Commonly-Confused Words: Don't Be Discreet When Citing a Site

Saw some really messed-up usages on Yahoo! this week, so I thought I’d share with you how to use these words correctly.

discreet/discrete:  
Unfortunately, they’re both adjectives, so there’s no easy memory gimmick to help you with these.  Discreet is judicious, decorous, modestly unobtrusive.  Taking somebody aside to tell them they botched the assignment is much more discreet than yelling at them in front of their coworkers. From the same Latin root as our modern word “discern.”  To use discretion is to be judicious or thoughtful when making a choice. Discrete, on the other hand, means detached, separated, as in:  “The students were in discrete groups for the mythology unit:  some groups researched Greek myths, some Roman, and some Egyptian.” From the Latin discretus, meaning “separated.”

site/ cite/ sight:
Site is a noun, and only a noun.  It is used as a synonym for place. “The photographer was shown the dig site where the pottery shards were found.” “The new site for the store has excellent freeway access.” It’s been compounded into the word website, which is, simply, “a place on the Web.”
Cite is a verb, and only a verb. It means to quote, to mention or support, or to call attention to.  “Don’t neglect to cite your sources in your research paper.” “The candidate cited her experience with a local Board of Education when listing her qualifications for State Board of Education.” “The soldier was cited for bravery on the battlefield.” Equally, “My brother was cited yesterday for going 45 in a 30 zone.”
Sight can be noun and verb and its past participle can be adjectival.  As a noun, it can simply refer to vision: “I’m angry with you and I need you out of my sight for awhile.” Or as a metaphoric reference to a firearm: “You obviously cannot be trusted, so be warned I have you in my sights.”  As a past-tense verb: “She was sighted coming out of The Coffee Cave yesterday.” It’s a little silly and pretentious to use it instead of seen, but at least it’s used correctly; I’ve seen sited used in that context. The past participle sighted is also used as an adjective.  “All but one of the Gleeson’s children were sighted; the youngest lost his sight to diabetic retinopathy.”

More commonly-confused words

Because I've hated everything I've tried to write or revise for this blog recently, I'm taking the easy way out and continuing the series on commonly-confused words. I'll be back with more tropes (I hope) next week.

hoard / horde:  Hoard is used mostly as a verb and means "to accumulate or stockpile and carefully guard" but can also be be used as a noun to denote your stash of Twinkies and pretzels or Six Million Dollar Man lunchboxes. Horde is a large group of people or mosquitoes. Contextually, we think of a marauding band of invaders, but for me, two spiders occupying the same square hectare qualifies.

loan / lend: It's easy if you know parts of speech, and when the words fit into only one category.Loan is a noun: "We can't get a loan to buy a car."  Lend is the verb: "Could you please lend me $35,000 so I can buy a car?"

farther / further:Usage dictionaries say these are interchangeable, but the Word Nerd won't let you get away without at least knowing that some of us prefer to make the distinction between the two.  Farther is generally used for literal distance:  "She walked one mile farther today than she did yesterday." Further is used figuratively:  "Since you're determined to see this your own way, I see no point for further argument on the subject."

rise / raise: Same as the difference between lay and lie as described in an earlier post.  Rise is intransitive and requires no direct object.  The sun rises; so does the bread dough. Questions can rise in your mind of their own accord, but you will need to raise them and give them voice. You raise your hand in class to ask a question or to take the oath on the witness' stand. You raise the window shade to let the sunlight into the room.  You raise a stink, an objection, a ruckus as well. (the words highlighted are direct objects, which receive the action of the verb),

stanch / staunch:  One's a verb, the other an adjective. "I applied several layers of gauze and deep pressure on his wound to stanch the flow of blood." "My family are staunch Catholics who attend Mass and Confession every week." I think the confusion comes from pronunciation.  Both are pronounced with an "ah" sound in the middle.

That's it for now. I'll be celebrating American Thanksgiving this week and slogging through the first wave of short stories submitted by my Creative Writing students.

Thanks for dropping by.

A few commonly confused words

Part the first of what will probably be several posts.  Remember, the English language is messy.

affect/effect:  The simple answer is affect is a verb and effect is a noun. To keep them straight, watch your pronunciation and eventually you'll hear them correctly in your head. But when you're Word Nerdy like me, there's not a simple answer.  Stop reading if the simple answer is enough for you.  Effect, however, can also be used as a verb meaning "to put into effect" such as:  "In order to effect a change in civil rights laws, the people of a nation must overcome fears and prejudices."

uninterested/disinterested:  These had opposite meanings until sometime in the 19th century, but now the preferred use of uninterested is to show apathy or indifference, as in "She didn't like mystery novels and so was uninterested in attending the launch party for Vic Masters's latest Ace Gumshoe novel." Disinterested means unbiased, as in "It will be difficult to find a disinterested group of jurors in Crowley County because of the viciousness of the defendant's alleged crime."  You don't want a sports referee to be uninterested in the game, but you do want him or her to be disinterested in the outcome. Several online dictionaries say the two are synonymous and interchangeable because contextual use will make the intent obvious, but this Word Nerd prefers the distinction left intact.

lie/lay:  I get crap from people all the time about being something of a terminology nut, but the difference between these two is simple if you know the difference between a transitive verb and an intransitive one, and it becomes a sort of shorthand any time similar verbs show up.  Lie is intransitive, meaning it doesn't require a direct object.  "I need to lie down and try to get rid of my headache before company comes over tonight."  But:  "Lay the book on the table" because lay is transitive, meaning it takes a direct object.  In other words, "lie" is what you do, "lay" is what you do to something else.  Usually at this point, my ninth-grade English students will either snicker or one of the bolder spirits in the classroom will pipe up with, "or what is done to you." Or they'll ask, "so, 'getting laid" is proper usage because there's an object?" "Yes," I reply, "and this conversation never happened."

Simple past tense of lie is lay, as in "The shoes lay all winter under the snow, and were ruined by the time we found them in March."
Past participle is lain.  As with all participles, it requires an auxiliary verb:  "The book had lain on the shelf untouched for more than ten years."

Simple past tense of lay is laid, as in "He laid the flowers on the table and went to the pantry to look for a vase."
And its past participle is laid as well:  "She had laid her book on her nightstand and turned out the light when the phone rang.
Direct objects of both verbs are in yellow.

To clear your palate, enjoy a quote from Terry Pratchett:
"A European says, 'I can't understand this, what's wrong with me?' An American says, 'I can't understand this, what's wrong with him?'"