Whether vs. Weather

Whether expresses a choice or doubt between two things.

• Example: I wonder whether I should order the chicken or the steak. He must choose whether or not he wants to continue playing the game.

Weather is what the atmosphere is like at any particular time (i.e. cloudy, hot, cold, rainy, etc.)

• Example: If this nice weather holds, we can go for a walk.

Memorization Tip: This might not actually help much but I find this a fun little sentence using both words. I wonder whether the weather will stay like this all summer.

Flustrate, Fluster, and Frustrate

Flustrate (and its often said derivative flustrated) is not a word. It seems to be combined from the words fluster and frustrate. Fluster means to agitate or confuse someone and frustrate means to prevent something from happening or to cause someone to feel upset.

• Example: You need to complete the work on time without getting flustered.
• Example: This Spanish test is going to frustrate me to no end.

Memorization tip: Never, under any circumstances, use flustrate or flustrated.

Unique

Unique means that whatever is being described is the only thing of its kind. Many people will add very, truly, absolutely, or other words before unique (i.e. That painting is very unique) in an attempt to make the object being described stand out even more. However, this is grammatically incorrect. Unique does not need and should not have any other modifying word (adjective) before it. The word unique should stand alone when describing something.

• Example: The actor portrayed Hamlet in a unique way.

Memorization tip: Remember, unique stands alone. By the nature of its definition, it is one of a kind.

Drink, Drank, Drunk

Everyone knows what drink means. The confusion comes in when figuring out when to use drank and when to use drunk (as a verb, not the other meaning mostly everyone is familiar with). It's actually pretty simple.

Drank is the simple past of drink.

• Example: I drank two glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice this morning.

Drunk is also the past tense of drink but is only used with the verb "have."

• Example: Instead of orange juice, I had drunk two glasses of wine and promptly felt the effects. I have drunk my way through this bottle of wine in record time.

Memorization tip: If you do not use the verb have you do not use drunk.

Irregardless

Irregardless is, in fact, not a word. As far as I can tell, it seems to be a misuse of the words regardless and irrespective. Somewhere along the line, someone probably combined the two words and it stuck.

Actually, when irregardless is broken down, it actually means the opposite of what the speaker intends. Regardless means "despite the present circumstances" or "not paying attention to the present situation." The prefix ir means "not" or "before." When ir and regardless are combined the new word, irregardless, actually means "regarding." This is the exact opposite of what the speaker means.

Since irregardless is not a word, there are no example sentences. Stick to something like this instead: I bought the shoes regardless of how they fit.

Memorization tip: Most of the time, when people say irregardless they mean regardless.

Hang vs. Hung

Hang means to suspend from above, attach to a wall, droop, or fold in a specific way.

• Example: Will you please hang the painting four feet from the ceiling? When you finish with that, please hang the drapes over the windows.
  

Hung is the past tense of hang. However, hanged is also the past tense.

And therein lies the confusion. The most common mistake regarding these two past tenses comes when talking about the act of killing someone and describing the private parts of a man. Hanged is always used to describe how someone died. Hung always refers to the private parts of a man.

• Example: The executioner hanged the criminal at midnight yesterday. (versus) He told the girl at the bar that he was her ideal man because he was well hung.
  

Memorization tip: The man was hanged because he was hung. With his best friend's wife he had way too much fun

To, Too, Two

Believe it or not, people mix these up on a pretty regular basis.

To is a preposition. It generally refers to something going from one location to another. It can also mean arriving at something.

• Examples: John is going to the store. Our profits went from $100 to $1000 in just over a month. When he broke up with her, she was driven to tears.

Too means also, as well, or in addition. It can also mean more than wanted/needed or excessive.

• Examples: Jenny wants to go to the store too. He was driving too fast not to be pulled over by the police.

Two means the number 2.

• I have two bottles of coke in the fridge.