英语语法：173 Funny Homophones

Grammar Girl here.
Today's topic is words that can get you into trouble.

Guest-writer Bonnie Trenga writes:

Once upon a time, some mistaken citizens stood up for American principals, p-r-i-n-c-i-p-a-l-s. Across the Atlantic, a nutty queen sat on her thrown, t-h-r-o-w-n. Somewhere nearby, an inattentive writer poured over his manuscript, p-o-u-r-e-d. All this made me, a copy editor, chuckle². Yeah, I guess I could defend a school principal if necessary. But no, I’ve never sat on a past participle before. And, tell me again what that special someone was pouring? Comic relief, perhaps?

Yes, today is Wrong Word Day, and we’ll be spending some time laughing at other writers. Word errors are funny—as long as someone else has goofed⁴. And it’s easy to goof³, because lots of words sound or look alike. Probably thousands of pairs and trios exist to confuse the unready. Hanger⁵ with an e sounds like hangar with an a. Palate, meaning "the roof of your mouth," sounds like pallet, meaning "a portable platform," and also like palette, meaning "a range of colors," and they're all spelled differently. You get the idea. The list is interminable; the possibilities for word mix-ups, endless.

Word errors are a real problem because they slip in unnoticed and are extremely hard to catch—even if you’re a seasoned writer who proofreads⁷ closely. Even copy editors aren’t immune: I once wrote chocolate moose—m-o-o-s-e—when referring to a luscious⁸ brown dessert. I can excuse myself because I was only eight, but if you write for a living, there is no excuse.

As a writing professional, you must stand up for correct writing principles, with an le. (Although you can also stand up for a principal, with a pal¹, if one is in trouble.) As a wordsmith, you must protect your throne, t-h-r-o-n-e. (If you sit on a thrown, with an -o-w-n, your subjects will throw you off immediately.) As a diligent⁹ writer, you must pore over your work carefully, p-o-r-e. (You can pour—p-o-u-r—while you pore, but please make sure it’s something liquid.)

When you pick the wrong word, your readers laugh at your amusing sentence. It’s great to put them at ease with a joke or two, but if they’re smiling at what you wrote in all seriousness, that’s not good. Other readers don’t laugh; they cringe and wince¹⁰, lament¹¹ and vent¹². Some sticklers¹³ just stop reading.

If you’ve ever written discreet¹⁴ ending in -eet instead of discrete¹⁵ ending in -ete, it’s really not your fault, though. You can blame your brain, which sometimes takes a little vacation. You’re writing quickly so your ideas don’t evaporate. You’re paying attention to plot and dialogue. You’re thinking about that luscious brown dessert you promised yourself—if you write enough. You’re completely unaware¹⁶ that you accidentally wrote this:

“The patient’s body becomes tense as she steals herself to endure the dental procedure.” S-t-e-a-l-s? I’m dialing 911 right now to report that patient for larceny¹⁷!

All these similar-sounding words give our language depth, but they can also give you a big headache. However, you don’t have to celebrate Wrong Word Day if you don’t want to. You’re probably already taking some basic precautions. You look words up in the dictionary, and you use spell check on every piece. Butt¹⁸, dew knot re-lie on Spell Check too fined yore miss-takes! It doesn't work for these troublesome homophones.

Frankly¹⁹, the only way to catch word errors is to become suspicious, paranoid, and worried. Not very relaxing, but it gets the job done. When you proofread⁶ yourself, imagine it’s a worst-case scenario²⁰. Suspect it’s wrong and it might be. The other day, I came across this sentence: “The strong current—with an -ent—hindered the rescue.” I couldn’t help laughing as if it had really said, “The strong currant (with an -ant) hindered the rescue.” I imagined a large, beefy fruit blocking the way. There wasn’t a mistake, but my brain was ready—and enjoying itself, too.

Start thinking like a proofreader. Pair up similar-sounding words in your brain, and when you come across one, do a double take to ensure you’ve written the right one. For me, alarms go off with these words: it’s with and without an apostrophe, compliment with an i and complement²¹ with an e, affect and effect, conscience and conscious, hoard²² as in "to hoard the chocolate" and horde²³ as in "the angry horde came after the chocolate," and my favorite—public and that other word without the l.

Even when my brain is ready, I still need to do more. It is so difficult to find lurking²⁴ word errors that I have to resort to an embarrassing robotic chant to catch them. I can’t just read the words as if I were a regular person relaxing with a book. I have to shut myself up in the attic²⁵ and say each word aloud in a monotone, syllable²⁶ by syllable. This slow, ridiculous reading prevents my brain from skimming over the words. You should try it too, but not in front of a first date or anyone you want to impress.

