Common Errors in English

A

A/AN

If the word following begins with a vowel sound, the word you want is “an”: “Have an apple, Adam.” If the word following begins with a consonant, but begins with a vowel sound, you still need “an”: “An X-ray will show whether there's a worm in it.” It is nonstandard and often considered sloppy speech to utter an “uh” sound in such cases.

When the following word definitely begins with a consonant sound, you need “a.”

You should use “an” before a word beginning with an “H” only if the “H” is not pronounced: “an honest effort”; it’s properly “a historic event” though many sophisticated speakers somehow prefer the sound of “an historic,” so that version is not likely to get you into any real trouble.


A.D.

“A.D.” does not mean “after death,” as many people suppose. “B.C.” stands for the English phrase “before Christ,” but “A.D.” stands confusingly for a Latin phrase: anno domini (“in the year of the Lord”—the year Jesus was born). If the calendar actually changed with Jesus’ death, then what would we do with the years during which he lived? Since Jesus was probably actually born around 6 B.C. or so, the connection of the calendar with him can be misleading.

Many Biblical scholars and historians, and archeologists prefer the less sectarian designations “before the Common Era” (B.C.E.) and “the Common Era” (C.E.).

All of these abbreviations can also be spelled without their periods.


AM/PM

“AM” stands for the Latin phrase Ante Meridiem —which means “before noon”—and “PM” stands for Post Meridiem : “after noon.” Although digital clocks routinely label noon “12: 00 PM” you should avoid this expression not only because it is incorrect, but because many people will imagine you are talking about midnight instead. The same goes for “12: 00 AM.” Just say or write “noon” or “midnight” when you mean those precise times.

It is now rare to see periods placed after these abbreviations: “A.M.” , but in formal writing it is still preferable to capitalize them, though the lower-case “am” and “pm” are now so popular they are not likely to get you into trouble.


ABJECT

“Abject” is always negative—it means “hopeless,” not “extreme.” You can’t experience “abject joy” unless you’re being deliberately paradoxical.


ABLE TO

People are able to do things, but things are not able to be done: you should not say, “the budget shortfall was able to be solved by selling brownies.”


ABSTRUSE/OBTUSE


Most people first encounter “obtuse” in geometry class, where it labels an angle of more than 90 degrees.But people often mix the word up with “abstruse,” which means “difficult to understand.”

When you mean to criticize something for being needlessly complex or baffling, the word you need is not “obtuse,” but “abstruse.”


ACCEDE/EXCEED

If you drive too fast, you exceed the speed limit. “Accede” is a much rarer word meaning “give in,” “agree.”


ACCESSORY

There’s an “ack” sound at the beginning of this word, though some mispronounce it as if the two “C’s” were to be sounded the same as the two “SS’s.”


ACCEPT/EXCEPT

If you offer me Godiva chocolates I will gladly accept them—except for the candied violet ones. Just remember that the “X” in “except” excludes things—they tend to stand out, be different. In contrast, just look at those two cozy “C’s” snuggling up together. Very accepting.


ACCIDENTLY/ACCIDENTALLY

You can remember this one by remembering how to spell “accidental.” There are quite a few words with -ally suffixes (like “incidentally”) which are not to be confused with words that have “-ly” suffixes (like “independently”). “Incidental” is a word, but “independental” is not.


ACCURATE/PRECISE

In ordinary usage, “accurate” and “precise” are often used as rough synonyms, but scientists like to distinguish between them. Someone could say that a snake is over a meter long and be accurate (the snake really does exceed one meter in length), but that is not a precise measurement. To be precise, the measurement would have to be more exact: the snake is 1.23 meters long. The same distinction applies in scientific contexts to the related words “accuracy” and “precision.”


ACRONYMS AND APOSTROPHES

One unusual modern use of the apostrophe is in plural acronyms, like “ICBM’s” “NGO’s” and “CD’s”. Since this pattern violates the rule that apostrophes are not used before an S indicating a plural, many people object to it. It is also perfectly legitimate to write “CDs,” etc. But the use of apostrophes with initialisms like “learn your ABC’s and “mind your P’s and Q’s” is now so universal as to be acceptable in almost any context.

Note that “acronym” was used originally only to label pronounceable abbreviations like “NATO,” but is now generally applied to all sorts of initialisms. Be aware that some people consider this extended definition of “acronym” to be an error.


ACROSS

The chicken may have crossed the road, but did so by walking across it.


ACTIONABLE/DOABLE

“Actionable” is a technical term referring to something that provides grounds for a legal action or lawsuit. People in the business world have begun using it as a fancy synonym for “doable” or "feasible." This is both pretentious and confusing.


IN ACTUAL FACT/ACTUALLY

“In actual fact” is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying “actually.”


ADD/AD

“Advertisement” is abbreviated “ad,” not “add.”



ADMINISTER/MINISTER

You can minister to someone by administering first aid. Note how the “ad” in “administer” resembles “aid” in order to remember the correct form of the latter phrase. “Minister” as a verb always requires “to” following it.


ADVANCE/ADVANCED

When you hear about something in advance, earlier than other people, you get advance notice or information. “Advanced” means “complex, sophisticated.”


ADVERSE/AVERSE

The word “adverse” turns up most frequently in the phrase “adverse circumstances,” meaning difficult circumstances, circumstances which act as an adversary; but people often confuse this word with “averse,” a much rarer word, meaning having a strong feeling against, or aversion toward.


ADVICE/ADVISE

“Advice” is the noun, “advise” the verb. When Ann Landers advises people, she gives them advice.


ADVISER/ADVISOR

“Adviser” and “advisor” are equally fine spellings. There is no distinction between them.


ADVOCATE FOR/ADVOCATE

When they are acting as advocates for a cause, people often say they are “advocating for”—say—traffic safety. This is not as widely accepted as “campaigning for” or “working toward.” Saying you are “advocating for the blind” leaves a lot of listeners wondering what it is you advocate for them. If you can substitute “advocate” for “advocate for,” you should do so: “I advocate for higher pay for teachers” becomes “I advocate higher pay for teachers.”


AESTHETIC/ASCETIC

People often encounter these two words first in college, and may confuse one with the other although they have almost opposite connotations. “Aesthetic” (also spelled “esthetic”) has to do with beauty, whereas “ascetic” has to do with avoiding pleasure, including presumably the pleasure of looking at beautiful things.

St. Francis had an ascetic attitude toward life, whereas Oscar Wilde had an esthetic attitude toward life.


AFFECT/EFFECT

There are five distinct words here. When “affect” is accented on the final syllable (a-FECT), it is usually a verb meaning “have an influence on”: “The million-dollar donation from the industrialist did not affect my vote against the Clean Air Act.”

Speaking with a borrowed French accent or ostentatiously wearing a large diamond ear stud might be an affectation. In this sort of context, “affect” means “to make a display of or deliberately cultivate.”

Another unusual meaning is indicated when the word is accented on the first syllable (AFF-ect), meaning “emotion.” In this case the word is used mostly by psychiatrists and social scientists— people who normally know how to spell it.

The real problem arises when people confuse the first spelling with the second: “effect.” This too can be two different words. The more common one is a noun: “When I left the stove on, the effect was that the house filled with smoke.” When you affect a situation, you have an effect on it.

The less common is a verb meaning “to create”: “I’m trying to effect a change in the way we purchase widgets.” No wonder people are confused. Note especially that the proper expression is not “take affect” but “take effect”—become effective. Hey, nobody ever said English was logical: just memorize it and get on with your life.


AFTERALL/AFTER ALL

“After all” is always two words.


AFTERWARDS/AFTERWORDS

Like “towards,” “forwards,” and “homewards,” “afterwards” ends with -wards.

“Afterwords” are sometimes the explanatory essays at the ends of books or speeches uttered at the end of plays or other works. They are made up of words.


AGNOSTIC/ATHEIST

Both agnostics and atheists are regularly criticized as illogical by people who don’t understand the meaning of these terms. An agnostic is a person who believes that the existence of a god or gods cannot be proven or known. Agnosticism is a statement about the limits of human knowledge. It is an error to suppose that agnostics perpetually hesitate between faith and doubt: they are confident they cannot know the ultimate truth. Similarly, atheists believe there are no gods. Atheists need not be able to disprove the existence of gods to be consistent just as believers do not need to be able to prove that gods do exist in order to be regarded as religious. Both attitudes have to do with beliefs, not knowledge.

“Agnostic” is often used metaphorically of any refusal to make a judgment, usually on the basis of a lack of evidence; people can be agnostic about acupuncture, for instance, if they believe there is not enough evidence one way or another to decide its effectiveness.


AIN’T

“Ain’t” has a long and vital history as a substitute for “isn’t,” “aren’t” and so on. It was originally formed from a contraction of “am not” and is still commonly used in that sense. Even though it has been universally condemned as the classic “mistake” in English, everyone uses it occasionally as part of a joking phrase or to convey a down-to-earth quality. But if you always use it instead of the more “proper” contractions you’re sure to be branded as uneducated.


AISLE/ISLE

An aisle is a narrow passageway, especially in a church or store; an isle is an island.


ALL

Put this word where it belongs in the sentence. In negative statements, don’t write “All the pictures didn’t show her dimples” when you mean “The pictures didn’t all show her dimples.”


ALL IN ALL

“All in all” is a traditional phrase which can mean “all things considered,” “after all,” or “nevertheless.” People unfamiliar with the traditional wording often change it to “all and all,” but this is nonstandard.


ALBEIT

“Albeit” is a single word meaning “although”: “Rani’s recipe called for a tablespoon of saffron, which made it very tasty, albeit rather expensive.” It should not be broken up into three separate words as “all be it,” just as “although” is not broken up into “all though.”


ALL FOR NAUGHT

“Naught” means “nothing,” and the phrase “all for naught” means “all for nothing.” This is often misspelled “all for not” and occasionally “all for knot.”


AUGURS WELL

Some folks who don’t understand the word “augur” (to foretell based on omens) try to make sense of the common phrase “augurs well” by mangling it into “all goes well.” “Augurs well” is synonymous with “bodes well.”


ALL OF A SUDDEN

An unexpected event happens not “all of the sudden” but “all of a sudden.”


ALLITERATE/ILLITERATE

Pairs of words which begin with the same sound are said to alliterate, like “wild and wooly.” Those who can’t read are illiterate.


ALL/ALLS

“Alls I know is . . .” may result from anticipating the “S” in “is,” but the standard expression is “All I know is. . . .”


ALLUDE/ELUDE

You can allude (refer) to your daughter’s membership in the honor society when boasting about her, but a criminal tries to elude (escape) captivity. There is no such word as “illude.”

ALLUDE/REFER


To allude to something is to refer to it indirectly, by suggestion. If you are being direct and unambiguous, you refer to the subject rather than alluding to it.


ALLUSION/ILLUSION

An allusion is a reference, something you allude to: “Her allusion to flowers reminded me that Valentine’s Day was coming.” In that English paper, don’t write “literary illusions” when you mean "allusions.” A magic trick is an illusion.


ALMOST

Like “only,” “almost” must come immediately before the word or phrase it modifies: “She almost gave a million dollars to the museum” means something quite different from “She gave almost a million dollars to the museum.” Right? So you shouldn’t write, “There was almost a riotous reaction when the will was read” when what you mean is “There was an almost riotous reaction.”


IN THE SAME VEIN, ALONG THE SAME LINE

The expressions “in the same vein” and “along the same line” mean the same thing (“on the same subject”), but those who cross-pollinate them to create the hybrid “along the same vein” sound a little odd to those who are used to the standard expressions.


