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Advice: That which is offered. The mentor offered useful advice.
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Advise: The process of offering it. The mentor advised the novice to assess carefully.
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Advice has “ice” in it. It’s already happened, so it’s more solid.
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Affect: Verb meaning “to make a difference.” The teacher affects the child’s ability to learn.
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Effect: Noun meaning a result. The effect of the treatment was positive.
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Remember the e’s and a’s: Effect is a result; affect is action. Occasionally effect will be used as a verb meaning to cause, and affect will sometimes be used as a noun meaning a feeling or mood.
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All ready: Indication that something is prepared. The experiment is all ready to proceed.
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Already: Indication that time has passed quickly. We are already half way through the procedure.
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If you could insert are, then use the two-word phrase: “all are ready” is all ready.
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All together: Indication of gathering. Researchers for this project are all together on campus.
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Altogether: Conversational intensifier. There is altogether too much noise in this classroom.
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This pair works the same way as the pair above: If you could add are, use the two words—“all are together” is all together.
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All right: Indication that all concerned are correct or satisfactory. The child’s answers were all right.
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Alright: Incorrect usage This is a popular error, but it’s still an error.
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It is not all right to jam all right togther into “alright.”
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A lot: A vague and somewhat conversational way of say often or much.
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Alot: Incorrect usage Allot is a different word; it means to apportion a share of something. We need to allot sufficient time.
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You wouldn’t write “alittle,” so don’t write “alot.”
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Beside: A preposition meaning next to. Sitting beside a child implies a supportive relationship.
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Besides: An indication of something in addition or in exception. Besides making symptom assessment, a counselor should consider cultural affiliation.
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Beside is alongside.
The addition of s makes it an addition.
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Device: An implement or tool. It was a useful device.
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Devise: To create or figure out. The research team will need to devise a more accurate strategy.
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Similar to advice/advise. Device contains ice; it’s the more solid form. Devise is more slippery.
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Conscience: A person’s intuitive mechanism for telling right from wrong. An individual’s conscience may function in healthy or unhealthy ways.
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Conscious: A state of being awake or aware. The accident victims were interviewed soon after they became conscious.
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Conscience contains science. Social scientists do study conscience as a phenomenon. Consciousness, or awareness, is a little vaguer.
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Disinterested: A state of purposeful impartiality. In student conflicts, a teacher needs to take a disinterested stance.
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Uninterested: A state of not caring. A symptom of depression is to become uninterested in activities formerly enjoyed.
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Disinterested is more deliberate. Uninterested is—uh,uh—well just unconcerned.
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Especially: An adverb meaning particularly or exceptionally. The counselor is especially concerned with the immigrant child’s adjustment problems.
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Specially: An adverb used to indicate that something was done for a specific purpose. The treatment was specially designed for children with mild to moderate disabilities.
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Specially refers to specific or specification.
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Farther: An indication of additional distance (literally or figuratively). We are farther from understanding the concept than we had realized.
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Further: An indication of a greater degree or extent. Can overlap farther for this meaning. Can be used as a verb meaning to aid or extend progress. He was instrumental in helping to further research in the area.
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Farther refers mostly to distance (far usually does). Further is a little softer and can be used for softer, more abstract concepts.
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Few or fewer: An indication of small quantity, used for items that could be counted. There are fewer subjects in Classroom 1 than in Classroom 2.
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Less: Opposite of more. Used for items that cannot be counted. There will be less time to complete this study than we had originally planned.
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Remember that few is the opposite of many; less is the opposite of more: many problems/few problems; more experience/less experience.
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Fortunate: An indication that something positive happened. It was fortunate that the subjects were well prepared.
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Fortuitous: An indication that something happened by chance—not planned or anticipated. It was fortuitous that three of the randomly chosen subjects were from racial/cultural minority groups.
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If something is fortunate, it happened by good fortune. If something is fortuitous, it is unplanned and unsolicited.
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Good: An adjective, used to describe a person, place or thing. We were fortunate to be able to work with a good teacher.
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Well: Most often an adverb used to describe actions. The subjects performed well.
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Just remember the common “good job” and “well done.” You wouldn’t say “good done,” so don’t say “you’ve done good.”
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Imply: To try to cause your reader or listener to think something without saying it explicitly. The subject didn’t accuse the therapist of being incompetent, but he implied it as he gave his account of the session.
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Infer: To figure out what the writer or speaker is really saying but not stating directly. From the subject’s account of the session, we inferred that he considered the therapist incompetent.
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Imply and Infer are two ends of the process—imply is what the communicator does, and infer is the recipient’s part. You might consider the related words: An implication is what a writer makes; an inference is what the reader makes.
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Its: A possessive pronoun, similar to his and hers. The study is nearing its conclusion.
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It’s: A contraction for “it is.” It’s late in the data gathering process.
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Remember that you wouldn’t write “hi’s,” “her’s,” or “your’s”; it is a pronoun, not a noun.
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Later: A comparative time relationship. On most days social studies was taught later than writing or mathematics.
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Latter: A sequence relationship involving two items. Of the two studies mentioned, the latter is more convincing.
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You can remember that later involves time because it has late in it. Since latter has two t’s, you can remember that it involves a sequence of two.
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Lie: An action one performs oneself: The client needs to lie down until he is calmer.
