Confessions: Lays, Lies and a Whole Lot More

Though I tend to think I am fairly accurate in English, I am sure a grammarian would be quick to put their red ink all over my blog. That being said, there are a few words, phrases, spellings, pronunciations, etc. that I always seem to mix-up. It's true. I am confessing my imperfections here and now.

Laying vs. Lying If you're tired do you lay down or lie down? I always say I feel like Laying down or I'm gonna go LAY down. However, upon further research, you can only LAY down objects. People and animals LIE down. (Though a person gets laid up and not lied up, go figure.)

Judgment. I don't know why, but this word always give me issues. If Judgment is the act of judging, which means to judge, it's no wonder I always wanna write "Judgement". In fact it is still acceptable in Great Britain. But ever since Noah Webster decreed the first E superfluous, Americans have omitted it. I suppose however, if I write “judgement” then I should also be expected to write “colour" and "theatre" as well.

Prepositional phrases are also a hard one for me. It just sounds funny to say, "To which restaurant are we going?" vs. "Which restaurant are we going to?" and "With whom are we going?" vs. "Whom (or most likely "who") are we going with?"

Here are some other common mix-ups that people tend to offend the English Language and Grammar with with which people tend to offend the English Language and Grammar. See which ones you do...

affect/effect: To affect is to produce an effect. Still confused? Affect is usually a verb meaning "to impact or influence." It might help to remember that "a" is for action and "e" is for result. I am affected by his offensive odor. The odor had an effect on me. See? Affect is a verb. Effect is a noun. Even I have trouble with this one.

conscience/conscious: Have you ever been present when somebody fainted? It's scary, because nobody knows which word to use. It's that bad. Seriously, many well-educated people stumble over this one! "Conscious" is an adjective, meaning "aware," "awake," or sometimes "on purpose." "Conscience" is your sense of right and wrong.

to/too: This is probably the most common problem pair, but once you get the difference, it seems so simple! To is a preposition that indicates location or direction, but it also can be used in front of a verb to make an infinitive, like "to eat" or "to swim." Too is an adverb meaning "excessively" or "additionally." Either way, this word indicates "an extra amount." I just think of it like this: If it is Too much of anything than there are too many O's. I'm too tired. I want to go too!

Anyway - I also like to learn the correct way to say things, and don't mind being corrected (usually). What words or phrases do you get mixed up on? Or perhaps you're too smart for me!