Let it Loose

I interrupt the usually serious topics on this blog, to bring you a public service announcement. This one is brought to you by the words lose and loose. Here they each are in a simple sentence:

A Few People Could Stand To Learn a Thing or Two about To, Too and Two

I am interrupting my regularly scheduled Healthy Mind, Body and Soul Journey post to bring you this critical grammar/spelling Public Service Announcement. I promise not to be too tedious in my lesson today about three little words that cause too much trouble to too many people. Here are all three words in sentences:

• Two heads are better than one when it comes to editing a paper. 
• There are too many rules in the English language. 
• I try to remember all the rules but I get so confused.

Not too many people are confused about when to use two in a sentence. It is pretty obvious that it is only used to denote the numeral 2. The most important thing to remember with two is that when writing an important or formal piece of text, one should always spell out numbers one through ten and not use their numerals. The only exception is when you need to insert a date. Don't ask me why; I told you there were too many rules. What I do know, is that when you follow the rule, it makes it as though you know what you are doing. So, next time you want to impress, use two instead of 2, to make yourself look like you are way too smart for your competition.

Now, on to the more confusing and sometimes dreaded to and too. You have to remember to add that extra o to to, when you mean to show there is more of something; when you can substitute also, for too in the sentence. See how easy that is to remember? An extra o in to means extra of whatever it is you are talking about (too cute, huh?).

The word to is a word we all use a lot in normal everyday speech. We can go to the store; send something to someone; happen to overhead something. To is a sweet little two letter word that gives too much of itself not to be appreciated for the wonderful little preposition that it is. We must respect the to and not mix it up with its homonymic counterparts, two and too. It is the least we can do for all the sweet to does for us.

That is it my friends. This lesson was very short and succinct. You can get back to the April Fools prank or two you were planning to play on some unsuspecting loved one. I am sure you think you are way too busy to stop and think about these kinds of things, but it takes less than two seconds to think before you accidentally type the wrong word and totally change the meaning of your sentences.

Back to your regularly scheduled Sunday afternoon programming.

Those Tricky Little Homos

Now, now, don't get upset, I am not talking trash about any one group of people; I would never do that. I am talking about some really tricky homos - homophones and homonyms. These tricky little rascals threaten to get the best of even the most conscientious of writers. Let's start with a simple definition of each.