A LOT

Perhaps this common spelling error began because there does exist in English a word spelled “allot” which is a verb meaning to apportion or grant. The correct form, with “a” and “lot” separated by a space is perhaps not often encountered in print because formal writers usually use other expressions such as “a great deal,” “often,” etc.

You shouldn’t write “alittle” either. It’s “a little.”


ALOUD/ALLOWED

If you think Grandma allowed the kids to eat too much ice cream, you’d better not say so aloud, or her feelings will be hurt. “Aloud” means “out loud” and refers to sounds (most often speech) that can be heard by others. But this word is often misused when people mean “allowed,” meaning “permitted.”


ALL READY/ALREADY

“All ready” is a phrase meaning “completely prepared,” as in “As soon as I put my coat on, I’ll be all ready.” “Already,” however, is an adverb used to describe something that has happened before a certain time, as in “What do you mean you’d rather stay home? I’ve already got my coat on.”


ALL RIGHT

The correct form of this phrase has become so rare in the popular press that many readers have probably never noticed that it is actually two words. But if you want to avoid irritating traditionalists you’d better tell them that you feel “all right” rather than “alright.”


ALTAR/ALTER

An altar is that platform at the front of a church or in a temple; to alter something is to change it.


ULTERIOR

When you have a concealed reason for doing something, it’s an ulterior motive.


ALTERNATE/ALTERNATIVE

Although UK authorities disapprove, in U.S. usage, “alternate” is frequently an adjective, substituted for the older “alternative”: “an alternate route.” “Alternate” can also be a noun; a substitute delegate is, for instance, called an “alternate.” But when you’re speaking of “every other” as in “our club meets on alternate Tuesdays,” you can’t substitute “alternative.”


ALTOGETHER/ALL TOGETHER

“Altogether” is an adverb meaning “completely,” “entirely.” For example: “When he first saw the examination questions, he was altogether baffled.” “All together,” in contrast, is a phrase meaning “in a group.” For example: “The wedding guests were gathered all together in the garden.”

AMBIGUOUS/AMBIVALENT

Even though the prefix “ambi-” means “both,” “ambiguous” has come to mean “unclear,” “undefined,” while “ambivalent” means “torn between two opposing feelings or views.” If your attitude cannot be defined into two polarized alternatives, then you’re ambiguous, not ambivalent.


AMBIVALENT/INDIFFERENT

If you feel pulled in two directions about some issue, you’re ambivalent about it; but if you have no particular feelings about it, you’re indifferent.


AMONGST/AMONG

Although “amongst” has not dated nearly as badly as “whilst,” it is still less common in standard speech than “among.”


AMORAL/IMMORAL

“Amoral” is a rather technical word meaning “unrelated to morality.” When you mean to denounce someone’s behavior, call it “immoral.”


AMPHITHEATER

The classy way to pronounce the first syllable of this word is “amf-,” but if you choose the more popular “amp-” remember that you still have to include the H after the P when spelling it.


ANCESTOR/DESCENDANT

When Albus Dumbledore said that Lord Voldemort was “the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin,” more than one person noted that he had made a serious verbal bumble; and in later printings of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets author J. K. Rowling corrected that to “last remaining descendant.” People surprisingly often confuse these two terms with each other. Your great-grandmother is your ancestor; you are her descendant.


AND, ALSO

“And also” is redundant; say just “and” or “also.”

AND/OR


The legal phrase “and/or,” indicating that you can either choose between two alternatives or choose both of them, has proved irresistible in other contexts and is now widely acceptable though it irritates some readers as jargon. However, you can logically use it only when you are discussing choices which may or may not both be done: “Bring chips and/or pepsi.” It’s very much overused where simple “or” would do, and it would be wrong to say, “you can get to the campus for this morning’s meeting on a bike and/or in a car.” Choosing one eliminates the possibility of the other, so this isn’t an and/or situation.


ANECDOTE/ANTIDOTE

A humorist relates “anecdotes.” The doctor prescribes “antidotes” for children who have swallowed poison. Laughter may be the best medicine, but that’s no reason to confuse these two with each other.


ANGEL/ANGLE

People who want to write about winged beings from Heaven often miscall them “angles.” A triangle has three angles. The Heavenly Host is made of angels. Just remember the adjectival form: “angelic.” If you pronounce it aloud you’ll be reminded that the E comes before the L.


IN OTHER WORDS

When you reword a statement, you can preface it by saying “in other words.” The phrase is not “another words.”


ANTIHERO

In literature, theater, and film, an antihero is a central character who is not very admirable: weak, lazy, incompetent, or mean-spirited. However, antiheroes are rarely actually evil, and you should not use this word as a synonym for “villain” if you want to get a good grade on your English lit paper.


ANXIOUS/EAGER

Most people use “anxious” interchangeably with “eager,” but its original meaning had to do with worrying, being full of anxiety. Perfectly correct phrases like, “anxious to please” obscure the nervous tension implicit in this word and lead people to say less correct things like “I’m anxious for Christmas morning to come so I can open my presents.” Traditionalists frown on anxiety-free anxiousness. Say instead you are eager for or looking forward to a happy event.

ANY MORE

In the first place, the traditional (though now uncommon) spelling is as two words: “any more” as in “We do not sell bananas any more.” In the second place, it should not be used at the beginning of a sentence as a synonym for “nowadays.” In certain dialects of English it is common to utter phrases like “anymore you have to grow your own if you want really ripe tomatoes,” but this is guaranteed to jolt listeners who aren’t used to it. Even if they can’t quite figure out what’s wrong, they’ll feel that your speech is vaguely clunky and awkward. “Any more” always needs to be used as part of an expression of negation except in questions like “Do you have any more bananas?” Now you won’t make that mistake any more, will you?


ANY TIME

Though it is often compressed into a single word by analogy with “anywhere” and similar words, “any time” is traditionally a two-word phrase.


ANYWAY

“Anyways” at the beginning of a sentence usually indicates that the speaker has resumed a narrative thread: “Anyways, I told Matilda that guy was a lazy before she ever married him.” It also occurs at the end of phrases and sentences, meaning “in any case“: “He wasn’t all that good-looking anyways.” A slightly less rustic quality can be imparted to these sentences by substituting the more formal anyway. Neither expression is a good idea in formal written English. The two-word phrase “any way” has many legitimate uses, however: “Is there any way to prevent the impending disaster?”


ANYWHERE

“Anywhere,” like “somewhere” and “nowhere,” is always one word.


APART/A PART

Paradoxically, the one-word form implies separation while the two-word form implies union. Feuding roommates decide to live apart. Their time together may be a part of their life they will remember with some bitterness.


APIECE/A PIECE

When you mean “each” the expression is “apiece”: these pizzas are really cheap—only ten dollars apiece.” But when “piece” actually refers to a piece of something, the required two-word expression is “a piece ”: “This pizza is really expensive—they sell it by the slice for ten dollars a piece.”


APPALLED

Those of us named Paul are appalled at the misspelling of this word. No U, two L’s please.And it’s certainly not “uphauled.”


APPRAISE/APPRISE

When you estimate the value of something, you appraise it. When you inform people of a situation, you apprise them of it.


APROPOS/APPROPRIATE

“Apropos,” (anglicized from the French phrase “à propos” ) means relevant, connected with what has gone before; it should not be used as an all-purpose substitute for “appropriate.” It would be inappropriate, for example, to say “Your tuxedo was perfectly apropos for the opera gala.” Even though it’s not pronounced, be careful not to omit the final “S” in spelling “apropos.”


ABOUT

Lots of people think it’s just nifty to say things like “We’re having ongoing discussions around the proposed merger.” This strikes some of us as irritating jargon. We feel it should be “discussions about” rather than “around.”


ARTHRITIS

If there were such a word as “arthuritis” it might mean the overwhelming desire to pull swords out of stones; but that ache in your joints is caused by “arthritis.”


ARCTIC

Although some brand names have incorporated this popular error, remember that the Arctic Circle is an arc.


ASCRIBE/SUBSCRIBE

If you agree with a theory or belief, you subscribe to it, just as you subscribe to a magazine.
Ascribe is a very different word. If you ascribe a belief to someone, you are attributing the belief to that person, perhaps wrongly.


AS BEST

You can try to be as good as you can be, but it's not standard to say that you do something “as best as you can.” You need to eliminate the second “as” when “good” changes to “best.” You can try to do something as best you can. You can also do the best that you can (or even better, the best you can).


AS FAR AS *** IS CONCERNED

Originally people used to say things like “As far as music is concerned, I especially love Baroque opera.” Recently they have begun to drop the “is concerned” part of the phrase. Perhaps this shift was influenced by confusion with a similar phrase, “as for.” “As for money, I don’t have any,” is fine; “As far as money, I don’t have any,” is clumsy.



AS FOLLOWS

“My birthday requests are as follows.” This standard phrase doesn’t change number when the items to follow grow from one to many. It’s never correct to say “as follow.”

YET

“As of yet” is a windy and pretentious substitute for plain old English “yet” or “as yet,” an unjustified extension of the pattern in sentences like “as of Friday the 27th of May.”



IN ACCORDANCE WITH

“Enclosed is the shipment of #2 toggle bolts as per your order of June 14” writes the businessman, unaware that not only is the “as” redundant, he is sounding very old-fashioned and pretentious. The meaning is “in accordance with,” or “in response to the request made”; but it is better to avoid these cumbersome substitutes altogether: “Enclosed is the shipment of bolts you ordered June 14.”



AS SUCH

The expression “as such” has to refer to some status mentioned earlier. “The CEO was a former drill sergeant, and as such expected everyone to obey his orders instantly.” In this case “such” refers back to “former drill sergeant.” But often people only imply that which is referred to, as in “The CEO had a high opinion of himself and as such expected everyone to obey his orders instantly.” Here the “such” cannot logically refer back to “opinion.” Replace “as such” with “therefore.”

AS TIME PROGRESSED/AS TIME PASSED

Events may progress in time, but time itself does not progress—it just passes.


ASCARED /SCARED

The misspelling “ascared” is probably influenced by the spelling of the synonym “afraid, ” but the standard English word is “scared.”



ASOCIAL/ANTISOCIAL


Someone who doesn’t enjoy socializing at parties might be described as either “asocial” or “antisocial’; but “asocial” is too mild term to describe someone who commits an antisocial act like planting a bomb. “Asocial” suggests indifference to or separation from society, whereas “anti-social” more often suggests active hostility toward society.



ASPECT/RESPECT

When used to refer to different elements of or perspectives on a thing or idea, these words are closely related, but not interchangeable. It’s “in all respects,” not “in all aspects.” Similarly, one can say “in some respects” but not “in some aspects.” One says “in this respect,” not “in this aspect.” One looks at all “aspects” of an issue, not at all “respects.”



ASSURE/ENSURE/INSURE

To “assure” a person of something is to make him or her confident of it. According to Associated Press style, to “ensure” that something happens is to make certain that it does, and to “insure” is to issue an insurance policy. Other authorities, however, consider “ensure” and “insure” interchangeable. To please conservatives, make the distinction. However, it is worth noting that in older usage these spellings were not clearly distinguished.



AS WELL

No matter how you use it, the expression “as well” is always two words, despite the fact that many people seem to think it should be spelled “aswell.” Examples: “I don’t like plastic trees as well as real ones for Christmas.” “Now that we’ve opened our stockings, let’s open our other presents as well.”


