Commonly Confused!
March 5th, 2010
Desert or Dessert
Back to our regularly scheduled commonly confused words. This is a particularly good one because it not only contains two words that are pronounced the same but spelled differently, but two that are pronounced differently but spelled the same. Jackpot! Have I mentioned I love the English language! C’mon, challenges are good for us, builds fortitude.
I always remember that dessert has an extra S by thinking of all the extra sugar in desserts!
Desert can mean: (1) To abandon (a verb); or (2) Desert, a hot, sandy place, (a noun)
Dessert is a sweet course eaten at the end or toward the end of a meal
Grammar Punk™ Examples:
T U 3 | Claire didn’t want to desert Barry, but there was no way she was going to sit through a showing of Spartacus again.
T U 3 | The butterfly flitted carefully through the thicket of cactus in the middle of the desert.
P E 4 | Lola looked dubiously down at her plate; pickled pear pancakes for dessert?