Common_Errors_in_English_usage

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"Salsa" is Spanish for "sauce," so "salsa sauce" is redundant. Here in the US, where people now spend more on salsa than on ketchup (or catsup, if you prefer), few people are unaware that it's a sauce. Anyone so sheltered as not to be aware of that fact will need a fuller explanation: "chopped tomatoes, onions, chilies and cilantro." SAME DIFFERENCE This is a jokey, deliberately illogical slang expression that doesn't belong in formal writing. SARCASTIC/IRONIC Not all ironic comments are sarcastic. Sarcasm is meant to mock or wound. Irony can be amusing without being maliciously aimed at hurting anyone. SATELLITE Originally a satellite was a follower. Astronomers applied the term to smaller bodies orbiting about planets, like our moon. Then we began launching artificial satellites. Since few people were familiar with the term in its technical meaning, the adjective "artificial" was quickly dropped in popular usage. So far so bad. Then television began to be broadcast via satellite. Much if not all television now wends its way through a satellite at some point, but in the popular imagination only broadcasts received at the viewing site via a dish antenna aimed at a satellite qualify to be called "satellite television." Thus we see motel signs boasting: AIR CONDITIONING * SATELLITE People say things like "the fight's going to be shown on satellite." The word has become a pathetic fragment of its former self. The technologically literate speaker will avoid these slovenly abbreviations. *At least motels have not yet adopted the automobile industry's truncation of "air conditioning" to "air." SAW/SEEN In standard English, it's "I've seen" not "I've saw." The helping verb "have" (abbreviated here to "'ve") requires "seen." In the simple past (no helping verb), the expression is "I saw," not "I seen." "I've seen a lot of ugly cars, but when I saw that old beatup Rambler I couldn't believe my eyes." SAY/TELL You say "Hello, Mr. Chips" to the teacher, and then tell him about what you did last summer. You can't "tell that" except in expressions like "go tell that to your old girlfriend."
SCEPTIC/SKEPTIC Believe it or not, the British spellings are "sceptic" and "scepticism"; the American spellings are "skeptic" and "skepticism." SCHIZOPHRENIC In popular usage, "schizophrenic" (and the more slangy and now dated "schizoid") indicates "split between two attitudes." This drives people with training in psychiatry crazy. "Schizo" does indeed mean "split," but it is used here to mean "split off from reality." Someone with a JekyllandHyde personality is suffering from "multiple personality disorder" (or, more recently, "dissociative identity disorder"), not "schizophrenia." SCIFI "Scifi," the widely used abbreviation for "science fiction," is objectionable to most professional science fiction writers, scholars, and many fans. Some of them scornfully designate alien monster movies and other trivial entertainments "scifi" (which they pronounce "skiffy") to distinguish them from true science fiction. The preferred abbreviation in these circles is "SF." The problem with this abbreviation is that to the general public "SF" means "San Francisco." "The SciFi Channel" has exacerbated the conflict over this term. If you are a reporter approaching a science fiction writer or expert you immediately mark yourself as an outsider by using the term "scifi." SCONE/SCONCE If you fling a jamcovered biscuit at the wall and it sticks, the result may be a "wall scone"; but if you are describing a wallmounted light fixture, the word you want is "sconce." SCOTCH/SCOTS Scottish people generally refer to themselves as "Scots" or "Scottish" rather than "Scotch." SCOTCH FREE/SCOT FREE Getting away with something "scot free" has nothing to do with the Scots (or Scotch). The scot was a medieval tax; if you evaded paying it you got off scot free. Some people wrongly suppose this phrase alludes to Dred Scott, the American slave who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom. The phrase is "scot free": no H, one T. SEA CHANGE In Shakespeare's "Tempest," Ariel deceitfully sings to Ferdinand: Full fathom five thy father lies; Of his bones are coral made;
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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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are less common now. LOGON/VISIT Yo
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spell his title with a double "L."
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 186 and 187: Those are pearls that were his eyes
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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
Page 226 and 227: The standard way to talk about some
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Page 232 and 233: 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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