Common Errors in English by Paul Brians

paulbrians@gmail.com

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/

(Brownie points to anyone who catches inconsistencies between the main
site and this version.)

Note that italics are deliberately omitted on this page.

What is an error in English?

The concept of language errors is a fuzzy one. I'll leave to linguists
the technical definitions. Here we're concerned only with deviations
from the standard use of English as judged by sophisticated users such
as professional writers, editors, teachers, and literate executives and
personnel officers. The aim of this site is to help you avoid low
grades, lost employment opportunities, lost business, and titters of
amusement at the way you write or speak.

But isn't one person's mistake another's standard usage?

Often enough, but if your standard usage causes other people to consider
you stupid or ignorant, you may want to consider changing it. You have
the right to express yourself in any manner you please, but if you wish
to communicate effectively you should use nonstandard English only when
you intend to, rather than fall into it because you don't know any
better.

I'm learning English as a second language. Will this site help me
improve my English?

Very likely, though it's really aimed at the most common errors of
native speakers. The errors others make in English differ according to
the characteristics of their first languages. Speakers of other
languages tend to make some specific errors that are uncommon among
native speakers, so you may also want to consult sites dealing
specifically with English as a second language (see
http://www.cln.org/subjects/esl_cur.html and
http://esl.about.com/education/adulted/esl/). There is also a Help Desk
for ESL students at Washington State University at
http://www.wsu.edu/~gordonl/ESL/. An outstanding book you may want to
order is Ann Raimes'  Keys for Writers. This is not a
question-and-answer site for ESL.

Aren't some of these points awfully picky?

This is a relative matter. One person's gaffe is another's peccadillo.
Some common complaints about usage strike me as too persnickety, but I'm
just covering mistakes in English that happen to bother me. Feel free to
create your own page listing your own pet peeves, but I welcome
suggestions for additions to these pages.

What gives you the right to say what an error in English is?

I could take the easy way out and say I'm a professor of English and do
this sort of thing for a living. True, but my Ph.D. is in comparative
literature, not composition or linguistics, and I teach courses in the
history of ideas rather than language as such. But I admire good writing
and try to encourage it in my students.

I found a word you criticized in the dictionary!

You will find certain words or phrases criticized here listed in
dictionaries. Note carefully labels like "dial." (dialectical),
"nonstandard," and "obsolete" before assuming that the dictionary is
endorsing them. The primary job of a dictionary is to track how people
actually use language. Dictionaries differ among themselves on how much
guidance to usage they provide; but the goal of a usage guide like this
is substantially different: to protect you against patterns which are
regarded by substantial numbers of well-educated people as nonstandard.

Why do you discuss mainly American usage?

Because I'm an American, my students are mostly American, most
English-speaking Web users are Americans, and American English is
quickly becoming an international standard. I am slowly reworking the
site to take note of American deviations from standard British practice.
However, the job is complicated by the fact that Canadians, Australians,
and many others often follow patterns somewhere between the two. If the
standard usage where you are differs from what is described here, tell
me about it, and if I think it's important to do so, I'll note that
fact. Meanwhile, just assume that this site is primarily about American
English.

Isn't it oppressive of immigrants and subjugated minorities to insist on
the use of standard English?

Language standards can certainly be used for oppressive purposes, but
most speakers and writers of all races and classes want to use language
in a way that will impress others. The fact is that the world is full of
teachers, employers, and other authorities who may penalize you for your
nonstandard use of the English language. Feel free to denounce these
people if you wish; but if you need their good opinion to get ahead,
you'd be wise to learn standard English. Note that I often suggest
differing usages as appropriate depending on the setting: spoken vs.
written, informal vs. formal; slang is often highly appropriate. In
fact, most of the errors discussed on this site are common in the
writing of privileged middle-class Americans, and some are
characteristic of people with advanced degrees and considerable
intellectual attainments. However you come down on this issue, note that
the great advantage of an open Web-based educational site like this is
that it's voluntary: take what you want and leave the rest. It's
interesting that I have received hundreds of messages from non-native
speakers thanking me for these pages and none from such people
complaining that my pages discriminate against them.

But you made a mistake yourself!

We all do, from time to time. Drop me a line if you think you've found
an error in my own writing. If I think you're right, I'll correct it;
but be prepared to be disagreed with. If you write me, please don't call
me "Brian." My given name is Paul.

For instructions on how to write me, see the bottom of this page.

This resource is copyrighted by Paul Brians. Permission is granted to
reprint or photocopy small numbers of it in its entirety or in part for
all local nonprofit, educational purposes provided that the author is
cited and the URL http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/ is included. As a
courtesy, please notify the author if you copy or link to this material.
Because the content changes frequently, and I need to maintain control
over the site, requests to create Web mirrors of the site are usually
declined.

Recommended in "Yahoo Internet Life Magazine," July, 1997, pp. 82-83 and
cited as a Yahoo "Site of the Week." It has also been recommended in the
pages of "The Weekend Australian," "The Bangkok Post," the "Los Angeles
Times," the "Seattle Times," the "Indianapolis Star-Tribune," the
"Halifax Chronicle-Herald," Ziff-Davis'  "Inside the Internet"
newsletter, "Netsurfer Digest," and "The Web" magazine.

360 DEGREES/180 DEGREES

When you turn 360 degrees you've completed a circle and are back where
you started. So if you want to describe a position that's diametrically
opposed to another, the expression you want is not "360 degrees away"
but "180 degrees away."

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": "A snake told me apples enhance mental abilities."

See also "an historic."

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.

Occasionally computer programs encourage you to write "AM" and "PM"
without a space before them, but others will misread your data if you
omit the space. The nonstandard pattern of omitting the space is
spreading rapidly, and should be avoided in formal writing.


ABJECT

"Abject" is always negative, meaning "lowly" or "hopeless." 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."

ABOUT

"This isn't about you." What a great rebuke! But conservatives sniff at
this sort of abstract use of "about," as in "I'm all about good taste"
or "successful truffle-making is about temperature control"; so it's
better to avoid it in very formal English.

ABSORBTION/ABSORPTION

Although it's "absorbed" and "absorbing" the correct spelling of the
noun is "absorption."

But note that scientists distinguish between "absorption" as the process
of swallowing up or sucking in something and "adsorption" as the process
by which something adheres to the surface of something else without
being assimilated into it. Even technical writers often confuse these
two.

ABSTRUSE/OBTUSE

Most people first encounter "obtuse" in geometry class, where it labels
an angle of more than 90 degrees. Imagine what sort of blunt arrowhead
that kind of angle would make and you will understand why it also has a
figurative meaning of "dull, stupid." 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."

ACADEMIA

Although some academics are undoubtedly nuts, the usual English-language
pronunciation of "academia" does not rhyme with "macadamia." The third
syllable is pronounced "deem." Just say "academe" and add "ee-yuh."

However, there's an interesting possibility if you go with
"ack-uh-DAME-ee-yuh: although some people will sneer at your lack of
sophistication, others will assume you're using the Latin pronunciation
and being learned. 

ACCEDE/EXCEED

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

ACCENT MARKS

In what follows, "accent mark" will be used in a loose sense to include
all diacritical marks that guide pronunciation. Operating systems and
programs differ in how they produce accent marks, but it's worth
learning how yours works. Writing them in by hand afterwards looks
amateurish.

