Grammar Punk Blog

Commonly Confused’s

The English language is one of the most difficult languages to master—even for those of us who count it as their first, and only. Much of the complexity and redundancy of our language can be blamed on the fact that we’ve borrowed from so many other languages. The many, many commonly confused words, many of those homonyms, yet another reason our language presents such difficulties.

Once a week we’ll explore a pair of homonyms or commonly confused words and hopefully shed a little light on using the correct one in the correct places.

We’ll begin with one of my personal pet peeves of a pair of commonly confused words. Not only is this word often used incorrectly in print but it is astonishing how often it is misspoken aloud in movies, television shows, news broadcasts, you name it. Drumroll please…

Cavalry and Calvary.

Once and for all:

Cavalry: formerly, the part of an army made up of soldiers trained to fight on horseback. As in here comes the cavalry to the rescue.

And Calvary: a hill just outside the city walls of ancient Jerusalem where the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ took place, according to the Bible.

Yes, they sound similar but there isn’t even the excuse of two words that are spelled and pronounced the same—they’re not! They’re two completely different words! So why do so many people misuse them! Okay, tantrum over. All together now, cavalry—to the rescue; Calvary—a place in xxxx.

Grammar Punk Commonly Confused Sentence:

Grammar Punk Sentence: C A 2

Heaving a lofty sigh of relief, Stella saw the herd of caterpillars cresting the hill; The Butterfly Festival would go on: the cavalry had arrived!

Of all the places she’d visited on her vacation, the visit to Calvary was the most moving.