Common_Errors_in_English_usage

More documents

Recommendations

Info

point is that if you eat your cake right now you won't have it to eat later. "Have" means "possess" in this context, not "eat." YOUR/YOU "I appreciate your cleaning the toilet" is more formal than "I appreciate you cleaning the toilet." YOUR/YOU'RE "You're" is always a contraction of "you are." If you've written "you're," try substituting "you are." If it doesn't work, the word you want is "your." Your writing will improve if you're careful about this. If someone thanks you, write back "you're welcome" for "you are welcome." YOUR GUYS'S/YOUR Many languages have separate singular and plural forms for the second person (ways of saying "you"), but standard English does not. "You" can be addressed to an individual or a whole room full of people. In casual speech, Americans have evolved the slangy expression "you guys" to function as a secondperson plural, formerly used of males only but now extended to both sexes; but this is not appropriate in formal contexts. Diners in fine restaurants are often irritated by clueless waiters who ask "Can I get you guys anything?" The problem is much more serious when extended to the possessive: "You guys's dessert will be ready in a minute." Some people even create a double possessive by saying "your guys's dessert. . . ." This is extremely clumsy. When dealing with people you don't know intimately, it's best to stick with "you" and "your" no matter how many people you're addressing. YOURSELF In formal English it's safest to use "yourself" only after having earlier in the same sentence used "you." When the British reply to a query like "How are you?" with "Fine, and yourself?" they are actually pointing back to the "you" in the query. It used to be common to address someone in British English as "Your good self" and some people have continued this tradition by creating the word "goodself," common especially in South Asia; but this is nonstandard. YOUSE/YOU The plural form of "you" pronounced as "youse" is heard mainly in satire on the speech of folks from Brooklyn. It's not standard English, since "you" can be either singular or plural without any change in spelling or pronunciation.
YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING/YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THINK COMING Here's a case in which eagerness to avoid error leads to error. The original expression is the last part of a deliberately ungrammatical joke: "If that's what you think, you've got another think coming." ZEROSCAPE/XERISCAPE If you nuke your front lawn I suppose you might call it a "zeroscape," but the term for an aridclimate garden requiring little or no watering is "xeriscape" (xeri is a Greek root meaning "dry"). ZEROSUM GAIN/ZEROSUM GAME The concept of a zerosum game was developed first in game theory: what one side gains the other loses. When applied to economics it is often contrasted with a "winwin" situation in which both sides can make gains without anyone losing. People who are unaware of the phrase's origins often mistakenly substitute "gain" for "game." ZOOLOGY Both O's in "zoo" are needed to create the "oo" sound in this word; but the same is not true of words like "zoology" and "zoologist." Here each O has its own sound: "oh" followed by "ah." The first two syllables rhyme with "boa." Then there is a whole class of technical words like "zooplankton" where both O's are pronounced "oh," though the second "oh" is pronounced so weakly it comes out more like "uh" But if you need to speak such words, you probably know how to pronounce them already. NONERRORS: (Those usages people keep telling you are wrong but which are actually standard in English.) Split infinitives For the hypercritical, "to boldly go where no man has gone before" should be " to go boldly. . . ." It is good to be aware that inserting one or more words between "to" and a verb is not strictly speaking an error, and is often more expressive and graceful than moving the intervening words elsewhere; but so many people are offended by split infinitives that it is better to avoid them except when the alternatives sound strained and awkward. Ending a sentence with a preposition A fine example of an artificial "rule" which ignores standard usage. The famous witticism usually attributed to Winston Churchill makes the point well: "This is the sort of pedantry up with which I cannot put." See "The American Heritage Book of English Usage" at
Page 2 and 3:
Common Errors in English by Paul Br
Page 4 and 5:
But you made a mistake yourself! We
Page 6 and 7:
ABSORBTION/ABSORPTION Although it's
Page 8 and 9:
ACCURATE/PRECISE In ordinary usage,
Page 10 and 11:
ADVOCATE FOR/ADVOCATE When they are
Page 12 and 13:
as believers do not need to be able
Page 14 and 15:
captivity. There is no such word as
Page 16 and 17:
(notice, no "N") and "auteur" (in f
Page 18 and 19:
with each other. Your greatgrandm
Page 20 and 21:
"This pizza is really expensive
Page 22 and 23:
ARTIC/ARCTIC Although some brand na
Page 24 and 25:
To "assure" a person of something i
Page 26 and 27:
AVENGE/REVENGE When you try to get
Page 28 and 29:
concealing. It seems more likely th
Page 30 and 31:
long this had been the custom and w
Page 32 and 33:
the last word to "pail." The area o
Page 34 and 35:
past tense of "bear": "My brother's
Page 36 and 37:
"Breech" however, refers to rear en
Page 38 and 39:
Side note: Britons laughed themselv
Page 40 and 41:
weather, so we shouldn't be surpris
