Category Archives: Word Usage

Fantastic New Resources

Posted on May 16, 2011 by admin

I know that these are not new to everyone, but there were new to me fairly recently. TERMIUM, the Government of Canada’s terminology and linguistic data bank, is a fantastic language tool for finding just the right word, using the … Continue reading →

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Mixing up similar words

Posted on February 18, 2011 by admin

When editing or proofreading a document, unfortunately, it is far too easy to miss incidents of similar words getting mixed up. Emphatically, empathically and empathetically seem so similar when reading silently that I totally missed the errors the first couple … Continue reading →

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Usage: affect vs. effect

Posted on February 4, 2011 by admin

This question comes up often and was asked of me by a friend just the other day. A Google search finds many websites that provide definitions, mnemonics and even funny cartoons. The basic differentiation is that “affect” is primarily a … Continue reading →

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