yous the write wyrds, pleas
Can it already be time for another post about some of the writing mistakes people make? I guess it can....
Today it's all about homophones. No, that's not people who sound gay when they're calling long-distance. It's words that sound alike, but are spelled differently (and, I hope obviously, have different meanings). It's not that you spelled the word wrong, it's that you spelled the wrong word.
1) undo/undue
"Undo" is a verb. You undo something that was done, take it back, reverse it. "Undue", on the other hand, is an adjective. It generally indicates excessiveness. If you write with undue haste, you may want to go back and undo something.
2) elicit/illicit
As above, the first one is a verb, the second an adjective. To "elicit" something is to draw it forth, to call it out. "Illicit" means unlawful, or not permitted: "I elicited a confession about his illicit activities." (A note for the linguaphiles: "elicit" comes from the latin lacere (to allure), while "illicit" comes from the latin licitus (lawful).)
3) peddle/pedal
Here we have two verbs. "Peddle" means to sell; the word is often associated with traveling salesmen, and may carry connotations of sleazy activities or shoddy goods. "Pedal" means to operate by means of pedals. (Okay, so "pedal" is also a noun, meaning levers or treadles designed to be actuated by foot power.) You may be able to peddle your pedals if you're a bicycle parts retailer, but you can't pedal your peddling unless you have a bicycle-mounted storefront.
4) accept/except
This is the one that really burns me when I see it. I'm sure you all know this, somewhere deep in the darkest recesses of your cranial cavities: "Accept" is a verb, meaning to receive willingly, or to give approval or make a favorable response to. "Except" is a preposition. It indicates that something is being left out, or excluded. I can accept almost anything, except confusing "accept" and "except".
Of course, just to make things more interesting, "except" can be used as a verb, which is why I really hate to see the two words mixed up. "Except" as a verb is basically shorthand for "make an exception for". So when you confuse the two words, you've still got a valid English sentence, but it probably means something rather different than what you intended. "I'll (ac/ex)cept your answer" means either "I will give you credit for answering correctly" or "I will treat your answer differently than the others." One of those probably makes sense in context, the other demonstrates your lack of knowledge about proper English usage.
5) to/too/two
Finally, the classic. I'll start with the easy one: "Two." That's a number. It comes right after One. Got it? Okay, let's move on: "too" means also, or in addition, as in "I did it too"; or excessively, as in "you went too far". And finally, "to" is most often used as a function word. It indicates a direction, a contact, a limit, a relative position, connection, degree, or any of a myriad of other things; or it can be used to form a verb infinitive ("to go", "to be", etc.)
Most often people just leave off an 'o' when they clearly meant "too", as in "It's to far from here." But just because I understand what went wrong with your writing process, that doesn't mean I condone your sloppy typing! Go back and fix it!