Diction is similar to grammar: it helps determine how you should use a language and which words you should use in a specific context. However, diction focuses more on the meaning of words than on their mechanical function within the language. Diction also deals with commonly confused words, spelling, and capitalization.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of hard and fast rules when it comes to word usage. Additionally, there aren’t often reasons behind the correct answers either—especially when it comes to spelling. This section will provide you with resources to help guide your decisions as you write.

1. Capitalization

Writers often refer to geographic locations, company names, temperature scales, and processes or apparatuses named after people: you must learn how to capitalize these items. There are ten fundamental rules for capitalization:

1. Capitalize the names of major portions of your paper and all references to figures and tables. Note: Some journals and publications do not follow this rule, but most do.

• Table 1
• Appendix A
• see Figure 4

2. Capitalize the names of established regions, localities, and political divisions.

• the French Republic
• Lancaster County
• the Arctic Circle

3. Capitalize the names of highways, routes, bridges, buildings, monuments, parks, ships, automobiles, hotels, forts, dams, railroads, and major coal and mineral deposits.

• the White House
• Highway 13
• Alton Railroad

4. Capitalize the proper names of persons, places and their derivatives, and geographic names (continents, countries, states, cities, oceans, rivers, mountains, lakes, harbors, and valleys).

• British
• Rocky Mountains
• Chicago
• Howard Pickering

5. Capitalize the names of historic events and documents, government units, political parties, business and fraternal organizations, clubs and societies, companies, and institutions.

• the Civil War
• Congress
• Ministry of Energy

6. Capitalize titles of rank when they are joined to a person’s name, and the names of stars and planets. Note: The names earth, sun, and moon are not normally capitalized, although they may be capitalized when used in connection with other bodies of the solar system.

• Venus
• Professor Walker
• Milky Way

7. Capitalize words named after geographic locations, the names of major historical or geological time frames, and most words derived from proper names.

• Middle Jurassic Period
• the Industrial Revolution
• Petri dish
• Coriolis force
• Planck’s constant

8. Capitalize references to temperature scales, whether written out or abbreviated.

• 10 ºF
• Celsius degrees

9. Capitalize references to major sections of a country or the world.

• the Near East
• the South

10. Capitalize the names of specific courses, the names of languages, and the names of semesters.

• Anatomy 200
• Spring semester 2016
• Russian
• Common Capitalization Errors

Just as important as knowing when to capitalize is knowing when not to. Below are a few instances where capital letters are commonly used when they should not be. Please review this advice carefully, in that we all have made such capitalization errors. When in doubt, simply consult a print dictionary.

1. Do not capitalize the names of the seasons, unless the seasons are personified, as in poetry (“Spring’s breath”):

• spring
• winter

2. Do not capitalize the words north, south, east, and west when they refer to directions, in that their meaning becomes generalized rather than site-specific.

• We traveled west.
• The sun rises in the east.

3. In general, do not capitalize commonly used words that have come to have specialized meaning, even though their origins are in words that are capitalized.

• india ink
• pasteurization
• biblical

4. Do not capitalize the names of elements. Note: This is a common capitalization error, and can often be found in published work. Confusion no doubt arises because the symbols for elements are capitalized.

• oxygen
• californium
• nitrogen

5. Do not capitalize words that are used so frequently and informally that they have come to have highly generalized meaning.

• north pole
• midwesterner
• big bang theory
• arctic climate

2. Spelling

Far too many of us use spell checkers as proofreaders, and we ultimately use them to justify our own laziness. I once received a complaint from an outraged professor that a student had continually misspelled miscellaneous as mescaline (a hallucinogenic drug). The student’s spell checker did not pick up the error, but the professor certainly did.

So proceed with caution when using spell checkers. They are not gods, and they do not substitute for meticulous proofreading and clear thinking. There is an instructive moment in a M*A*S*H episode, when Father Mulcahy complains to Colonel Potter about a typo in a new set of Bibles—one of the commandments reads “thou shalt commit adultery.” Father sheepishly worries aloud that “These lads are taught to follow orders.” For want of a single word, the intended meaning is lost. Always proofread a hard copy with your own two eyes.

Seven Rules for Spelling

Even without memorizing the rules, you can improve your spelling simply by reviewing them and scanning the examples and exceptions until the fundamental concepts begin to sink in. When in doubt, always look up the word.

