Today my primary-schooler issued his copywriting mum with an Epic Fail grading when it came to grammar.
I’m a tad embarrassed as it’s something I should have known. That’s the problem with thinking you know it all in the word-nerd stakes, it can back-fire.
The Junior Scribbler and I were having a natter about Homophones. Look, it’s just a writerly thing to get excited about grammar with your kids, stop looking at me strangely.
Homophones, for those who may have skipped Mrs Clark’s English class are matchy-matchy sound-alike words.
I’ll throw out a couple of Homophone examples to you:-
- Brake and Break
- Bear and Bare
- Allowed and Aloud
- Their and There
- Boy and Buoy
- See and Sea
- Bare and Bear
- Compliment and Complement
Anyway, my assistant Grammar Nazi was throwing his own book-bag of Homophones at me, and got pretty excited that about the odd Homophone trifecta.
Not just two words, but a whole extra one thrown in to throw the reader.
It appears his Homophone pin-up was pear – the fruit which always rots in the fruit bowl first, and pair – socks which have a mate BEFORE they enter the washing machine.
“Right,” said I, “That’s just two. There isn’t a third”
Experty-smarty-bum me suggested he was misinformed. There’s only two homophones applicable to pear and pair.
Indignant small person shook his head.
Ridiculous amount of huffing and snorting from both sides ensued.
I may have pulled out the English Lit major and Media Degree card. I may have chucked in a “So there” to emphasize my expertise.
Then I shut up . . . because he mentioned an extra homophone that refers to cutting apples.
Pare.
For those who may have NOT paid attention in Grade 4, or the Home Economics class, pare is a verb used to to describe removing or cutting off an outer layer, or to diminish or decrease gradually … as in to pare down one’s expenses.
AND it is also a trifecta homophone.
AND My 9 year old told me that.
The take home lesson from this is that you can write words for a living, but you don’t always get them right! (see how clever I tried to be….homophone show-offishness with right and write ….But nowhere near as clever as Master Dictionary!)
If you felt so inclined to study up there’s a cutesy little site by a retired American teacher that my smart scribbler likes to check out. . . damn his word nerdiness!
And if you also like reading about grammar. . . C’mon it’s not just me dawdling in the daggy section of Google. . . then you may like to hang out on Grammarly.