Words adopted from foreign languages sometimes carry their accent marks
with them, as in "fiance" "protege," and "cliche." As words become more
at home in English, they tend to shed the marks: "Cafe" is often spelled
"cafe." Unfortunately, "resume" seems to be losing its marks one at a
time (see under "vita/vitae").

Many computer users have not learned their systems well enough to
understand how to produce the desired accent and often insert an
apostrophe (curled) or foot mark (straight) after the accented letter
instead: "cafe'." This is both ugly and incorrect. The same error is
commonly seen on storefront signs.

So far we've used examples containing acute (right-leaning) accent
marks. French and Italian (but not Spanish) words often contain grave
(left-leaning) accents; in Italian it's a caffe. It is important not to
substitute one kind of accent for the other.

The diaeresis over a letter signifies that it is to be pronounced as a
separate syllable: "noel" and "naive" are sometimes spelled with a
diaeresis, for instance. The umlaut, which looks identical, modifies the
sound of a vowel, as in German Fraulein (girl), where the accent mark
changes the "frow" sound of Frau (woman) to "froy." Rock groups like
"Blue Oyster Cult" scattered umlauts about nonsensically to create an
exotic look.

Spanish words not completely assimilated into English like pinata and
nino retain the tilde, which tells you that an "N" is to be pronounced
with a "Y" sound after it. In English-language publications accent marks
are often discarded, but the acute and grave accents are the ones most
often retained.

[Note: the accent marks in this entry may not display properly on all
operating systems. Consult the page on accent marks to see them
properly.]

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 "Cs" snuggling up together. Very accepting. And be
careful; when typing "except" it often comes out "expect."

ACCESS/GET ACCESS TO

"Access" is one of many nouns that's been turned into a verb in recent
years. Conservatives object to phrases like "you can access your account
online." Substitute "use," "reach," or "get access to" if you want to
please them.

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."

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.  See
also "50's." 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.

ACROSSED/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.

ACTUAL FACT/ACTUALLY

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

AD NAUSEUM/AD NAUSEAM

Seeing how often "ad nauseam" is misspelled makes some people want to
throw up.

ADD/AD

"Advertisement" is abbreviated "ad," not "add."

ADAPT/ADOPT

You can adopt a child or a custom or a law; in all of these cases you
are making the object of the adoption your own, accepting it. If you
adapt something, however, you are changing it.

ADDICTING/ADDICTIVE

Do you find beer nuts "addicting" or "addictive"? "Addicting" is a
perfectly legitimate word, but much less common than "addictive," and
some people will scowl at you if you use it.

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.

ADMINISTRATE/ADMINISTER

Although it is very popular with administrators and others, many people
scorn "administrate" as an unnecessary substitute for the more common
verb form "administer."

ADULTRY/ADULTERY

"Adultery" is often misspelled "adultry," as if it were something every
adult should try. This spelling error is likely to get you snickered at.
The term does not refer to all sorts of illicit sex: at least one of the
partners involved has to be married for the relationship to be
adulterous.

ADVANCE/ADVANCED

When you hear about something in advance, earlier than other people, you
get advance notice or information. "Advanced" means "complex,
sophisticated" and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the
revealing of secrets.

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."

Occasionally a pretentious person is said to affect an artificial air of
sophistication. 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.

The stuff in your purse? Your personal effects.

AFFLUENCE/EFFLUENCE

Wealth brings affluence; sewage is effluence.

AFRICAN AMERICAN

AFRICAN AMERICAN

There have been several polite terms used in the US to refer to
persons of African descent: "colored," "negro," "Black,"
"Afro-American," and "African American." "Colored" is definitely dated,
though "people of color" is now widely used with a broader meaning,
including anyone with non-European ancestry, sometimes even when their
skin is not discernibly darker than that of a typical European. A few
contemporary writers like to defy convention by referring to themselves
as "negro." "Black," formerly a proudly assertive label claimed by young
radicals in the 1960s, is now seen by some people as a racist insult.
Some people insist on capitalizing "Black," but others prefer "black."
The safest and most common neutral term is "African American," but
Americans sometimes misuse it to label people of African descent living
in other countries or even actual Africans. To qualify as an "African
American" you have to be an American.

Although it is traditional to hyphenate "African-American,"
"Irish-American," "Cuban-American," etc., there is a recent trend toward
omitting the hyphen, possibly in reaction to the belittling phrase
"hyphenated Americans." However, some styles still call for the hyphen
when the phrase is used adjectivally, so that you might be an African
American who enjoys African-American writers. Omitting the hyphen may
puzzle some readers, but it's not likely to offend anyone.

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.

AGREEANCE/AGREEMENT

When you agree with someone you are in agreement.

AHOLD/HOLD

In standard English you just "get hold" of something or somebody.

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. Propose to the person you're stranded on a desert
isle with and maybe you'll march down the aisle together after you're
rescued.

ALL BE IT/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

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 AND ALL/ALL IN ALL

"The dog got into the fried chicken, we forgot the sunscreen, and the
kids started whining at the end, but all in all the picnic was a
success." "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.


ALL FOR NOT/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."

ALL GOES WELL/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 THE SUDDEN/ALL OF A SUDDEN

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

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."

ALLEGED, ALLEGEDLY

Seeking to avoid prejudging the facts in a crime and protect the rights
of the accused, reporters sometimes over-use "alleged" and "allegedly."
If it is clear that someone has been robbed at gunpoint, it's not
necessary to describe it as an alleged robbery nor the victim as an
alleged victim. This practice insultingly casts doubt on the honesty of
the victim and protects no one. An accused perpetrator is one whose
guilt is not yet established, so it is redundant to speak of an "alleged
accused." If the perpetrator has not yet been identified, it's pointless
to speak of the search for an "alleged perpetrator."

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.

ALLS/ALL

"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
mirage, hallucination, or a magic trick is an illusion. (Doesn't being
fooled just make you ill?)

ALLUSIVE/ELUSIVE/ILLUSIVE

When a lawyer alludes to his client's poor mother, he is being allusive.
When the mole keeps eluding the traps you've set in the garden, it's
being elusive. We also speak of matters that are difficult to
understand, identify, or remember as elusive. Illusions can be illusive,
but we more often refer to them as illusory.

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."

ALONG THE SAME VEIN/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.


ALOT/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."

ALRIGHT/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.

ALTERIOR/ULTERIOR

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

ALTERNATE/ALTERNATIVE

Although UK authorities disapprove, in US 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." Undressed people are said in informal speech to be "in the
altogether" (perhaps a shortening of the phrase "altogether naked").

ALUMNUS/ALUMNI

We used to have "alumnus" (male singular), "alumni" (male plural),
"alumna" (female singular) and "alumnae" (female plural); but the latter
two are now popular only among older female graduates, with the first
two terms becoming unisex. However, it is still important to distinguish
between one alumnus and a stadium full of alumni. Never say, "I am an
alumni" if you don't want to cast discredit on your school. Many avoid
the whole problem by resorting to the informal abbreviation "alum."

