Although I am an experienced writer, sometimes I get it wrong, either through laziness, tiredness or ignorance. The first two are under my control which is why I tend to circle back the day after I write, to re-edit professional work before I send it out.
I’m the first to admit that I make mistakes. It’s very important for a writer or editor to admit that. You see, nobody is too big for their boots. And nobody can ever know enough about the English language. It’s a terrible, unwieldy beast. Trying to control it is like trying to control a pond full of koi using only a teaspoon.
Word to the Wise by Mark Broatch is a highly enjoyable, amusing and scannable reference book that highlights all of the relevant troublesome words in bold so that you can quickly find tricky word combinations that have tripped you up in the past.
Callus/callous
Anodyne/ anodise
Abstruse/obtuse
…and so on.
I’m only up to C in the book so far, and I’ve already learned so much. This reference guide to tricky words that sound alike and mean similar or completely different things.
I winced the other day when I saw a tear off leaflet on a noticeboard in the pub from someone selling their writing services. “I am an experienced copyrighter”, she says. Well no love, sorry, but you bloody well aren’t LOL! I think I should anonymously post them a copy of this book.
Content Catnip 
Did you ever read Dreyers Style Guide? It had some of those confusing combinations and some other useful stuff as well. Great reference.
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I have heard of this but I never read it. I have The Guardian’s style guide because the last time I was doing proper subbing it was in the UK, The Guardian’s guide is good. Will have a look at Dreyers is it American?
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Yes it’s definitely American. Still worth getting despite that though lol
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