AT ALL

Some of us are irritated when a grocery checker asks “Do you want any help out with that at all?” “At all” is traditionally used in negative contexts: “Can’t you give me any help at all?” The current pattern of using the phrase in positive offers of help unintentionally suggests aid reluctantly given or minimal in extent. As a way of making yourself sound less polite than you intend, it ranks right up there with “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome.”



ATM

“ATM” means “Automated Teller Machine,” so if you say “ATM machine” you are really saying, “Automated Teller Machine machine.”


ATTAIN/OBTAIN

“Attain” means “reach” and “obtain” means “get.” You attain a mountaintop, but obtain a rare baseball card.


ATTRIBUTE/CONTRIBUTE

When trying to give credit to someone, say that you attribute your success to their help, not contribute.


AURAL/ORAL

“Aural” has to do with things you hear, “oral” with things you say.


AUGER/AUGUR

An augur was an ancient Roman prophet, and as a verb the word means “foretell”—“their love augurs well for a successful marriage.” Don’t mix this word up with “auger,” a tool for boring holes. Some people mishear the phrase “augurs well” as “all goes well” and mistakenly use that instead.


AUTOBIOGRAPHY/BIOGRAPHY

When you write the story of your own life, you write an autobiography; but when you write the story of someone else’s life, it’s just a plain old biography.


AVAIDABLE /AVAILABLE

Many people mispronounce and misspell “available” as “avaidable,” whose peculiar spelling seems to be influenced by “avoidable,” a word which has opposite connotations.

“Avaidable” is avoidable; avoid it.


AVENGE/REVENGE

When you try to get vengeance for people who’ve been wronged, you want to avenge them. You can also avenge a wrong itself: “He avenged the murder by taking vengeance on the killer.” Substituting “revenge” for “avenge” in such contexts is very common, but frowned on by some people. They feel that if you seek revenge in the pursuit of justice you want to avenge wrongs: not revenge them.


AVOCATION/VOCATION

Your avocation is just your hobby; don’t mix it up with your job: your vocation.


A WHILE/AWHILE

When “awhile” is spelled as a single word, it is an adverb meaning “for a time” (“stay awhile”); but when “while” is the object of a prepositional phrase, like “Lend me your monkey wrench for a while” the “while” must be separated from the “a.” (But if the preposition “for” were lacking in this sentence, “awhile” could be used in this way: “Lend me your monkey wrench awhile.”)


AXEL/AXLE

An axel is a tricky jump in figure skating named after Axel Paulsen.The center of a wheel is its axle.

__________________
Marwatone.

B

BACKWARD/BACKWARDS

As an adverb, either word will do: “put the shirt on backward” or “put the shirt on backwards.” However, as an adjective, only “backward” will do: “a backward glance.” When in doubt, use “backward.”


BALL, BAWL

To “bawl” is to cry out loudly, so when you break down in tears you bawl like a baby and when you reprimand people severely you bawl them out. Don’t use “ball” in these sorts of expressions. It has a number of meanings, but none of them have to do with shouting and wailing unless you’re shouting “play ball!”


BASE/BASS

Like Billy the singing bass, things musical are usually “bass”: bass guitars, bass drums, bass clefs. Don’t use the more common word “base” in such contexts.


BASED ON

You can build a structure around a center; but bases go on the bottom of things, so you can’t base something around something else.
Similarly, you can build something off of a starting point, but you can’t base anything off of anything. Something is always based on something else.


BASICALLY

There are “-ly” words and “-ally” words, and you basically just have to memorize which is which. But “basically” is very much overused and is often better avoided in favor of such expressions as “essentially,” “fundamentally.”


BASES

The plural of “basis” is “bases,” pronounced “BAY-sees.”


BAZAAR/BIZARRE

A “bazaar” is a market where miscellaneous goods are sold. “Bizarre,” in contrast, is an adjective meaning “strange,” “weird.”


BEAT/BEAD

In American English when you focus narrowly on something or define it carefully you “get a bead” or “draw a bead” on it. In this expression the term “bead” comes from the former name for the little metal bump on the end of a gun barrel which helped the shooter aim precisely at a target. “Beat” is often mistakenly substituted for “bead” by people who imagine that the expression has something to do with matching the timing of the person or activity being observed, catching up with it.


BUREAUCRACY

The French bureaucrats from whom we get this word worked at their bureaus (desks, spelled bureaux in French) in what came to be known as bureaucracies.


BECK AND CALL

This is a fine example of what linguists call “popular etymology.” People don’t understand the origins of a word or expression and make one up based on what seems logical to them. “Beck” is just an old shortened version of “beckon.” If you are at people’s beck and call it means they can summon you whenever they want: either by gesture (beck) or speech (call).


BEHAVIORS

“Behavior” has always referred to patterns of action, including multiple actions, and did not have a separate plural form until social scientists created it. Unless you are writing in psychology, sociology, anthropology, or a related field, it is better to avoid the use of “behaviors” in your writing.


BECAUSE

Using “being that” to mean “because” is nonstandard, as in “Being that the bank robber was fairly experienced, it was surprising that he showed the teller his ID card when she asked for it.” “Being as how” is even worse. If “because” or “since” are too simple for your taste, you could use “given that” or “in that” instead.


BELIEF/BELIEVE

If you have it, it’s a belief; if you do it, you believe. People can’t have religious “believes”; they have religious beliefs.


BELIEF IN

You may have a positive attitude toward an idea, but you have a belief in it.


TABLE BELOW

When calling your readers’ attention to an illustration or table further on in a text, the proper word order is not “the below table” but “the table below.”


BEMUSE/AMUSE

When you bemuse someone, you confuse them, and not necessarily in an entertaining way. Don’t confuse this word with “amuse.”


BENEFACTOR/BENEFICIARY

Benefactors give benefits; beneficiaries receive them. We expect to hear of generous benefactors and grateful beneficiaries.


BESIDE/BESIDES

“Besides” can mean “in addition to” as in “besides the puppy chow, Spot scarfed up the filet mignon I was going to serve for dinner.” “Beside,” in contrast, usually means “next to.” “I sat beside Cheryl all evening, but she kept talking to Jerry instead.” Using “beside” for “besides,” won’t usually get you in trouble; but using “besides” when you mean "next to” will.


BETWEEN

“Between 1939 to 1945” is obviously incorrect to most people—it should be “between 1939 and 1945”—but the error is not so obvious when it is written thus: “between 1939-1949.” In this case, the “between” should be dropped altogether. Also incorrect are expressions like “there were between 15 to 20 people at the party.” This should read “between 15 and 20 people.”


BETWEEN YOU AND ME

“Between you and me” is preferred in Standard English. Some people use Between you and I, which is not preferred.

BEYOND THE PALE

A pale is originally a stake of the kind which might make up a palisade, or enclosure. The uncontrolled territory outside was then “beyond the pale.” The expression “beyond the pale” came to mean “bizarre, beyond proper limits”; but people who don’t understand the phrase often alter the last word to “pail.”


BIAS/BIASED

A person who is influenced by a bias is biased. The expression is not “they’re bias,” but “they’re biased.” Also, many people say someone is “biased toward” something or someone when they mean biased against. To have a bias toward something is to be biased in its favor.


BICEPS

A biceps is a single muscle with two attaching tendons at one end. Although “bicep” without the S is often used in casual speech, this spelling is frowned on in medical and anatomical contexts.


BIWEEKLY/SEMIWEEKLY

Technically, a biweekly meeting occurs every two weeks and a semiweekly one occurs twice a week. The same is true of “bimonthly” and “semimonthly.”


BLATANT

The classic meaning of “blatant” is “noisily conspicuous,” but it has long been extended to any objectionable obviousness. A person engaging in blatant behavior is usually behaving in a highly objectionable manner. Unfortunately, many people nowadays think that “blatant” simply means “obvious” and use it in a positive sense, as in “Kim wrote a blatantly brilliant paper.” Use “blatant” or “blatantly” only when you think the people you are talking about should be ashamed of themselves.


BLOCK/BLOC

“Block” has a host of uses, including as the spelling in the phrase “block of time.” But for groups of people and nations, use the French spelling bloc: “bloc of young voters,” “Cold War-era Eastern bloc of nations.” Don’t be confused by punning names for groups and Web sites like “Writer’s Bloc.”


BOARDERS/BORDERS

Boarders are residents in a boarding house or school paying for their room and board (food), fighters who board ships, or more recently, people who go snowboarding a lot. You can also board animals, though usually only people are called “boarders.”
All uses having to do with boundaries and edges are spelled “border.”


BONA FIDE

Bona fide is a Latin phrase meaning “in good faith,” most often used to mean “genuine” today. It is often misspelled as if it were the past tense of an imaginary verb: “bonafy.”


BORED WITH

When you get tired of something you are bored with it (not of it).


BORROW/LOAN

In some dialects it is common to substitute “borrow” for “loan” or “lend,” as in “borrow me that hammer of yours, will you, John?” In standard English the person providing an item can loan it; but the person receiving it borrows it.


BORROW FROM

In some dialects you can borrow five dollars off a friend; but in standard English you borrow the money from a friend.

BOTH/EACH

There are times when it is important to use “each” instead of “both.” Few people will be confused if you say “I gave both of the boys a baseball glove,” meaning “I gave both of the boys baseball gloves” because it is unlikely that two boys would be expected to share one glove; but you risk confusion if you say “I gave both of the boys $50.” It is possible to construe this sentence as meaning that the boys shared the same $50 gift. “I gave each of the boys $50” is clearer.


BOUGHT/BROUGHT

If you pay for something, you’ve bought it; if you bring something you’ve brought it. These two words are probably interchanged most often out of mere carelessness. A spelling checker won’t catch the switch, so watch out for it.


BOUGHT

“Bought,” not “boughten,” is the past tense of “buy.” “Store-bought,” a colloquial expression for “not home-made,” is already not formal English; but it is not improved by being turned into “store-boughten.”


BOUNDS

A leaky ball may be out of bounce, but when it crosses the boundary line off the basketball court or football field it goes out of bounds. Similarly, any action or speech that goes beyond proper limits can be called “out of bounds.”


BUOYANT

Buoys are buoyant. In the older pronunciation of “buoyant” as “bwoyant” this unusual spelling made more sense. Now that the pronunciation has shifted to “boyant” we have to keep reminding ourselves that the U comes before the O. The root noun, however, though often pronounced “boy” is more traditionally pronounced “BOO-ee.”


BRAINCHILD

Some people misuse “brainchild,” as in “Steve Jobs is the brainchild behind the iPhone.” A brainchild is not a person, but the child (product) of someone’s brain. So the iPhone is the brainchild of Steve Jobs.


BRAKE/BREAK

You brake to slow down; if your brakes fail and you drive through a plate-glass window, you will break it.


BROUGHT

In some dialects the past tense of “bring” is “brang” and “brung” is the past participle; but in standard English both are “brought.”


BREACH/BREECH

Substitute a K for the CH in “breach” to remind you that the word has to do with breakage: you can breach (break through) a dam or breach (violate the terms of) a contract. As a noun, a breach is something broken off or open, as in a breach in a military line during combat.
“Breech” however, refers to rear ends, as in “breeches” (slang spelling “britches” ). Thus “breech cloth,” or “breech-loading gun.”


BREATH/BREATHE

When you need to breathe, you take a breath. “Breathe” is the verb, “breath” the noun.


BRING/TAKE

When you are viewing the movement of something from the point of arrival, use “bring”: “When you come to the potluck, please bring a green salad.” Viewing things from the point of departure, you should use “take“: “When you go to the potluck, take a bottle of juice.”


