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Feb 18

Two thousand is too many to count

Posted on Thursday, February 18, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

to, too, two
to means heading toward a destination
too means also
two means more than one and less than three

toad, towed
toad means an amphibian similar to a frog
towed means being pulled behind something

toe, tow
toe means one of the five digits on the end of the foot
tow means to pull something behind

Feb 17

It it time to buy more thyme

Posted on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

thyme, time
thyme mean a type of herb
time means past, present and future

tic, tick
tic means a facial twitch
tick means a clicking sound make by a mechanical clock

tide, tied
tide means the slow rising and falling of the ocean on a beach
tied means to be bound

Feb 16

Careful with your goofy87@abc.com address

Posted on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 in Email tips

Choose your email address wisely. When you send out that resume, do you really want to use TonsOfFun57@Yahoo.com or something similar?

If you have a website, consider using that for your email address. That would give you BetterName@MyWebsite.com.

Case does not matter in email addresses and is only used to clarify the address. So when you choose an email name that looks good in mixed case, be sure that when it is seen in all lowercase, it does not say something you did not intend (e.g. ChooseSpain becomes Chooses Pain).

Feb 15

Whose holiday is this anyway?

Posted on Monday, February 15, 2010 in Punctuation

Is this Presidents Day, President’s Day or Presidents’ Day?

The federal holiday that occurs on the third Monday of February is actually called Washington’s Birthday but some states have combined his birthday with Lincoln’s.

If the holiday is to celebrate the birthdays of  multiple presidents it should be plural possesive: Presidents’ Day.

Feb 14

He threw the ball through the tire swing

Posted on Sunday, February 14, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones, Misspelled words

theirs, there’s
theirs means something belonging to a group of people
there’s means a contraction of there is or there has

threw, through
threw means that someone caused something to move rapidly through the air
through means to pass from one side of an opening to the other

thrown, throne
thrown means that something had been caused to move rapidly through the air
throne means an ornate chair for a king or queen

Feb 13

The tern made a sharp turn during flight

Posted on Saturday, February 13, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

tear, terror
tear means to rip
terror means fright

tear, tier
tear means a drop of moisture from the eye
tier means a level

tern, turn
tern means a bird
turn means to change direction

Feb 12

Schedule your tee time after tea time

Posted on Friday, February 12, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

tail, tale
tail means a flexible appendage to the rear of an animal’s body
tale means a story

tea, tee
tea means a beverage made by steeping dried leaves of the tea plant
tee means the area where a golfer hits their first shot toward the hole

team, teem
team means a group of people playing a sport
teem means to be stocked to overflowing

Feb 11

She paid tax when buying tacks

Posted on Thursday, February 11, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

suite, sweet
suite means a group of connected rooms
sweet means having a pleasant taste

surge, serge
surge means a sudden rush
serge means a type of worsted cloth

tacks, tax
tacks means small nails with flat heads
tax means money paid to a government

Feb 10

This is an unusually straight strait

Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

step, steppe
step means one of the platforms in a staircase
steppe means vast cold, dry grass-plains

stile, style
stile means a vertical component of a door frame
style means a manner of doing things

straight, strait
straight means not crooked
strait means a narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water

Feb 9

Thanks for the wall-sized photos you attached

Posted on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 in Email tips

Before you attach all your vacation photos to an email, resize them.

Some cameras are set to take photos at 2048×1536 pixels, or something crazy like that. You will be so close, you could count eyelashes. You will also have a photo that is over two feet wide.

If you are just sending them to be viewed on a computer, convert the width to something under 1000 pixels. If you don’t have a graphics program to resize the photo, try something like picresize.com or Picasa.

For more email ettiquette tips, I recommend 101 Email Etiquette Tips. Please pay special attention to #27-32.