Word errors will embarrass you and will make you shriek²⁷ in horror if you discover them after they’ve been printed. But if you try my unconventional advice to be a bit loony, your writing will be cleaner. You’re chant mite²⁸ even help yew²⁹ fined sum other errors, two!

Administrative³⁰

This show was written by Bonnie Trenga, author of The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier, who blogs at。。。 This article previously³¹ appeared in Writer’s Digest magazine.

And, man, our new show, The Public Speaker's Quick and Dirty Tips for Improving Your Communication Skills, is tearing up the iTunes charts. It reached #3 this week. If you haven't already checked it out, head over to iTunes and subscribe³². This week, her advice about the five things not to say at work could keep you from getting fired.

That's all. Thanks for listening.

 

1 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

2 chuckle   

vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑

参考例句：

• He shook his head with a soft chuckle.他轻轻地笑着摇了摇头。
• I couldn't suppress a soft chuckle at the thought of it.想到这个，我忍不住轻轻地笑起来。

3 goof   

v.弄糟；闲混；n.呆瓜

参考例句：

• We goofed last week at the end of our interview with singer Annie Ross.上周我们采访歌手安妮·罗斯，结果到快结束时犯了个愚蠢的错误。
• You will never be good students so long as you goof around.如果你们成天游手好闲，就永远也成不了好学生。

4 goofed   

v.弄糟( goof的过去式和过去分词 )；混；打发时间；出大错

参考例句：

• Sorry, guys. I goofed. 对不起，各位。我搞砸了。
• We just goofed around till the train time. 在火车开车前我们只是闲荡了一阵。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 hanger   

n.吊架，吊轴承；挂钩

参考例句：

• I hung my coat up on a hanger.我把外衣挂在挂钩上。
• The ship is fitted with a large helicopter hanger and flight deck.这艘船配备有一个较大的直升飞机悬挂装置和飞行甲板。

6 proofread   

vt.校正，校对

参考例句：

• I didn't even have the chance to proofread my own report.我甚至没有机会校对自己的报告。
• Before handing in his application to his teacher,he proofread it again.交给老师之前，他又将申请书补正了一遍。

7 proofreads   

校对，校勘( proofread的第三人称单数 )； 做校对工作

参考例句：

8 luscious   

adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的

参考例句：

• The watermelon was very luscious.Everyone wanted another slice.西瓜很可口，每个人都想再来一片。
• What I like most about Gabby is her luscious lips!我最喜欢的是盖比那性感饱满的双唇！

9 diligent   

adj.勤勉的，勤奋的

参考例句：

• He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
• She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。

10 wince   

n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避

参考例句：

• The barb of his wit made us wince.他那锋芒毕露的机智使我们退避三舍。
• His smile soon modified to a wince.他的微笑很快就成了脸部肌肉的抽搐。

11 lament   

n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹

参考例句：

• Her face showed lament.她的脸上露出悲伤的样子。
• We lament the dead.我们哀悼死者。

12 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

13 sticklers   

n.坚持…的人( stickler的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They infuriate word sticklers by presenting a and leaving the reader to decide which is correct. 它们会提出一堆解释让读者自己判断哪个是正确的，令人大为光火。 来自互联网

14 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。

15 discrete   

adj.个别的，分离的，不连续的

参考例句：

• The picture consists of a lot of discrete spots of colour.这幅画由许多不相连的色点组成。
• Most staple fibers are discrete,individual entities.大多数短纤维是不联系的单独实体。

16 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

17 larceny   

n.盗窃（罪）

参考例句：

• The man was put in jail for grand larceny.人因重大盗窃案而被监禁。
• It was an essential of the common law crime of larceny.它是构成普通法中的盗窃罪的必要条件。

18 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

19 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

20 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

21 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

22 hoard   

n./v.窖藏，贮存，囤积

参考例句：

• They have a hoard of food in the basement.地下室里有他们贮藏的食物。
• How many curios do you hoard in your study?你在你书房里聚藏了多少古玩？

23 horde   

n.群众，一大群

参考例句：

• A horde of children ran over the office building.一大群孩子在办公大楼里到处奔跑。
• Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵，被一大群人围住了。

24 lurking   

潜在

参考例句：

• Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的，想干什么？
• There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

25 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

26 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

27 shriek   

v./n.尖叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
• People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。

28 mite   

n.极小的东西；小铜币

参考例句：

• The poor mite was so ill.可怜的孩子病得这么重。
• He is a mite taller than I.他比我高一点点。

29 yew   

n.紫杉属树木

参考例句：

• The leaves of yew trees are poisonous to cattle.紫杉树叶会令牛中毒。
• All parts of the yew tree are poisonous,including the berries.紫杉的各个部分都有毒，包括浆果。

30 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

31 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

32 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。