BRITAIN/BRITON

A British person is a Briton; only the country can be referred to as “Britain.”


BROACH/BROOCH

A decorative pin is a “brooch” even though it sounds like “broach”—a quite different word. Although some dictionaries now accept the latter spelling for jewelry, you risk looking ignorant to many readers if you use it.


BROKEN

When you break something, it’s broken, not “broke,” though a person or organization which has run out of money can be said in informal speech to be “broke.” Otherwise, use “broke” only as the simple past tense of “break,” without a helping verb: “Azfar broke the record,” but “The record was broken by Azfar.”


BRUNT/BUTT

A person who is the target of jokers is the butt of their humor (from an old meaning of the word “butt”: target for shooting at). But the object of this joking has to bear the brunt of the mockery (from an old word meaning a sharp blow or attack). A person is never a brunt. The person being attacked receives the brunt of it.


BRUSSELS SPROUT

These tiny cabbage-like vegetables are named after the Belgian city of Brussels, which has an “S” on the end. The correct spelling is “brussels sprout.”


BUILD ON

You build on your earlier achievements; you don’t build off of them.


BULLION/BOUILLON

Gold bricks are bullion. Boil down meat stock to get bouillon. It’s an expensive mistake to confuse bullion with bouillon in a recipe.


BULLY PULPIT

We occasionally still use the old positive meaning of the word “bully” when congratulating somebody (sincerely or sarcastically) by saying “Bully for you!” A century ago “bully” meant “good,” “great.”
That’s why Theodore Roosevelt called the American presidency a “bully pulpit,” meaning that it provided him an outstanding platform from which to preach his ideas. The expression is often misused by writers who mistakenly think it has something to do with preaching at people in a bullying way.


BY/’BYE/BUY

These are probably confused with each other more often through haste than through actual ignorance, but “by” is the common preposition in phrases like “you should know by now.” It can also serve a number of other functions, but the main point here is not to confuse “by” with the other two spellings: “’bye” is an abbreviated form of “goodbye” (preferably with an apostrophe before it to indicate the missing syllable), and “buy” is the verb meaning “purchase.” “Buy” can also be a noun, as in “that was a great buy.” The term for the position of a competitor who advances to the next level of a tournament without playing is a “bye.” All others are “by.”

BY FAR, FAR AND AWAY

You could say that Halloween is by far your favorite holiday, or you can say that it’s far and away your favorite holiday; but if you combine the two expressions and say “by far and away” you’ll annoy some people and puzzle others who can’t figure out why it doesn’t sound quite right.

__________________
Marwatone.

C

CACHE/CACHET

“Cache” comes from the French verb cacher, meaning “to hide,” and in English is pronounced exactly like the word “cash.” But reporters speaking of a cache (hidden hoard) of weapons or drugs often mispronounce it to sound like cachet—“ca-SHAY” —a word with a very different meaning: originally a seal affixed to a document, now a quality attributed to anything with authority or prestige. Rolex watches have cachet.

CALL THE QUESTION

This is more a matter of parliamentary procedure than of correct English, but people are generally confused about what “calling the question” means. They often suppose that it means simply “let’s vote!” and some even imagine that it is necessary to call for the question before a vote may be taken. You even see deferential meeting chairs pleading, “Would someone like to call for the question?”
But “calling the question” when done properly should be a rare occurrence. If debate has dragged on longer than you feel is really warranted, you can “call the question,” at which time the chair has to immediately ask those assembled to vote to determine whether or not debate should be cut off or continue. The motion to call the question is itself not debatable. If two-thirds of those voting agree that the discussion should have died some time ago, they will support the call. Then, and only then, will the vote be taken on the question itself.
Potentially this parliamentary maneuver would be a great way to shut down windy speakers who insist on prolonging a discussion when a clear consensus has already been arrived at; but since so few people understand what it means, it rarely works as intended.

CALLOUS/CALLUSED

Calling someone “callous” is a way of metaphorically suggesting a lack of feeling similar to that caused by calluses on the skin; but if you are speaking literally of the tough build-up on a person’s hand or feet, the word you need is “callused.”

CALM, COOL, AND COLLECTIVE/CALM, COOL, AND COLLECTED

Unless you’re living in an unusually tranquil commune, you wouldn’t be “calm, cool, and collective.” The last word in this traditional phrase is “collected,” in the sense of such phrases as “let me sit down a minute and collect my thoughts.” If you leave out “cool” the last word still has to be “collected.”

Calvary/cavalry

“Calvary,” always capitalized, is the hill on which Jesus was crucified. It means “hill of skulls.” Soldiers mounted on horseback are cavalry.

CAN GOODS/CANNED GOODS

Is there a sign at your grocery store that says “can goods”? It should say “canned goods.”

CANNOT/CAN NOT

These two spellings are largely interchangeable, but by far the most common is “cannot” and you should probably use it except when you want to be emphatic: [b]“No, you can not wash the dog in the Maytag.”

CANON/CANNON

“Canon” used to be such a rare word that there was no temptation to confuse it with “cannon”: a large piece of artillery. The debate over the literary canon (a list of officially-approved works) and the popularity of Pachelbel’s Canon (an imitative musical form related to the common “round”) have changed all that—confusion is rampant. Just remember that the big gun is a “cannon.” All the rest are “canons.” Note that there are metaphorical uses of “cannon” for objects shaped like large guns.

CANVAS/CANVASS

Heavy cloth, whether in the frame of a painting or on the floor of a boxing ring, is canvas, with one S.

To survey ballots or voters is to canvass them, with two S’s.

CAPITAL/CAPITOL

A “capitol” is almost always a building. Cities which serve as seats of government are capitals spelled with an A in the last syllable, as are most other uses of the word as a common noun. The only exceptions are place names alluding to capitol buildings in some way or other, like “Capitol Hill” in DC, Denver, or Seattle (the latter named either after the hill in Denver or in hopes of attracting the Washington State capitol building). Would it help to remember that Congress with an O meets in the Capitol with another O?

CARAT/CARET/CARROT/KARAT

“Carrots” are those crunchy orange vegetables Bugs Bunny is so fond of, but this spelling gets misused for the less familiar words which are pronounced the same but have very different meanings. Precious stones like diamonds are weighed in carats. The same word is used to express the proportion of pure gold in an alloy, though in this usage it is sometimes spelled “karat” (hence the abbreviation “20K gold”). A caret is a proofreader’s mark showing where something needs to be inserted, shaped like a tiny pitched roof. It looks rather like a French circumflex, but is usually distinct from it on modern computer keyboards. Carets are extensively used in computer programming.

CAREEN/CAREER

A truck careening down the road is swerving from side to side as it races along, whereas a truck careering down the road may be simply traveling very fast. But because it is not often clear which meaning a person intends, confusing these two words is not likely to get you into trouble.

CARING

Most people are comfortable referring to “caring parents,” but speaking of a “caring environment” is jargon, not acceptable in formal English. The environment may contain caring people, but it does not itself do the caring.

CAST IN STONE/CAST IN CONCRETE, CARVED IN STONE

People expressing flexibility say that their ideas or rules are “not cast in concrete,” meaning they have not hardened into rigidity. You cast concrete in a mold by pouring it in and letting it set; so the expression can also be “not set in concrete.”

A similar expression is “not carved in stone”.

People frequently mix these two expressions up and say things like “It’s not cast in stone.”


CD-ROM disk/CD-ROM

“CD-ROM” s tands for “compact disc, read-only memory,” so adding another “disc” or “disk” is redundant. The same goes for “DVD” (from “Digital Video Disc” or “Digital Versatile Disc"”—there are non-video versions). Don’t say “give me that DVD disk,” just “give me that DVD.”


CEASAR/CAESAR

Did you know that German “Kaiser” is derived from the Latin “Caesar” and is pronounced a lot more like it than the English version? We’re stuck with our illogical pronunciation, so we have to memorize the correct spelling. (The Russians messed up the pronunciation as thoroughly as the English, with their “Czar.”) Thousands of menus are littered with “Ceasar salads” throughout America which should be “Caesar salads”—named after a restaurateur, not the Roman ruler (but they both spelled their names the same way).


CEMENT/CONCRETE

People in the building trades distinguish cement (the gray powder that comes in bags) from concrete (the combination of cement, water, sand, and gravel which becomes hard enough in your driveway to drive your car on). In contexts where technical precision matters, it’s probably better to speak of a “concrete sidewalk” rather than of a “cement sidewalk.”


CENSOR/CENSURE/SENSOR/CENSER

To censor somebody’s speech or writing is to try to suppress it by preventing it from reaching the public. When guests on network TV utter obscenities, broadcasters practice censorship by bleeping them.

To censure someone, however, is to officially denounce an offender. You can be censured as much for actions as for words. A lawyer who destroyed evidence which would have been unfavorable to his client might be censured by the bar association.

A device which senses any change like changes in light or electrical output is a sensor. Your car and your digital camera contain sensors.

A censer is a church incense burner.


CENTER AROUND/CENTER ON, REVOLVE AROUND

Two perfectly good expressions—“center on” and “revolve around”—get conflated in this nonsensical neologism. When a speaker says his address will “center around the topic of” whatever, my interest level plummets.


CENTER OF ATTRACTION/CENTER OF ATTENTION

“Center of attraction” makes perfect sense, but the standard phrase is “center of attention.”


CENTS

On a sign displaying a cost of twenty-nine cents for something the price can be written as “.29,” as “$.29,” or as “29¢,” but don’t combine the two forms. “.29¢” makes no sense, and “$.29¢” is worse.


CHAI TEA/CHAI

Chai is simply the word for “tea” in Hindi and several other Asian languages. The spicy, milky variety known in India as masala chai is called “chai” in the US Since Americans likely to be attracted by the word “chai” already know it’s a tea-based drink, it’s both redundant and pointless to call the product “chai tea.”


CHALK-FULL/CHOCK-FULL, CHUCK-FULL

Originally a person or thing stuffed to the point of choking was “choke-full.” In modern speech this expression has become “chock-full,” or in less formal American English, “chuck-full.” Chalk has nothing to do with it.


CHAMPAIGN/CHAMPAGNE

Champaign is the name of a city and county in Illinois.

Champagne is a region of France that produces the sparkling wine of this name.


CHECK/CZECH

Pronounce the name of the country which broke away from the former Czechoslovakia to form the Czech Republic as “check,” but don’t spell it that way. Its citizens are Czechs.


CHICANO/LATINO/HISPANIC

“Chicano” means “Mexican-American,” and not all the people denoted by this term like it. When speaking of people living in the U.S. from various other Spanish-speaking countries, “Chicano” is an error for “Latino” or “Hispanic.” Only “Hispanic” can include people with a Spanish as well as with a Latin American heritage; and some people of Latin American heritage object to it as ignoring the Native American element in that population. Only “Latino” could logically include Portuguese-speaking Brazilians, though that is rarely done.


CHRISPY/CRISPY

There are a lot of menus, signs, and recipes out there featuring “chrispy chicken.” Is this misspelling influenced by the “CH” in “chicken” or the pattern in other common words like “Christmas”? At any rate, the proper spelling is “crispy.”


CHOOSE/CHOSE

You chose tequila last night; you choose aspirin this morning. “Chose” is the past tense, “choose” the present.


CHUNK/CHUCK

In casual conversation, you may get by with saying “Chuck [throw] me that monkey wrench, will you?” But you will mark yourself as illiterate beyond mere casualness by saying instead “Chunk me that wrench.” This is a fairly common substitution in some dialects of American English.


