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The words accept and except are similar in pronunciation, but have very different meanings. Perhaps not surprisingly, this has led to a significant amount of confusion and incorrect usage. In this week’s lesson, I will clarify and summarize the actual meanings of these two words and provide examples of correct usage.

In general, accept is used as a verb and means “to take or receive something willingly” — that is, without objecting, contesting, or otherwise challenging it. For example:

1. We will accept the site owner’s invitation to participate in the contest.
2. Even if you don’t have a credit card, we can still pay for our meal because this restaurant still accepts checks.
3. Although there were many irregularities, the majority of the American public seems to have accepted the outcome of the election.

Another variation on the meaning of accept is when it is used with the connotation of believing in something or regarding something as correct or proper.

1. Atheists do not accept the idea of an invisible, omnipotent sky daddy.
2. Skeptics do not accept that a small amount of global warming will have such catastrophic effects.
3. I accepted her theory as plausible even though I did not have any specific proof of it.

Meanwhile, the word except is most commonly used as a preposition or conjunction and means “besides, excluding, or other than”. For example:

1. The mainstream media coverage was not fair because they reported on all candidates except for independents and members of third parties.
2. I used all of the text in the article except for the portions that were duplicate content.
3. Politicians like to talk about corruption except when it occurs within their own parties.

Alternatively, except can be used as a verb meaning “to exclude” or “to leave out”. Although this usage is less common than the first, it is still grammatically correct.

1. The Commission on Presidential Debates has routinely excepted all candidates that were not Democrats or Republicans. The inclusion of Ross Perot in 1992 was a rare exception to this.
2. At many public events, children are often excepted from paying admission fees or are allowed to attend at significantly reduced rates.
3. The rel=’nofollow’ attribute excepts links from passing PageRank to the linked web pages.

Now we can look at some examples of incorrect usage and their corrected versions:

Incorrect: We except aluminum cans for recycling.
Correct: We accept aluminum cans for recycling.

Incorrect: All members were paid accept the cheaters.
Correct: All members were paid except the cheaters.

Incorrect: Keyword-stuffed pages should be accepted from high rankings in the search results.
Correct: Keyword-stuffed pages should be excepted from high rankings in the search results.

As was the case last week, there is no clear winner for the topic of next week’s lesson. My overall tendency is to continue with similar-sounding word groups that are often misused such as site vs. sight vs. cite, but I could also switch tracks and cover a somewhat larger topic such as commas, quotation marks, or capitalization. As usual, if there is a consensus among the commentators, I will select the chosen topic; otherwise, I will randomly choose another one from my ever-growing list.

Correct use of the words lie and lay has been a confusing topic for many readers, especially people who are not native English speakers and may never have learned the proper usage rules. It has become very common for most people to mix up the usage of these two words in informal speech; even I have done this on occasion. However, it is important to know what these words actually mean and be able to use them correctly in any type of formal or written work.

Depending on which dictionary is used, one can find many different definitions listed for the word lie, but most of these represent very minor nuances and can be grouped together into two basic meanings. To begin with, lie can be used as an intransitive verb that means “to recline, rest, or remain in position”, as in the following examples:

1. After feeling sick, I needed to lie down and get some rest.
2. My political loyalties lie with the Libertarians and the third party movement, not with Republicans or Democrats.
3. Our coastal property lies adjacent to the ocean.

The other major, well-known meaning of lie is to say something that is not true or provide false information. The word may be used in both noun and verb forms. This meaning is usually not confused with lay, but should be mentioned here for reasons of general knowledge and clarification. Politicians are infamous for their ability to lie without remorse and still persuade large numbers of people to vote for them anyway, as referenced in the following statements:

1. Bill Clinton was probably lying when he said that he had smoked marijuana but did not inhale.
2. In an attempt to justify the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration claimed that Saddam Hussein possessed “weapons of mass destruction” that posed a significant threat to the United States. Much to the chagrin of many American voters, this has turned out to be a lie.
3. In view of the primitive simplicity of their minds, they more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big. — Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1925).

