Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers or any characters in this fic. They belong to MARVEL, which is owned by Disney, etc., etc., etc.

Dictionary definition taken from dictionary dot com


"Hello and welcome to training, yada yada yada, blah blah blah, more boring stuff, etc. I'm Agent Barton, and I'll be your instructor for today," Clint Barton greeted the baby agents as he leaned against the wall, his bow at his feet. "Today, I will be giving you the most important information you'll ever need in your entire life. I suggest you take notes. There WILL be a quiz on this." He fixed them all with a glare, causing a few agents to whimper at the intensity of it. The recruits shifted nervously in their seats as they waited for the lesson to begin. Clint walked over to the front of the room and pulled up a PowerPoint presentation. A confused silence filled the room, broken by a few frantic whispers.

"Did he know that was going to come up?" A dark-haired female leaned over to one of her fellow agents. The other shrugged and shushed her.

"You may be wondering why this slide says 'The Most Common (and Annoying) Errors in Grammar and How to Avoid Them.' No, this is not a mistake. This WILL be the most important thing you will ever learn. It can even save your life someday." He beamed at the students excitedly. "Now pay careful attention. I'm about to begin."

Pressing a button on the remote, Clint changed the slide and began pacing through the rows of desks. "First of all, we will be learning about homophones. Does anyone know what a homophone is?" He looked expectantly at the students.

A small brunette with glasses timidly raised her hand. "Is it when words sound the same but aren't actually the same?"

"That's correct!" He tossed her a piece of candy. Not expecting it, she only registered the action when the candy hit her in the forehead. "Whoops, sorry about that. But hey, consider that part of your training! Always be expecting the unexpected. You never know when something might happen." The poor student received another piece of candy to the face. "Anyway, let's continue."

The next slide showed the dictionary definition of homophone: "Noun. A word pronounced the same as another but differing in meaning, whether spelled the same or not."

"Examples of homophones are 'they're, their, and there.' Three very different words with very different meaning, but the same pronunciation. Never, under any circumstances, mix these up with each other. It may result in homicide, believe it or not." The agents cowered under his piercing glare, immediately understanding what he was implying.

"Now, the word 'they're' is a contraction, which means it is a combination of words. In this case, 'they're' is a shortened version of 'they are.' 'Their,' on the other hand, is a possessive adjective for the noun 'they.' Finally, 'there' is an indicator of place." He changed slides again. "Here you see a sentence properly using all three of these. I stress properly because far too many people confuse them."

"They're going over there to get their belongings." The sentence read.

"Next, we're going to review the difference between 'you're' and 'your.'" Just as he was about to continue his lecture, Fury burst into the room.

"Agent Barton, what do you think you're doing?" The man raged.

Clint grinned at him. "You told me to give the new agents a brief overview of the most important things they'll have to know here."

"So why are you giving a lesson in grammar?" His lone eye twitched.

"This is the most important thing they'll EVER have to know!" Clint declared as if it was an obvious fact.

Fury resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration because he was in front of the new agents. "You're all dismissed. Agent Hill will meet you in the hall." Clint pouted as the recruits filed out of the classroom.

"Grammar is important, sir." He whined. "Very, very important."

"I don't care," Fury snapped, stalking out of the room.

Sighing, Clint shut down the computer and projector. "And I was just about to get into the interesting part."


Author's Note: I'm BACK! I hope to be updating more, but my schedule is pretty hectic.

Edit: To the anonymous reviewer who kindly pointed out my mistake (which has been fixed)- You're greatly appreciated for posting your review.