Prompt Proofing's Grammar Tips: The 5 Words You Should Not Confuse

    VANCOUVER, BC, April 05, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- We wrote last week about the difference it makes to your employment and career opportunities if you have good grammar. There are a few words that many people confuse and that - used correctly - will show that you know your grammar while - used incorrectly - may suggest that you are not as careful or detail-oriented as you would wish.

1. compliment/complement

Complement means to go well with something or to complete it - the spelling is the clue here! A compliment is something nice that you say to someone.

Therefore the perfect wine complements the meal but you offer your compliments to the chef on a well-cooked repast.

Additionally, if something is offered free of charge it is complimentary (with our compliments).

2. dessert/desert

Dessert is the fruit or sweet course that comes at the end of a meal. A desert is a place with limited precipitation. If someone gets what they deserve, you can say they 'got their just deserts' - one 's' only - unless you are suggesting they skipped the main course and only had the apple pie!

3. effect/affect

While both these words can be used differently, the most common usage is affect as a verb and effect as a noun. Eating poorly and not exercising can affect your health OR it can have a bad effect on your health.

4. fewer/lesser

Many supermarkets fall foul of this one with their express checkouts for '10 items or less' signs. Items is a count noun - it takes a plural - so it should be '10 items or fewer'. Use less for non-count nouns only: less information, less milk, less aggravation, etc. but fewer people, fewer mistakes and fewer phone calls.

5. its/it's

The confusion here seems to spring from the apostrophe and the fact that we have been taught that apostrophes show possession. However 'its' is a possessive pronoun (like theirs and yours - no apostrophe) whereas 'it's' is a contraction of 'it is' or 'it has'.

About Prompt Proofing

Prompt Proofing is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and was officially launched in 2010 by a team of editing and writing professionals who have over 40 years of experience in the education, news media, public relations and recruitment fields. Prompt Proofing prides itself on affordable services delivered with fast turnaround times, without sacrificing quality or accuracy.

Offering content writing, editing and proofreading services, Prompt Proofing takes care of your individual or business content needs. We have customers throughout North and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United Kingdom, Asia and Australia.

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