Here are the answers to the short practice exercises that accompany each set of words (beginning D through K) in our Glossary of Usage.
- Days and Daze
(a) "In those days, spirits were brave . . .." (Douglas Adams)
(b) After the station was hit, Jerry sat in a daze for 30 minutes. - Desert and Dessert
(a) Marriage is like a dull meal with the dessert at the beginning.
(b) "Man is a complex being who makes deserts bloom and lakes die." (G. B. Stern) - Device and Devise
(a) We must devise a way to rescue Lassie from the well.
(b) Maybe a device involving pulleys and kittens will work. - Discreet and Discrete
(a) Electricity is composed of discrete particles.
(b) The producer wasn’t discreet about the search, and names leaked to the press. - Disinterested and Uninterested
(a) A lively, disinterested, persistent looking for truth is extraordinarily rare. (Henri Amiel)
(b) There are no uninteresting things; there are only uninterested people. - Distinct and Distinctive
(a) Merdine is her own woman, with an identity distinct from her mother's.
(b) "The distinctive character of a child is to always live in the tangible present." (John Ruskin) - Dual and Duel
(a) An undeclared and mostly bloodless duel was fought . . ..
(b) Sidney Poitier has dual American-Bahamian citizenship. - Economic and Economical
(a) Unlike many other leisure pursuits, cycling is absurdly economical.
(b) The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable. - Eminent and Imminent
(a) Novelist Naguib Mahfouz was considered the eminent literary voice of the Arab world.
(b) The death of conventional newspapers appears to be imminent. - Envelop and Envelope
(a) For most men, life is a search for the proper manila envelope in which to get themselves filed.
(b) Chaos and calamity continually surround us and threaten to envelop us. - Epigram, Epigraph, and Epitaph
(a) An epigram, it's said, is a "dwarfish whole . . .."
(b) "'Curiosity never killed this cat'--that's what I'd like as my epitaph."
(c) The epigraph to Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City is from The Sun Also Rises. - Eventually and Ultimately
(a) "If it's going to come out eventually, better have it come out immediately." (Henry Kissinger)
(b) "Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly we cannot choose how." (Proximo in Galdiator) - Every Day and Everyday
(a) Try doing something every day for no other reason than you would rather not do it.
(b) Music is supposed to wash away the dust of everyday life. - Explicit and Implicit
(a) Several critics discerned an implicit political statement in the bishop's remarks.
(b) Cigarette packs carry explicit health warnings. - Farther and Further
(a) We need to explore this problem further.
(b) Simon walked farther into the woods. - Few (Fewer) and Little (Less)
(a) I have less money than I thought. A few bills are missing from my wallet.
(b) Now that I'm broke, I have fewer friends than before. - Flaunt and Flout
(a) The old professor openly flouted the ban on smoking inside campus buildings.
(b) He finds himself surrounded at school by sneering aristocrats who flaunt their pedigrees . . .. - Flounder and Founder
(a) In the 1990s, where Congress floundered, governors led--from welfare reform to health care.
(b) Last month, new owners brought the foundering shopping center back to life. - Foreword and Forward
(a) I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. (John F. Kennedy)
(b) Wynton Marsalis wrote the foreword to the new biography of Louis Armstrong. - Formally and Formerly
(a) This cafe was formerly a swank restaurant.
(b) Guests were greeted formally at the door. - Fortunate and Fortuitous
(a) "I'm fortunate to be a coward . . .." (Alfred Hitchcock)
(b) This hour-long documentary is the story of a photograph: a fascinating story about a fortuitous moment frozen in time. - Full and Fulsome
(a) "There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full." (Henry Kissinger)
(b) "Morris read through the letter. Was it a shade too fulsome? No, that was another law of academic life: it is impossible to be excessive in flattery of one's peers." (David Lodge) - Hanged and Hung
(a) "One should forgive one's enemies, but not before they are hanged." (Heinrich Heine)
(b) We hung our swimsuits out to dry. - Hardy and Hearty
(a) On the first day of class, the instructor greeted the students with a hearty welcome to college.
(b) The Connecticut senator has shown himself to be a hardy politician, one who has survived by swinging between political parties. - Have and Of
(a) One of us made a mistake.
(b) It must have been you. - Historic and Historical
(a) "I had been an eyewitness to a truly historic moment in American pop culture." (Jean Shepherd)
(b) "Most people's historical perspective begins with the day of their birth." (Rush Limbaugh) - Home and Hone
(a) Freshman-seminar students take part in "trust" activities designed to forge bonds and hone problem-solving skills.
(b) The laser signal was set to home in on the bomb. - Hoping and Hopping
(a) She saw him hopping along the pier.
(b) She was hoping that he wouldn't trip. - Imply and Infer
(a) The reporter implied in her article that an employee had started the fire.
(b) I inferred from the article that the police have a suspect. - In and Into
(a) Doctor Who stepped into the Tardis, and in a moment he was gone.
(b) The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated. - Incredible and Incredulous
(a) "The world is divided into two classes, those who believe the incredible, and those who do the improbable." (Oscar Wilde)
(b) When we first saw the reports of Katrina on the news, we were incredulous. - Ingenious and Ingenuous
(a) Her plan was ingenious, but she lacked the courage to carry it out.
(b) She flashed a wide, ingenuous smile. - Intense and Intent
(a) Charcoal burns with an intense heat.
(b) Sometimes we meet people who are only intent on satisfying their own needs. - Its and It's
(a) Although it's not yet fall, this tree is already losing its leaves.
(b) Either it's dying, or it's a sign that cold days are coming soon.