AMATURE/AMATEUR

Most of the words we've borrowed from the French that have retained
their "-eur" endings are pretty sophisticated, like "restaurateur"
(notice, no "N") and "auteur" (in film criticism), but "amateur"
attracts amateurish spelling.

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.

AMERICAN

Some Canadians and many Latin Americans are understandably irritated
when US citizens refer to themselves simply as "Americans." Canadians
(and only Canadians) use the term "North American" to include themselves
in a two-member group with their neighbor to the south, though
geographers usually include Mexico in North America. When addressing an
international audience composed largely of people from the Americas, it
is wise to consider their sensitivities.

However, it is pointless to try to ban this usage in all contexts.
Outside of the Americas, "American" is universally understood to refer
to things relating to the US There is no good substitute. Brazilians,
Argentineans, and Canadians all have unique terms to refer to
themselves. None of them refer  routinely to themselves as "Americans"
outside of contexts like the "Organization of American States." Frank
Lloyd Wright promoted "Usonian," but it never caught on. For better or
worse, "American" is standard English for "citizen or resident of the
United States of America."

AMONGST/AMONG

Although in America "amongst" has not dated nearly as badly as "whilst,"
it is still less common in standard speech than "among." The -st forms
are still widely used in the UK.

AMORAL/IMMORAL

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

AMOUNT/NUMBER

This is a vast subject. I will try to limit the number of words I expend
on it so as not to use up too great an amount of space. The confusion
between the two categories of words relating to amount and number is so
pervasive that those of us who still distinguish between them constitute
an endangered species; but if you want to avoid our ire, learn the
difference. Amount words relate to quantities of things that are
measured in bulk; number words to things that can be counted.

In the second sentence above, it would have been improper to write "the
amount of words" because words are discrete entities which can be
counted, or numbered.

Here is a handy chart to distinguish the two categories of words:

amount vs. number quantity vs. number little vs. few less vs. fewer much
vs. many

You can eat fewer cookies, but you drink less milk. If you eat too many
cookies, people will probably think you've had too much dessert. If the
thing being measured is being considered in countable units, then use
number words. Even a substance which is considered in bulk can also be
measured by number of units. For instance, you shouldn't drink too much
wine, but you should also avoid drinking too many glasses of wine. Note
that here you are counting glasses. They can be numbered.

The most common mistake of this kind is to refer to an "amount" of
people instead of a "number" of people.

Just to confuse things, "more" can be used either way: you can eat more
cookies and drink more milk.

Exceptions to the less/fewer pattern are references to units of time and
money, which are usually treated as amounts: less than an hour, less
than five dollars. Only when you are referring to specific coins or
bills would you use fewer: "I have fewer than five state quarters to go
to make my collection complete."

AMPITHEATER/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. UK-standard writers
spell it "amphitheatre," of course.

AN HISTORIC/A HISTORIC

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.
	
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.

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.

AND ALSO/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 beer." 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.

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.

ANOTHER WORDS/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

Instead of saying "he was the worst of any of the dancers," say "he was
the worst of the dancers."

ANY WHERE/ANYWHERE

"Anywhere," like "somewhere" and "nowhere," is always one word.

ANYMORE/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?

ANYTIME/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.

ANYWAYS/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 bum 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?"

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."

Despite misspellings in popular music, the expression is not "down the
road apiece"; it's "down the road a piece."

APPAULED/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"!

APOSTROPHES

First let's all join in a hearty curse of the grammarians who inserted
the wretched apostrophe into possessives in the first place. It was all
a mistake. Our ancestors used to write "Johns hat" meaning "the hat of
John" without the slightest ambiguity. However, some time in the
Renaissance certain scholars decided that the simple "s" of possession
must have been formed out of a contraction of the more "proper" "John
his hat." Since in English we mark contractions with an apostrophe, they
did so, and we were stuck with the stupid "John's hat." Their error can
be a handy reminder though: if you're not sure whether a noun ending in
"s" should be followed by an apostrophe, ask yourself whether you could
plausibly substitute "his" or "her" for the S.

The exception to this pattern involves personal pronouns indicating
possession like "his," "hers," and "its." For more on this point, see
"its/it's."

Get this straight once and for all: when the S is added to a word simply
to make it a plural, no apostrophe is used (except in expressions where
letters or numerals are treated like words, like "mind your P's and Q's"
and "learn your ABC's").

Apostrophes are also used to indicate omitted letters in real
contractions: "do not" becomes "don't."

Why can't we all agree to do away with the wretched apostrophe? Because
its two uses--contraction and possession--have people so thoroughly
confused that they are always putting in apostrophes where they don't
belong, in simple plurals ("cucumber's for sale") and family names when
they are referred to collectively ("the Smith's" ).

The practice of putting improper apostrophes in family names on signs in
front yards is an endless source of confusion. "The Brown's" is just
plain wrong. (If you wanted to suggest "the residence of the Browns" you
would have to write "Browns'," with the apostrophe after the S, which is
there to indicate a plural number, not as an indication of possession.)
If you simply want to indicate that a family named Brown lives here, the
sign out front should read simply "The Browns." When a name ends in an S
you need to add an ES to make it plural: "the Adamses."

No apostrophes for simple plural names or names ending in S OK? I get
irritated when people address me as "Mr. Brian's." What about when
plural names are used to indicate possession? "The Browns' cat" is
standard (the second S is "understood"), though some prefer "the
Browns's cat." The pattern is the same with names ending in S: "the
Adamses' cat" or--theoretically--"the Adamses's cat," though that would be
mighty awkward.

Apostrophes are also misplaced in common plural nouns on signs:
"Restrooms are for customer's use only." Who is this privileged customer
to deserve a private bathroom? The sign should read "for customers'
use."

For ordinary nouns, the pattern for adding an apostrophe to express
possession is straightforward. For singular nouns, add an apostrophe
plus an S: "the duck's bill." If the singular noun happens to end in one
S or even two, you still just add an apostrophe and an S: "the boss's
desk."

For plural nouns which end in S, however, add only the apostrophe: "the
ducks' bills." But if a plural noun does not end in S, then you follow
the same pattern as for singular nouns by adding an apostrophe and an S:
"the children's menu."

It is not uncommon to see the "S" wrongly apostrophized even in verbs,
as in the mistaken "He complain's a lot."

See also "acronyms and apostrophes."

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 "a 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."

AROUND/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 and pointless jargon. We feel it should be "discussions
about" rather than "around."

ARTHURITIS/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."

ARTIC/ARCTIC

Although some brand names have incorporated this popular error, remember
that the Arctic Circle is an arc.  By the way, Ralph Vaughan Williams
called his suite drawn from the score of the film "Scott of the
Antarctic," the "Sinfonia Antartica," but that's Italian, not English.

ARTISANAL/ARTESIAN

For the past half-century foodies have referred to foods and drinks made
in small batches by hand using traditional methods as artisanal--made by
artisans: workers in handicrafts. It has also been extended to a wide
variety of other handmade products. Dictionaries agree that the word
should be pronounced "ARR-tizz-uh-nul" with the accent on the first
syllable and the second syllable rhyming with "fizz." Just say "artisan"
and add "-ul."

