There are so many puzzling aspects of the English language that it commonly causes confusion among people who have been speaking and writing it nearly all of their lives. Some of the most common mistakes some people make when speaking or writing English involves words that express similarities, such as homophones and homographs. Homophones are known to cause confusion with written language, while homographs tend to complicate verbal English.
Homophones consist of words that are spelled differently; however, they “have identical pronunciations” (Clark 122). Since homophones share the same pronunciation, it is clearly not a verbal error. One of the most common problems begins with the words there, their, and they’re. On social networking sites it’s common to encounter a sentence where a person incorrectly writes something like: They should be their in an hour. There driving from Colorado since they’re wedding is on Friday. The word their means “to them or themselves,” whereas there stands for “in or at that place” (Merriam-Webster 1295-96); therefore, the correct way to state the first sentence is: They should be there in an hour. In the second sentence the first word should be replaced with they’re because it is short for ‘they are.’ And since they are driving to someone’s wedding, their should replace they’re. Here is how it should be written: They should be there in an hour. They’re driving from Colorado since their wedding is on Friday.
Some other commonly mistaken homophones, especially by children are the words to, too, and two. Children seem to struggle to identify the difference in the spelling and meaning. Here is an incorrect example of what a child might write: Franny was happy that she was going two turn too next week. Frank was glad to. It is especially difficult for children to correctly apply to or too, so they tend to use to as a general rule. Since two signifies a number, it should replace the word too, and to should be replaced with too because it means ‘also.’ Likewise, uneducated adults also seem to write to for too. Here is how the sentence should be written: Franny was happy that she was going to turn two next week. Frank was glad too.
Other common errors that even educated people tend to make with homophones involve the words pray/prey, and which/witch. Here is an example of how these words can be used incorrectly: I’m going to prey they don’t hang the which. Witch child did she pray upon? In the first sentence, the word prey is referring to ‘calling upon’ and the word which is referring to a ‘sorceress.’ In the next sentence, the word witch is indicating a question, while the word pray is meant to indicate ‘the victimization’ of a child. Here is the correct way to write it: I’m going to pray they don’t hang the witch. Which child did she prey upon? Another common mistake with homophones involves the words break/brake. Here is an incorrect example that utilizes these words: Sam needed to take a brake from work. Mandy applied the emergency break before she parked the car. Since the word brake can signify ‘a mechanism that stops a vehicle,’ it needs to be applied to the second sentence. The word break should be used in the first sentence because it represents ‘a period of rest.’ This is the how the sentence should be written: Sam needed to take a break from work. Mandy applied the emergency brake before she parked the car.
It seems that many types of people mistake homophones; however, children, young teenagers, and uneducated individuals seem to do it the most. The primary reason why homophones prove to be difficult for people is because they are pronounced exactly the same, which makes it more confusing to identify the difference in spelling. Another reason homophones are easy to misrepresent is because spell check does not always detect these differences, such as with the words pray/prey. Also, since homophones are quite easy to comprehend when they are misused, many people never even realize that they are applying them incorrectly because they don’t cause the kind of confusion that other grammatical errors can.
Another confusing aspect of the English language concerning words that are alike is homographs. They consist of “words like read (present tense) and read (past tense), which have identical spellings” (Clark 122). Since homographs have different pronunciations yet they are spelled the same, they are known to cause problems for some people who read them out loud, especially children. For instance, these sentences might confuse a young child who is reading verbally: Sally wants to live near the farmers market so she can hear the live bands. Since young children sometimes struggle to read the words, they fail to consider the context of the sentence. A child might say that Sally wants to live [līv] near the farmers market so she can hear the live [liv] bands. Obviously the correct way to pronounce where Sally wants to live is by not applying stress to the i; however, the i should be stressed to represent live bands.
The word tear is another homograph that proves to be troublesome for children. Here is an example of how a child might confuse the pronunciation: John had a giant tear in his jeans. Since the sentence mentions nothing about jeans before the word tear, a child would likely confuse whether to say tear [ter], which represents ‘tore’ or tear [tir], which denotes ‘fluid that leaks from the eye.’ On the contrary, a child would probably be less likely to mistake the word in a different context. Here is an example of a word that might be read correctly: Ben didn’t cry a single tear when he fell. Since the word cry comes before the word tear, it’s apparent that the word should be pronounced to signify a tear [tir], which is linked to crying. Another word that happens to confuse children and people who are learning English as a second language is the word close. This word can be a problematic homograph because it could signify either to close [klōz] the door quietly, or too close [klōs] for comfort. Also, readers who cannot distinguish the difference between too and to might easily confuse the word close because they often misread the indicating word.
Although homographs are not as commonly mistaken as homophones, homographs do require indicators to signify how they should be pronounced. When the indicators are placed after the homograph in a sentence, it might be difficult to decide which way to pronounce the word, especially for children and adults that struggle to read. Therefore, when a homograph is written just as a single word, it is impossible to conceive how it is meant to be pronounced. For instance, if an online college student has a professor named Christopher Record, there is no apparent technique to use in order to figure out whether Record should be pronounced like: to play a record [re-kord] on the turntable, or to record [ri-kord] Saturday night’s football game.
Although homophones and homographs are similar types of words that are commonly misused in the English language, homophones are commonly confused when they are written, whereas homographs are better known to be mistaken verbally. While some children and uneducated adults are most likely to mistake homophones and homographs, people from all types of backgrounds have been known to make these types of errors as well.
