torturous vs tortuous

This is one that I have to look up every time. I think that if I think of "torturous" as being "like torture" it will help. We'll see. If I can't remember, I can at least look it up.

Lay, Lie, Laid, Lain

This is one that I know ever so slightly, but I'm not perfect, so I sent out a plea on Twitter just now asking for help, and the inimitable @d0tpark3r came through for me, as usual, recommending this site: Grammar Girl : Lay Versus Lie :: Quick and Dirty Tips. I'm so happy (in a way) to see the author say that it's a complicated subject, because that makes me feel not so stupid. ;)


Here's what she says about present tense:

It's pretty easy; you lay something down, and people lie down by themselves.

It gets tricky in past tense, though, and that's where I have the most trouble. I'm not going to repeat the details here. She has a chart on the website, as well as examples written out. Go take a look. I'll be referencing it often.

Former/Latter and Latter/Later

Hi all,

I don't see this too often, but thought I'd bring it up.

First of all, former vs. latter. Simply put, "former" is the first of two things in a list, and "latter" is the second of two things in a list.

Edward asked me if I wanted pizza or pasta for supper. I chose the former, as we had pasta last night.

Now, later vs. latter. From  About.com: "Use later when referring to time. Use latter when referring to the second of two persons or things mentioned previously."

That's all for now. I'll try to find something amusing or sexy to put up here soon, so I won't look like such a stick in the mud. Or Persnickety Bitch as I just labeled myself on Twitter. ;)

Are we singing, praying, or fighting?

Homophones, homophones, homophones. They are still a problem, aren't they? Here's another one that I just came across in a fic:

verses/versus

From Dictionary.com:

verse [plural: verses]

   /vɜrs/ Show Spelled [vurs] Show IPA ,noun, adjective, verb,versed, vers·ing.

–noun

1. (not in technical use) a stanza.

2. a succession of metrical feet written, printed, or orally composed as one line; one of the lines of a poem.

3. a particular type of metrical line: a hexameter verse.

4. a poem, or piece of poetry.

5. metrical composition; poetry, esp. as involving metrical form.

6. metrical writing distinguished from poetry because of its inferior quality: a writer of verse, not poetry.

7. a particular type of metrical composition: elegiac verse.

8. the collective poetry of an author, period, nation, etc.: Miltonian verse; American verse.

9. one of the short conventional divisions of a chapter of the Bible.

10. Music.

a. that part of a song following the introduction and preceding the chorus.

b. a part of a song designed to be sung by a solo voice. 

ver·sus

   /ˈvɜrsəs, -səz/ Show Spelled[vur-suhs, -suhz] Show IPA

–preposition

1. against (used esp. to indicate an action brought by one party against another in a court of law, or to denote competing teams or players in a sports contest): Smith versus Jones; Army versus Navy.

2. as compared to or as one of two choices; in contrast with: traveling by plane versus traveling by train. Abbreviation: v., vs. 

So, as you can see, sound much the same, mean completely different things. Let's try to remember, 'kay? Oh, I just checked, and they also cover this on Learn Your Damn Homophones, also mentioned in a previous post.