double vision, double meanings —

Something that I find incredibly annoying about the English language is when words either look alike, sound alike, or have the same meaning but are completely different from what you think it (or they) are. I talked a bit about it in chapter three how the English language can be difficult to understand with all its rules and whatnot. To delve deeper into the topic from where I left off in chapter 25, I'll explain some things that make English--any form of English (Canadian, British, American, Australian, etc)--hard to comprehend. I'm typically against putting pictures in any story, or tutorial, but in this case it might help to break things down in a way that I can't write type it down for you guys.

The word "homophone" basically describes two (or more in some cases) words that are pronounced the same but have totally different meanings. Aside from that, be careful when listening to homophones verbally (when someone speaks). Accents are applied everywhere around the world. We all note how our loveable Korean idols have an Engrish accent when they speak our (assuming that you, too live in some English speaking country) language. I live in a household where I hear three different accents daily. I was born in China, yes, but since I was adopted and raised in Florida--where I live now--I have a southern accent. Both my parents are from upstate New York (Yonkers and Queens)--giving them a northern accent. My mother specifically is of direct Italian descent--giving her a slight Italian accent because of her mother, my grandmother. My dad just has a plain New York accent from Yonkers. My point, which may seem unclear at this point, is that it is harder to detect homophones when people are speaking because of tone, accent, or just the way they speak in general. Below is a list of homophones that, for the most part, are in ABC order to prevent confusion and because that's how I found them on the website.

• air and heir
• aisle and isle
• ante- and anti-
• eye and I
• bare, bear, and bear*
• be and bee
• brake and break
• buy and by
• cell and sell
• cent and sent
• cereal and serial
• coarse and course
• complement and compliment
• dam and damn
• dear and deer
• dye and die
• fair and fare
• fir and fur
• flour and flower
• four and for
• hare and hair
• heel and heal
• hear and here
• him and hymn
• hole and whole
• hour and our
• idle and idol
• in and inn
• knight and night
• knot and not
• know and no
• made and maid
• mail and male
• meet and meat
• morning and mourning
• none and nun
• oar and or
• one and won
• pair and pear
• piece and peace
• plane and plain
• poor and pour
• prey and pray
• principal and principle
• profit and prophet
• reel and real
• right and write
• root and route
• sail and sale
• sea and see
• seam and seem
• sight and site
• sew, so, and sow
• shore and sure
• sole and soul
• some and sum
• son and sun
• stair and stare
• stationary and stationery
• steal and steel
• suite and sweet
• tail and tale
• their, there, and they're
• to, too, and two
• toe and tow
• waist and waste
• wait and weight
• way and weigh
• week and weak
• wear and where
• wrap and rap

Bear is starred above because it has two meanings. One is a noun and one is a verb. A master slapped his slave's bare back. The man was bearing that large tray all by himself (verb). That bear was huge (noun). The good thing about the word "bear" is that it isn't irregular. It makes telling in what way (noun or verb) it is being used easier for a reader or writer. I don't remember going into regular and irregular verbs too much so if you want me to expand on this I will, but I'll leave it at this for now.

All and all, be careful with your vocabulary. At times what can get confusing is contractions. They aren't nearly as confusing as homophones but they prove to be difficult to use if you don't know both halves of the word you are using.

• I + am = I'm
• You + are =  You're
• She + is = She's
• He + is = He's
• It + is = It's
• We + are = We're
• You + are = You're
• They + are = They're
• Are + not = Aren't
• Can + not = Can't*
• Could + have = Could've
• Would + have = Would've
• Should + have = Should've
• Could + not = Couldn't
• Would + not = Wouldn't
• Should + not = Shouldn't
• Does + not = Doesn't
• Did + not = Didn't
• Do + not = Don't
• Had + not = Hadn't
• I + will = I'll
• You + will = You'll
• He + will = He'll
• She + will = She'll
• They + will = They'll
• I + would = I'd
• You + would (have) = You'd
• She + would (have) = She'd
• He + would (have) = He'd
• They + would (have) = They'd
• Were + not = Weren't

Can't can, at times, can be stylized as cannot. They both mean the same thing but they come out differently. Just keep that in mind if you don't wish to use the generic 'can't' in your writing. You can find a bigger list of contractions in the English language here. It's a bit more in dept because it shows what the contraction means. I just broke it down so you know what each part is before you get the contraction. There's a bunch more but the list was making my head spin.

[11.12.30.] On a somewhat brighter note, because I just had my mouth worked on (removing all 4 of my wisdom teeth) and I don't plan on going anywhere with a swollen mouth, I have more time to brainstorm tips for you guys. And I forgot to mention in the previous tutorial that the title I chose "the mind's motivation" is an original song by J.Reyez off of YouTube. Check the guy out! He worked with Jay Park once for a song called "Maybe One Day". For those who don't know "Double Vision" is a song by 3OH!3 and Wiz Khalifa.