Commonly Confused Word Pairs: Home/hone

March 16, 2006: Issue 131

When you progress closer to an idea or objective, you “home in” on it. You don’t “hone in.”

“Home” means to move toward:
• Researchers are homing in on new treatments for diabetes.
• Hide the liver snaps and watch your dog home in on them.

“Hone” means to sharpen:
• Hone your knives to make dicing quick and easy.
• She honed her design skills working for her mom’s business.

If you have trouble remembering this, think of a homing pigeon. It flies closer and closer to its roost before landing, the same way you zero in and eventually land at your goal.

Field editor credits

Always credit field editors in first-use material. In pickup, the editor can decide whether to credit the field editor. A general guideline is to credit field editors when you pick up a full location, but not when you pick up a partial location for a compilation story. Please note this is a change in our stylebook.

STYLEBOOK TIP:
Always have easy access to SIMStylebook.com by placing it on your bookmarks toolbar. Go to www.BHGStylebook.com, click on the address in the URL window, and drag it down to the bookmarks bar. A window will pop up where you can give the bookmark any name you’d like. (If your bookmarks bar isn’t visible, pull down the View menu and check Bookmarks Bar.)

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