Meanwhile, the most common meaning of lay is “to put, place, or bring something into a particular position”. It is used as a transitive verb in this case, meaning that it requires a direct object of some sort. Note that this object does not necessarily need to be a physical, tangible item. It is possible to correctly use lay in reference to intangible things as long as the general idea of being put or placed is still there. For example, we can lay down a rule, law, or even a course (as in a navigational heading), but we cannot simply lay down on a bed. In the latter case, we must use lie. Here are some example sentences for correct usage of this form of lay:

1. After our pirates had completed their voyage, they were eager to lay all of the treasure on the table so that we could properly divide the plunder.
2. When the old king died, his successor was able to lay claim to the estate.
3. The ship’s captain said, “let’s lay a course for Belize so that we can avoid these storms.”

Perhaps contributing to the confusion about proper usage, lay also happens to be the past tense form of lie when used in reference to resting or reclining. So while we must lie down to take a nap in the present, last night we lay on the bed before going to sleep. Again, here are some examples of correct usage:

1. Yesterday we lay in the sun too long, and some of us now have sunburn.
2. Last night I lay awake for hours wondering if there was really a dog. — Agnostic Dyslexic Insomniac

Finally, there is a third meaning of lay that is somewhat less common than the others, but still sees significant usage in modern English. This is the notion of a lay person as opposed to a professional or an expert in a particular field. This form of lay is always used as an adjective. For example:

1. In late medieval societies, guilds were formed in which professional craft workers could be trained, obtain special privileges, and separated from the masses of lay people.
2. It is a relatively rare occurrence for a lay person to represent himself or herself in court without retaining the services of an attorney.

Since it has become a customary feature for me to give examples of both correct and incorrect usage, I will provide two examples of these below. However, in practice the only mistake that I see being made is people using lay when they really mean lie (as in rest or recline). I cannot recall any instances where I have seen or heard anyone make the opposite mistake (using lie in place of lay).

Incorrect: When the attorney asked, “Are you sexually active?”, the woman replied, “No, not really. I just kind of lay there.”

Correct: When the attorney asked, “Are you sexually active?”, the woman replied, “No, not really. I just kind of lie there.”

Incorrect: My cat lied down three hours ago.

Correct: My cat lay down three hours ago.

For next week, I have not yet decided on exactly which issue I will cover, but there are still plenty of topics available. So far, we have had one vote for coverage of commas, one for coverage of quotation marks, and one for “could of” vs. “could have”, so there are no clear consensus winners at this point. As usual, anyone who wants to suggest a particular topic may do so in the comment section. If there are still no clear favorites by the end of next week, I will simply choose an English usage topic at random from my ongoing list of ideas that I have already compiled.

Incorrect use of apostrophes has become a disturbingly prevalent phenomenon in recent years, especially in the realm of advertising. Apostrophe abuse and “rogue apostrophes” seem to be popping up all over the place, occurring most commonly in the plural forms of ordinary words. In this week’s lesson, we will learn when and how apostrophes are actually supposed to be used so that we can avoid using them incorrectly.

In English, there are three primary uses of apostrophes:

• In colloquial speech, informal writing, and some foreign languages, apostrophes are used in contractions to indicate one or more omitted letters. In extreme cases, they can even be used more than once in same word, such as in the modern pronunciation of the word forecastle. Occasionally, contractions are also used with numerical figures, most commonly in dates where all digits of a certain year except for the last two are replaced with an apostrophe.
  1. Although blogging can be profitable in the long run, you’re probably not going to make millions overnight.
  2. The Libertarian party is one of the few organizations remaining in America that actually believes in the spirit of ‘76.
  3. After the grappling hooks were in place, the pirates swarmed over the fo’c’sle of the merchant ship and eventually captured it.
• Apostrophes are used to indicate possession. If the entity doing the possessing is singular, an apostrophe is added before the letter s. If the possessor is plural, the apostrophe is placed after the s, except in cases where the plural form does not normally end in s. In these situations, simply add the apostrophe before the s to show possession.
  1. The quality and quantity of a blog’s content can determine the degree of success in terms of subscriber numbers and search engine traffic.
  2. Before deciding on which company should receive the majority of our investment, we looked closely at the two companies’ financial reports.
  3. The early women’s movement, sometimes referred to as “first wave” feminism, was instrumental in obtaining the right of suffrage through the 19th amendment.
• In cases where the plural of a single lowercase letter needs to be written, apostrophes are used because their omission would cause the expression to appear awkward and confusing (for example, the plural of “a” would be written as “a’s”, not “as”, which is a completely different word). Apostrophes are not used in the plural forms of acronyms.
  1. When preparing a document for legal purposes, it is always a good idea to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