CHURCH

Catholics routinely refer to their church as the Church, with a capital “C.” This irritates the members of other churches, but is standard usage. When “Church” stands by itself (that is, not as part of a name like “First Methodist Church”) you should normally capitalize it only to mean “Roman Catholic Church.” Note that protestant theologians and other specialists in religion do refer to the whole body of Christians as “the Church,” but this professional usage is not common in ordinary writing.


CITE/SITE/SIGHT

You cite the author in an endnote; you visit a Web site or the site of the crime, and you sight your brother running toward you in slow motion.


CLASSIC/CLASSICAL

“Classical” usually describes things from ancient Greece or Rome, or things from analogous ancient periods like classical Sanskrit poetry. The exception is classical music, which in the narrow sense is late 18th- and 19th-century music by the likes of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, and in the broader sense formal concert music of any period in the West or traditional formal music from other cultures, like classical ragas.

“Classic” has a much looser meaning, describing things that are outstanding examples of their kind, like a classic car or even a classic blunder.


CLEANUP/CLEAN UP

“Cleanup” is usually a noun: “the cleanup of the toxic waste site will cost billions of dollars.” “Clean” is a verb in the phrase “clean up”: “You can go to the mall after you clean up your room.”

CLICK/CLIQUE

Students lamenting the division of their schools into snobbish factions often misspell “clique” as “click.” In the original French, “clique” was synonymous with “claque”—an organized group of supporters at a theatrical event who tried to prompt positive audience response by clapping enthusiastically.


CLOSE/CLOTHES

Because the TH in “clothes” is seldom pronounced distinctly, it is often misspelled “close.” Just remember the TH in “clothing,” where it is obvious. Clothes are made of cloth. Rags can also be cloths (without an E).


CLOSE PROXIMITY/CLOSE, IN PROXIMITY TO

A redundancy: “in proximity to” means “close to.”


CLOSED-MINDED/CLOSE-MINDED

“Closed-minded” might seem logical, but the traditional spelling of this expression is “close-minded.” The same is true for “close-lipped” and “close-mouthed.”


COARSE/COURSE

“Coarse” is always an adjective meaning “rough, crude.” Unfortunately, this spelling is often mistakenly used for a quite different word, “course,” which can be either a verb or a noun (with several different meanings).


COFFEE CLUTCH/COFFEE KLATSCH, COFFEE KLATCH

“Coffee klatsch” comes from German Kafeeklatsch meaning “coffee chat.” This is a compound word of which only one element has been translated, with the other being left in its original German spelling.

Many people anglicize the spelling further to “coffee klatch” or “coffee clatch.” Either one is less sophisticated than “coffee klatsch,” but not too likely to cause raised eyebrows.

“Coffee clutch” is just a mistake except when used as a deliberate pun to label certain brands of coffee-cup sleeves or to name a cafe.


COLD SLAW/COLE SLAW

The popular salad made of shredded cabbage was originally “cole slaw,” from the Dutch for “cabbage salad.” Because it is served cold, Americans have long supposed the correct spelling to be “cold slaw”; but if you want to sound more sophisticated go with the original.


COLLABORATE/CORROBORATE

People who work together on a project collaborate (share their labor); people who support your testimony as a witness corroborate (strengthen by confirming) it.


COLLAGE/COLLEGE

You can paste together bits of paper to make a collage, but the institution of higher education is a college.


COLOMBIA/COLUMBIA

Although both are named after Columbus, the U.S. capital is the District of Columbia, whereas the South American country is Colombia.


COME WITH

In some American dialects it is common to use the phrase “come with” without specifying with whom, as in “We’re going to the party. Want to come with?” This sounds distinctly odd to the majority of people, who would expect “come with us.”


COMPANY NAMES WITH APOSTROPHES

Some company names which have a possessive form use an apostrophe before the S and some don’t: “McDonald’s” does and “Starbucks” doesn’t. “Macy’s” idiosyncratically uses a star for its apostrophe. Logo designers often feel omitting the apostrophe leads to a cleaner look, and there’s nothing you can do about it except to remember which is standard for a particular company. But people sometimes informally add an S to company names with which they are on familiar terms: “I work down at the Safeway’s now” (though in writing, the apostrophe is likely to be omitted). This is not standard usage.


COMPARE AND CONTRAST/COMPARE

Here’s a chance to catch your English teacher in a redundancy! To compare two things is to note their similarities and their differences. There’s no need to add “and contrast.”


COMPARE TO/COMPARE WITH

These are sometimes interchangeable, but when you are stressing similarities between the items compared, the most common word is “to”: “She compared his home-made sweater to factory ones.” If you are examining both similarities and differences, use “with”: “The teacher compared Steve’s exam with Robert’s to see whether they had cheated.”

COMPLEMENT/COMPLIMENT

Originally these two spellings were used interchangeably, but they have come to be distinguished from each other in modern times. Most of the time the word people intend is “compliment": nice things said about someone ("She paid me the compliment of admiring the way I shined my shoes.”). “Complement,” much less common, has a number of meanings associated with matching or completing. Complements supplement each other, each adding something the others lack.


COMPLEMENTARY/COMPLIMENTARY

When paying someone a compliment like “I love what you’ve done with the kitchen!” you’re being complimentary. A free bonus item is also a complimentary gift. But items or people that go well with each other are complementary.

In geometry, complementary angles add up to 90°, whereas supplementary ones add up to 180°.

COMPRISED OF/COMPOSED OF

Although “comprise” is used primarily to mean “to include,” it is also often stretched to mean “is made up of”—a meaning that some critics object to. The most cautious route is to avoid using “of” after any form of “comprise” and substitute “is composed of” in sentences like this: “Jimmy’s paper on Marxism was composed entirely of sentences copied off the Marx Brothers Home Page.”


CONCENSUS/CONSENSUS

You might suppose that this word had to do with taking a census of the participants in a discussion, but it doesn’t. It is a good old Latin word that has to do with arriving at a common sense of the meeting, and the fourth letter is an “S.”


CONCERNING/WORRISOME, TROUBLING

People commonly say of things that are a cause for concern that they are “concerning”: “My brother's affection for his pet rattlesnake is concerning.” This is not standard English. There are many better words that mean the same thing including “worrisome,” “troubling,” and “alarming.”

__________________
Marwatone.

CONCERTED EFFORT

One cannot make a “concerted effort” all by one’s self. To work “in concert” is to work together with others. One can, however, make a concentrated effort. The prefix “con-” means “with.”


CONFLICTED/CONFLICTING FEELINGS

Phrases like “conflicted feelings” or “I feel conflicted” are considered jargon by many, and out of place in formal writing. Use “I have conflicting feelings” instead, or write “I feel ambivalent.”


CONFUSIONISM/CONFUCIANISM

Confucius is the founder of Confucianism. His name is not spelled “Confucious,” and his philosophy is not called “Confusionism.” When you spot the confusion in the latter term, change it quickly to “Confucianism.”


CONGRADULATIONS/CONGRATULATIONS

I fear that all too many people are being “congradulated” for graduating from high school who don’t know that this word should be spelled “congratulations.” Try a search for this misspelling on your favorite Web search engine and be prepared to be astonished.


CONNOTE/DENOTE

The literal meaning of a word is its denotation; the broader associations we have with a word are its connotations. People who depend on a thesaurus or a computer translation engine to find synonyms often choose a word with the right denotation but the wrong connotations.

“Determined” denotes stubbornness; but it connotes a wise adherence to purpose.

“Boss” and “Chief Executive Officer” (CEO) can refer to the same office; but the first is less admiring and likely to connote the view of employees lower down in the company—nobody wants to be thought of as “bossy.” Higher executives would be more likely to speak admiringly of a “CEO.”

I often write “insufficiently complex” at the bottom of student papers instead of “simple-minded.” Although they denote essentially the same quality, the connotations of the first are less insulting.


CONSCIENCE, CONSCIOUS, CONSCIOUSNESS

Your conscience makes you feel guilty when you do bad things, but your consciousness is your awareness. If you are awake, you are conscious. Although it is possible to speak of your “conscious mind,” you can’t use “conscious” all by itself to mean “consciousness.”


CONSERVATIVISM/CONSERVATISM

The conservative spelling of this word is “conservatism.”


CONTAMINATES/CONTAMINANTS

When run-off from a chemical plant enters the river it contaminates the water; but the go itself consists of contaminants.


CONTINUAL/CONTINUOUS

“Continuous” refers to actions which are uninterrupted: “My upstairs neighbor played his stereo continuously from 6: 00 PM to 3:30 AM.” Continual actions, however, need not be uninterrupted, only repeated: “My father continually urges me to get a job.”


CONTRARY/CONTRAST

The phrases “on the contrary” and “to the contrary” are used to reply to an opposing point. Your friend tells you she is moving to New York and you express surprise because you thought she hated big cities. She replies, “On the contrary, I’ve always wanted to live in an urban area.”

When a distinction is being made that does not involve opposition of this sort, “in contrast” is appropriate. “In New York, you don’t need a car. In Los Angeles, in contrast, you can’t really get along without one, though you won’t need a snow shovel.”

Here’s a simple test: if you could possibly substitute “that’s wrong” the phrase you want is “on the contrary” or “to the contrary.” If not, then use “in contrast.”


CONTRASTS/CONTRASTS WITH

“With” must not be omitted in sentences like this: “Julia’s enthusiasm for rugby contrasts with Cheryl’s devotion to chess.”


CONVERSATE/CONVERSE

“Conversate” is what is called a “back-formation” based on the noun "conversation.” But the verb for this sort of thing is “converse.”


COPYWRITE/COPYRIGHT

You can copyright writing, but you can also copyright a photograph or song. The word has to do with securing rights. Thus, there is no such word as “copywritten”; it’s “copyrighted.”


CORE/CORPS/CORPSE

Apples have cores. A corps is an organization, like the Peace Corps. A corpse is a dead body, a carcass.


COSTUMER/CUSTOMER

Just what would a “costumer service” do? Supply extra-shiny spangles for a Broadway diva’s outfit? But this phrase is almost always a typographical error for “customer service,” and it appears on an enormous number of Web pages. Be careful not to swap the U and O when you type “customer.”


COULD CARE LESS/COULD NOT CARE LESS

Cliches are especially prone to scrambling because they become meaningless through overuse. In this case an expression which originally meant “it would be impossible for me to care less than I do because I do not care at all” is rendered senseless by being transformed into the now-common “I could care less.” Think about it: if you could care less, that means you care some. The original already drips sarcasm, so it’s pointless to argue that the newer version is “ironic.” People who misuse this phrase are just being careless.


COULD OF, SHOULD OF, WOULD OF/COULD HAVE, SHOULD HAVE, WOULD HAVE

This is one of those errors typically made by a person more familiar with the spoken than the written form of English. A sentence like “I would have gone if anyone had given me free tickets” is normally spoken in a slurred way so that the two words “would have” are not distinctly separated, but blended together into what is properly rendered “would’ve.” Seeing that “V” tips you off right away that “would’ve” is a contraction of “would have.” But many people hear “would of” and that’s how they write it. Wrong.

Note that “must of” is similarly an error for “must have.”


COUNCIL/COUNSEL/CONSUL

The first two words are pronounced the same but have distinct meanings. An official group that deliberates, like the Council on Foreign Relations, is a “council”; all the rest are “counsels”: your lawyer, advice, etc. A consul is a local representative of a foreign government.


