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I think people get these two words mixed up simply because they sound and look alike. In reality, their meanings are quite different.

Idea is a though or inspiration.

• I have a great idea.
• Hey, what’s the idea!

Ideal means perfect (adjective).

• This is not an ideal situation.
• Janet is holding out for her ideal job offer.

Ideal can also be a noun, but it retains the concept of perfection.

• John Kennedy was Bob’s ideal.

Ideal can also refer to something to strive for.

• Many politicians are much too willing to compromise their ideals.

In my experience, people usually say ideal when the mean idea. For instance, “I have a great ideal!” Remember, that’s incorrect, and you’ll drive people like me batty if you do it!

Check out some of my other grammar articles on my Writer Helper page.

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Here’s another one that I see all the time in writing, but I never hear.

Choose is a present-tense verb. It’s pronounced like booze.

1. Which option will you choose for your investments?
2. Did you choose which restaurant you want to go to for dinner?

Chose is a past-tense verb. It’s pronounced like hose.

1. I chose to sell our house before the prices fell.
2. I’m glad I chose to buy a hybrid last year.

This is one that I see in writing, and I hear in slang.

Bath is a noun; bathe is a verb. Note that bath has the short “a” sound (like cat), and bathe has the long “a” sound (like rake).
Examples:

1. You need to bathe the dog.
2. He really needs to take a bath.
3. When you bathe, you take a bath.

I see this one all the time, and it drives me nuts. It’s also a very easy mistake to avoid, with a simple memory trick.

A lot is always two words, never alot.

To help you remember, you would never write alittle, so never write alot.

Easy, right?

When it comes to writing, this is one that really pops out when you make a mistake. You add an apostrophe when you really meant plural, or you leave it out by mistake. It’s not as tough to get right as you might think; in fact, it’s downright easy.

Apostrophes are used to show ownership, not plural. (Yes, I hear some of you arguing already. I’ll get to that.)

So, if you’re talking about more than one, add an s. If you’re talking about ownership, you’ll need an apostrophe. Let’s look at some examples.

1. John owns four cars. (simple, right?)
2. None of John’s cars actually runs. (Ownership, the cars belong to John.)
3. The children’s playground is a mess. (The playground belongs to the children.)

At it’s most simple, showing possession is done by adding ’s. If a word doesn’t already end in s, make it possessive by adding ’s, whether it’s singular or plural. Here are some examples.

1. The cheerleader’s performance was almost perfect. (One cheerleader).
2. The book’s binding needs repair. (One book.)
3. The men’s basketball team has had its best year ever. (Men is plural, but it doesn’t end in s.)

But what if a word ends in s but isn’t plural? How do you make it possessive? You go ahead and add the ’s anyway. You can hear this one. You say “boss-es temper,” and “Charles-es wife” below, right? Let that help you remember to add the ’s.

1. His boss’s temper was legendary.
2. Charles’s wife insisted he take the promotion.

If a word is already plural and ends in s, then just add the apostrophe.

1. The cheerleaders’ performance was almost perfect. (The performance was by more than one cheerleader).
2. The sled dogs’ feet were in need of medical care after the race.
3. My brothers’ cars were totaled within days of each other. (More than one brother wrecked more than one car.)

Let’s review some times when you shouldn’t use the apostrophe.

1. Don’t use the apostrophe when all you mean is plural.
2. Don’t use the apostrophe with pronouns (theirs, yours, his, its, etc.)
3. Don’t confuse its and it’s.

Here’s the exception I alluded to earlier. There is one case when you do use the apostrophe for plurals. Use an apostrophe to show the plural of a lower case letter.

1. She’s learning her a, b, c’s.
2. You didn’t dot any of your i’s in this essay.

There’s an interesting discussion here about apostrophes used to show plurals, which goes to show that even the “experts” don’t agree on many of the finer points of grammar. In my opinion, err on the side of clarity. I’d write the following, even though some might argue that I’m breaking the “rules.”

