Prompt Proofing Blog Post: Revisiting Homophones 3

    VANCOUVER, BC, May 04, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- In this month's grammar post we are taking another look at some frequently confused homophones. All of the homophones below have been recently spotted, used erroneously, in business communications or copy!

Click here for our first homophones blog post, and here for our second.

insure / ensure

You only insure something in the legal sense - dealing with an insurance company. If you want to make sure something happens you will ensure it. Hence: You insure your car to ensure you will not lose out financially if it is stolen or damaged.

precede / proceed

If something comes before something else, then it precedes it. If you continue to do something or move forward with it, you proceed with it. Hence: You can proceed with filing all tax returns that precede this year's.

cite / site / sight

You cite someone when you refer to him/her as a source.
A site refers to a place, a building site, historical / archaeological site or a website.
Sight is the act of being able to see - as in eyesight.

Hence: If you intend to use that quote you must cite the person whose site you found it on.

Note, even if you are including several historical sites in your tour, you are still sightseeing - looking at amazing or interesting sights.

Last, but by no means least...

who's / whose

Who's is a contraction of 'who is' or 'who has'. The woman who's organizing the party sent out invitations.
Whose is a pronoun. Whose are these shoes?

Therefore: Jonathan, who's just been elected president of the tennis club, is trying to discover whose subscriptions are overdue.

Check back the first week of next month for useful grammar tips.

Check back next Friday for another Prompt Proofing blog post!

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