Confusion of Definition

The following sets of words are often confused. Precision of definition is the way to avoid making errors with these.

Accept / Except
Affect / Effect
Beside / Besides
Capitol / Capital
Further / Farther
Led / Lead
Lose / Loose
Principle / Principal
Then / Than
They’re / Their / There
To / Too / Two

Accept means to receive something. Except relates to something that is excluded.

Standard Sentences
She wouldn’t accept anything from us.
Everyone except Karl still owes me for the baseball tickets.

In nearly all cases, affect is a verb, while effect is a noun.

Standard Sentences

The effect of voting for me will be beneficial.

It will affect me positively; it will give me a positive effect.

What are this medication’s side effects?

This music affects my attitude in the best possible way!

One exception is that effect as a verb means “to produce a result” or “to create change” while affect as a verb means “to influence.”

         Standard

         To effect a change in the population, vote for me.

The other exception is that affect as a noun means “facial expressions or tone of voice” while effect as a noun means “a cause.”

         Standard

         That speaker spoke in an emotionless monotone.  He had such a flat affect.    

 Beside means “by the side of.” Besides means “in addition to.”

Standard Sentences
Beside the Jordan, John baptized.
Sit beside me to hear the story.
Besides Jesus, John baptized many others.
John baptized in other rivers besides the Jordan.

Capitol is the word reserved for the buildings where laws are made. Capital as an adjective means “chief” or “most prominent.” Capital as a noun has a monetary meaning.

Standard Sentences
I recently visited the Capitol building in Washington, D. C.
In downtown St. Paul, only one restaurant near the capitol shows
British Premier League soccer matches.
Capital punishment used to be chopping off someone’s head.
The capital city of Minnesota—its chief city—is St. Paul.
Use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.
How can you need a loan when you’ve accumulated so much capital?

Further has to do with metaphorical distance while farther has to do with literal distance.

Standard Sentences
“If I go one mile, have I gone far enough?” “No, young man, you’ll have to go farther.”
“If I posit one mathematical claim, have I gone far enough?” “No, young woman, you’ll have to go further.”
He climbed halfway up Mount Everest, but she climbed farther.
Her thoughts led her further toward the goal than she imagined they would.

Led is the past tense of the verb “to lead.” Lead is not the past tense of that verb; it is a noun. Don’t use lead as the past tense of the verb lead.

Standard Sentences

“Lead me to the water,” said the horse, so I led that horse to water, but I couldn’t make it drink.

Alchemists attempt to turn lead into gold.

Lose is a verb that is the opposite of “to find.” Loose can be a verb or an adjective. As a verb, it means “to untie” or “to release.” As an adjective, it means the opposite of tight.

Standard Sentences
I always lose track of time.
You’ll lose the horse if you don’t tie it up.
There’s a burglar out back. Loose the dogs into the yard!
Make sure your necktie isn’t too loose.

Principal can be a noun or an adjective. It refers to the chief of anything. The principal of the school is its chief officer. You earn interest on your principal in the bank. The most important rule (the chief rule) is the principal rule.

Standard Sentences
Ben Franklin’s principal rule was “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The principal thing to bring on a camping trip is a tent.

Principle is always a noun. It refers to a held belief or a tenet of a system of beliefs or of science; therefore, we speak of moral principles, scientific principles, and religious principles.

Standard Sentences
Lacking moral principles, the governor was thrown in prison.
Your writing will no longer suffer from a lack of grammatical principles.

Then refers to elements of time while than has to do with comparisons.

Standard Sentences
I told you that she was taller than I.
What did you do then?
She would always remember April 26. Shakespeare was baptized then.

They’re is a contraction of “they are.” Their is a possessive pronoun meaning “belonging to them.” There is a location indicator or an introductory word.

Standard Sentences
They’re going to the concert tonight.
They have their tickets.
I wish I could go there.
There are other concerts.

To is a preposition or an infinitive marker.

Standard
She loves to run, to jump, to climb, and to dream about going to school, to work, and to the country.

Too means “also” or “exceptionally.”

Standard Sentences
The word is too long for my purposes.
The word is spelled wrong, too.

Two is a number.

Standard
The most common whole number that is greater than one and less than three is two.