Tuesday Tricksters, August 2: Innocence - Its

Good Tuesday morning, folks! 

Here’s the latest installment of my Tuesday Tricksters series – in a new format. Because I’m now publishing on several platforms, I’m trying to make it easier for anyone reading this post to see the words and their definitions. And I am adding a short sentence for each word to show how it could be used. 

These words are homophones, words that sound the same (or nearly so), but have different meanings and different spellings. They can trip up any writer who isn’t either paying strict attention to the words or hasn’t realized there’s another word that sounds like the word the writer meant.

And spellcheck cannot help us with these words. It checks spelling; it does not check meanings. That's the job of all of us who write. 

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Innocence (n.): freedom from legal guilt, sin, or moral wrong
Innocents (n.): those who are free from legal guilt, sin, or moral wrong

• She proclaimed her innocence every day!
• Those innocents must be protected.

Insure (v.): to purchase protection for someone or something
Ensure (v.): to make certain something happens
Assure (v.): to make someone certain 

• I will insure my cottage immediately against loss.
• Joe will ensure the delivery by dropping the package off himself.
• Joe assured Susan that the package would arrive as scheduled.

Intents (n.): plural of intent (something you mean to do), most often used in the expression "for all intents and purposes"
Intense (adj.):  extreme in degree, strength, or size

• " . . . for all intents and purposes, he decided to . . . "
• The fire's intense heat caused a lot of damage to the house.

Islet (n.): a very small island
Eyelet (n.): an opening on footwear for a shoestring; a lightweight fabric sewn with eyelets all over it in rows

• There are many rocky islets off the Maine coast.
• Be sure to thread the ribbon through every eyelet on the sneaker.

It’s (contr.): It is or it has
Its (pron.): the possessive pronoun

• It's going to be a great day!
• It's been nice meeting you.
• The dog licked its paws. 

As always, I value your thoughts. 

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I hope you find this post to be relevant, and if so, I hope you'll share it with your connections, so they may learn as well. And please share your thoughts with us; I am always interested to see what my readers find valuable. 

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My previous posts can be seen here on my website, and they're easy to find because they're categorized. Just type in a word in the search box on the topic you're looking for and see what I wrote on it.

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