Don't Embarrass Yourself: Use the Right Words

Someone recently wrote to me, "Your welcome to join us at the dinner reception." While I appreciated the dinner invitation, the writer undermined herself by making the basic mistake of writing your instead of you're. She meant to say, "You are welcome to join us,” but that's not what she wrote.

Am I being a curmudgeon to mention this? Perhaps. But if I'm a grouch, I'm not alone. For millions of readers, these mistakes matter. When you are building your personal and business brand, can you afford to assume that your readers don't care about precision in language?

In last month's Writamin, we detailed five pairs of frequently misused words. This month, we present six more.

1. its/it's

This is the grandfather of grammatical gaffes. Here's the skinny:

Its is a possessive pronoun meaning "belonging to it."

It's is a contraction of the words it is or it has.

In short, their meanings are entirely unrelated. But the tiny apostrophe is all that separates one from the other. To avoid this error, do not rely on the auto-correct function on your phone or computer; they're likely to give you the wrong word. Instead, read what's on the screen and ask yourself what you mean to say. Then write it. If you cannot undo the contraction of it's and write it is, then you probably mean its.

It's no secret that the disco era has lost its mojo.

2. your/you're

This pair is another common culprit.

Your is a possessive pronoun meaning "belonging to you."

You're is a contraction of you are, which is a combination of a noun and a verb. Grammatically dissimilar, they have the misfortune to sound alike, which is why people frequently garble them when they write.

Again, your auto-correct function will often spit out the wrong word, so check it yourself.

So you're the one who left your laptop on the desk.

3. stationary/stationery

These words have an interesting etymological root.

Stationary is the older word from the Latin statio, meaning to stand. Something is stationary when it stands still. Stationery originated in the 1600s and refers to writing paper and related items.

What's the connection? I've read two explanations. One says that in medieval times, monastic scribes sat at their stations as they copied manuscripts. The paper they wrote on came to be known as stationery. The other is that in early marketplaces, vendors of paper products stood by columns known as stations, so their wares came to be known as stationery. Either way, the word has its source in stationary.

I sympathize with this mistake because the words sound identical and vary by only one letter. Still, you show yourself to be a better-educated person when you use them correctly.

4. ensure/insure/assure

OK, no jokes about drinking dietary supplements called Ensure. But actually, let's consider why this product received its name.

To ensure means to make sure something happens.

To insure is to protect against damage, loss, or injury.

To assure is to give confidence to or convince.

The dietary supplement Ensure assures its users that they can ensure they receive adequate nutrition. It insures them against losing their health.

5. farther/further

The distinction between these words is simple.

Farther includes the word far; it refers to distance, whether literal or figurative.

Further means more.

At the risk of annoying you further, may I ask how much farther we have to walk until we arrive?

6. appraise/apprise

Let me apprise you of the difference between these words.

To appraise means to set a value on something; the word implies that the appraiser has expert knowledge.

To apprise means to tell or inform.

When he apprised me of the appraisal, I was shocked.

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Sometimes, people misuse these words because they do not know their definitions.

Often, however, these words creep into business documents because writers rush to write and fail to proofread. Re-reading everything you write is an essential, non-negotiable step in the writing process.

We all make mistakes. We write, "your welcome to stop bye" without batting an eye. But the people who succeed in life are those who check their work.

Be the better person and the more accomplished writer: Know the meaning of the words you use and re-read your emails, reports, and posts before you release them into the world. Doing so will ensure that your career will not remain stationary. Plus, it's the right thing to do.

Call Worktalk When:

• Companies lose customers due to poor messaging from sales and customer service teams;
• Clients complain about communication from professional service firms' staff members;
• Employees need to humanize the output of AI-assisted writing programs so it doesn't sound fake;
• Employees need help developing the right prompts for AI-assisted writing programs to generate more effective outputs;
• Employees waste time repeatedly emailing one another because their messages are unclear.

Contact me at lizd@worktalk.com or 310.396.8303.