Diners and restaurant workers alike commonly confuse the pronunciation
of its first three syllables with that of
"artesian"--"arr-TEE-zhun"--which is an adjective to describe water
which spurts out of the earth under natural pressure. In this word the
accent falls on the second syllable, pronounced like "tea." A spring
such as this is called on "artesian spring" or "artesian well."

If you hand-bottle water from a natural spring in your back yard I
suppose you could label the result artisanal artesian water.

AS BEST AS/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).

Unlike asbestos removal, "as best as" removal is easy, and you don't
have to wear a hazmat suit.

AS FAR AS

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 FOLLOW/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."

AS OF YET/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."

AS PER/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."

ASCARED/SCARED

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

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.

ASOCIAL/ANTISOCIAL

Someone who doesn't enjoy socializing at parties might be described as
either "asocial" or "antisocial"; but "asocial" is too mild a 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.

European "life assurance" companies take the position that all
policy-holders are mortal and someone will definitely collect, thus
assuring heirs of some income. American companies tend to go with
"insurance" for coverage of life as well as of fire, theft, etc.

ASTERICK/ASTERISK

Some people not only spell this word without the second S, they say it
that way too. It comes from Greek asteriskos: "little star." Tisk, tisk,
remember the "-isk"; "asterick" is icky.

In countries where the Asterix comics are popular, that spelling gets
wrongly used for "asterisk" as well.

ASTROLOGY/ASTRONOMY

Modern astronomers consider astrology an outdated superstition. You'll
embarrass yourself if you use the term "astrology" to label the
scientific study of the cosmos. In writing about history, however, you
may have occasion to note that ancient astrologers, whose main goal was
to peer into the future, incidentally did some sound astronomy as they
studied the positions and movements of celestial objects.

ASWELL/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 machine/ATM

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

ATHIEST/ATHEIST

An atheist is the opposite of a theist. "Theos" is Greek for "god." Make
sure the "TH" is followed immediately by an "E."

ATHLETE

Tired of people stereotyping you as a dummy just because you're a jock?
One way to impress them is to pronounce "athlete" properly, with just
two syllables, as "ATH-leet" instead of using the common
mispronunciation "ATH-uh-leet."

ATTAIN/OBTAIN

"Attain" means "reach" and "obtain" means "get." You attain a
mountaintop, but obtain a rare baseball card. "Attain" usually implies a
required amount of labor or difficulty; nothing is necessarily implied
about the difficulty of obtaining that card. Maybe you just found it in
your brother's dresser drawer.

Some things you obtain can also be attained. If you want to emphasize
how hard you worked in college, you might say you attained your degree;
but if you want emphasize that you have a valid degree that qualifies
you for a certain job, you might say you obtained it. If you just bought
it from a diploma mill for fifty bucks, you definitely only obtained it.

ATTRIBUTE/CONTRIBUTE

When trying to give credit to someone, say that you attribute your
success to their help, not contribute. (Of course, a politician may
attribute his success to those who contribute to his campaign fund, but
probably only in private.)

AUGUR/AUGER

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.

AURAL/ORAL

"Aural" has to do with things you hear, "oral" with things you say, or
relating to your mouth.

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.

AWAY/A WAY

"Jessica commented on my haircut in a way that made me think maybe I
shouldn't have let my little sister do it for me." In this sort of
context, "a way" should always be two distinct words, though many people
use the single word "away" instead. If you're uncertain, try
substituting another word for "way": "in a manner that," "in a style
that." If the result makes sense, you need the two-word phrase. Then you
can tell Jessica to just go away.

AWE, SHUCKS/AW, SHUCKS

"Aw, shucks," is a traditional folksy expression of modesty. An
"aw-shucks" kind of person declines to accept compliments. "Aw" is an
interjection roughly synonymous with "oh." "Awe" is a noun which most
often means "amazed admiration." So many people have begun to misspell
the familiar phrase "awe, shucks," that some writers think they are
being clever when they link it to the current expression "shock and
awe." Instead, they reveal their confusion.

AWHILE/A WHILE

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.")

AX/ASK

The dialectical pronunciation of "ask" as "ax" is a sure marker of a
substandard education. You should avoid it in formal speaking
situations.

AXEL/AXLE

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

BACK/FORWARD/UP IN TIME

For most people you move an event forward by scheduling it to happen
sooner, but other people imagine the event being moved forward into the
future, postponed. This is what most--but not all--people mean by saying
they want to move an event back--later. Usage is also split on whether
moving an event up means making it happen sooner (most common) or later
(less common). The result is widespread confusion. When using these
expressions make clear your meaning by the context in which you use
them. "We need to move the meeting forward" is ambiguous; "we need to
move the meeting forward to an earlier date" is not.

Just to confuse things further, when you move the clock ahead in the
spring for daylight saving time, you make it later; but when you move a
meeting ahead, you make it sooner. Isn't English wonderful?

BACKSLASH/SLASH

This is a slash: /. Because the top of it leans forward, it is sometimes
called a "forward slash."

This is a backslash: \. Notice the way it leans back, distinguishing it
from the regular slash.

Slashes are often used to indicate directories and subdirectories in
computer systems such as Unix and in World Wide Web addresses.
Unfortunately, many people, assuming "backslash" is some sort of
technical term for the regular slash, use the term incorrectly, which
risks confusing those who know enough to distinguish between the two but
not enough to realize that Web addresses rarely contain backslashes.

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."

BAIL/BALE

You bail the boat and bale the hay.

In the expression "bail out" meaning to abandon a position or situation,
it is nonstandard in America to use "bale," though that spelling is
widely accepted in the UK. The metaphor in the US is to compare
oneself when jumping out of a plane to a bucket of water being tossed
out of a boat, though that is probably not the origin of the phrase.

BALDFACED, BOLDFACED/BAREFACED

The only one of these spellings recognized by the Oxford English
Dictionary as meaning "shameless" is "barefaced." Etymologies often
refer to the prevalence of beards among Renaissance Englishmen, but
beards were probably too common to be considered as deceptively
concealing. It seems more likely that the term derived from the
widespread custom at that time among the upper classes of wearing masks
to social occasions where one would rather not be recognized.

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 number of
meanings, but none of them have to do with shouting and wailing unless
you're shouting "play ball!"

BARB WIRE, BOB WIRE/BARBED WIRE

In some parts of the country this prickly stuff is commonly called "barb
wire" or even "bob wire." When writing for a general audience, stick
with the standard "barbed wire."

BARE/BEAR

There are actually three words here. The simple one is the big growly
creature (unless you prefer the Winnie-the-Pooh type). Hardly anyone
past the age of ten gets that one wrong. The problem is the other two.
Stevedores bear burdens on their backs and mothers bear children. Both
mean "carry" (in the case of mothers, the meaning has been extended from
carrying the child during pregnancy to actually giving birth). But
strippers bare their bodies--sometimes bare-naked. The confusion between
this latter verb and "bear" creates many unintentionally amusing
sentences; so if you want to entertain your readers while convincing
them that you are a dolt, by all means mix them up. "Bear with me," the
standard expression, is a request for forbearance or patience. "Bare
with me" would be an invitation to undress. "Bare" has an adjectival
form: "The pioneers stripped the forest bare."

BASED AROUND, BASED OFF OF/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.

BASICLY/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," or "at heart."