Page 42 and 43:
not cast in stone." They may be inf
Page 44 and 45:
lounge), resulting in the mispronun
Page 46 and 47:
You cite the author in an endnote;
Page 48 and 49:
trouble with commas if they deal wi
Page 50 and 51:
CONCENSUS/CONSENSUS You might suppo
Page 52 and 53:
COME WITH In some American dialects
Page 54 and 55:
More on COULD CARE LESS" People who
Page 56 and 57:
There are several words with Latin
Page 58 and 59:
it just a goofy typo? DAMP SQUID/DA
Page 60 and 61:
with short deadlines but not da
Page 62 and 63:
degree" and "doctor of philosophy d
Page 64 and 65:
substituting "do" for "due" (owing)
Page 66 and 67:
established, if unusual. However, t
Page 68 and 69:
applied to plans and activities, no
Page 70 and 71:
Latin phrase exempli gratia. When y
Page 72 and 73:
"burned/burnt" and "kneeled/knelt."
Page 74 and 75:
You can pronounce the last two syll
Page 76 and 77:
Originally these two words were syn
Page 78 and 79:
An epigraph is a brief quotation us
Page 80 and 81:
But when something happens only occ
Page 82 and 83:
Something grows exponentially when
Page 84 and 85:
Unfortunately, Star Trek has confus
Page 86 and 87:
FIRSTABLE/FIRST OF ALL The odd word
Page 88 and 89:
fortunate chance event. It is nonst
Page 90 and 91:
FORBIDDING/FOREBODING/FORMIDABLE "F
Page 92 and 93:
popularly as "Frankenstein's monste
Page 94 and 95:
FUSHIA/FUCHSIA The flowers known as
Page 96 and 97:
When "God" is the name of a god, as
Page 98 and 99:
There are just two syllables in "gr
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"
Page 106 and 107:
HONE IN/HOME IN You home in on a ta
Page 108 and 109:
(theoretically the width of a lette
Page 110 and 111:
are expressing their own ignorance.
Page 112 and 113:
of vague ways, often clumsily. Here
Page 114 and 115:
"infamy." Humorists have for a coup
Page 116 and 117:
INTERCESSION/INTERSESSION In theolo
Page 118 and 119:
down to earth. Similarly in standar
Page 120 and 121:
In electronics, a jack is a female
Page 122 and 123:
JUDGEMENT/JUDGMENT In Great Britain
Page 124 and 125:
might lead people to think of relax
Page 126 and 127:
the standard spelling for those lit
Page 128 and 129:
or "It feels like spring." In expre
Page 130 and 131:
are less common now. LOGON/VISIT Yo
Page 132 and 133:
spell his title with a double "L."
Page 134 and 135:
MEDIOCRE Although some dictionaries
Page 136 and 137:
AB "minus" 231. In the model name "
Page 138 and 139:
"motherload" is a mistake which is
Page 140 and 141:
people want to vomit, and it temper
Page 142 and 143:
hilariously mistaken "nip it in the
Page 144 and 145:
is singular, is the subject. If you
Page 146 and 147:
OLDTIMER'S DISEASE/ALZHEIMER'S DI
Page 148 and 149:
lose a shirt. Strictly speaking, "I
Page 150 and 151:
ORIENTATE/ORIENT Although it is sta
Page 152 and 153:
Some people derive the noun "paraly
Page 154 and 155:
in the apartment." PAST TIME/PASTIM
Page 156 and 157:
to "you peoples" indicated illitera
Page 158 and 159:
PHANTOM/FATHOM Brianna exclaims con
Page 160 and 161:
PLAYS A FACTOR/PLAYS A ROLE Some pe
Page 162 and 163:
US from Hawaii. POPULACE/POPULOUS T
Page 164 and 165:
part of a team. Don't write "preM
Page 166 and 167:
law or doctrine: "The workers fough
Page 168 and 169:
PUNDINT/PUNDIT "Pundit" is one of t
Page 170 and 171:
quoted words and phrases within quo
Page 172 and 173:
wrecked. If things are wrecked, the
Page 174 and 175:
come, she's ravenous. REACTIONARY/R
Page 176 and 177:
REDICULOUS/RIDICULOUS You may ridic
Page 178 and 179: the quality of being truly religiou
Page 180 and 181: RESPOND BACK/RESPOND, REPLY It's po
Page 182 and 183: People unfamiliar with the French
Page 184 and 185: "Salsa" is Spanish for "sauce," so
Page 186 and 187: Those are pearls that were his eyes
Page 188 and 189: these two up it will not sit well w
Page 190 and 191: SILICON/SILICONE Silicon is a chemi
Page 192 and 193: centuries, but has become widely us
Page 194 and 195: SPECIALLY/ESPECIALLY In most contex
Page 196 and 197: militant. A golfer wanting to impro
Page 198 and 199: expression has nothing to do with t
Page 200 and 201: called "suspicious." But "suspect"
Page 202 and 203: THAN/THEN When comparing one thing
Page 204 and 205: them," the traditionally correct ph
Page 206 and 207: Although most other translations us
Page 208 and 209: as "in today's modern society" or "
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
Page 220 and 221: etter" or "very much better." In fo
Page 222 and 223: date or time known, use "when." WHE
Page 224 and 225: There is another sort of question i
Page 226 and 227: The standard way to talk about some
Page 230 and 231: http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/050
Page 232 and 233: they mean to say they're healthy. F
Page 234 and 235: For most Americans, the natural thi
Page 236 and 237: different. "You've got mail" should
Page 238 and 239: This saying belongs to the same gen
Page 240 and 241: secretary, seize, sentence, separat
Page 242 and 243: y in large or enlarge by and large
Page 244 and 245: end justifies the meaning enervate
Page 246 and 247: if I don't say so imbedded impaling
Page 248 and 249: new leash on life neck in neck nitc
Page 250 and 251: ebel rouser recreate the wheel repe
Page 252 and 253: two sense worth turpentime tyrannic
Page 254 and 255: language. Try one of them instead.
Page 256 and 257: as to which one prefers. My goal is
show all

Common_Errors_in_English_usage

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?