English is one of the hardest languages to speak and write correctly. So many words, so little time. To assist you, this post will be part of a 4-part series of some of the most misunderstood words in the English language. Sometimes, even a dictionary or thesaurus isn’t much help. Call the experts at Writing It Right For You–we KNOW what all words mean!

(Thanks to Grammar.net for these great word exercises!)

1) “historical“: you THINK it means historic. It really means “pertaining to the past”, but not necessarily in an important way.

2) “novel“: you THINK it means a book. It really means a book of fiction. As an adjective, “novel” can also describe a new way of thinking or of doing something.

3) “less“: you THINK it means fewer. It REALLY means a smaller amount of virtually uncountable items.

Check back next week for another installment!