Common_Errors_in_English_usage

date or time known, use "when."
WHEREABOUTS ARE/WHEREABOUTS IS
Despite the deceptive "S" on the end of the word, "whereabouts" is
normally singular, not plural. "The whereabouts of the stolen diamond is
unknown." Only if you were simultaneously referring to two or more
persons having separate whereabouts would the word be plural, and you
are quite unlikely to want to do so.
WHERE IT'S AT
This slang expression gained widespread currency in the sixties as a hip
way of stating that the speaker understood the essential truth of a
situation: "I know where it's at." Or more commonly: "You don't know
where it's at." It is still heard from time to time with that meaning,
but the user risks being labeled as a quaint old Boomer. However,
standard usage never accepted the literal sense of the phrase. Don't
say, "I put my purse down and now I don't know where it's at" unless you
want to be regarded as uneducated. "Where it is" will do fine; the "at"
is redundant.
WHEREFORE
When Juliet says "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" she means "Why do you have
to be Romeo­­why couldn't you have a name belonging to some family my
folks are friendly with?" She is not asking where Romeo is. So if you
misuse the word in sentences like "Wherefore art thou, Stevie Wonder?"
(you wish he'd make another great album like he used to), you make
yourself sound illiterate rather than sophisticated.
WHETHER/WHETHER OR NOT
"Whether" works fine on its own in most contexts: "I wonder whether I
forgot to turn off the stove?" But when you mean "regardless of whether"
it has to be followed by "or not" somewhere in the sentence: "We need to
leave for the airport in five minutes whether you've found your teddy
bear or not."
See also "if/whether."
WHILST/WHILE
Although "whilst" is a perfectly good traditional synonym of "while," in
American usage it is considered pretentious and old­fashioned.
WHIM AND A PRAYER
A 1943 hit song depicted a bomber pilot just barely managing to bring
his shot­up plane back to base, "comin' in on a wing and a prayer"
(lyrics by Harold Adamson, music by Jimmy McHugh). Some people who don't
get the allusion mangle this expression as "a whim and a prayer."
Whimsicality and fervent prayerfulness don't go together.