Homophones: Which witch?
Recently, Kris of no known web site commented:
I have trouble with witch/which (and even so, I am not sure I have those right) and weather/wheather [sic]. any good ideas on how to keep them straight???
Well, Kris, I do have an answer for you, and some tips to help you remember how to toggle comfortably between these two pairs of homophones. For today, we’ll start with which witch.
First, We Spell Our Homophones
All too appropriate, since we are discussing witches (Get it? Spell.). The first step is to memorize the correct spelling of both words:
which
witch
Which witch?
Which witch? These two words sound exactly alike but they are totally different. In short, one of these is a person who casts spells. The other is not a person at all; in fact it is merely a pronoun. How to remember?
- Who, what, and where are also pronouns that start with the letters wh — just like the word which as in which pronoun do you like best?
- A person may itch but a pronoun may not, and like the word itch, the witch that is a person has a t in its spelling.
- If you can memorize the phrase which witch itches?, it may help you to remember since each witch will belie its meaning in context. The itch doesn’t hurt either, considering the previous tip.
Homophones are challenging for lots of people but you can find easy tricks that will help you remember the difference between words that sound alike but are spelled differently.
Next time someone asks which witch? You’ll know exactly what to tell them.
Hi Melissa, guess I’m lucky, where I’m from (Scotland) these aren’t homophones at all. The “wh” makes a whistling sound. When I was growing up in the south of England my dad schooled me over and over again to pronounce my “wh”s properly, which has made spelling them a heck of a lot easier over the years!
Joanna
The one that usually trips me up is “its” and “it’s”–I have to go over most of my writing, looking for that apostrophe, and asking myself “Can I replace the word with ‘it is’?”
Whose/who’s is similiar. I always fall back on my parts of speech for both. Thank God for School House Rock or my grammar would be awful.
Heck, if Cyberchase had been on when I was a kid, I might not have stunk so badly at math…
Joanna, you are lucky! With all the homophones in American English, many people struggle with spellings, and errors are rampant. A different pronunciation would help immensely, not that we can just go an implement one now! I wonder what other English speaking countries have variations on words that are homophones in America. Maybe we’ll hear from some of our Aussie and British friends on this one…
Kat, I think its/it’s is one of the trickier ones, because of course, we expect to use the possessive apostrophe when “it” belongs to someone. I too find that keeping the contraction of “it is” in mind is the best way to remember, and I also have ingrained my own brain to keep in mind that “its” is a glaring exception to the rules of English spelling.
Whose/whose is definitely similar. Can’t say I know what Cyberchase is (I’m guessing an educational TV show?) but I definitely remember Schoolhouse Rock
I think we all have our little writing quirks. At least, I do. For the longest time, I was spelling recommended with two c’s and one m. And, it took me several years (pretty much all of high school) to finally internalize when to use “to” and “too”. This was an informative post, thanks!
That was the funnest grammar lesson ever! Witches spell well. Thanks.
I like the Scotland woman’s comment. The difference in dialects is interesting.
I was the only person in my college screenwriting class to win the $2 from the professor for the challenge of never erring on the its/it’s, there/their/they’re, and your/you’re!
@Jaden, Thank you! This one was fun to write as well. Good job on winning the $2 back in college!
Here are a couple more. There’s “a rat” in “separate” (not seperate). The principal is our pal (not principle).
GeekMom, those are good ones! I’ve heard the principal phrase, but not the one for separate (which is a tricky one!). Thanks for sharing these!
Thanks for clarifying that. Now if someone could help me with the sentence contexts of using the words sit/set, I’d be all set!
@Edinburgh Lover, I think sit/set works like lay/lie. When the subject is taking the action, it’s sit (lie). (I sit, he sat, she sits, etc.) but when the subject is performing the action on an object, it’s set (I set the timer, he set the book on the table, etc.). We could probably go a lot deeper into sit/set, but that’s the off-the-top-of-my-head version
A lot is like a little (a reminder that a lot is tow words!)
@Sherri, That’s a good way to remember “a lot” versus “allot.” Nice!