BAITED BREATH/BATED BREATH

Although the odor of the chocolate truffle you just ate may be
irresistible bait to your beloved, the proper expression is "bated
breath." "Bated" here means "held, abated." You do something with bated
breath when you're so tense you're holding your breath.

BARTER/HAGGLE

When you offer to trade your vintage jeans for a handwoven shirt in
Guatemala, you are engaged in barter--no money is involved. One thing (or
service) is traded for another.

But when you offer to buy that shirt for less money than the vendor is
asking, you are engaged in haggling or bargaining, not bartering. 

BAZAAR/BIZARRE

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

BEAUROCRACY/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.

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.

BECKON CALL/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).

FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME

Stephen Hawking writes about the beginning of time, but few other people
do. People who write "from the beginning of time" or "since time began"
are usually being lazy. Their grasp of history is vague, so they resort
to these broad, sweeping phrases. Almost never is this usage literally
accurate: people have not fallen in love since time began, for instance,
because people arrived relatively late on the scene in the cosmic scheme
of things. When I visited Ferrara several years ago I was interested to
see that the whole population of the old city seemed to use bicycles for
transportation, cars being banned from the central area. I asked how
long this had been the custom and was told "We've ridden bicycles for
centuries." Since the bicycle was  invented only in the 1860s, I
strongly doubted this (no, Leonardo da Vinci did not invent the
bicycle--he just drew a picture of what one might look like--and some
people think that picture is a modern forgery). If you really don't know
the appropriate period from which your subject dates, you could
substitute a less silly but still vague phrase such as "for many years,"
or "for centuries"; but it's better simply to avoid historical
statements if you don't know your history.

See "today's modern society."

BEGS THE QUESTION

An argument that improperly assumes as true the very point the speaker
is trying to argue for is said in formal logic to "beg the question."
Here is an example of a question-begging argument: "This painting is
trash because it is obviously worthless." The speaker is simply
asserting the worthlessness of the work, not presenting any evidence to
demonstrate that this is in fact the case. Since we never use "begs"
with this odd meaning ("to improperly take for granted") in any other
phrase, most people now suppose the phrase implies something quite
different: that the argument demands that a question about it be
asked--raises the question. Although using the expression in its
original sense is now rare, using it in the newer sense will cause
irritation among traditionaalists.

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.

See also "peoples."

BEING THAT/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

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

BELIEF TOWARD/BELIEF IN

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

BELOW TABLE/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.

BETTER

When Chuck says "I better get my research started; the paper's due
tomorrow," he means "I had better," abbreviated in speech to "I'd
better." The same pattern is followed for "he'd better," "she'd better,"
and "they'd better."

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 I/BETWEEN YOU AND ME

"Between you and me" is preferred in standard English.

See "I/me/myself."

BEYOND THE PAIL/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."

The area of Ireland called "the Pale" inside the Dublin region formerly
controlled by the British is often said to have been the inspiration for
this expression, but many authorities challenge that explanation.

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.

See also "prejudice/prejudiced."

BIBLE

Whether you are referring to the Jewish Bible (the Torah plus the
Prophets and the Writings) or the Protestant Bible (the Jewish Bible
plus the New Testament), or the Catholic Bible (which contains
everything in the Jewish and Protestant Bibles plus several other books
and passages mostly written in Greek in its Old Testament), the word
"Bible" must be capitalized. Remember that it is the title of a book,
and book titles are normally capitalized. An oddity in English usage is,
however, that "Bible" and the names of the various parts of the Bible
are not italicized or placed between quotation marks.

Even when used metaphorically of other sacred books, as in "The Qur'an
is the Bible of the Muslims," the word is usually capitalized; although
in secular contexts it is not: "Physicians' Desk Reference is the
pharmacists' bible." "Biblical" may be capitalized or not, as you choose
(or as your editor chooses).

Those who wish to be sensitive to the Jewish authorship of the Jewish
Bible may wish to use "Hebrew Bible" and "Christian Scriptures" instead
of the traditionally Christian nomenclature: "Old Testament" and "New
Testament." Modern Jewish scholars sometimes use the Hebrew acronym
"Tanakh" to refer to their Bible, but this term is not generally
understood by others.

BICEP/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.

BIT THE BULLET/BIT THE DUST

Someone of whom it is said "he bit the bullet" has made a tough decision
and decided to act on it. The expression is derived from the old
practice of having a wounded soldier bite down on a bullet to brace
himself against the pain of undergoing an amputation or other painful
operation. Some people confuse this with "bit the dust," which means
simply "died" (or more often, "was killed").

BIWEEKLY/SEMIWEEKLY

Technically, a biweekly meeting occurs every two weeks and a semiweekly
one occurs twice a week; but so few people get this straight that your
club is liable to disintegrate unless you avoid these words in the
newsletter and stick with "every other week" or "twice weekly." The same
is true of "bimonthly" and" semimonthly," though "biennial" and
"semi-annual" are less often confused with each other.

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, being brazen. 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.

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 of these have some
connection with boards: hunks of wood (the planks of a table, the deck
of a ship, a snowboard).

All uses having to do with boundaries and edges are spelled "border":
border collies, Doctors Without Borders, borderline disorders, border
guard.

BONAFIED/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 OF/BORED WITH

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

BORN/BORNE

This distinction is a bit tricky. When birth is being discussed, the
past tense of "bear" is usually "born": "I was born in a trailer--but it
was an Airstream." Note that the form used here is passive: you are the
one somebody else--your mother--bore. But if the form is active, you
need an "E" on the end, as in "Midnight has borne another litter of
kittens in Dad's old fishing hat" (Midnight did the bearing).

But in other meanings not having to do with birth, "borne" is always the
past tense of "bear": "My brother's constant teasing about my green hair
was more than could be borne."

BORN OUT OF/BORN OF

Write "my love of dance was born of my viewing old Ginger Rogers-Fred
Astaire movies," not "born out of." The latter expression is probably
substituted because of confusion with the expression "borne out" as in
"my concerns about having another office party were borne out when Mr.
Peabody spilled his beer into the fax machine." The only correct (if
antiquated) use of "born out of" is in the phrase "born out of wedlock."

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, Jeb?" In
standard English the person providing an item can loan it; but the
person receiving it borrows it.

For "loan" vs. "lend, see "Non-Errors."

BORROW OFF/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.

BOUGHTEN/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."

BOUNCE/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": "Mark thought that it was out of bounds for his
wife to go spelunking with Tristan, her old boyfriend."

BOURGEOIS

In the original French, a bourgeois was originally merely a free
inhabitant of a "bourg," or town. Through a natural evolution it became
the label for members of the property-owning class, then of the middle
class. As an adjective it is used with contempt by bohemians and
Marxists to label conservatives whose views are not sufficiently
revolutionary. The class made up of bourgeois (which is both the
singular and the plural form) is the bourgeoisie. Shaky spellers are
prone to leave out the "E" from the middle because "eoi" is not a
natural combination in English; but these words have remarkably enough
retained their French pronunciation: boorzhwah and boorzhwazee. The
feminine form, "bourgeoise," is rarely encountered in English.

BOUYANT/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.