1. In words ending with a silent e, you usually drop the e when you add a suffix that begins with a vowel:

• survive + al = survival
• divide + ing = dividing
• fortune + ate = fortunate

Here are a few common exceptions:

manageable	singeing	mileage
advantageous	dyeing	acreage
peaceable	canoeing	lineage

2. In words ending with a silent e, you usually retain the e before a suffix than begins with a consonant.

• arrange + ment = arrangement
• forgive + ness = forgiveness
• safe + ty = safety

Here are a few common exceptions:

• ninth (from nine)
• argument (from argue)
• wisdom (from wise)
• wholly (from whole)

3. In words of two or more syllables that are accented on the final syllable and end in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, you double the final consonant before a suffix beginning with a vowel.

• refer + ing = referring
• regret + able = regrettable

However, if the accent is not on the last syllable, the final consonant is not doubled.

• benefit + ed = benefited
• audit + ed = audited

4. In words of one syllable ending in a single consonant that is preceded by a single vowel, you double the final consonant before a suffix that begins with a vowel. (It sounds more complex than it is; just look at the examples.)

• big + est = biggest
• hot + er = hotter
• bag + age = baggage

5. In words ending in y preceded by a consonant, you usually change the y to i before any suffix that does not begin with an i.

• beauty + ful = beautiful
• accompany + ment = accompaniment
• accompany + ing = accompanying (suffix begins with i)

If the final y is preceded by a vowel, however, the rule does not apply.

• journeys
• obeying
• essays
• buys
• repaying
• attorneys

6. Use i before e except when the two letters follow c and have an e sound, or when they have an a sound as in neighbor and weigh.

i before e (e sound)	e before i (a sound)
shield	vein
believe	weight
grieve	veil
mischievous	neighbor

Here are a few common exceptions:

• weird
• either
• seize
• foreign
• ancient
• forfeit
• height

7. Some of the most troublesome words to spell are homonyms, words that sound alike but are spelled differently. Here is a partial list of the most common ones:

• accept, except
• it’s, its
• affect, effect
• already, all ready
• cite, sight, site
• forth, fourth
• know, no
• lead, led
• maybe, may be
• passed, past
• loose, lose
• than, then
• their, there, they’re
• to, too, two
• whose, who’s
• your, you’re

A few other words, not exactly homonyms, are sometimes confused:

• breath, breathe
• choose, chose
• lightning, lightening
• precede, proceed
• quiet, quite

Check the meanings of any sound-alike words you are unsure of in your dictionary.

Everyday Words that are Commonly Misspelled

If you find yourself over-relying on spell checkers or misspelling the same word for the seventeenth time this year, it would be to your advantage to improve your spelling. One shortcut to doing this is to consult this list of words that are frequently used and misspelled.

Many smart writers even put a mark next to a word whenever they have to look it up, thereby helping themselves identify those fiendish words that give them the most trouble. To improve your spelling, you must commit the words you frequently misspell to memory, and physically looking them up until you do so is an effective path to spelling perfection.

3. Commonly Misused Terms and Phrases

“When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, ‘Did you sleep good?’ I said, ‘No, I made a few mistakes.’” —Steven WrightEveryone struggles at one time or another with finding the right word to use. We’ve all sent out that email only to realize we typed there when we should have said their. How many times have you found yourself puzzling over the distinction between affect and effect or lay and lie? You can also find billboards, road signs, ads, and newspapers with usage errors such as these boldly printed for all to see:

• “Man Alright After Crocodile Attack” (Alright should be All Right)
• “This Line Ten Items or Less” (Less should be Fewer)
• “Auction at This Sight: One Week” (Sight should be Site)
• “Violent Storm Effects Thousands” (Effects should be Affects)

Perhaps there is little need here to preach about the value of understanding how to correctly use words. Quite simply, in formal writing, conventions have been established to aid us in choosing the best term for the circumstances, and you must make it your business to learn the rules regarding the trickiest and most misused terms.

This PDF contains a list of several commonly confused words—as well as how to tell which word you should use. For a searchable and comprehensive list of commonly misused words and phrases and some practice quizzes, visit the Common errors in English usage page from Washington State University.