Commonly Confused Words Like There and Their and How to Use Them Correctly

We all mess up sometimes. I've made grammatical errors, typos, and once tried to rewrite a sentence but forgot to take out some necessary words so that it made sense. Though we all try to proofread our work (hopefully we all do) so that it is as error free as possible, there are some words that many of us commonly mix up in our writing. Learning to choose the proper word is of the utmost importance if we want to be taken seriously as writers, whether amateur or professional.

Effect (noun) and Affect (verb). If you were speaking of the impact of drought conditions on this year's pumpkin crop, you might say, "The drought will have a lasting effect on farmers who depend on revenue from their harvest." Or you could say, "This summer's drought will affect the availability of pumpkin pie over the coming holiday season."

Accept (verb) and Except (preposition/conjunction). If someone is giving you something, you are "accepting their gift." If you have a problem with going to work on the Sabbath, you might say, "I will work every day except Sunday." For use as a conjunction, you could say, "There is no access to the office except by those with a security card."

Than (conjunction) and Then (adverb). Using 'than' as a conjunction you can make comparisons, such as, "John is smarter than Bill." The most common usage of 'then' is as an adverb. You could say, "If you're ready, then let's go."

There (adverb), Their (pronoun), and They're (contraction of 'they are'). 'There' is most often used as an adverb this way, "We came home from the party, but Sam decided to stay there." 'Their' is a pronoun that you use when you are referring to a group of people. You could say "That is their house over there." The easiest one to check yourself on is 'they're.' Since it is a contraction of 'they are,' all you have to do is replace your 'they're' in the sentence with 'they are' to see if it makes sense. You could say, "I asked everyone, and they say they're going to stay home." "'They are' going to stay home," makes perfect sense, so it is the correct usage.

Your (pronoun) and You're (contraction of 'you are'). 'Your' is a possessive pronoun. If you are trying to say that something belongs to someone, you could say, "That is your book." Just like 'they're' in the above example, 'you're' is a contraction. Again, you can substitute 'you are' in a sentence to see if it makes sense. "You're going to have fun at the party." You can say, "'You are' going to have fun at the party," and again it makes perfect sense.

These are just a few commonly mixed up words that writers sometimes overlook in their proofreading. If you're unsure, keep a dictionary close by or use an online dictionary to be sure you are using the correct part of speech. Happy writing!