I think it is time for another post on commonly confused words. There are countless pairs of words that can be easily mistaken – one for the other – and I doubt that we will run out of them. So what do we have for today? Read on to find out.
Stationary and stationery
Which is which? The first word, stationary means to be standing still or not moving. The second one, stationery means a piece of paper, usually used for writing letters. They sound alike so it is very easy to make a slip and use one for the other. Let us look at some examples to emphasize their difference.
The car was standing stationary in the parking lot.
The businessman requested for some of the hotel’s stationery.
Chose and choose
These words definitely do not sound alike but the difference of one letter “o†can cause a bit of confusion, especially if you are writing and you are short of time. So again, which is which?
Choose (oo sound) is a verb that means to make a choice or to take your pick. Chose (o sound), on the other hand, is the past tense of the verb choose. Here are some examples once again.
I don’t like going out so I will choose to stay at home today.
I chose to stay at home yesterday because I was tired.
This is it for now. Don’t worry, in the future we will be looking at more word pairs that are commonly confused.
Originally posted on August 30, 2008 @ 4:22 am
