Commonly confused words and grammar rules, explained so they stick
Affect or effect? Its or it’s? Semicolon or comma? Each answer here comes with a side-by-side example, a memory trick and a sentence to try it on.
The pairs people look up most
All 78 →- affect vs effectAffect is usually a verb meaning to influence.
- advice vs adviseAdvice is the noun (the suggestion you get).
- its vs it's"It's" always means "it is" or "it has".
- then vs thanThan compares things.
- whose vs who's"Who's" means "who is" or "who has".
- gray vs greyGray and grey are the same colour.
- principal vs principleA principle is a rule or belief.
- regardless vs irregardlessRegardless is the standard word.
- who vs whomWho is a subject (does the action).
- loose vs loseLose (one o) means to misplace or fail to win.
- farther vs furtherFarther is for physical distance.
- everyday vs every dayEveryday (one word) is an adjective meaning ordinary.
Punctuation
Toggle the mark, watch the meaning move.
Grammar rules
Broken sentence, fixed sentence, same screen.
Why comparing beats memorising
Most usage mistakes aren’t about not knowing a rule; they happen because two words look or sound close enough that your hand picks the wrong one under pressure. Reading a definition once doesn’t fix that. What does is seeing both words in the same sentence, noticing what changes, and having a short test you can run in your head: can I say “it is” here?
So every page on WordRight follows the same pattern: the difference in one line, the two words set side by side, a sentence you fill in yourself, and a memory hook. Grammar isn’t the only subject that clicks once you can poke at it; a narrated walkthrough of US tax brackets does the same for the question of why a raise never shrinks your take-home pay.
Come back tomorrow and there’s a new pair of the day. Keep a streak going and the tricky ones stop being tricky.
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About WordRight
Is WordRight a grammar checker?
No. It teaches the rules behind the mistakes, so you can catch them yourself. Each page explains one pair or rule with side-by-side examples, a memory trick and practice sentences. The tutor can explain a sentence you paste, but it is there to teach, not to proofread whole documents.
Is it free?
Yes. There are no accounts. Your quiz scores, streak and "learned" marks are stored only in your own browser.
Which English does it follow?
Rules that are the same everywhere are stated plainly. Where American and British usage or the main style guides (AP, Chicago, APA, MLA) differ, the page says so.