Tortuous - repeated twisting, turning, bending - or - crooked, devious, tricky
Torturous -  causing torture, agony, intense pain, extreme discomfort, painfully […]

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I had a friend ask me to explain this once and for all. Where does the blasted period go? Quite simply, put the period on the outside if it isn’t a complete sentence. Put it on the inside if the complete sentence is surrounded by the parentheses.
For example:
Outside - Johnny went down to play ball […]

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You must accept that these words have to be spelled correctly or no one except you will understand what you’re talking about. If you do accept that the meanings are remarkably different then you will find your way to more exceptional writing.
Accept is to receive, to give approval, to recognize as true, to take on
Except […]

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Which one do I use? This one or that? This is another misused term that is so hard to figure out. In my days as a journalist, my editor wielded his pencil like a switchblade, stabbing and slicing my story every place I chose incorrectly.
His face would be red and inflamed as he handed my shredded story back to […]

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This could be one of the greatest faux pas of our language. It has become so common to hear someone say they’re nauseous, it’s no wonder we’re so nauseated by people.
Nauseous - means to cause nausea or disgust.
Nauseate/d - means to be affected by stomach distress or disgust.
 Strunk explained this best and still makes me laugh. “Do not, therefore, […]

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Another time vs. quantity distinction, these two beasties trip up the best of us. While you work to further your career, you may have to travel farther to find what you need. You may throw your mouse farther than you did last time, but it still didn’t get you any further in your copy.
Farther - […]

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What can I write to affect this sentence so that you feel its effect? This is one of those things that are always just on the tip of your fingers and then you guess wrong.
Affect - is to have an influence, to put into action.
Effect - is the result of that influence or action.
So, in effect, […]

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One letter can make the all the difference. If you misspell this particular word - then you might be portraying a thing for something other than you intended.
Simply put -
Then is order.
Than is comparison.
Write it down. Then check your work. Rewrite as necessary. Read it again. Is it better than it was before you reworded it?

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This is a big one. It is (it’s) so common it appears in virtually every writing help book. Why it’s so hard to remember is an unsolved mystery and bound to go down in its history, especially since it’s such an easy rule.
And editors go nuts over this one. It makes them want to send it […]

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