Common_Errors_in_English_usage

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RESPOND BACK/RESPOND, REPLY It's possible that some people think they have to write "respond back" to distinguish a reply from other kinds of responses, like groaning and cursing, or chucking a request in the wastebasket; but most of the time the context makes perfectly clear that "respond" means "answer" and the "back" is redundant. Or you can just say "reply." RESTIVE "Restive" can mean "stubborn," "impatient," or "restless," but never "relaxed" or "rested." RETCH/WRETCH If you vomit, you retch; if you behave in a wretched manner or fall into wretched circumstances, you are a wretch. RETROSPECTIVE/RETROACTIVE "Retrospective" has to do with looking back, as is shown by the similarity of its middle syllable to words like "spectacles." A retrospective exhibit looks back at the earlier work of an artist. "Retroactive," on the other hand, refers to actions, and is about making a current change applicable to the past, especially in law. Retroactive punishment is generally considered unjust. For instance, the city council can't pass an ordinance retroactively punishing you for having sung offkey in the karaoke bar on Main Street last Saturday night. RETURN BACK/RETURN "Return back" is a redundancy. Use just "return," unless you mean to say instead "turn back." REVELANT/RELEVANT "Revelant" is both spoken and written frequently when "relevant" is intended. The same is true of "revelance," a misspelling of "relevance." REVERT/REPLY The most common meaning of "revert" is "to return to an earlier condition, time, or subject." When Dr. Jekyll drank the potion he reverted to the brutish behavior of Mr. Hyde. But some pretentious people have begun to use it mistakenly instead of "reply," writing when they want you to get back to them about something, "revert to me at this address." This would literally mean they are asking you to become them. REVOLVE/ROTATE In ordinary speech these two words are often treated as interchangeable, though it's "revolving credit account" and "rotating crops." Scientists
make a sharp distinction between the two: the earth revolves (orbits) around the sun but rotates (spins) around its axis. REVUE/REVIEW You can attend a musical revue in a theatre, but when you write up your reactions for a newspaper, you're writing a review. RHETORICAL QUESTIONS A rhetorical question implies its own answer; it's a way of making a point. Examples: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" "What business is it of yours?" "How did that idiot ever get elected?" "What is so rare as a day in June?" These aren't questions in the usual sense, but statements in the form of a question. Many people mistakenly suppose that any nonsensical question, or one which cannot be answered, can be called a rhetorical question. The following are not proper rhetorical questions: "What was the best thing before sliced bread?" "If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?" "Who let the dogs out?" Sometimes speakers ask questions so they can then proceed to answer them: "Do we have enough troops to win the war? It all depends on how you define victory." The speaker is engaging in rhetoric, but the question asked is not a rhetorical question in the technical sense. Instead this is a mockdialogue, with the speaker taking both roles. RIGHT OF PASSAGE/RITE OF PASSAGE The more common phrase is "rite of passage"a ritual one goes through to move on to the next stage of life. Learning how to work the combination on a locker is a rite of passage for many entering middle school students. A "right of passage" would be the right to travel through a certain territory, but you are unlikely to have any use for the phrase. RING ITS NECK/WRING ITS NECK Wring the chicken's neck; and after you've cooked it, ring the dinner bell. RIO GRANDE RIVER/RIO GRANDE Rio is Spanish for "river," so "Rio Grande River" is a redundancy. Just write "Rio Grande." NonHispanic Americans have traditionally failed to pronounce the final "E" in "Grande", but they" ve learned to do it to designate the large size of latte, so perhaps it's time to start saying it the proper Spanish way: "REEoh GRAHNday." Or to be really international we could switch to the Mexican name: "Rio Bravo." RISKY/RISQUE
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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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FIRSTABLE/FIRST OF ALL The odd word
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fortunate chance event. It is nonst
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FORBIDDING/FOREBODING/FORMIDABLE "F
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popularly as "Frankenstein's monste
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FUSHIA/FUCHSIA The flowers known as
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When "God" is the name of a god, as
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There are just two syllables in "gr
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safer using "disability" than "hand
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Heal is what you do when you get be
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A simple test is to substitute "us"
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HONE IN/HOME IN You home in on a ta
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(theoretically the width of a lette
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are expressing their own ignorance.
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of vague ways, often clumsily. Here
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"infamy." Humorists have for a coup
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INTERCESSION/INTERSESSION In theolo
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down to earth. Similarly in standar
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In electronics, a jack is a female
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JUDGEMENT/JUDGMENT In Great Britain
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might lead people to think of relax
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the standard spelling for those lit
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or "It feels like spring." In expre
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Page 134 and 135: MEDIOCRE Although some dictionaries
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Page 144 and 145: is singular, is the subject. If you
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Page 152 and 153: Some people derive the noun "paraly
Page 154 and 155: in the apartment." PAST TIME/PASTIM
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Page 164 and 165: part of a team. Don't write "preM
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Page 168 and 169: PUNDINT/PUNDIT "Pundit" is one of t
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Page 172 and 173: wrecked. If things are wrecked, the
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Page 202 and 203: THAN/THEN When comparing one thing
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Page 210 and 211: Although in baseball a homerun hi
Page 212 and 213: The adjective "undue" is the opposi
Page 214 and 215: When you have vanity you are concei
Page 216 and 217: A truthful person has "veracity." "
Page 218 and 219: sound "wah," as it usually does in
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Page 224 and 225: There is another sort of question i
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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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