BRAND NAMES

Popular usage frequently converts brand names into generic ones, with
the generic name falling into disuse. Few people call gelatin dessert
mix anything other than "Jell-O," which helps to explain why it's hard
to find Nabisco's Royal Gelatin on the grocery shelves. All facial
tissues are "Kleenex" to the masses, all photocopies "Xeroxes." Such
commercial fame is, however, a two-edged sword: sales may be lost as
well as gained from such over-familiarity. Few people care whether their
"Frisbee" is the genuine Wham-O brand original or an imitation. Some of
these terms lack staying power: "Hoover" used to be synonymous with
"vacuum cleaner," and the brand name was even transmuted into a verb:
"to hoover" (these uses are still common in the UK). Most of the time
this sort of thing is fairly harmless, but if you are a motel operator
offering a different brand of whirlpool bath in your rooms, better not
call it a "Jacuzzi."

BRANG, BRUNG/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," "breech birth," or "breech-loading
gun."

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends," means "let's charge into the
gap in the enemy's defenses," not "let's reach into our pants again."

BRAKE/BREAK

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

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 wine."

BRITAIN/BRITON

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

BRITISH/ENGLISH

Americans tend to use the terms "British" and "English" interchangeably,
but Great Britain is made up of England plus Scotland and Wales. If you
are referring to this larger entity, the word you want is "British."
Britons not from England resent being referred to as "English."


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.

BROKE/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."

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.

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.

BRUSSEL SPROUT/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 OFF OF/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.

BUMRUSH/BUM'S RUSH

A 1987 recording by the rap group Public Enemy popularized the slang
term "bumrush" as a verb meaning "to crash into a show hoping to see it
for free," evidently by analogy with an earlier usage in which it meant
"a police raid."  In the hip-hop world to be "bumrushed" (also spelled
as two words) has evolved a secondary meaning, "to get beaten up by a
group of lowlifes, or "bums." However, older people are likely to take
all of these as mistakes for the traditional expression "bum's rush," as
in "Give that guy the bum's rush," i.e. throw him out unceremoniously,
treating him like an unwanted bum. It was traditionally the bum being
rushed, whereas in the newer expressions the bums are doing the rushing.
It's good to be aware of your audience when you use slang expressions
like this, to avoid baffling listeners.

Side note: Britons laughed themselves silly when they saw Americans
wandering around in sportswear with "B.U.M." plastered in huge letters
across their chests. "Bum" means "rear end" in the UK

BUTT NAKED/BUCK NAKED

The standard expression is "buck naked," and the contemporary "butt
naked" is an error that will get you laughed at in some circles.
However, it might be just as well if the new form were to triumph.
Originally a "buck" was a dandy, a pretentious, overdressed show-off of
a man. Condescendingly applied in the US to Native Americans and black
slaves, it quickly acquired negative connotations. To the historically
aware speaker, "buck naked" conjures up stereotypical images of naked
"savages" or--worse--slaves laboring naked on plantations. Consider
using the alternative expression "stark naked."

BUTTOX/BUTTOCKS

The popular phonetic spelling "buttox" ignores the fact that "buttocks"
(the traditional spelling) is a plural: one buttock, two buttocks.

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 AND AWAY/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.

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.

CADDY-CORNER/CATTY-CORNER, CATER-CORNER, KITTY-CORNER

This expression, meaning "diagonally opposite," was formed from a
mispelling in English of the French word quatre ("four") prefixed to
"corner." Although the word has nothing to do with cats or kittens, in
various dialects all three spellings are acceptable: "catty," "cater" or
"kitty."

But unless you have somebody holding your golf clubs permanently
stationed in the corner of your room, you shouldn't use the spelling
"caddy corner."

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.

Chairs: when someone "calls the question," explain what the phrase means
and ask if that is what's intended. Other folks: you'll get further most
of the time just saying "Let's vote!"

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."

CALLS FOR/PREDICTS

Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you
do call for them?

Shakespeare: Henry IV, Part 1

Newspeople constantly joke that the weather service is to blame for the
weather, so we shouldn't be surprised when they tell us that the
forecast "calls for rain" when what they mean is that it "predicts"
rain.  Remember, wherever you live, the weather is uncalled for.

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."

CANADIAN GEESE/CANADA GEESE

"Canadian geese" would be any old geese that happen to be in Canada.
What people usually mean to refer to when they use this phrase is the
specific species properly called "Canada geese."

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, such as a horse's "cannon bone."

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: "No, you can not wash the dog in the Maytag."

See also "may/might."


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 either named 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? 

CARAMEL/CARMEL

Take Highway 1 south from Monterey to reach the charming seaside town of
Carmel, of which Clint Eastwood was formerly mayor. Dissolve sugar in a
little water and cook it down until the sugar turns brown to create
caramel. A nationwide chain uses the illiterate spelling
"Karmelkorn(TM)," which helps to perpetuate the confusion between these
two words.

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. Just
remember, if you can't eat it, it's not a carrot.

CAREER/CAREEN

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" (like the Ten
Commandments).

People frequently mix these two expressions up and say things like "It's
not cast in stone." They may be influenced by the unrelated Christian
saying, "Don't cast [throw] the first stone."

CAST DISPERSIONS/CAST ASPERSIONS

"Aspersions" is an unusual word whose main meaning is "false or
misleading accusations," and its only common use is in the phrase "cast
aspersions." To disperse a crowd is to break it up and scatter it, which
perhaps leads some people to mistakenly associate "cast" ("throw") with
"disperse" but the expression is "cast aspersions."

CATCH-22/CATCH

People familiar with Joseph Heller's novel are irritated when they see
"Catch-22" used to label any simple hitch or problem rather than this
sort of circular predicament: you can't get published until you have an
agent, and you can't get an agent until you've been published. "There's
a catch" will do fine for most other situations.

CD-ROM disk/CD-ROM

"CD-ROM" stands 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).

CELIBATE/CHASTE

Believe it or not, you can be celibate without being chaste, and chaste
without being celibate. A celibate person is merely unmarried, usually
(but not always) because of a vow of celibacy. The traditional
assumption is that such a person is not having sex with anyone, which
leads many to confuse the word with "chaste," denoting someone who does
not have illicit sex. A woman could have wild sex twice a day with her
lawful husband and technically still be chaste, though the word is more
often used to imply a general abstemiousness from sex and sexuality. You
can always amuse your readers by misspelling the latter word as
"chased."

CELTIC

Because the Boston Celtics basketball team pronounces its name as if it
began with an S, Americans are prone to use this pronunciation of the
word as it applies to the Bretons, Cornish, Welsh, Irish and Scots; but
the dominant pronunciation among sophisticated US speakers is "keltik."
Just remember: "Celts in kilts."

Interestingly, the Scots themselves often use the "S" pronunciation,
notably in referring to the Glasgow soccer team, the "Celtic Football
Club."

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."

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 saying 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 "$.29," or as "29c," but don't combine the
two forms. ".29c" makes no sense, and "$.29c" 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."