CRACKER JACKS/CRACKER JACK

“Crackerjack” is an old slang expression meaning “excellent,” and the official name of the popcorn confection is also singular: “Cracker Jack.” People don’t pluralize its rival Poppycock as “Poppycocks,” but they seem to think of the individual popped kernels as the “jacks.” A similarly named candy is “Good and Plenty.” All three have descriptive names describing qualities and shouldn’t be pluralized.


CRAFTS

When referring to vehicles, “craft” is both singular and plural. Two aircraft, many watercraft, etc. Do not add an “S.”

But when referring to hobbies and skills such as “woodcrafts” or “arts and crafts” adding an “S” in the plural form is standard.


CREDIBLE/CREDULOUS

"Credible” means “believable” or “trustworthy.” It is also used in a more abstract sense, meaning something like “worthy”: “She made a credible lyric soprano.” Don’t confuse “credible” with “credulous,” a much rarer word which means “gullible.” “He was incredulous” means “he didn’t believe it” whereas “he was incredible” means “he was wonderful” (but use the latter expression only in casual speech).


CRESCENDO/CLIMAX

When something is growing louder or more intense, it is going through a crescendo (from an Italian word meaning “growing”). Traditionalists object to its use when you mean “climax.” A crescendo of cheers by an enthusiastic audience grows until it reaches a climax, or peak. “Crescendo” as a verb is common, but also disapproved of by many authorities. Instead of “the orchestra crescendos,” write “the orchestra plays a crescendo.”


CREVICE/CREVASSE

Crevices are by definition tiny, like that little crevice between your teeth where the popcorn hulls always get caught. A huge crack in a glacier is given the French spelling: crevasse.


CRICK/CREEK

The dialectical pronunciation and spelling of “creek” as “crick” is very popular in some parts of the US, but the standard pronunciation of the word is the same as that of “creak.”


CRITERIA/CRITERION

There are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms ending in A are constantly mistaken for singular ones. See, for instance, data and media. You can have one criterion or many criteria. Don’t confuse them.


CRITICISM

Beginning literature or art history students are often surprised to learn that in such contexts “criticism” can be a neutral term meaning simply “evaluating a work of literature or art.” A critical article about The Color Purple can be entirely positive about Alice Walker’s novel. Movie critics write about films they like as well as about films they dislike: writing of both kinds is called “criticism.”


CRITIQUE/CRITICIZE

A critique is a detailed evaluation of something. The formal way to request one is “give me your critique,” though people often say informally “critique this"—meaning “evaluate it thoroughly.” But "critique” as a verb is not synonymous with “criticize” and should not be routinely substituted for it. “Josh critiqued my backhand” means Josh evaluated your tennis technique but not necessarily that he found it lacking. “Josh criticized my backhand” means that he had a low opinion of it.

You can write criticism on a subject, but you don’t criticize on something, you just criticize it.


CROWBAR/WRECKING BAR

A crowbar is a straight bar with one end only slightly bent and sharpened into a beak. This beak gave the tool its name, originally just a “crow.”

The tool with the much more pronounced hook on the end—designed for prying loose boards and drawing nails—is properly called a “wrecking bar.”


CRUCIFIX/CROSS

A crucifix is a cross with an image of the crucified Christ affixed to it. Reporters often mistakenly refer to someone wearing a “crucifix” when the object involved is an empty cross. Crucifixes are most often associated with Catholics, empty crosses with Protestants.

CURRANT/CURRENT

“Current” is an adjective having to do with the present time, and can also be a noun naming a thing that, like time, flows: electrical current, currents of public opinion. “Currant” refers only to little fruits.


CURVE YOUR APPETITE/CURB YOUR APPETITE

A “curb” was originally a device used to control an unruly horse. Already in the 18th century people were speaking by analogy of controlling their appetites as “curbing” them. You do not “curve” your hunger, appetite, desires, etc. You curb them.


CURSING THROUGH VEINS/COURSING THROUGH VEINS

To course is to run. The most familiar use of this meaning of the word is in “racecourse”: a place where races are run. When the blood runs strongly through your veins, it courses through them. Metaphorically we speak of strong emotions like fear, exhilaration, and passion as coursing through our veins.

Some people mistakenly substitute “curse” and think these feelings are cursing through their veins. This might make some sort of sense with negative emotions, but note that the expression is also used of positive ones. Stick with coursing.


CUT AND DRY/CUT AND DRIED

Many people mishear the standard expression meaning “set,” “not open to change,” as “cut and dry.” Although this form is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, it is definitely less common in sophisticated writing. The dominant modern usage is “cut and dried.” When used to modify a noun, it must be hyphenated: “cut-and-dried plan.”


CUT AND PASTE/COPY AND PASTE

Because “cut and paste” is a familiar phrase, many people say it when they mean “copy and paste” in a computer context. This can lead to disastrous results if followed literally by an inexpert person. If you mean to tell someone to duplicate something rather than move it, say "copy.” And when you are moving bits of computer information from one place to another the safest sequence is often to copy the original, paste the copy elsewhere, and only then delete (cut) the original.

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Marwatone.

D

DAIRY/DIARY

A common typo that won’t be caught by your spelling checker is swapping “dairy” and “diary.” Butter and cream are dairy products; your journal is your diary.


DAMP SQUID/DAMP SQUIB

Squid are indeed usually damp in their natural environment; but the popular British expression describing a less than spectacular explosion is a “damp squib.”


DERRING-DO/DARING-DO

The expression logically should be “feats of daring-do” because that’s just what it means: deeds of extreme daring. But through a chain of misunderstandings explained in the Oxford English Dictionary, the standard form evolved with the unusual spelling “derring-do,” and “daring-do” is an error.


DATA/DATUM

There are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms ending in A are constantly mistaken for singular ones. “Datum” is so rare now in English that people may assume “data” has no singular form. Many American usage communities, however, use “data” as a singular and some have even gone so far as to invent “datums” as a new plural.

DATELINE/DEADLINE

The word “dateline” is used today mainly to label the bit of text at the top of a printed news story that indicates where and when it was written. But some people confuse it with “deadline,” which is most often the date by which something must be accomplished. You can miss deadlines, meet deadlines, or have to deal with short deadlines— but not datelines.


DEAL

Popular expressions like “not that big a deal” and “what’s the deal?” in which “deal” stands vaguely for something like “situation” are fine in casual spoken English, but inappropriate in formal writing.

Even in casual speech, it’s better to leave out the “of” in “not that big of a deal.”


DEALED/DEALT

The standard past tense of “deal” is not “dealed" but “dealt.” The only exception is the rhyming expression “wheeled and dealed,” which is not formal English.



DEATH NAIL/DEATH KNELL, NAIL IN THE COFFIN

“Death nail” is a result of confusing two expressions with similar meanings.

The first is “death knell.” When a large bell (like a church bell) rings—or tolls—it knells. When a bell is rung slowly to mark the death of someone, it is said to sound the death knell. But “death knell” is more often used figuratively, as in “his arrest for embezzlement sounded the death knell for Rob’s campaign to be state treasurer.”

Another way to describe the final blow that finishes someone or something off is “put the last nail in the coffin,” as in “a huge budget cut put the last nail in the coffin of the city’s plan to erect a statue of the mayor’s dog.” Something not yet fatal but seriously damaging can be said to “drive another nail” in its coffin.


DEBRIEF

“Debrief” has leaked out of the military and national security realms into the business world, where people seem pretty confused about it. When you send people out on missions, you brief them—give them information they’ll need. You give them a briefing. When they come back, you debrief them by asking them what they did and found out. Note that in both cases it’s not the person doing the actual work but the boss or audience that does the briefing and debriefing. But people commonly use “debrief” when they mean “report.”

The verb “brief” comes originally from law, where someone being given a legal brief (instructions on handling a case) can be said to have been briefed.


DAY IN AGE/DAY AND AGE

The expression is “in this day and age;" but it’s a worn-out expression, so you’d be better off writing “these days.”


DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME/DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

The official term is “daylight saving time,” not “savings time.”


DE RIGUEUR

The French phrase de rigueur means “required,” “mandatory” (usually according to custom, etiquette, or fashion). It’s one of those tricky words like “liqueur” with a U before the E and another one after it. It is misspelled in a host of ways (de rigeur, de rigor, derigor, etc.) It is pronounced duh-ree-GUHR. Like other incompletely adopted foreign phrases, it is usually italicized in print.


DECENT/DESCENT/DISSENT

“Decent” (rhymes with “recent”) is used to label actions, things, or people that are respectable, appropriate, satisfactory, or kind.

The word to use when discussing ancestry is “descent” (rhymes with “we sent”). Somebody whose ancestors came from Brazil is of Brazilian descent.

Occasionally this latter word is confused with “dissent,” which means “disagreement.”


DECEPTIVELY

If you say of a soldier that he is “deceptively brave” you might be understood to mean that although he appears cowardly he is actually brave, or that although he appears brave he is actually cowardly. This ambiguity should cause you to be very careful about using “deceptive” and “deceptively” to make clear which meaning you intend.


DECIMATE/ANNIHILATE, SLAUGHTER, ETC.

This comes under the heading of the truly picky. Despite the fact that most dictionaries have caved in, some of us still remember that when the Romans killed one out of every ten (decem) soldiers in a rebellious group as an example to the others, they decimated them. People sensitive to the roots of words are uncomfortably reminded of that ten percent figure when they see the word used instead to mean “annihilate,” “obliterate,” etc. You can usually get away with using “decimate” to mean “drastically reduce in numbers,” but you’re taking a bigger risk when you use it to mean “utterly wipe out.”


DEFENCE/DEFENSE

If you are writing for a British publication, use “defence,” but the American “defense” has the advantages of greater antiquity, similarity to the words from which it was derived, and consistency with words like “defensible.” The pronunciation used in sports which accents the first syllable (“DEE-fense”) should not be used when discussing military, legal, or other sorts of defense.

People in sports use “defense” as a verb meaning “defend against,” as in “the team couldn’t defense that strategy.” Outside of sports talk, “defense” is never a verb.


DEFINATE/DEFINITE

Any vowel in an unstressed position can sometimes have the sound linguists call a “schwa:” “uh.” The result is that many people tend to guess when they hear this sound, but “definite” is definitely the right spelling. Also common are various misspellings of “definitely,” including the bizarre “defiantly.”


DEFAMATION/DEFORMATION

Someone who defames you, seeking to destroy your reputation (making you ill-famed), is engaging in defamation of character. Only if someone succeeded in actually making you a worse person could you claim that they had deformed your character.


DEFUSE/DIFFUSE

You defuse a dangerous situation by treating it like a bomb and removing its fuse; to diffuse, in contrast, is to spread something out: “Oxygen diffuses from the lungs into the bloodstream."


DEGRADE/DENIGRATE/DOWNGRADE

Many people use “downgrade” instead of “denigrate” to mean “defame.” “Downgrade” is entirely different in meaning. When something is downgraded, it is lowered in grade (usually made worse), not just considered worse. “When the president of the company fled to Rio with fifteen million dollars, its bonds were downgraded to junk bond status.” “Degrade” is much more flexible in meaning. It can mean to lower in status or rank (like “downgrade”) or to corrupt or make contemptible; but it always has to do with actual reduction in value rather than mere insult, like “denigrate.” Most of the time when people use “downgrade” they would be better off instead using “insult,” “belittle,” or “sneer at.”

