Common_Errors_in_English_usage

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etter" or "very much better." In formal writing, it would be gauche to say that Impressionism is "way more popular" than Cubism instead of "much more popular." WAYS/WAY In some dialects it's common to say "you've got a ways to go before you've saved enough to buy a Miata," but in standard English it's "a way to go." WEAK/WEEK People often absentmindedly write "last weak" or "next weak." Less often they write "I feel week." These mistakes will not be caught by a spelling checker. "Weak" is the opposite of "strong." A week is made up of seven days. WEATHER/WETHER/WHETHER The climate is made up of "weather"; whether it is nice out depends on whether it is raining or not. A wether is just a castrated sheep. WEINER/WIENER The Vienna sausage from the city the Austrians call Wien inspired the American hot dog, or wiener. Americans aren't used to the European pronunciation of IE as "ee" and often misspell the word as "weiner." WENSDAY/WEDNESDAY Wednesday was named after the Germanic god "Woden" (or "Wotan"). Almost no one pronounces this word's middle syllable distinctly, but it's important to remember the correct spelling in writing. WENT/GONE The past participle of "go" is "gone" so it's not "I should have went to the party" but "I should have gone to the party." WE'RE/WERE "We're" is a contraction of the phrase "we are": the apostrophe stands for the omitted letter A. "Were" is simply a plural pasttense form of the verb "are." To talk about something happening now or in the future, use "we're"; but to talk about something in the past, use "were." If you can't substitute "we are" for the word you've written, omit the apostrophe. "We were going to go to the party as a prince and princess, but Derek cut himself shaving, so we're going instead as a female werewolf and her victim."
WERE/WHERE Sloppy typists frequently leave the "H" out of "where." Spelling checkers do not catch this sort of error, of course, so look for it as you proofread. WET YOUR APPETITE/WHET YOUR APPETITE It is natural to think that something mouthwatering "wets your appetite," but actually the expression is "whet your appetite"sharpen your appetite, as a whetstone sharpens a knife. WHACKY/WACKY Although the original spelling of this word meaning "crazy" was "whacky," the current dominant spelling is "wacky." If you use the older form, some readers will think you've made a spelling error. WHAT/THAT In some dialects it is common to substitute "what" for "that," as in "You should dance with him what brought you." This is not standard usage. WHEAT/WHOLE WHEAT Waiters routinely ask "Wheat or white?" when bread is ordered, but the white bread is also made of wheat. The correct term is "whole wheat," in which the whole grain, including the bran and germ, has been used to make the flour. "Whole wheat" does not necessarily imply that no white flour has been used in the bread; most whole wheat breads incorporate some white flour. WHEELBARREL/WHEELBARROW One very old meaning of the word "barrow" is an open container for carrying people or goods. The earliest barrows were carried by two people holding handles on either end. Add a wheel to one end and you have a wheelbarrow which can be handled by a single person. The word is also sometimes applied to twowheeled versions. The word has nothing to do with barrels. WHENEVER/WHEN "Whenever" has two main functions. It can refer to repeated events: "Whenever I put the baby down for a nap the phone rings and wakes her up." Or it can refer to events of whose date or time you are uncertain: "Whenever it was that I first wore my new cashmere sweater, I remember the baby spit up on it." In some dialects (notably in Northern Ireland and Texas) it is common to substitute "whenever" for "when" in statements about specific events occurring only once and whose date is known: "Whenever we got married, John was so nervous he dropped the ring down my decolletage." This is nonstandard. If an event is unique and its
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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."
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MEDIOCRE Although some dictionaries
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AB "minus" 231. In the model name "
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"motherload" is a mistake which is
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people want to vomit, and it temper
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hilariously mistaken "nip it in the
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is singular, is the subject. If you
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OLDTIMER'S DISEASE/ALZHEIMER'S DI
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lose a shirt. Strictly speaking, "I
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ORIENTATE/ORIENT Although it is sta
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Some people derive the noun "paraly
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in the apartment." PAST TIME/PASTIM
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to "you peoples" indicated illitera
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PHANTOM/FATHOM Brianna exclaims con
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PLAYS A FACTOR/PLAYS A ROLE Some pe
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US from Hawaii. POPULACE/POPULOUS T
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part of a team. Don't write "preM
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law or doctrine: "The workers fough
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PUNDINT/PUNDIT "Pundit" is one of t
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Page 210 and 211: Although in baseball a homerun hi
Page 212 and 213: The adjective "undue" is the opposi
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Page 216 and 217: A truthful person has "veracity." "
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Page 232 and 233: they mean to say they're healthy. F
Page 234 and 235: For most Americans, the natural thi
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Page 244 and 245: end justifies the meaning enervate
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Page 254 and 255: language. Try one of them instead.
Page 256 and 257: as to which one prefers. My goal is
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