Here are some examples of commonly used incorrect usage, followed by the corrected forms.

Incorrect: The number and importance of a websites inbound links will greatly affect its ability to rank well in the search engines.

Correct: The number and importance of a website’s inbound links will greatly affect its ability to rank well in the search engines.

Incorrect: Most banks do not charge fee’s for using their own ATMs.

Correct: Most banks do not charge fees for using their own ATMs.

Incorrect: A common suggestion for practicing politeness is “mind your ps and qs.”

Correct: A common suggestion for practicing politeness is “mind your p’s and q’s.”

Incorrect: I dont think that the quantity of traffic a website receives impacts its search engine ranking.

Correct: I don’t think that the quantity of traffic a website receives impacts its search engine ranking.

For next week, we have had one suggestion to cover usage of lie vs. lay, although there are plenty of other issues that we could also address such as “could of” vs. “could have”, peak vs. pique, and past vs. passed. If you have any other favorite pet peeves regarding English grammar, be sure to mention these in the comment section and I will try to cover them in the approximate order that they are posted.

Misuse of the words then and than has become quite common in recent years, especially when we look at blogs and articles that are published on the Internet. For example, I have often seen Internet marketers mix up then and than in their sales letter copy. Many of them are apparently oblivious to the fact that they look quite silly when trying to sell products to people who can easily see that they are not even bothering to proofread their own writing while still expecting prospects to take them seriously enough to trust them and actually purchase something.

In other instances, I have seen cases where bloggers are genuinely confused about which of the two words to use and are wondering how they should be spelled. In this week’s lesson, I will attempt to clear up the confusion regarding proper use of then and than by first defining these terms and then providing examples of correct and incorrect usage.

First of all, the word than has three major definitions and uses:

• Comparison of one entity or quality to another:
  1. Two is less than three.
  2. In general, Internet marketers have a greater income potential than those who are employed at traditional salaried occupations in the corporate world.
• Indication of a preference:
  1. John McCain’s basic values are so antithetical to libertarian ideals that I would rather vote for a Democrat than take the risk of him being elected as president.
  2. It is better to have a bird in the hand than two in the bush.
• Used to suggest something beyond a specific amount or a certain point:
  1. In order to benefit from my articles and understand enough of the material to make an intelligent comment, people need to read more than the first paragraph.
  2. The differences between Republicans and Libertarians go far beyond and involve much more than simple disagreements about the degree of federal taxation.

Meanwhile, then also has three basic meanings:

• Reference to the past or a previous time period in comparison with the present; at another point in time:
  1. Back then, search engine optimization was relatively simple. Now, however, it is somewhat more difficult because search engine algorithms are more complex and there are more competing web pages for most keywords.
  2. A common Karlonian fantasy is having the ability to return to the days of yore while still retaining knowledge of all historical events leading up to the present day. From our modern perspective, things seemed so much simpler back then.
• The next item in a sequence:
  1. When building a profitable website, it is better to publish quality content first and then apply the monetization methods as opposed to trying to do it the other way around.
  2. In order to balance the federal budget, pay off the national debt, and make real long-term improvements to our economy, we must first reduce government expenditures and then look at ways to lower taxes and increase our economic freedom.
• Denotes a logical conclusion; often used in computer programming code in the form “If X Then Y Else Z”:
  1. If you have optimized your page properly, done the necessary keyword research, and acquired a significant number of inbound links, then you can expect to see a significant amount of search engine traffic arriving at your website.
  2. If X = 2, then print “Yes, your answer is correct. 1 + 1 = 2″, else print “Sorry, your answer is incorrect. Please try again.”

