Common errors in English usage - misspelled words list - daily 10 words - Part 3

LEAD/LED

When you're hit over the head, the instrument could be a "lead" pipe.
But when it's a verb, "lead" is the present and "led" is the past tense.
The problem is that the past tense is pronounced exactly like the
above-mentioned plumbing material ("plumb" comes from a word meaning
"lead"), so people confuse the two. In a sentence like "She led us to
the scene of the crime," always use the three-letter spelling.

MARITAL/MARTIAL

"Marital" refers to marriage, "martial" to war, whose ancient god was
Mars. These two are often swapped, with comical results.

NEAR/NEARLY

Some dialects substitute "near" for standard "nearly" in statements like

"There weren't nearly enough screws in the kit to finish assembling the

cabinet."

OFCOURSE/OF COURSE

The misspelling of the two-word phrase "of course" as "ofcourse" should

be caught by any good spelling-checker, but it seems to be extremely

common.

PAYED/PAID

If you paid attention in school, you know that the past tense of "pay"

is "paid" except in the special sense that has to do with ropes: "He

payed out the line to the smuggler in the rowboat."

QUIET/QUITE

This is probably caused by a slip of the fingers more often than by a

slip of the mental gears, but one often sees "quite" (very) substituted

for "quiet" (shhh!). This is one of those common errors your spelling

checker will not catch, so look out for it.

RAN/RUN

Computer programmers have been heard to say "the program's been ran,"

when what they mean is "the program's been run."

SEAM/SEEM

"Seem" is the verb, "seam" the noun. Use "seam" only for things like the

line produced when two pieces of cloth are sewn together or a thread of

coal in a geological formation.

THAN/THEN

When comparing one thing with another you may find that one is more

appealing "than" another. "Than" is the word you want when doing

comparisons. But if you are talking about time, choose "then": "First

you separate the eggs; then you beat the whites." Alexis is smarter than

I, not "then I."

UNDERLINING/UNDERLYING

You can stress points by underlining them, but it's "underlying" in

expressions like "underlying story," "underlying motive," and

"underlying principle."