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Lay: An action one performs on something or someone else. Please lay the weapon on the floor.
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Saying one is going to “lay down” or “lay out” is a very common error. Just remember that the only thing you can really “lay” on a sun deck is a bottle of sunscreen.
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Loose: A state of not being tight, precise, or restrained. The comment is vague and is open to loose interpretation.
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Lose: A verb meaning to misplace something or have it taken away. If he does not fulfill his commitment, he may lose his place on the research team.
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Something which is loose is likely to have loopholes. Occasionally loose is used as a verb to indicate the action of making something loose: The judge has been known to loose the bonds of strict interpretation.
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Media: Plural form of medium, often used to refer to public communications media such as television, radio, and journalism. Media publicity is a powerful tool.
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Medium: A means for conveying messages. Television is a powerful and potentially dangerous medium of communication.
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Since we often think of a “medium” as one who conducts a séance, picture the medium sitting at a table, all alone, without other voices to validate her. The media, of course, have plenty of collaboration and back up.
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Moral: Something consistent with one’s code of ethics. Teaching involves moral dimensions and choices.
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Morale: Positive feeling or attitude. Morale was high among teachers undertaking the inclusion experiment.
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Remember that moral is ethical. If you like to think of ale as giving one spirited feelings, you could remember morale in that way.
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Number of: Quantity of something that can be counted. A large number of potential subjects are available.
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Amount of: Quantity of something that cannot be counted. The report contains a significant amount of specialized information.
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Children learn numbers by using manipulatives—items that can be counted and assigned specific numbers. Don’t use numbers for things they can’t manipulate.
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People: A group of individuals in a general, overall sense. Most people are concerned with violence in today’s schools.
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Persons: A small, specific, countable group of individuals. Nine persons volunteered to be interviewed.
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Both words mean the same thing. The context makes the difference—and it’s not a major one. Just remember the preamble: “We the people of the United States. . . .”
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Phenomenon: Something which can be observed, often applied to something out of the ordinary. We were startled as we observed the phenomenon.
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Phenomena: Plural of phenomenon. Several unexpected phenomena were observed with this study.
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As with medium and media, the “a form” is the plural.
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Practical: Designation for a concrete, sensible, useful way of doing something. Singing a well-known song is a practical way of calming young children after recess
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Practicable: Designation for something that can be done. The experimental procedure was complicated but practicable.
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Practicable means you are able to put something into practice.
Practical? If you calculate practicality, you can ask if it makes sense to do it.
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Precede: Something comes before something else. Hard work precedes discovery.
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Proceed: Something moves forward. We need to proceed with the steps of implementation.
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Pre always means before.
For proceed, remember progress.
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Principal: A general term meaning first or main—often specifically applied to the chief administrator of a school or other organization. The principal consideration is time efficiency. The principal called a meeting of faculty.
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Principle: A rule, law, or assumption on which thinking or activity is based. The controversy over school prayer is based on the principle of separation of church and state.
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School children used to recite, “The principal is the student’s pal.” This is a good device for remembering the distinction. Another little trick is to remember that principle and rule end in the same way.
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Rise: The action of someone or something moving upward or increasing. The number of adolescents with eating disorders is rising. Education is a means for helping people rise above poverty.
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Raise: The action of moving something or someone else upward or of increasing a quantity. We need to raise the percentage of children who are reading on grade level. We need to help raise children’s self-esteem.
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- The distinction is the same as between lie and lay. Rise, like lie, is something you do for yourself. It even has the same internal sound as lie. Raise is something you do for someone or something else. It has the same internal sound as lay. Both can apply to persons, to things, or to abstract quantities.
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Sit: The action of placing oneself in a sitting position. The children were asked to enter quietly and sit at their tables.
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Set: The action of placing something or someone else, usually in a specific position or on a surface. As they took their seats, the children set their notebooks and pencils on the tables in front of them.
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The sit/set pair is a first cousin of lie/lay and rise/raise. The “i” word is what “I do for myself”; the other is what I do to something or someone else.
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Then: A position word that indicates time sequence. The therapist makes a simple request and then observes the child’s response.
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Than: A word indicating comparison. Working together is more effective than working in isolation.
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If you read your sentence aloud, your ear will pick up the difference. Many of us are more conditioned to the sound than to the spelling.
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There: Indication of place (put the table over there) or existence (there are three children involved).
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Their: Possessive pronoun. (The research assistants completed their report.)
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They’re: Contraction of “they are.”
There is not really a trick. People just train their visual memory.
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To: Preposition indicating position or possibly destination (to the front of the room, to the students). Also the function word for the infinitive form of the verb (to walk, to seem, to study).
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Too: Adverb meaning also or in addition. (After the mothers had agreed to implement the program, many of the fathers agreed to participate too.) Can also be used to indicate that something is excessive. (The procedure took too much time.)
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Two: Number between one and three. Two teachers initially implemented the program.
Again, visual memory seems to be the best trick. You can think of too as having too many o’s.
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Whether: Introduction to an indirect question or to an expression of doubt. I do not know whether the test has been administered.
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Weather: Atmospheric condition. The weather interfered with the planned activity.
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Remember that whether works like which, when, and who. Just place it in its proper family, and you shouldn’t have any problem with it.
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