Work Cited
Clark, Mary M. The Structure of English for Readers, Writers, and Teachers. 2nd ed. Glen Allen, Virginia: College Publishing, 2010. Print.
“their/there.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. 2007. Print.
Homophones consist of words that are spelled differently; however, they “have identical pronunciations” (Clark 122). Since homophones share the same pronunciation, it is clearly not a verbal error. One of the most common problems begins with the words there, their, and they’re. On social networking sites it’s common to encounter a sentence where a person incorrectly writes something like: They should be their in an hour. There driving from Colorado since they’re wedding is on Friday. The word their means “to them or themselves,” whereas there stands for “in or at that place” (Merriam-Webster 1295-96); therefore, the correct way to state the first sentence is: They should be there in an hour. In the second sentence the first word should be replaced with they’re because it is short for ‘they are.’ And since they are driving to someone’s wedding, their should replace they’re. Here is how it should be written: They should be there in an hour. They’re driving from Colorado since their wedding is on Friday.
Some other commonly mistaken homophones, especially by children are the words to, too, and two. Children seem to struggle to identify the difference in the spelling and meaning. Here is an incorrect example of what a child might write: Franny was happy that she was going two turn too next week. Frank was glad to. It is especially difficult for children to correctly apply to or too, so they tend to use to as a general rule. Since two signifies a number, it should replace the word too, and to should be replaced with too because it means ‘also.’ Likewise, uneducated adults also seem to write to for too. Here is how the sentence should be written: Franny was happy that she was going to turn two next week. Frank was glad too.
Other common errors that even educated people tend to make with homophones involve the words pray/prey, and which/witch. Here is an example of how these words can be used incorrectly: I’m going to prey they don’t hang the which. Witch child did she pray upon? In the first sentence, the word prey is referring to ‘calling upon’ and the word which is referring to a ‘sorceress.’ In the next sentence, the word witch is indicating a question, while the word pray is meant to indicate ‘the victimization’ of a child. Here is the correct way to write it: I’m going to pray they don’t hang the witch. Which child did she prey upon? Another common mistake with homophones involves the words break/brake. Here is an incorrect example that utilizes these words: Sam needed to take a brake from work. Mandy applied the emergency break before she parked the car. Since the word brake can signify ‘a mechanism that stops a vehicle,’ it needs to be applied to the second sentence. The word break should be used in the first sentence because it represents ‘a period of rest.’ This is the how the sentence should be written: Sam needed to take a break from work. Mandy applied the emergency brake before she parked the car.
It seems that many types of people mistake homophones; however, children, young teenagers, and uneducated individuals seem to do it the most. The primary reason why homophones prove to be difficult for people is because they are pronounced exactly the same, which makes it more confusing to identify the difference in spelling. Another reason homophones are easy to misrepresent is because spell check does not always detect these differences, such as with the words pray/prey. Also, since homophones are quite easy to comprehend when they are misused, many people never even realize that they are applying them incorrectly because they don’t cause the kind of confusion that other grammatical errors can.
Another confusing aspect of the English language concerning words that are alike is homographs. They consist of “words like read (present tense) and read (past tense), which have identical spellings” (Clark 122). Since homographs have different pronunciations yet they are spelled the same, they are known to cause problems for some people who read them out loud, especially children. For instance, these sentences might confuse a young child who is reading verbally: Sally wants to live near the farmers market so she can hear the live bands. Since young children sometimes struggle to read the words, they fail to consider the context of the sentence. A child might say that Sally wants to live [līv] near the farmers market so she can hear the live [liv] bands. Obviously the correct way to pronounce where Sally wants to live is by not applying stress to the i; however, the i should be stressed to represent live bands.
The word tear is another homograph that proves to be troublesome for children. Here is an example of how a child might confuse the pronunciation: John had a giant tear in his jeans. Since the sentence mentions nothing about jeans before the word tear, a child would likely confuse whether to say tear [ter], which represents ‘tore’ or tear [tir], which denotes ‘fluid that leaks from the eye.’ On the contrary, a child would probably be less likely to mistake the word in a different context. Here is an example of a word that might be read correctly: Ben didn’t cry a single tear when he fell. Since the word cry comes before the word tear, it’s apparent that the word should be pronounced to signify a tear [tir], which is linked to crying. Another word that happens to confuse children and people who are learning English as a second language is the word close. This word can be a problematic homograph because it could signify either to close [klōz] the door quietly, or too close [klōs] for comfort. Also, readers who cannot distinguish the difference between too and to might easily confuse the word close because they often misread the indicating word.
Although homographs are not as commonly mistaken as homophones, homographs do require indicators to signify how they should be pronounced. When the indicators are placed after the homograph in a sentence, it might be difficult to decide which way to pronounce the word, especially for children and adults that struggle to read. Therefore, when a homograph is written just as a single word, it is impossible to conceive how it is meant to be pronounced. For instance, if an online college student has a professor named Christopher Record, there is no apparent technique to use in order to figure out whether Record should be pronounced like: to play a record [re-kord] on the turntable, or to record [ri-kord] Saturday night’s football game.
Although homophones and homographs are similar types of words that are commonly misused in the English language, homophones are commonly confused when they are written, whereas homographs are better known to be mistaken verbally. While some children and uneducated adults are most likely to mistake homophones and homographs, people from all types of backgrounds have been known to make these types of errors as well.
Work Cited
Clark, Mary M. The Structure of English for Readers, Writers, and Teachers. 2nd ed. Glen Allen, Virginia: College Publishing, 2010. Print.
“their/there.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. 2007. Print.