While we’re at it, let’s distinguish between “deprecate,” meaning “disapprove,” and “depreciate,” which, like “downgrade” is not a mere matter of approval or opinion but signifies an actual lowering of value.


DEGREE TITLES

When you are writing phrases like “bachelor’s degree,” “master of arts degree” and “doctor of philosophy degree” use all lower-case spelling. Less formally, these are often abbreviated to “bachelor’s,” “master’s,” and “doctorate”: “I earned my master’s at Washington State University.”

The only time to capitalize the spelled-out forms of degree names is when you are specifying a particular degree’s name: “Master of English Composition.” However the abbreviations BA, MA, and PhD are all capitalized. In modern usage periods are not usually added.

Be careful not to omit the apostrophes where needed. Some schools have adopted a spelling of “Masters” without an apostrophe, and if you work for one of them you may have to adopt this non-standard form for institutional work; but usage guides uniformly recommend the apostrophe.

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Marwatone.

DEJA VU


In French déjà vu means literally “already seen” and usually refers to something excessively familiar. However the phrase, sans accent marks, was introduced into English mainly as a psychological term indicating the sensation one experiences when feeling that something has been experienced before when this is in fact not the case. If you feel strongly that you have been previously in a place where you know for a fact you have never before been, you are experiencing a sensation of deja vu. English usage is rapidly sliding back toward the French meaning, confusing listeners who expect the phrase to refer to a false sensation rather than a factual familiarity, as in “Congress is in session and talking about campaign finance reform, creating a sense of deja vu.” In this relatively new sense, the phrase has the same associations as the colloquial “same old, same old” (increasingly often misspelled “sameo, sameo” by illiterates).

“It seems like it’s deja vu all over again,” is a redundantly mangled saying usually attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra.


DEMOCRAT/DEMOCRATIC

Certain Republican members of Congress have played the childish game in recent years of referring to the opposition as the “Democrat Party,” hoping to imply that Democrats are not truly democratic. They succeed only in making themselves sound ignorant, and so will you if you imitate them. The name is “Democratic Party.” After all, we don’t say “Republic Party.”


DEMURE/DEMUR

A quiet, reserved person is demure. Its second syllable begins with a kittenish “mew”: “de-MYURE.”

The verb demur has several meanings, but is now used in a sense derived from law to describe the action of someone who resists acting as requested or answering a question. Its second syllable sounds like the “mur” in “murmur”: “duh-MURR.” Note that it is not spelled with a final E. It is used mainly in legal contexts and in journalism, and is unfamiliar enough to many people that they mix it up with the adjective demure. An example of correct use: “If they ask me to make Danish pastries again, I’m going to demur.” Demurs are usually mild, not loud, vehement refusals.


DENIED OF/DENIED

If you are deprived of your rights you are denied them, but that’s no reason to confuse these two expressions with each other. You can’t be “denied of” anything.


DEPENDS/DEPENDS ON

In casual speech, we say “it depends who plays the best defense,” but in writing follow “depends” with “on.”


DEPRAVATION/DEPRIVATION

There is a rare word spelled “depravation” which has to do with something being depraved, corrupted, perverted.

But the spelling you’re more likely to need is “deprivation,” which has to do with being deprived of desirable things like sleep or chocolate.


DEPRECIATE/DEPRECATE

To depreciate something is to actually make it worse, whereas to deprecate something is simply to speak or think of it in a manner that demonstrates your low opinion of it. People who make unflattering jokes or comments about themselves are self-deprecating.


DESIRABLE/DESIROUS

When you desire something, you are desirous of it. The thing you desire is desirable.


DERISORY/DERISIVE

Although “derisory” and “derisive” can both mean “laughable,” there are sometimes subtle distinctions made between them. “Derisory” is most often used to mean “worthy of being laughed at,” especially in the sense “laughably inadequate”: “Ethan made a derisory effort to clean the cat box while talking on his cell phone.” Sneering laughter is usually described as “derisive.”

You might more unusually speak of an effort as “derisive,” but most people would think it odd to use “derisory” to describe the tone of someone’s laughter.


DESERT/DESSERT

Perhaps these two words are confused partly because “dessert” is one of the few words in English with a double “S” pronounced like “Z" ("brassiere” is another). That impoverished stretch of sand called a desert can only afford one “S.” In contrast, that rich gooey extra thing at the end of the meal called a dessert indulges in two of them. The word in the phrase “he got his just deserts” is confusingly pronounced just like “desserts.”


DEVIANT/DEVIATE

The technical term used by professionals to label someone whose behavior deviates from the norm is “deviate,” but if you want to tease a perv friend you may as well call him a “deviant”—that’s what almost everybody else says. In your sociology class, however, you might want to stick with “deviate.”


DEVICE/DEVISE

“Device” is a noun. A can-opener is a device. “Devise” is a verb. You can devise a plan for opening a can with a sharp rock instead. Only in law is “devise” properly used as a noun, meaning something deeded in a will.


DEVOTE, DEVOUT

If you are devoted to a particular religion, you are devout, not devote. You may be a devout Christian, a devout Catholic, a devout Jew, a devout Buddhist, etc.

“Devote” (with no final D) is a verb, something you do rather than something you are. You may devote a lot of your time to working at a food bank, or building model airplanes, for instance.


DEW/DO/DOO/DUE

The original pronunciation of “dew” and “due” rhymed with “pew”, but American pronunciation has shifted toward sounding all of these words alike, and the result is much confusion in standard phrases. On a damp morning there is dew on the grass. Doo on the grass is the result of failing to pick up after your dog. The most common confusion is substituting “do” for “due” (owing) in phrases like “credit is due,” “due to circumstances,” and “bill is due.”

“Do” is normally a verb, but it can be a noun with meanings like “party,” “hairdo,” and “dos and don’ts.” Note that in the last phrase it is not necessary to insert an apostrophe before the “S,” and that if you choose to do so you’ll wind up with two apostrophes awkwardly close together: “don’t’s.”


DIALOGUE/DISCUSS

“Dialogue” as a verb in sentences like “the Math Department will dialogue with the Dean about funding” is commonly used jargon in business and education settings, but abhorred by traditionalists. Say “have a dialogue” or “discuss” instead.


DIETIES/DEITIES

This one is always good for a laugh. The gods are deities, after the Latin deus, meaning “god.”


DIFFER/VARY

“Vary” can mean “differ,” but saying “our opinions vary” makes it sound as if they were changing all the time when what you really mean is “our opinions differ.” Pay attention to context when choosing one of these words.


DIFFERENT THAN/DIFFERENT FROM/TO

Americans say “Scuba-diving is different from snorkeling,” the British often say “different to” (though most UK style guides disapprove), and those who don’t know any better say “different than.” However, though conservatives object, you can usually get away with “different than” if a full clause follows: “Your pashmina shawl looks different than it used to since the cat slept on it.”



DIFFERENTLY ABLED, PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED/DISABLED

These rather awkward euphemisms for “disabled” have attracted widespread scorn and mockery. They have achieved some limited currency, but it’s generally safer to use “disabled.”


DIGESTIVE TRACK/DIGESTIVE TRACT

It may seem logical to think of your guts as forming a track through your body, but the correct spelling is “digestive tract.”


DILEMMA/DIFFICULTY

A dilemma is a difficult choice, not just any difficulty or problem. Whether to invite your son’s mother to his high school graduation when your current wife hates her is a dilemma. Cleaning up after a hurricane is just a problem, though a difficult one.

“Dilemna” is a common misspelling of “dilemma.”


DIKE/DYKE

In the US the barrier preventing a flood is called a “dike." “Dyke” is a term for a type of lesbian, generally considered insulting but adopted as a label for themselves by some lesbians.


DIRE STRAIGHTS/DIRE STRAITS

When you are threading your way through troubles as if you were traversing a dangerously narrow passage you are in “dire straits.” The expression and the band by that name are often transformed by those who don’t understand the word “strait” into “dire straights.”


DIRECTIONS

Compass points like “north,” “east,” “south,” and “west” are not capitalized when they are mere directions: the geese fly south for the winter and the sun sets in the west.

Capitalize these words only in the names of specific places identifiable on a map: Alabama is in the Deep South (the region which includes the Southern States) and Santa Claus lives at the North Pole.

The same pattern holds for the adjectival forms. It’s a southern exposure, but Southern hospitality. Note that "The Westward Movement" (now often called the “Westward Expansion”) refers to a specific series of migrations toward a specific region in the western part of the US.


DISASTEROUS/DISASTROUS

“Disastrous” has only three syllables, and is pronounced diz-ASS-truss. Because of its relationship to the word “disaster” many people insert an extra second syllable when speaking the word aloud, or even when writing it, resulting in “disasterous.” Not a disastrous error, but it can be an embarrassing one.


DISBURSE/DISPERSE/DISASTROUS

You disburse money by taking it out of your purse (French “bourse”) and distributing it. If you refuse to hand out any money, the eager mob of beggars before you may disperse (scatter).


DISC/DISK

“Compact disc” is spelled with a “C” because that’s how its inventors decided it should be rendered, but a computer hard disk is spelled with a “K” In modern technological contexts, “disks” usually reproduce data magnetically, while “discs” (CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.) reproduce it “optically,” with lasers.


DISCONCERNING/CONCERNING, DISCERNING

This odd word looks like it might be an error for “disconcerting,” but people who use it seem mostly to mean something like “discerning” (perceiving) or “concerning” (in the sense “of concern,” itself widely considered an error).



DISCREET/DISCRETE

The more common word is “discreet,” meaning “prudent, circumspect”: “When arranging the party for Agnes, be sure to be discreet; we want her to be surprised.” “Discrete” means “separate, distinct”: “He arranged the guest list into two discrete groups: meat-eaters and vegetarians.” Note how the T separates the two Es in “discrete.”


DISCRETION IS THE BETTER PART OF VALOR

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I when Prince Hal finds the cowardly Falstaff pretending to be dead on the battlefield, the prince assumes he has been killed. After the prince leaves the stage, Falstaff rationalizes “The better part of Valour, is Discretion; in the which better part, I haue saued my life” (spelling and punctuation from the First Folio, Act 5, Scene 3, lines 3085–3086).

Falstaff is saying that the best part of courage is caution, which we are to take as a joke. Truly courageous people may be cautious, but caution is not the most important characteristic of courage.

This passage is loosely alluded to in the saying “discretion is the better part of valor,” which is usually taken to mean that caution is better than rash courage or that discretion is the best kind of courage. Only Shakespeare scholars are likely to be annoyed by this usage.

However, those who take “discretion” in this context to mean the quality of being discreet—cautiously quiet—are more likely to annoy their readers.

Much more of a problem are misspellings like “descretion,” “disgression,” “digression,” and “desecration.”


DISCUSSED/DISGUST

“Discussed” is the past tense of the verb “discuss.” Don’t substitute for it the noun “disgust” in such sentences as “The couple’s wedding plans were thoroughly discussed.”


DISEASE NAMES

The medical profession has urged since the 1970s the dropping of the possessive S at the end of disease names which were originally named after their discoverers (“eponymous disease names”). The possessive is thought to confuse people by implying that the persons named actually had the disease. Thus “Ménière’s syndrome” became “Ménière syndrome,” Bright’s disease” became “Bright disease” and “Asperger’s syndrome“ became “Asperger syndrome.”

But the public has not always followed this rule. “Alzheimer disease“ is still widely called “Alzheimer’s disease” or just “Alzheimer’s.” Only among professionals is this really considered a mistake.

