“It’s barely there” does not mean the same as “it’s barley there”. The former means that something scarcely exists. The latter is pointing out a plant or grain.
Monday Muddle: barely, barley
Category: Monday Muddle
Monday Muddle; about, a bout
For some reason, when a noun is preceded by the indefinite article “a”, people like to delete the space between them and turn them into adverbs or prepositions, for example. It’s a mistake seen frequently with “a part”, but also with other combinations. The most common example of the space elimination trend is “a lot”, but deleting that space doesn’t actually create a new word.
The same problem doesn’t seem to exist with nouns preceded by the indefinite article “an”.
Monday Muddle: fell, foul
“Fell” is also a noun, a verb, and the past tense of the verb “to fall”, but that is not what gets mixed up here.
To do something in one fell swoop means to do it all at once. One action can accomplish an entire task. The noun swoop dates from the 1540s, and represents the action that a bird takes when pouncing on its prey. One fell swoop—one deadly pounce—meant that the prey was caught in one shot. No need for further attempts.
Monday Muddle: abdicated, abducted
Abdicating is an action that a person chooses to do, and that person is very likely an adult. It is not an action that is done to you. So if you see a sentence that says that the boy was abdicated, it is a safe bet that abducted was meant.
Monday Muddle: invincible, invisible
If you say “We are invisible!” when you mean “We are invincible!” your audience will be confused. Or laugh at you. Or both.
Monday Muddle: any more, anymore
It’s always nice to be correct, but sometimes it is important to avoid confusion and unwanted consequences. “I can’t love you anymore” does not mean the same thing as “I can’t love you any more”. (If you are saying that verbally rather than in writing, you might want to use different words to express your feelings.)
Remember that “any more” as two words relates to quantity, and “anymore” as one word relates to time.
“Any more” (as two words) is used in the same way in negative statements as “some more” (also two words, but seldom confused as one) is used in positive statements. Example: I want some more cake.
“Any more” always comes before a noun, although sometimes the noun is understood without being stated. Example: Would you like more cake? Yes, but I don’t need any more. It is understood from the question that what you don’t need any more of is cake.
“Anymore” always relates to a verb, indicating there is something that you don’t do any longer. Example: I’m on a diet, so I don’t eat cake anymore.
If you can substitute the words any longer, without changing the meaning, use one word. If you still aren’t sure which to use, use two words, because some people (primarily British) still accept the two-word version as correct for both meanings.
Monday Muddle: every day, everyday
Those who have been following me for a while might recognize this muddle. I’ve shared it before, but I thought it would be worth sharing again since I see this mistake so often. You might say that it’s an everyday occurrence.
Monday Muddle: compliment, complement
Here’s a trick to help you figure out which spelling you need. Complement, which means to complete, has the same first six letters as complete. Knowing that I should say nice things to people more often will help me remember that compliment has an i.
Monday Muddle: it’s, its
Here are a couple tips to help you know when you need the apostrophe. “Its” will be followed by a noun, though there might be a descriptive adjective (or several) before it. “It’s” might be followed by just an adjective. (e.g. It’s yellow.) But if “it’s” is followed by a noun, with or without a descriptive adjective, there will almost certainly be an article (a, an, the) or a possessive adjective before the noun. “It’s” might even be followed by “its”. For example: Why is there a bowl on the floor? It’s its usual location. It’s the dog’s food dish.
“Its” should never have an apostrophe after the s.
Autocorrect does not know the difference between “it’s” and “its”, so don’t trust it to choose for you.
Monday Muddle: collected, collective