Now for some examples of incorrect and correct usage:

Incorrect: Buy a reusable water bottle, rather then using plastic ones. — found as an article title at http://www.edenbee.com/goals/933946514

Correct: Buy a reusable water bottle rather than using plastic ones.

Incorrect: Are cats better then dogs? — used as the title of a video at Metacafe.com

Correct: Are cats better than dogs?

Incorrect: The key to reading IF operators is to understand that the condition part of the traditional “if X than Y else Z” notation has already been evaluated. — rpntutorial, “Reading the IF Operator” at http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/tut/rpntutorial.en.html

Correct: The key to reading IF operators is to understand that the condition part of the traditional “if X then Y else Z” notation has already been evaluated.

Incorrect: I hear sound, and than I don’t hear sound when I put a movie in the vcr. Can you help? — user “mandylover”, trying to ask a question on Yahoo Answers

Correct: I hear sound, and then I don’t hear sound when I put a movie in the VCR. Can you help?

Next week’s topic is currently scheduled to cover the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of apostrophe abuse, where apostrophes are being used in plural forms of words when they should be used only to indicate possession. Meanwhile, if you have any other suggestions for English usage topics, please feel free to mention these in the comment section below.

Confusion among the words to, too, and two ranks almost as highly as errors involving it’s and its in terms of overall prevalence. Among the three, the word to is usually the most commonly used and has many different meanings that can be found when we look up the word in a dictionary. In most cases, the word is used as a preposition but there are a few less common instances where it can be used as an adverb. Here are some of the most important meanings of the word to, followed by examples of correct usage:

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Of all the instances of grammatical errors that occur both online and offline, the misuse of its and it’s is probably the single most prevalent example of poor English usage that I have encountered. Interestingly, it is also one of the easiest kinds of mistakes to avoid. If you’re (not your) confused about which word to use, the rule is actually quite simple.

Use it’s (with the apostrophe) whenever you would logically use “it is” or “it has” in the sentence; it’s (not its) a contraction of two separate words. Otherwise, use its (without the apostrophe), which is the possessive adjective form of the pronoun it. This word is used in a similar fashion to other possessive adjectives such as my, your, their, his, her, and our.

Although its usage is less common than the other variants, I should point out that its’ (with the apostrophe after the s) is simply invalid syntax and should never be used in a proper English sentence unless you have some strange desire to look like an ignorant fool. Now let us look at some examples of correct and incorrect usage:

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In this second post on English usage, we will explore the issues related to the words your, you’re and yore. Misuse of these words has not only been running rampant throughout the Internet, but has also crept into email marketing and corporate documents. Occasionally I have even seen mistakes involving your and you’re slip past editors and find their way into printed publications such as owner’s manuals or instruction booklets. Naturally I am keen to stamp out this sort of ignorance before too many people forget (or never learn) how we are actually supposed to use these words.

First of all, your is the possessive form of the personal pronoun you, and is used in a similar fashion as the word their from last week’s lesson. It is commonly used as an adjective as in the following examples:

1. This is not a permanent fix for the memory leak issue, but it will keep your Firefox extensions from consuming all of your computer’s memory. - Jared Hislop from Gearlive.com
2. I do not recommend getting rid of all your gold because there are still offsetting factors, such as war with Iran, a falling dollar, a major terrorist attack, or a major purchase of gold by a central bank. - Gary North at LewRockwell.com

Meanwhile, you’re is actually a contraction of the words “you are”.

