We introduced the "Word Choice, Word Confusion" section in Course 1 . Here is the text from that section in case you are not enrolled in Course 1 or finished it before "Word Choice, Word Confusion" was added.

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"Word Choice, Word Confusion" (Course 1)

Mrs. Malaprop is the pompous aunt in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 1775 comedy, The Rivals , and the eponym for the word malapropism . As one of her relations puts it in the play, she’s known for her use of 'words so ingeniously misapplied, without being mispronounced.' Repeatedly and obliviously, she reaches for a high-flown word but comes out with a similar sounding, contextually nonsensical or ludicrous one— appellation , for example, becomes compilation ; alligator morphs into allegory . — "Thirty Malapropisms" by Dylan Hicks (2016)

Below is a list of some commonly confused words. The links will take you to resources that explain the difference between them. Spend as much time as you'd like with those resources. Then test your understanding by taking the quiz from the Chicago Manual of Style that follows.

Accept vs. Except

Affect vs. Effect

Altogether vs. All Together

Avenge vs. Revenge

Quiz

Chicago Manual of Style: Word Usage Part 1

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Although this second course is focused on the more macro-level questions of structure and organization, I still wanted to give people a chance to practice their micro-level editing. A well-structured document is great—but not if the individual words it contains are the wrong ones. So use the resources below to help clear up any confusion you might have about the paired terms. Then take a shot at the quiz from the Chicago Manual of Style to see how thoroughly you have grasped the differences.

Biannual vs. Biennial

Between vs. Among

Climactic vs. Climatic

Criteria vs. Criterion

Quiz

Chicago Manual of Style: Word Usage Part 2