Certain sets of words in the English language tend to confuse people. I have found the following to be among them:
PRINCIPAL / PRINCIPLE
The word principal, which can serve as either a noun or an adjective, contains the idea of the main, or most important, one. In America, the head administrator of a school is often called the principal.
When I was in elementary school, teachers told us that the principal was our pal. This was their effort to help us remember that the spelling of principal, as relates to a school principal, ends in pal. And in my case, it worked.
But the noun principal has other meanings unrelated to school. An actor who has a speaking part in a movie is considered to be a principal in that movie. You may also speak of the principals (we’re talking people here) of a business firm.
Furthermore, the word can also be used as an adjective, as in the principal reason I have called this meeting or the principal ingredient in this cake, which have to do with the main reason or ingredient.
The noun principle, on the other hand, can mean a fundamental truth, as in physics, or a governing law of conduct as relates to morality.
The principal point I want to make is that our school principal is a man of principle and, on principle, would never support a textbook that would argue against known scientific principles.
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