Afraid or afraid means frightened or feeling scared--
She was afraid of the dark, and always left a light on.
"Be not afraid, I go before you always..."
Frayed or frayed ( rhymes with raid ) is the past tense ( yesterday, or some time ago ) of "fray", meaning to ravel or wear at the edges--
Her sweater was frayed at the cuffs.
The only souvenir he kept of his childhood was a frayed teddy bear.
Frayed may be used figuratively--
The constant chatter frayed his nerves.
Affray or affray means a scene of public disorder in which blows are exchanged--
The police were called to break up the affray.
After the affray, the saloon was closed for a week.
Now that you know that, you can say--
"His nerves and clothing were frayed after the affray, and he was afraid of being arrested."
Note--"afraid" means scared or frightened--
The dog was afraid of her blue sweater.
Not to be confused with "a frayed", which describes something tattered or worn--
She wore a frayed blue sweater.
Note # 2--"freight" ( rhymes with date ) means goods that are carried by a train or truck from one place to another--
They had to weigh all of the freight before loading it on the train.
Words that sound the same when we speak may actually be two different words--which matters when we write them down. Spellcheck cannot help with this--it will show each word and the writer has to choose--to disambiguate them, if you will. I intend to update this daily, with another set of words it is possible to confuse, beginning with the simplest and most important. Questions and comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label freight. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freight. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
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