Kim Siever’s Blog

This is part of the difference between series.

Stationery means “writing materials,” while stationary means “immovable.”

I bought some stationery from Staples.

and

That mountain is stationary.

This is part of the difference between series.

Historical means “related to history,” while historic means “something important from history.”

The Apollo moon landing was historic.

and

Louis Riel was one of the historical figures who helped shape Canada.

This is part of the difference between series.

The easiest way to remember the difference between these two words is that whichever always implies a limited choice.

Take whichever apple you want.

and

Take whatever you want.

This is part of the difference between series.

Biannual means “occuring twice a year”. Biennial means “occuring every two years”.

This is part of the difference between series.

I’ve heard some people confusing the words sitting and seating. Here’s the difference between the two.

Seating refers to how seats are laid out.

The seating arrangement is fan-shaped.

Sitting refers to how one sits.

The sitting arrangment will be on the floor rather than on dining chairs.

This is part of the difference between series.

Telling the difference is really easy actually.

Who’s is a contraction. A contraction is a word formed by omitting or combining some of the sounds of a longer phrase. Other examples include won’t, can’t, shouldn’t.

In this case, who’s actually means “who is”.

Whose, on the other hand, is the possessive form of “who”. In other words, it is used to speak of something that belongs to something else (e.g. whose ball, whose doghouse, whose wings).

Let me know if you have any grammar questions, and I’ll be sure to post the question and answer here.

This is part of the difference between series.

Another common word confusion exists between the words nauseous and nauseated. I hear persons mixing these two words all the time.

The basic difference is that one is nauseous to others, and others make one nauseated.

This is part of the difference between series.

Another common pair of words I see mixed up is “then” and “than”. Luckily, telling the difference is easy.

“Then” is always used in reference to a sequence of events, as in:

We went to the store, then we came home

“Than”, on the other hand, is used to compare things, as in:

My dad is stronger than your dad.

A trick to remembering them is “then” has an “e”, and “event” starts with an “e”.