Commonly misused/misspelled words and phrases (Part 63)

Here are some more words to mull over:

Dessert vs. Desert

Wrong: She wandered for days, lost in the dessert.

Right: She wandered for days, lost in the desert.

Unless she was eating the world’s largest hot fudge sundae, she was lost in a desert (an extremely dry place that supports only sparse vegetation), not a dessert (the final course of a meal).

Tort vs. Torte

Wrong: That tort was delicious!

Right: That torte was delicious!

A torte is a type of cake containing little or no flour but many eggs and, usually, ground nuts. A tort, on the other hand, is a wrongful act for which a civil lawsuit can be brought (personal injury, for example, but not a breach of contract). While a victorious attorney might refer to a tort as delicious, most of us would find a torte to be tastier.

Come back soon for some more words.

Mark.