Lyme disease should never be written “Lyme’s disease” because it is not named after a person at all, but after the village of Lyme, Connecticut.


DISGRESSION/DISCRETION

Discretion has to do with being discreet or with making choices. A lot of people hear it and get influenced by the quite different word “digression” which is used to label instances of people wandering off the point. The result is the nonword “disgression.” The expression is “you can do it at your own discretion.”

Also wrong but less common—and pretty funny—is “at your own desecration.”


DISINTERESTED/UNINTERESTED

A bored person is uninterested. Do not confuse this word with the much rarer disinterested, which means “objective, neutral.”


DISPOSE/DISPOSE OF

If you want to get rid of your stuff you may dispose of it on Freecyle or Craigslist. A great many people mistakenly dispose of the “of” in this phrase, writing sentences like “Dispose your unwanted mail in the recycling bin.” You can also use “dispose of” to mean “deal with” (“you can dispose of your royalties as you see fit”) or “demolish an opposing argument” (“the defense attorney disposed of the prosecutor’s case in less than five minutes”).

“Dispose” without “of” works differently, depending on the meaning. Whereas to dispose of your toy soldiers you might take them to a pawnshop, to dispose your toy soldiers you would arrange them for battle. Most politicians are disposed to talk at length.


DISREMEMBER/FORGET

"Disremember” is an old synonym for “forget,” but it is often considered dialectical today, not standard English.


DISRESPECT

The hip-hop subculture has revived the use of “disrespect” as a verb. In the meaning to have or show disrespect, this usage has been long established, if unusual. However, the new street meaning of the term, ordinarily abbreviated to “dis,” is slightly but significantly different: to act disrespectfully, or—more frequently—insultingly toward someone. In some neighborhoods “dissing” is defined as merely failing to show sufficient terror in the face of intimidation. In those neighborhoods, it is wise to know how the term is used, but an applicant for a job who complains about having been “disrespected” elsewhere is likely to incur further disrespect . . . and no job. Street slang has its uses, but this is one instance that has not become generally accepted.


DISSEMBLE/DISASSEMBLE

People who dissemble are being dishonest, trying to hide what they are really up to. This is an uncommon word, often misused when “disassemble” is meant. People who disassemble something take it apart—they are doing the opposite of assembling it.



Source: Common Errors in English Usage

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Marwatone.

DOGMA/DOCTRINE

Although in many contexts “dogma” and “doctrine” are used interchangeably, in technical theological contexts “dogma” has a narrower meaning: a doctrine which has been given official status by a religious body. Especially in the Catholic Church dogmas are required beliefs whereas many other less firmly established beliefs are only doctrines.

Nonspecialists writing about religion often ignore the distinction, and call a doctrine which has not received such official status a “dogma.” Since only some doctrines are dogmas but all dogmas are doctrines and since “dogma” often has negative connotations, it’s safer in non-technical religious contexts to stick with “doctrine.”


DO RESPECT/DUE RESPECT

When you preface your critical comments by telling people “with all due respect” you are claiming to give them the respect they are due—that which is owed them. Many folks misunderstand this phrase and misspell it “all do respect” or even “all-do respect.” You shouldn’t use this expression unless you really do intend to be as polite as possible; all too often it’s used merely to preface a deliberate insult.


DO’S AND DON’TS/DOS AND DON’TS

One unusual use of apostrophes is to mark plurals of words when they are being treated as words, as in “pro’s and con’s,” although plain old “pros and cons” without apostrophes is fine. But “don’t” already has one apostrophe in it, and adding another looks awkward in the phrase “do’s and don’t’s,” so people wind up being inconsistent and writing “do’s and don’ts.” This makes no logical sense. You can also skip the extra apostrophes and write “dos and don’ts,” unless you’re afraid that “dos” will remind your readers of MS-DOS (but that unlamented operating system is fast becoming a distant memory).


DOCTORIAL/ DOCTORAL

“Doctoral” is occasionally misspelled—and often mispronounced—"doctorial.”


DOESN’T SUPPOSED TO/ ISN’T SUPPOSED TO

You aren’t supposed to say “doesn’t supposed to.” The expression is “isn’t supposed to.”


DOLLY/HANDCART

A dolly is a flat platform with wheels on it, often used to make heavy objects mobile, or by an auto mechanic lying on one under a car body. Many people mistakenly use this word to designate the vertically oriented two-wheeled device with upright handles and horizontal lip. This latter device is more properly called a “handcart” or “hand truck.”


DOMINATE/DOMINANT

The verb is “dominate” the adjective is “dominant.” The dominant chimpanzee tends to dominate the others.


DONE/DID

The past participle of “do” is “done,” so it’s not “they have did what they promised not to do” but “they have done. . . .” But without a helping verb, the word is “did.” Nonstandard: “I done good on the test.” Standard: “I did well on the test.”


DONUT/DOUGHNUT

“Donut” is popular in advertising, but for most purposes spell it “doughnut.”


DOUBLE NEGATIVES

It is not true, as some assert, that double negatives are always wrong, but the pattern in formal speech and writing is that two negatives equal a mild positive: “he is a not untalented guitarist” means he has some talent. In informal speech, however, double negatives are intended as negatives: “he ain’t got no talent” means he is a lousy musician. People are rarely confused about the meaning of either pattern, but you do need to take your audience into account when deciding which pattern to follow.

One of the funniest uses of the literary double negative is Douglas Adams’ description of a machine dispensing “a substance almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.”


DOUBLE POSSESSIVE

In “that dog of Bob’s is ugly,“ there are two indicators of possession: “of” and “Bob’s.” Although this sort of expression is common in casual speech, in formal writing it’s better to stick with just one: “Bob’s dog is ugly.”


DOUBT THAT/DOUBT WHETHER/DOUBT IF

If you really doubt that something is true (suspect that it’s false), use “doubt that”: “I doubt that Fred has really lost 25 pounds.” If you want to express uncertainty, use “whether”: “I doubt whether we’ll see the comet if the clouds don’t clear soon.” “Doubt if” can be substituted for “doubt whether,” though it’s considered somewhat more casual, but don’t use it when you mean “doubt that.”


DOUBTLESSLY/ DOUBTLESS

Leave off the unnecessary “-ly” in “doubtless.”


DOUSE/DOWSE

You douse a fire with water; you dowse for water with a dowsing rod. Unless you are discussing the latter practice, the word you want is “douse.”


DOVE/DIVED

Although “dove” is a common form of the past tense of “dive,” a few authorities consider “dived” preferable in formal writing.


DOWNFALL/DRAWBACK

A downfall is something that causes a person’s destruction, either literal or figurative: “expensive cars were Fred’s downfall: he spent his entire inheritance on them and went bankrupt.” A drawback is not nearly so drastic, just a flaw or problem of some kind, and is normally applied to plans and activities, not to people: “Gloria’s plan to camp on Mosquito Island had just one drawback: she had forgotten to bring her insect repellent.” Also, “downfall” should not be used when the more moderate “decline” is meant; reserve it for ruin, not to designate simple deterioration.


DOWNLOAD/UPLOAD

Most people do far more downloading (transferring files to their computers) than uploading (transferring files from their computers), so it’s not surprising that they often use the first word for the second word’s meaning. You don’t download the video of your birthday party to YouTube—you upload it.


DOZED/DOSED

You can be dosed with a drug (given a dose of it), but if it makes you drowsy you may find you have dozed off.


DOZEN OF/DOZEN

Why isn’t it “a dozen of eggs” when it’s standard to say “a couple of eggs”? The answer is that “dozen” is a precise number word, like “two” or “hundred”; we say “two eggs,” “a hundred eggs,” and “a dozen eggs.”

“Couple” is often used less precisely, to mean “a few,” so it isn’t treated grammatically as an exact number. “A couple eggs” is less standard than “a couple of eggs.”

“Dozens of eggs” is standard because you’re not specifying how many dozens you’re talking about.


DRANK/DRUNK

Many common verbs in English change form when their past tense is preceded by an auxiliary (“helping”) verb: “I ran, I have run.” The same is true of “drink.” Don’t say “I’ve drank the beer” unless you want people to think you are drunk. An even more common error is “I drunk all the milk.” It’s “I’ve drunk the beer” and “I drank all the milk.”


DRASTIC/DRAMATIC

“Drastic” means “severe” and generally has negative or frightening associations. Drastic measures are not just extreme, they are likely to have harmful side-effects. Don’t use this word or “drastically” in a positive or neutral sense. A drastic rise in temperature should be seen as downright dangerous, not just surprisingly large. Often when people use phrases like “drastic improvement,” they mean “dramatic” instead.


DREDGE/DRUDGE/TRUDGE

You use machinery to scoop stuff up from underwater—called a dredge—to dredge up gunk or debris from the bottom of a river or lake. Metaphorically, you also dredge up old memories, the past, or objects buried in the mess in your room.

To drudge is to do hard, annoying work; and a person who does such work can also be called a “drudge.” If you find yourself saying “drudge up” about anything you’re trying to uncover you almost certainly should be using “dredge up” instead.

When you slog laboriously up a hill, you trudge up it. Trudging may be drudgery, but the act of walking a difficult path is not drudging, but trudging.

And you cooks wondering whether dredging a chicken breast with flour has anything to do with river-bottom dredging will be relieved to know it does not. The two words have completely different origins (“sprinkling” vs. “scooping”).


DRIER/DRYER

A clothes dryer makes the clothes drier.


DRIBBLE/DRIVEL

“Dribble” and “drivel” originally meant the same thing: drool. But the two words have become differentiated. When you mean to criticize someone else’s speech as stupid or pointless, the word you want is “drivel.”


DRIPS AND DRABS/DRIBS AND DRABS

Something doled out in miserly amounts is provided in “dribs and drabs.” A drib is a smaller relative of a dribble. Nobody seems to be sure what a drab is in this sense, except that it's a tiny bit larger than a drib.

Since the origin of the phrase is obscure, people try to substitute a more familiar word for the unusual word “drib” by writing “drips and drabs.” But that's not the traditional formula.


DRIVE/DISK

A hard drive and a hard disk are much the same thing, but when it comes to removable computer media, the drive is the machinery that turns and reads the disk. Be sure not to ask for a drive when all you need is a disk.


DRUG/DRAGGED

“Well, look what the cat drug in!” Unless you are trying to render dialectical speech to convey a sense of down-home rusticity, use “dragged” as the past tense of “drag.”


DUAL/DUEL

“Dual” is an adjective describing the two-ness of something—dual carburetors, for instance. A “duel” is a formal battle intended to settle a dispute.


DUCK TAPE/DUCT TAPE

A commercial firm has named its product “Duck Tape,” harking back to the original name for this adhesive tape (which was green), developed by Johnson & Johnson during World War II to waterproof ammunition cases. It is now usually called “duct tape,” for its supposed use in connecting ventilation and other ducts (which match its current silver color). Note that modern building codes consider duct tape unsafe for sealing ducts, particularly those that convey hot air.


DUE TO THE FACT THAT/BECAUSE

Although “due to” is now a generally acceptable synonym for “because," "due to the fact that” is a clumsy and wordy substitute that should be avoided in formal writing. “Due to” is often misspelled “do to.”


DULY/DULLY

To do something “dully” is to do it in a dull manner. Too often people use this word when they mean “duly,” which means “properly.” Something duly done is done properly; something done dully is just a bore.


DYEING/DYING

If you are using dye to change your favorite t-shirt from white to blue you are dyeing it, but if you don’t breathe for so long that your face turns blue, you may be dying.

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Marwatone.