1. You got three F’s on your report card. (F is upper case, but I think it’s easier to read with the apostrophe.)
2. You use too many and’s in your writing. (I think this is easier to read than ands.)

You can find justification for either way of doing it. Just pick one and be consistent.

Finally, what do you do with hyphenated words?

1. The mothers-in-law have a meeting night at church. (More than one mother-in-law, but no possession.)
2. My mother-in-law’s car is in the garage. (One mother-in-law, showing possession.)
3. The mothers-in-law’s meeting lasts about two hours. (Plural and possessive. While this is technically correct, I find it awkward. I’d rewrite to avoid it entirely.)

Summary

1. Add s to show plural
2. If a word does not already end in s, then add ’s to show possession. This applies whether the word is singular or plural.
3. If a word ends in s already and is plural, add only the apostrophe.
4. If a word ends in s already and is singular, add ’s to make it possessive.

I started to title this, Passive Voice, why it should be avoided, but that’s just a bit much, don’t you think?

It’s not a half-bad example of passive voice though. In short, passive voice is when the subject is not doing the action. Above, “it” isn’t avoiding anything, right? Here are some more examples of the passive voice, as well as better ways to write them.

The mailman was bitten by the dog.

The mailman (subject) isn’t doing the biting. Often, the passive voice will use the word “by,” or will at least include the idea of “by.”

The dog bit the mailman

You can see how that’s clearer!

Your luggage was lost.

Passive voice is often used when you don’t want to state the subject. Imagine an airline saying “We lost your luggage.” Probably not, right? Passive voice allows you to say that something happened without saying who did it.

Joseph was murdered in the study with a candlestick.

You could tell who murdered him, but that wouldn’t exactly add to the suspense, would it?

Remember, unless you have a very specific reason for using it, you should avoid the passive voice. It tends to make your writing clunky, not to mention wordy.

I have to confess, this is one that drives me nuts. I hate to see it misused, and I see it all the time, unfortunately. Hardly a day goes by when I don’t see this one on someone’s blog, and often on big-name blogs that are drawing lots of readers. Some may argue that it doesn’t matter, but I’d disagree, but of course, you knew that already.

First off, lose ends in a “z” sound. Loose ends in an “s” sound.

Loose means to be not tight. Lose is to misplace something or to not win.

Examples.

1. I don’t want to lose my investment.
2. I would have entered, but I was afraid I’d lose.
3. I can’t keep these shoes on because they’re too loose.

Stationary vs. Stationery

I’m not sure how useful this tip is, considering how few people write letters on paper any more!

Stationary means to be still, not moving.

Stationery refers to writing paper.

• I need to buy new stationery.
• The car ought to have remained stationary!
• In order to write on stationery, it must be stationary. (I couldn’t resist.)

These are often confused, possibly because two of them are relatively rarely used.

Cite means to refer to a source, as when you write a research paper.

Site refers to a specific place or location, as in a building site.

Sight refers to seeing, as in vision.

Examples:

• You need to cite more sources for your research.
• The accident caused him to lose his sight.
• We need to choose a site for the picnic.

These are some commonly confused words. I rarely hear them mixed up, but I see it in people’s writing all the time.

Breath and Breathe

Breathe is a verb. The ea sounds like eat or easy.

Breath is a noun. Here, the ea sounds like egg or death.

Examples:

He took a slow breath before answering.

She gasped, barely able to breathe.

Bath and Bathe

Bath and Bathe follow the same basic pattern.

Bathe is a verb. The a sounds like able or ate.

Bath is a noun. The a sounds like cat.

Examples:

I want to take a relaxing bubble bath.

Whew! You need to bathe.

I see that a several of the Writing Helper posts remain some of my most popular. Even though they’re short, I’m not surprised. When I taught English, my students usually appreciated this type of lesson much more than standard grammar.

Enjoy!