Here are the answers to the short practice exercises that accompany each set of words (beginning R through Z) in our Glossary of Usage.
- Rack and Wrack
(a) For several days after the accident, he was racked with pain.
(b) My father used to say that we lived on the corner of Wrack and Ruin. - Rain, Reign, and Rein
(a) "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." (John Milton)
(b) Merdine enjoys running through the rain.
(c) The teacher encouraged Gus to give free rein to his imagination. - Raise and Rise
(a) You need a whole community to raise a child.
(b) "Every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence." (Laurence J. Peter) - Rational and Rationale
(a) What is the mayor's rationale for trying to sell three of the city's public hospitals?
(b) "It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts." - Ravage and Ravish
(a) The credit crunch continues to ravage overstretched banks.
(b) According to Montaigne, poetry does not seek to "persuade our judgment"; it simply "ravishes and overwhelms" it.
(c) Over the centuries, much of Korea's historic architecture has suffered the ravages of war and fire. - Recourse and Resource
(a) This new lipstick is made of a corn-based renewable resource.
(b) The living have the libel law, but the dead have no recourse to the law. - Regretful and Regrettable
(a) The principal described the incident as regrettable.
(b) When he heard that class had been canceled, Gus felt both regretful and relieved. - Respectively and Respectfully
(a) Mike and Ike Johnson, a sixth grader and a fourth grader respectively, begin every day with one hour of schoolwork.
(b) "I respectfully decline the invitation . . .." (Scott Adams) - Review and Revue
(a) In the 1940s, Igor Stravinsky composed a ballet score for a Broadway revue.
(b) "A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution." (Dustin Hoffman) - Role and Roll
(a) Bart Simpson is not the best role model for youngsters.
(b) The teacher nibbled on a cinnamon roll while reading the class roll. - Sensual and Sensuous
(a) A night of tangoing is the sensual highlight of many a trip to Argentina.
(b) Classical dance is at once the most sensuous and the most abstract of the theatrical arts. - Serve and Service
(a) There are very few public servants who actually serve the President.
(b) A fuel truck arrived to service the aircraft. - Set and Sit
(a) If a man knew anything, he would sit in a corner and be modest.
(b) Have you set any goals for the new year? - Should and Would
(a) When I was younger, I would often take the long way home after school.
(b) We should try to be more patient with one another. - Shall and Will
(a) Let's go into the church, shall we?
(b) If you build it, he will come.
(c) Merdine will bring the salad. - Shear and Sheer
(a) “From the first day to this, sheer greed has been the driving spirit of civilization.” (Friedrich Engels)
(b) Giving children vitamin D supplements may shear their risk of developing diabetes later in life. - Simple and Simplistic
(a) Senator Ted Stevens was rightly lampooned for his simplistic description of the internet as a series of "tubes."
(b) "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." (Oscar Wilde) - Sometime, Some time, and Sometimes
(a) "Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
(b) "I've been trying for some time to develop a lifestyle that doesn't require my presence." (Garry Trudeau)
(c) "If you want an interesting party sometime, combine cocktails and a fresh box of crayons for everyone." (Robert Fulghum) - Stationary and Stationery
(a) Judd sent his new boss a flattering letter on fancy stationery.
(b) Manufacturers of stationary bicycles encourage you to track your pulse. - Statue and Statute
(a) "No statue has ever been put up to a critic."
(b) Merdine challenged the constitutionality of the statute. - Temerity and Timidity
(a) The students lacked the temerity to correct their teacher's mistake.
(b) "The first symptom of love in a young man is timidity; in a girl, boldness." (Victor Hugo) - Than and Then
(a) I filled out a form and then waited in the lobby.
(b) I had to wait much longer than you did. - Their, There, and They're
(a) There are geese in the garden.
(b) They're nibbling the roses.
(c) Their honking can be heard for miles. - To and Too
(a) I have wanted to visit Boise for years.
(b) I have always been too busy to go.
(c) Next week I am driving to Boise, and you may come too. - Troop and Troupe
(a) The singer crooned her latest single with a troupe of glittery showgirls behind her.
(b) A gorilla will beat his chest, break branches, flash his teeth, and charge--all in the interest of protecting his troop. - Vain, Vane, and Vein
(a) Varicose veins tend to worsen over time.
(b) "How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live." (Henry David Thoreau)
(c) Sitting on top of the copper ball was a huge weather vane. - Vary and Very
(a) Lord Lucan has been gone for a very long time.
(b) Some games change the opposition, while others vary the scenery. - Veracious and Voracious
(a) President Kennedy was a voracious reader.
(b) By all accounts, Mr. Soprano's testimony was candid and veracious. - Waist and Waste
(a) "I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time." (H. L. Mencken)
(b) He tied a rope around his waist. - Were, We're, and Where
(a) We're going to Savannah for St. Patrick's Day.
(b) We don't know where we'll be staying.
(c) Last year we were forced to sleep in the van. - Which and Who
(a) Nan's book, which was published in May, is now a bestseller.
(b) A writer is a lucky person who has found a way to talk without being interrupted. - Who and Whom
(a) Any man who hates dogs and babies can't be all bad.
(b) It's human nature to want to protect the speech of people with whom we agree. - Whoever and Whomever
(a) Delegates can vote for whomever they want.
(b) Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you. - Whose and Who's
(a) Whose car was damaged?
(b) Who's going to pay for repairs? - Your and You're
(a) Your car is blocking mine.
(b) You're going to have to move your car.