1. No one ever came to me and said, “You’re a fool. There isn’t such a thing as God. Somebody’s been stuffing you.” - Frances Farmer, 1931
2. You’re not stupid, just ignorant in this area of topics. - user Xevion at Ars Technica forum

Finally, yore, although sometimes written as a misspelling of your, is a relatively obscure word that means “time long ago” or “in times past”. It’s actually a pretty fun word to use, especially when reminiscing or entertaining romantic visions of enjoying life in a previous historical period.

1. Pirates of yore attacked any ship that crossed their path. Today’s pirates plan their attacks and select their prey before they leave shore. - Cindy Vallar, 2000
2. We were standing at a guard tower on the Great Wall of China, looking across to the expanse of Inner Mongolia and wondering about those barbarians of yore. - Elaine Lowe

Now we can look at some examples of correct vs. incorrect usage:

Incorrect: If your using yahoo, hotmail or msn, you might want to consider switching to gmail. - Michele Ballard

Correct: If you’re using Yahoo, Hotmail or MSN, you might want to consider switching to Gmail.




Incorrect: So you’re money woes may be a bit grating now, but they won’t be forever. - Brian Freedman

Correct: So your money woes may be a bit grating now, but they won’t last forever.




Incorrect: Wow man that is really nice, looks like you got yore money worth out of that chip. - user Kohan, Overclockers forums

Correct: Wow, that is really nice! It looks like you got your money’s worth out of that chip.




Incorrect: When yore done frying the lamb you just make a plain sauce with the cooking grease as base. - Kaftan Barlast, Obsidian Entertainment forums

Correct: When you’re done frying the lamb, you just make a plain sauce with the cooking grease as a base.




Next week we will tackle the infamous issue of its vs. it’s, which has probably manifested itself in more errors found on signs and other forms of advertising than either of the other two groups of homonyms that I have already covered.

This post is the first installment of my English usage guide, an ongoing weekly series of articles that are designed to educate readers in the proper use of the English language and raise awareness of the need for thorough proofreading. The first few lessons will deal with groups of homonyms, words that sound alike when pronounced but are spelled differently and have different meanings when they are used in written text. Homonyms can be tricky for students and webmasters who do not manually proofread their work before submission. Unless obvious typographical errors are made, incorrect usage among these words will not be detected by standard spell checking programs.

Some of the most common errors that I see being made on published web pages involve incorrect usage of the words their, there and they’re. For the remainder of this post, I will demonstrate examples of correct and incorrect usage of these three words so that you can hopefully learn how to use them correctly and avoid mistakes in your writing.

The word their is the possessive form of the pronoun they, and is used as an adjective to modify the noun that follows it. For example:

1. Humans were forced to develop their intelligence so as not to be destroyed by their stupidity. - Matthijs van Boxsel
2. Those who believe that they have nothing to learn from barbarians have resigned themselves to their ignorance. - Karl Erfurt

There, on the other hand, is an adverb that is used to indicate a place or location, as in the commonly used phrase “over there”:

1. Tell Bush to go over there and fight for oil. - Thomas Wilson
2. Unfortunately I live in Australia, so it’s very difficult to get over there. - Chantau Daffy

The word there can also be used in a general sense to indicate the existence or nonexistence of something, as in the following humorous quotes:

1. There is no dog! - Anonymous Atheist Dyslexic
2. I stayed awake for several hours last night wondering if there was really a dog. - Dyslexic Agnostic Insomniac

Meanwhile, they’re is simply a contraction of the two words “they are”.

1. They’re not really that stupid, or misinformed, or delusional. - user HP from Scienceblogs.com
2. Do people with normal intelligence know they’re ignorant? - question asked on Yahoo Answers

The most common usage errors seem to occur when people mix up their and there. They’re is misused also, but this seems to be less common. It is relatively easy to tell whether or not you are using it correctly by simply substituting the words “they are” in the sentence. Here are some examples of incorrect usage, followed by the corrected versions.

Incorrect: Those people are genuinely happy in there ignorance. - user “franznietzsche” from Physics.com forums

Correct: Those people are genuinely happy in their ignorance.

