Make sure you know the meanings of eclipse, ellipse and ellipsis as you can eclipse your message by mixing them up!

ellipse: [noun] an oval shape
My daughter calls an ellipse a squashed circle!

ellipsis: [noun] a set of 3 dots to signify missing words
As a sole trader, Sally keeps all the profits… and accepts all the risks. 

eclipse: [noun] loss of light or splendour, generally due to something coming between the light source and the eye. Common use is mostly about the sun or moon but it can be used for other situations
Huddled in a corner, they froze as the hunting man eclipse plunged them into darkness. 

Note that ellipsis has more dots (as in “dot your i’s”) and means using 3 dots, and an eclipse includes a c for clouding over, and you’ll be using your words wisely!

Yet are you sure of the spelling of council? Some spelling mistakes will be corrected by a spell check but sometimes it will lead you to writing counsel instead which will totally change the meaning of your sentence – make it completely meaningless.

council: [noun] an administrative or planning body or committee
The local council is responsible for assigning industrial and business zones in our area.

counsel: [verb] to discuss and debate, advise, talk over; a person’s views or intention
A business coach or mentor can counsel you about your priorities and objectives.

To remember which is which, think of the self involved in counsel.

resolve: [verb] decide upon (alone or as a vote), solve, analyse
After hearing all the evidence, the judge will resolve the custody question.
[as a noun, it means being steadfast, sticking to a course or showing mental resolution and strength]

resolute: [adjective] being determined, consistent, staying on track, focussed, purposeful
Hamish was resolute throughout the year and became due of his school.

resolution: [noun] something resolved or decided on, a formal decision or opinion from a meeting, solution to a question
The committee passed the resolution after only fifteen minutes.
[as a verb, it means resolving, deciding, analysing or  solving]

So you need to be resolute to resolve an issue and make a resolution. (Don’t say that too many times in a row!)

I was looking at various superannuation sites yesterday to see what they were telling members about their investments and was amazed that not all listed a date for the news item they had published.

One in particular started their article with “Last week was a tumultuous one for world share markets” and finished with a footnote “*SR50 Balanced fund SuperRatings Crediting Rate Survey, June 2011″.

So was it about things that happened last week (i.e. early August 2011) or some other week since June 2011?

I’m fairly confident the article went live in the last 48 hours so presumably it is about recent developments. But what if I hadn’t looked at their site until next week – would the data still be relevant or useful?

Yes, putting dates on websites can date them fast (the ‘last updated’ reference on many pages is the prime example of that) but current news items are the exception.

I have  often read blog posts and wondered when it was written; “new version of ABC will be released next month” and “our web visitors doubled in the past 12 months” carry more weight when I understand ‘next month’ and ‘past 12 months’. A small note after the post is fine (WordPress does it by default and that works for me!)

People need to have a context, a reference point for the information. Especially for things like financial markets which change so rapidly at times.

And just to be clear, this is being written on 10 August 2011!

among: surrounded by, part of, included with
Divided among a team of ten, five oranges didn’t go far.

between: fitting in, across or along a spectrum or group
They will provide between $2 and $5 per person for catering.

So you need to use between for two items, and among for more than two items.

Almost is a measure of qualifying something else – ‘We are almost there’ and ‘You’re almost to the top.’

Although the two words are similar in sound, they are very different and should not be used in the same way. A simple way to remember the difference: Almost is nearly all done

fewer: not as many items (i.e. relates to things you can count)
There are fewer tasks on my to do list now

less (or less than): not as much of something (i.e. relates to a collective noun)
Antibiotics resulted in less disease after WWII.

faze: to worry or scare
The weather predictions didn’t appear to faze anyone at the campsite.

phase: a specific time or stage in a sequence
He is in the drafting phase of the annual report.

I have just come across an example of why it is critical to proof read everything before you publish it, and why attention to details such as spelling and grammar are important.

Actually, I first saw this site about 8 months ago and they still haven’t noticed or corrected it. I had forgotten it but for my amusement I’m glad it was still there!

In the header of every page of the site, they have used an a instead of u in their tagline. One little letter could be a simple typo, of course, but your tagline and header are the first things people notice! And in this case, it doesn’t look like a typo as it makes a real word which gives a VERY different meaning.

The tagline in the header is “Pass a drag test no sweat” which instantly brings to mind men dressing as women (testing to see if they are real drag queens is perhaps unusual but I guess we don’t want people pretending to be in drag?)

Elsewhere, they use the tagline “Pass a drug test no sweat” which related to the fact they sell “products is removing unwanted substances from your body and provides for quick detoxification of your organism.”

I’m not going to touch the rights and wrongs of passing drug tests this way, but it is clear that there is a huge difference between drag and drug.

So check your work carefully and don’t just rely on spell checks to get your work correct.

Use your words wisely!

Caret: a mark that indicates where text is to be inserted. In editing, it is ^ but on a computer screen it is usually >.
The fox jumped over ^log.

Carat (ct):a unit of weight used for gems and precious stones. It is a metric measurement based on 0.2 grams per carat.
A five carat opal weighs about one gram.

Karat (k): a measure of the purity of gold – pure gold being too soft for jewellery, it is mixed with other metals to make an alloy.
My necklace is 18k which means it contains 75% pure gold.

Telling them apart can be simplified. Carrot is the most commonly used version, and the only one likely to rot.

Caret is a very specific word that most people would rarely come across, especially as the word cursor is used more often in a computer sense.

As for carat and karat, carat refers to how much gemstone you have to carry (i.e. the weight) while a karat refers to the King’s gold!