CHAISE LONGUE

When English speakers want to be elegant they commonly resort to French,
often mangling it in the process. The entree [acute accent over the
second E], the dish served before the plat, usurped the latter's
position as main dish. And how in the world did French "lingerie"
(originally meaning linen goods of all sorts, later narrowed to
underwear only) pronounced--roughly--"lanzheree" come to be American
"lawnzheray"? Quelle horreur! "Chaise longue" (literally "long chair"),
pronounced--roughly--"shezz lohng" with a hard G on the end became in
English "shayz long." Many speakers, however, confuse French "chaise"
with English "chase" and French longue with English "lounge"
(understandable since the article in question is a sort of couch or
lounge), resulting in the mispronunciation "chase lounge." We may
imagine the French as chasing each other around their lounges, but a
chaise is just a chair.

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 which produces the sparkling wine of
that name.

CHAUVINIST/MALE CHAUVINIST, SEXIST

Nicolas Chauvin of Rochefort became a laughingstock in Napoleon's army
for his exaggerated nationalism, and his name gave rise to the term
"chauvinism," which characterizes people who wildly overestimate the
excellence and importance of their own countries while denigrating
others. The word was then broadened to cover an exaggerated belief in
the superiority of one's own kind in other respects. Following this
pattern, feminists in the 1970s invented the term "male chauvinist" to
label people who considered women inferior to men. Unfortunately, this
was the context in which many people first encountered "chauvinism" and
not understanding that it had a broader meaning, dropped the "male,"
thinking that "chauvinist" was a synonym for "sexist." This
misunderstanding is so widespread that only occasionally will you
encounter someone who knows better, but in formal writing it is wise to
avoid the abbreviated form in this restricted meaning. However, if you
do intend the older meaning of the word, it's also a good idea to make
that clear from your context, for a great many of your readers will
assume you are talking about sexism.


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.

CHEESE QUESADILLA/QUESADILLA

"Queso" is the Spanish word for "cheese," so it's redundant to write
"cheese quesadilla" on a menu. If you think your customers need a
definition or if you want to distinguish the purely cheese-filled ones
from--say--chicken quesadillas, you can add a brief explanation such as
"cheese-filled fried tortilla."

CHEMICALS

Markets offering "organic" produce claim it has been raised "without
chemicals." News stories fret about "chemicals in our water supply."
This common error in usage indicates quite clearly the lamentable level
of scientific literacy in our population. Everything on earth save a few
stray subatomic particles and various kinds of energy (and--if you
believe in it--pure spirit) is composed of chemicals. Pure water
consists of the chemical dihydrogen oxide. Vitamins and minerals are
chemicals. In the broadest sense, even simple elements like nitrogen can
be called chemicals. Writers who use this term sloppily contribute to
the obfuscation of public debate over such serious issues as pollution
and malnutrition.

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 US 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.

CHOOSE/CHOSE

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

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."

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 beloved running toward you in slow motion
on the beach (a sight for sore eyes!).

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."

CLICHE/CLICHED

One often hears young people say "That movie was so cliche!" "Cliche" is
a noun, meaning an overfamiliar phrase or image. A work containing
cliches is cliched.

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).

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).

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.

COLLAGE/COLLEGE

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

COLLECTIVE PLURAL

In UK English it is common to see statements like "Parliament have
raised many questions about the proposal" in which because Parliament is
made up of many individuals, several of whom are raising questions, the
word is treated as if it were plural in form and given a plural verb.
This is the proper-noun form of what is called the "collective plural."
Many UK authorities object when this pattern is applied to
organization names if the organization is being discussed as a whole and
not as a collection of individuals. According to them, "The BBC have
been filming in Papua New Guinea" should be "The BBC has been 
filming. . . ."

This sort of collective plural applied to the names of organizations is
almost unheard of in the US, and in fact strikes most Americans as
distinctly weird, with the exception of an occasional sports team with a
singular-form name like the Utah Jazz, the Miami Heat, the Orlando
Magic, or the Seattle Storm. There's a sarcastic saying, "The Utah Jazz
are to basketball what Utah is to jazz."

COLOMBIA/COLUMBIA

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

COMMAS

What follows is not a comprehensive guide to the many uses of commas,
but a quick tour of the most common errors involving them.

The first thing to note is that the comma often marks a brief pause in
the flow of a sentence, and it helpfully marks off one phrase from
another. If you write "I plan to see Shirley and Fred will go shopping
while we visit" your readers are naturally going to think the announced
visit will be to both Shirley and Fred until the second half surprises
them into realizing that Fred is not involved in this visit at all. A
simple comma makes everything clear: "I plan to see Shirley, and Fred
will go shopping while we visit." People who read and write little have
trouble with commas if they deal with English primarily as a spoken
language, where emphasis and rhythm mark out phrases. It takes a
conscious effort to translate the rhythm of a sentence into writing
using punctuation.

Not many people other than creative writers have the occasion to write
dialogue, but it is surprising how few understand that introductory
words and phrases have to be separated from the main body of speech in
direct address: "Well, what did you think of that?" "Good evening, Mr.
Nightingale."

Commas often help set off interrupting matter within sentences. The
proper term for this sort of word or phrase is "parenthetical." There
are three ways to handle parenthetical matter. For asides sharply
interrupting the flow of the sentence (think of your own examples) use
parenthesis marks. For many other kinds of fairly strong interjections, 
dashes--if you know how to type them properly--work best. Milder
interruptions, like this, are nicely set off with commas. Many writers
don't realize that they are setting off a phrase, so they begin with the
first comma but omit the second, which should conclude the parenthetical
matter. Check for this sort of thing in your proofreading.

A standard use for commas is to separate the items in a series: "cats,
dogs, and gerbils." Authorities differ as to whether that final comma
before the "and" is required. Follow the style recommended by your
teacher, editor, or boss when you have to please them; but if you are on
your own, I suggest you use the final comma. It often removes
ambiguities.

A different kind of series has to do with a string of adjectives
modifying a single noun: "He was a tall, strong, handsome, but stupid
man." But when the adjectives modify each other instead of the noun,
then no comma is used: "He was wearing a garish bright green tie." A
simple test: if you could logically insert "and" between the adjectives
in a series like this, you need commas.

English teachers refer to sentences where clauses requiring some
stronger punctuation are instead lightly pasted together with a comma as
"comma splices." Here's an example: "He brought her a dozen roses, he
had forgotten she was allergic to them." In this sentence the reader
needs to be brought up sharply and reoriented mid-sentence with a
semicolon; a comma is too weak to do the trick. Here's a worse example
of a comma splice: "It was a beautiful day outside, she remembered just
in time to grab the coffee mug." There is no obvious logical connection
between the two parts of this sentence. They don't belong in the same
sentence at all. The comma should be a period, with the rest being
turned into a separate sentence.

Some writers insert commas seemingly at random: "The unabridged
dictionary, was used mainly to press flowers." When you're not certain a
comma is required, read your sentence aloud. If it doesn't seem natural
to insert a slight pause or hesitation at the point marked by the comma,
it should probably be omitted.

See also "colons/semicolons" and "hyphens & dashes."

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Hey kids, 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 wine to toxic waste." 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, so we can say that
"Alice's love for entertaining and Mike's love for washing dishes
complement each other." Remember, if you're not making nice to someone,
the word is "complement."

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 degrees, whereas
supplementary ones add up to 180 degrees.

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."