Incorrect: I wonder if there’s a legal doctrine of “misuse of a trademark” just as their is for “misuse of a copyright”. - user Thomas from Cisco.com blog

Correct: I wonder if there’s a legal doctrine of “misuse of a trademark” just as there is for “misuse of a copyright”.




Incorrect: Does this mean msnspace will hammer out an agreement with Ubuntu over they’re logo? - Macewan, Msdn.com blog

Correct: Does this mean MSN Spaces will hammer out an agreement with Ubuntu over their logo?




Incorrect: She is actually abusing you they’re is not doubt it my mind if all this is true! - Anna, Yahoo answers user

Correct: She is actually abusing you - there is no doubt in my mind if all of this is true!




Next week, unless enough of you want me to cover a different English usage topic, I am planning on dealing with the your vs. you’re vs. yore issue, followed by its vs. it’s, and then probably sight vs. site vs. cite. We have also had one request for coverage of “could of” vs. “could have” (and similar variants), so I will fit this one in as soon as I can after dealing with the most common errors involving homonyms.

After several months of consideration and debate, I have finally decided to start an “English Usage” category here at Karlonia for the benefit of my beloved readers. I am planning on making this a weekly feature similar to the search query answer posts that I have scheduled to run on Sundays. Because there are so many common mistakes that I see people making on their published blogs and web pages, I should have an ample source of material for this series, especially if I address each issue in separate posts as opposed to making casual mention of several issues and then lumping them together in one post. This means that there will be plenty of time to cover the most common English usage issues in detail before we get around to more esoteric topics such as whether or not it is grammatically correct to end a sentence with a preposition.

Before I begin the series of lessons that will explore each issue, I will use the remainder of this post to explain why it is important to learn how to use the English language properly, particularly in its written form. Before you actually publish a written work, proofreading it and correcting any errors is important for the following reasons:

1. Having clean copy helps you maintain a professional image and makes it more likely that your written documents will be taken seriously and provide favorable results.
2. You will be able to communicate more effectively and greatly reduce the possibility of any misunderstandings. By contrast, if your writing is sufficiently riddled with errors or includes non-standard forms of English such as IM (instant messaging) shorthand or “leet speak”, a substantial portion of your audience may not even understand what you are saying.
3. Depending on the situation, some types of errors that are not corrected in time can wind up causing you much embarrassment later and can even make you look stupid. For example, if you look closely at the image in the upper left of this page, you can see that the words across the front of the basketball players’ T-shirts read “West Virgina” instead of the correct name West Virginia. While I’m not exactly sure what a “virgina” is, I can think of two very similarly spelled words that provide some interesting mental associations. The original photo can be found at Ad Goodness.
4. Doing the proper proofreading and getting it right the first time will prevent the possibility of having to spend money on reprinting paper documents or spending extra time editing web pages or blog posts after publication because they contain embarrassing errors.
5. Perhaps the most important but least recognized reason for proofreading is that there are many errors that cannot be caught by spell checker software but will still make a writer look very ignorant if they manage to slip through and become part of a published work.

To illustrate this last point, consider the example of this “spell checker poem” written by Janet Minor:

I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC;
It plainly marks four my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea.
I’ve run this poem threw it,
I’m sure your pleased too no,
Its letter perfect in it’s weigh,
My checker tolled me sew.

Although a standard run thorough a spell checker would not detect any problems, there are actually twelve English usage errors in the above quote, most of them involving homonyms. In case you didn’t notice them all on the first reading:

• four = for
• revue = review
• sea = see
• threw = through
• your = you’re (”you are” is also correct, but would mess up the rhyme scheme)
• too = to
• no = know
• its = it’s (or “it is”, but this would also alter the rhyme scheme)
• it’s = its
• weigh = way
• tolled = told
• sew = so

Finally, this humorous video titled “The Impotence of Proofreading” by Taylor Mali provides a good example of what an unpolished piece of writing can sound like when critical mistakes are not corrected before publication. For a printed copy of Mali’s 3-minute speech, see his website at TaylorMali.com.


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