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STATIONERY VS. STATIONARY & other easily confused words

Updated: Jun 3, 2020




I was reading a post the other day where someone meant to use “stationery” but instead wrote “stationary”. Some people remember which to use without a problem, while others might require memory tricks.


So here are some, and you can see if these work for you or if you’d rather come up with your own bag of tricks.


STATIONARY. The trAin at the station is stationAry. The train pulled in to a station called ARY.



STATIONERY. I write lettERs on stationERy. The vERY pretty stationERY.


Does that work for you? They’re a bit silly, but the point is for them to stick in your head.

Like the classic: The princiPAL is my PAL, to remember how to spell principal. Or perhaps you’d rather say the princiPAL is not my PAL.


But then you’d need a special trick for: the principal objective, meaning the main objective.

How about: the principAL ALliance is...


The other spelling, of course, being “principle”.


For this we can try: a principLE is a sort of ruLE.


Does that work?


One of the ones I see misspelled a lot is affect/effect. They’re often pronounced the same way or very close, which doesn’t help matters.


But they’re actually quite different in usage.


Affect is a verb; effect is a noun.


How does this affect the outcome?

(most commonly used form and the one you will use the most often)


She affected indifference (but in reality, she cared a lot).

(This means "pretended" here; not so common, but if you use it, it says something about your range of vocabulary)


They affected the theatre, the opera, and anything that made them appear cultured.

(This means "liked" here; this belongs in an old novel, and if you use it not everyone will understand you; if you want to use it, put it in the mouth of one of your characters in a story you write set in the 19th century or earlier).


The effect of your words was like a cold shower.



Shall we think of tricks for them?


Does this affect your affection for me?


The effect was very effective.


Perhaps not the best sentences in the world, but we’re going for mind tricks here!


Write me in the comments and let me know about other easily confused words and any tricks you have for remembering them, or if you would like tricks for them.


My word lists are still going strong. If you read my last post, you’ll know what I’m talking about. People have different interests. It seems mine are words.


That’s all for now, Folks. If you know anyone who would appreciate reading these blogs, pass on the happy news that typos, syntax issues, and grammar flareups are a thing of the past.



ADDENDUM: I wanted to add a note about affect and effect. I said that "affect" was a verb while "effect" was a noun. While that is true and those are the forms you will usually find them in, there is also "effect" as a verb and "affect" as a noun.


Not to worry, most of the time you probably mean to say "affect" for a verb. But here's the lowdown on "effect" as a verb and how to use it. It more or less means "to cause to happen or come into being" or "to overcome obstacles" in order that something can happen. Here's an example before your head starts spinning: I managed to effect a bank transaction (which means I was successfully able to transfer money/withdraw money/check my balance/pay a bill on-line, etc.). Another example: She managed to effect a few lifestyle changes (she made a few lifestyle changes).


"Affect" as a noun is not used very often, so most of the time you are probably trying to use "effect" when you write. "Affect" is used for facial features and is common in "psychology talk". The affect on his face told us exactly how he felt, even if he could not articulate it in words.


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