Common_Errors_in_English_usage

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AB "minus" 231. In the model name "AB231" the linking character is a hyphen, though "dash" will do. "Minus" makes no sense in such contexts, but is so common that support personnel have begun to adopt it too. MINUS WELL/MIGHT AS WELL When you see the way some people misspell common phrases you sometimes feel you might as well give up. It's simply amazing how many people think the standard phrase "might as well" is "minus well." MISCHIEVIOUS/MISCHIEVOUS The correct pronunciation of this word is "MISSchuhvuss," not "missCHEEveeuss." Don't let that mischievous extra "I" sneak into the word. MISNOMER A misnomer is mistake in naming a thing; calling a debit card a "credit card" is a misnomer. Do not use the term more generally to designate other sorts of confusion, misunderstood concepts, or fallacies, and above all do not render this word as "misnamer." MISPLACED STRESS "We WILL be descending shortly INTO Denver," says the flight attendant, sounding very weird. People who have to repeat announcements by roteincluding radio stationbreak announcers and othersoften try to avoid sounding like monotonous robots by raising and lowering the pitch of their voices at random and stressing words not normally stressed: mostly prepositions and auxiliary verbs. One has to sympathize; imagine having to repeatedly lecture a planefull of people on seatbelt use when you know for a fact the only adults on board likely not to know already how to fasten a buckle are too demented to understand what you're saying. But the absurd singsong into which many of these folks fall is both distracting and irritating, making them sound like malfunctioning robots. Those who speak in natural voices, stressing main nouns, verbs, and adjectives where it makes sense, are much easier to listen to. MIXEDUP MEDIA Mixed media can be great; mixedup media not so much. Books are published, movies and musical recordings released, and plays and TV shows premiered. Movies are shown, plays staged, and TV shows broadcast. Technically recordings get deleted (from catalogs) or withdrawn rather than going out of print like books (which may also be remaindered: sold at discount, or worsepulped). However, there is a strong tendency to use "out of print" for all kinds of media: CDs, DVDs, etc. Movies and stage shows close or end their runs, but only stage shows fold.
MONEY IS NO OPTION/MONEY IS NO OBJECT The expression "money is no object" means that cost is no obstacle: you're willing to pay whatever is required to get what you want. People who don't understand this unusual meaning of "object" often substitute "option," saying "money is no option," which makes no sense at all. MONO E MONO/MANO A MANO "Mono e mono" is an error caused by mishearing the Spanish expression "mano a mano" which means not "mantoman" but "handtohand," as in handtohand combat: one on one. MORAL/MORALE If you are trying to make people behave properly, you are policing their morals; if you are just trying to keep their spirits up, you are trying to maintain their morale. "Moral" is accented on the first syllable, "morale" on the second. MORAYS/MORES The customs of a people are its mores. These may include its morals (ethics), but the word "mores" is not synonymous with "morals." Some eels are morays, but they aren't known particularly for their social customs, though both words are pronounced the same. MORE IMPORTANTLY/MORE IMPORTANT When speakers are trying to impress audiences with their rhetoric, they often seem to feel that the extra syllable in "importantly" lends weight to their remarks: "and more importantly, I have an abiding love for the American people." However, these pompous speakers are wrong. It is rarely correct to use this form of the phrase because it is seldom adverbial in intention. Say "more important" instead. The same applies to "most importantly"; it should be "most important." MORESO/MORE SO "More so" should always be spelled as two distinct words. It is also overused and misused. Wherever possible, stick with plain "more." MOST ALWAYS/ALMOST ALWAYS "Most always" is a casual, slangy way of saying "almost always." The latter expression is better in writing. The same is true of "most every," "most all" and related expressions where the standard first word is "almost." MOTHERLOAD/MOTHER LODE Although you may dig a load of ore out of a mother lode, the spelling
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Common Errors in English by Paul Br
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But you made a mistake yourself! We
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ABSORBTION/ABSORPTION Although it's
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ACCURATE/PRECISE In ordinary usage,
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ADVOCATE FOR/ADVOCATE When they are
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as believers do not need to be able
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captivity. There is no such word as
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(notice, no "N") and "auteur" (in f
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with each other. Your greatgrandm
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"This pizza is really expensive
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ARTIC/ARCTIC Although some brand na
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To "assure" a person of something i
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AVENGE/REVENGE When you try to get
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concealing. It seems more likely th
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long this had been the custom and w
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the last word to "pail." The area o
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past tense of "bear": "My brother's
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"Breech" however, refers to rear en
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Side note: Britons laughed themselv
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weather, so we shouldn't be surpris
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not cast in stone." They may be inf
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lounge), resulting in the mispronun
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You cite the author in an endnote;
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trouble with commas if they deal wi
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CONCENSUS/CONSENSUS You might suppo
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COME WITH In some American dialects
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More on COULD CARE LESS" People who
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There are several words with Latin
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it just a goofy typo? DAMP SQUID/DA
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with short deadlines but not da
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degree" and "doctor of philosophy d
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substituting "do" for "due" (owing)
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established, if unusual. However, t
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applied to plans and activities, no
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Latin phrase exempli gratia. When y
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"burned/burnt" and "kneeled/knelt."
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You can pronounce the last two syll
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Originally these two words were syn
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An epigraph is a brief quotation us
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But when something happens only occ
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Something grows exponentially when
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Unfortunately, Star Trek has confus
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Page 96 and 97: When "God" is the name of a god, as
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Page 100 and 101: safer using "disability" than "hand
Page 102 and 103: Heal is what you do when you get be
Page 104 and 105: A simple test is to substitute "us"
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Page 110 and 111: are expressing their own ignorance.
Page 112 and 113: of vague ways, often clumsily. Here
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Page 128 and 129: or "It feels like spring." In expre
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Page 172 and 173: wrecked. If things are wrecked, the
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Those are pearls that were his eyes
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these two up it will not sit well w
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SILICON/SILICONE Silicon is a chemi
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centuries, but has become widely us
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SPECIALLY/ESPECIALLY In most contex
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militant. A golfer wanting to impro
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expression has nothing to do with t
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called "suspicious." But "suspect"
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THAN/THEN When comparing one thing
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them," the traditionally correct ph
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Although most other translations us
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as "in today's modern society" or "
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Although in baseball a homerun hi
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The adjective "undue" is the opposi
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When you have vanity you are concei
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A truthful person has "veracity." "
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sound "wah," as it usually does in
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etter" or "very much better." In fo
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date or time known, use "when." WHE
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There is another sort of question i
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The standard way to talk about some
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point is that if you eat your cake
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http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/050
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they mean to say they're healthy. F
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For most Americans, the natural thi
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different. "You've got mail" should
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This saying belongs to the same gen
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secretary, seize, sentence, separat
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y in large or enlarge by and large
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end justifies the meaning enervate
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if I don't say so imbedded impaling
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new leash on life neck in neck nitc
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ebel rouser recreate the wheel repe
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two sense worth turpentime tyrannic
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language. Try one of them instead.
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as to which one prefers. My goal is
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Common_Errors_in_English_usage

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