I would (wood) hope that the title of this diary is sufficient to make it clear what this will be about. It goes back to grade school English class when we were taught (taut) homonyms, words that are pronounced the same but have different spellings and meanings.
Most diaries are written with the hope of conveying ideas or thoughts to the reader. Muddled writing mutes your message. Mangled and garbled sentences, whether through poor grammar, poor spelling, or the misuse of homonyms, frustrate the reader. Some people may stop reading if the diarist bends the curve too far.
Follow me over and beyond the Fleur-de-Kos...
I don't really want to belabor the point and so will present a simple list of common mix-ups, almost all of which I have seen here, even on the front page, from writers that I would expect to know better. Please take a moment to slowly run through the list and clarify in your mind the meaning of each of the various words. Maybe this will bring some clarity and reduce the confusion.
write, right, rite
rain, rein, reign
throws, throes
cite, site, sight
its, it's
accept, except
waver, waiver
break, brake
faze, phase
passed, past
sew, sow
whole, hole
compliment, complement
bear, bare
way, weigh, whey (ha!)
threw, through
wail, whale
who's, whose
your, you're
Just so that it is not all gloom and doom, here are some homonyms that people seem to get right rather consistently:
boar, bore
waste, waist
soul, sole
root, route
mote, moat
capitol, capital
The following words, which frequently get mixed up, are not exactly homonyms, but are close, although the pronunciation of each may vary in different parts of the country:
affect, effect
formerly, formally
tenets, tenants
confident, confidant
perspective, prospective
extent, extant
About ten years ago, as I pored (poured) through a website searching for (four, fore) some (sum) contact information for the site's management, I saw a listing for "Our founding principals." It seemed like a likely link, but when I clicked on it, I found that it was really about "Our founding principles." This error was repeated on many pages of the website. I sent a note to the general "Contact Us" link, pointing out the difference between principle/principal, and shortly thereafter received a thank you note filled with exclamation points.
And one final note:
"They're there, their lights are on."
May we at least have some clarity on this point?