This Tuesday Tip is from my personal experience this week. I thought I knew the difference between wail and whale, and I did. Kind of.

Most know that a whale is an animal that lives in the ocean. Most commonly the verb wail means to cry or complain loudly.

But did you also know that an informal meaning of whale is “to beat”?

Now, even though a  vocalist in a band may wail a song, the drummer whales on the drums; and lead guitarists when they thrash their instruments wildly, whale on them.

I learned something new this week and I hope you did too.

This post comes straight from my own personal reading experiences. These words may be pronounced the same, but they certainly have different meanings.

The waist is the narrowing of the body between the hips and the ribs.

Waste could mean: 1) to use or expend (something) needlessly, 2) to lose energy, strength, or vitality (usually with away), 3) an act or instance of wasting, and 4) an uncultivated, uninhabited, or devastated area.

A cord can be many things. It can be a string or rope, an electrical cable, or a measure of wood equal to 128 cubic feet. It can also be a ribbed fabric (like corduroy), or one of several types of cords found within the bodies of animals (the spinal cord, the umbilical cord, and the vocal cords).

A chord is typically a musical term denoting any combination of two or more pitches played at the same time. It can sometimes refer to an emotion as well.

When I am reading a book, there are a few errors that can send me over the edge. Spelling errors? Of course. Homophone errors? Sure. Using an incorrect word over and over again? Absolutely!

Taut and Taunt may sound the same,but these words have very different meanings and are NOT interchangeable.

Taut: tight, pulled firmly; tense

Taunt: to say insulting things to (someone) in order to make that person angry; to tease sarcastically, ridicule or jeer

Worse and worst are often misused in the English language. Here is a simple definition describing when to use them correctly.

Worse: Use worse to compare two things. Think of it like better only in the negative instead of the positive.

Example: My husband’s singing is worse than mine.

Worst: Use worst when one thing is inferior to something else. Think of worst like best, only in the negative.

Example: My husband has the worst singing voice in the world.

***Note: My husband really doesn’t have the worst voice, he just has the worst time remembering the correct lyrics to songs, which is worse.

Here is a quick and easy way to remember this Tuesday Tip.

Passed: past tense of the verb pass

Example: He passed the note to the girl in his class.

Past: a noun or an adjective. Noun – the time before the present; Adjective – finished, completed, in the past

Example: You cannot live in the past.

Here is a fun and easy sentence to help keep things clear.

Awhile: an adverb meaning, for a time. Or literally, for a while.

Example: Go play awhile.

**In this sentence you can swap out the adverb with another, such as: quietly. Go play quietly.

A while: a noun meaning, for a length of time.

Example: Go play for a while.

**In this sentence you can swap out the noun with a length of time, such as: ten minutes. Go play for ten minutes.

This is a common mistake I am seeing more and more often in books.

Shutter– a blind for a window, or part of a camera

Shudder– to tremble in fear

Therefore, you cannot shutter with dread. You shudder. 

These two words are often confused with one another. Recently, they have been misused often in my reading. So, it became the Tuesday Tip for today.

Compliment: an admiring or flattering remark, praise

Example: Do you blush when you are given a compliment?

Complement: goes well with others, completes

Example: The chocolate sauce complements the cheesecake.

A quick tip to determine if you should use an “i” or an “e”:  I like to give compliments.

This Tuesday Tip is for a reader…you know who you are.

Lets: used when saying that something is “allowed”

Example: The man lets his roommate believe he knows something about computers.

Let’s: used when abbreviating the phrase “let us”

Example: Let’s try to find something nice to say about our roommate.