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Don’t Confuse These Two!
Posted by Editormum on Monday, 8 December 2003 in Definitions | ∞
Here is a mistake I am seeing more and more often. It bugs the heck outta me.
Where is an adverb meaning “in what location.”
Were is a verb, the past tense of “to be,” meaning “formerly” or “existed in the past.”
Perhaps the mistakes I am seeing are the result of sloppy typing. If so, be more diligent in your spell-checking — computer or manual. Sentences like “We where planning to go to the mall” or “He wanted to know were we went” leave a bad impression — and for those bloggers who are hoping to “be discovered” or just to be taken seriously as a writer, bad impressions are something to be avoided.
1 Comment
Can’t say it often enough — spell checkers and grammar checkers do not catch everything. Also, sometimes what they catch are things that are legal, just not in their database. My grammar checker doesn’t understand subjunctive mode. (I wish I were…, If I were king…, etc.) My spell checker gives me strange suggestions for proper nouns, but won’t tell me when I’ve written they’re instead of their. The only recourse is to proofread, proofread, proofread.