Clearing Up the Confusion

Confusables

Recently, the fine folks at copyediting.com began a new series of podcasts to address what they call “confusables”: those word pairs that give a lot of speakers and writers of English trouble because of their similarities in spelling or pronunciation. For example, they address discreet/discrete, disburse/disperse, loath/loathe, and inciteful/insightful. Some confusables, I’ve discussed in the past; e.g., peak/peek/pique, their/there/they’re.

Often, what happens with many confusables is that the incorrect part of speech is used. This occurs when an adjective form is used instead of a noun or verb, or a noun is used instead of verb. For example, how many times have you seen the construction, “I need to cloth myself”? Clearly, the writer meant to use the verb “clothe,” not the noun “cloth.” As is the case with several confusables, the verb adds an e to the noun form (bath/bathe, for instance).

Other times, people simply don’t know which word they want to use. Such is often the case with discrete and discreet. The former means singular, or separate, such as “discrete pieces of information,” and the latter means prudent, showing good judgment, or unobtrusive: “…followed the subject at a discreet distance.”

Affect – Effect

One of the more prevalent confusions for a lot of people is when to use “affect” or “effect.” In fact, a friend asked me last week whether I’d discussed these words here. I hadn’t, but fortunately, she was able to find her answer at Grammar Girl. To save you the trouble of searching, though, I’ll explain the difference here as well. In the simplest terms, “affect” is almost always a verb; “effect” is almost always a noun. And while both have adjectival forms – affective and effective – the adjective formed from the (usual) noun is almost always the one you see. One other thing to keep in mind: According to Web11, the noun form of affect stresses the first syllable; furthermore, the use of affect as a noun is so esoteric, I won’t even bother you with an example.

“affect” is almost always a verb; “effect” is almost always a noun

If you keep that in mind, you’ll (almost always) get it right. Let’s look at some examples:

Her perfume always had a significant effect on him: His eyes watered, and he’d sneeze every five or ten minutes. (effect, noun)

Her perfume affected him all the time, but generally not the way she intended. (affect, verb)

John was desperate to effect a solution that would satisfy all parties.

Unfortunately, John’s solution wasn’t very effective.

Flaunt – Flout

Granted, these two words aren’t used quite as much as “affect” and “effect,” but that may contribute even more to their confusion.

“Flaunt” means to display ostentatiously or impudently, or to treat with contempt:

Back in the ’70s, Morganna flaunted her bosom at baseball games and other sporting events.

Al Capone flaunted his ill-gotten riches until he was convicted of tax evasion.

“Flout” is similar to the second sense of “flaunt,” that is, to treat with contemptuous disregard. But Webster’s Concise Dictionary of English Usage cautions against using “flaunt” when you really mean “flout”:

Capone flouted Prohibition until Eliot Ness’s “Untouchables” nailed him for income tax evasion.

Pitfall – Pratfall

Personally, I don’t understand the confusion here, but I’ve seen both words misused recently, so apparently some people don’t grasp the difference. A “pitfall” (besides being an old Atari console game title) is a trap or snare, often one that is crudely covered, or a hidden or not easily recognized danger. A “pratfall” is something you see in vaudeville comedy: a fall on the buttocks, or a humiliating mishap or blunder.

One of the pitfalls of putting oneself as an expert in a field, is the occasional pratfall that happens when you err egregiously, whether by accident or not.

Wrap-Up

I hope this short introduction to the pitfalls of confusables will have the desired effect of affecting your writing in a positive manner. After all, we don’t want to flaunt our ignorance, do we?

Any other confusables you’d like to discuss? Let us know in the comments!