COMPTROLLER

Although it is less and less often heard, the traditional pronunciation
of "comptroller" is identical with "controller." The Oxford English
Dictionary, indeed, considers "comptroller" to have begun as a
misspelling of "controller"--back in the 16th century.

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."

CONCERTED EFFORT

One cannot make a "concerted effort" all by one's self. To work "in
concert" is to work together with others. 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.

CONSERVATIVISM/CONSERVATISM

The conservative spelling of this word is "conservatism."

CONTACT

Although some still object to "contact" as a verb, sentences like
"contact me when the budget is ready" are now standard English.

CONTAMINATES/CONTAMINANTS

When run-off from a chemical plant enters the river it contaminates the
water; but the goo 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."

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."

CORE/CORPS/CORPSE

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

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.

COLONS/SEMICOLONS

Colons have a host of uses, but they mostly have in common that the
colon acts to connect what precedes it with what follows. Think of the
two dots of a colon as if they were stretched out to form an equal sign,
so that you get cases like this: "he provided all the ingredients:
sugar, flour, butter, and vanilla."

There are a few exceptions to this pattern, however. One unusual use of
colons is in between the chapter and verses of a Biblical citation, for
instance, "Matthew 6:5." In bibliographic citation a colon separates the
city from the publisher: "New York: New Directions, 1979." It also
separates minutes from hours in times of day when given in figures:
"8:35." It is incorrect to substitute a semicolon in any of these cases.

Think of the semicolon as erecting a little barrier with that dug-in
comma under the dot; semicolons always imply separation rather than
connection. A sentence made up of two distinct parts whose separation
needs to be emphasized may do so with a semicolon: "Mary moved to
Seattle; she was sick of getting sunburned in Los Angeles." When a
compound sentence contains commas within one or more of its clauses, you
have to escalate to a semicolon to separate the clauses themselves: "It
was a mild, deliciously warm spring day; and Mary decided to walk to the
fair." The other main use of semicolons is to separate one series of
items from another--a series within a series, if you will: "The issues
discussed by the board of directors were many: the loud, acrimonious
complaints of the stockholders; the abrupt, devastating departure of the
director; and the startling, humiliating discovery that he had absconded
with half the company's assets." Any time the phrases which make up a
series contain commas, for whatever reason, they need to be separated by
semicolons.

Many people are so terrified of making the wrong choice that they try to
avoid colons and semicolons altogether, but I'm afraid this just can't
be done. Formal writing requires their use, and it's necessary to learn
the correct patterns.

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 bar. 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: "Macy's" does and "Starbucks" doesn't. 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.

CONCERNING/WORRISOME, TROUBLING

People commonly say of things that are a cause for concern that they are
"concerning": "My boyfriend'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."

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" and "pig-headed" both denote stubbornness; but the first
connotes a wise adherence to purpose and the second connotes foolish
rigidity.

"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."

See unconscience.

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."

COPE UP/COPE WITH

When you can't keep up with your work you may not be able to cope with
your job; but you never "cope up" with anything. In casual speech we say
"I can't cope," but in formal writing "cope" is normally followed by
"with."

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."

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/COULDN'T 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.

COUPLE/COUPLE OF

Instead of "she went with a couple sleazy guys before she met me," write
"a couple of guys" if you are trying to sound a bit more formal. Leaving
the "of" out is a casual, slangy pattern.

COWTOW/KOWTOW

You can tow a cow to water, but you can't make it drink. But the word
that means bowing worshipfully before someone comes from the Chinese
words for knocking one's head on the ground, and is spelled "kowtow."

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. A way to
remember this: in "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" "Cracker Jack" rhymes
with "back."

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).

See also "incredible."

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.

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.

CROISSANT

The fanciful legend which attributes the creation of the croissant to
Christian bakers celebrating a 17th-century victory over the Turks is
widely recounted but almost certainly untrue, since there is no trace of
the pastry until a century later. Although its form was probably not
influenced by the Islamic crescent, the word croissant most definitely
is French for "crescent." Pastries formed from the same dough into
different shapes should not be called "croissants." If a customer in
your bakery asks for a pain au chocolat (PAN oh-show-co-LA), reach for
that rectangular pastry usually mislabeled in the US a "chocolate
croissant."

CRUCIFICTION/CRUCIFIXION

One might suppose that this common misspelling was a product of
skepticism were it not for the fact that it most often occurs in the
writings of believers. The word should make clear that Jesus was affixed
to the cross, not imply that his killing is regarded as a fiction.

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.

CUE/QUEUE

"Cue" has a variety of meanings, but all uses of "queue" relate to its
original French meaning of "tail," which becomes a metaphor for a line
(beware, however: in French "queue" is also rude slang for the male sex
organ). Although a few dictionaries accept "cue" as an alternative
spelling for the braided tail some people make of their hair or a
waiting line, traditionally both are queues: "Sun Yat Sen ordered that
all Chinese men should cut off their queues," "I have over 300 movies in
my Netflix queue."

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.

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.

CUT OF TEA/CUP OF TEA

An astounding number of people write "cut of tea" when they mean "cup of
tea," especially in phrases like "not my cut of tea" instead of "not my
cup of tea." This saying is not about fine distinctions between
different ways the tea's been harvested; it just refers to the ordinary
vessel from which you drink the stuff.

Is this mistake influenced by the expression "the cut of his jib" or is
it just a goofy typo?

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" (soggy firecracker).

DAMPED/DAMPENED

When the vibration of a wheel is reduced it is damped, but when you
drive through a puddle your tire is dampened. "Dampened" always has to
do with wetting, if only metaphorically: "The announcement that Bob's
parents were staying home after all dampened the spirits of the
party-goers." The parents are being a wet blanket.

DANGLING AND MISPLACED MODIFIERS

Dangling and misplaced modifiers are discussed at length in usage guides
partly because they are very common and partly because there are many
different kinds of them. But it is not necessary to understand the
grammatical details involved to grasp the basic principle: words or
phrases which modify some other word or phrase in a sentence should be
clearly, firmly joined to them and not dangle off forlornly on their
own.

Sometimes the dangling phrase is simply too far removed from the word it
modifies, as in "Sizzling on the grill, Theo smelled the Copper River
salmon." This makes it sound like Theo is being barbecued, because his
name is the nearest noun to "sizzling on the grill." We need to move the
dangling modifier closer to the word it really modifies: "salmon." "Theo
smelled the Copper River salmon sizzling on the grill."

Sometimes it's not clear which of two possible words a modifier
modifies: "Felicia is allergic to raw apples and almonds." Is she
allergic only to raw almonds, or all almonds--even roasted ones? This
could be matter of life and death. Here's a much clearer version:
"Felicia is allergic to almonds and raw apples." "Raw" now clearly
modifies only "apples."

Dangling modifiers involving verbs are especially common and sometimes
difficult to spot. For instance, consider this sentence: "Having bought
the harpsichord, it now needed tuning." There is no one mentioned in the
sentence who did the buying. One way to fix this is to insert the name
of someone and make the two halves of the sentence parallel in form:
"Wei Chi, having bought the harpsichord, now needed to tune it." If you
have a person in mind, it is easy to forget the reader needs to be told
about that person; but he or she can't be just "understood."

Here's another sentence with a dangling modifier, in this case at the
end of a sentence: "The retirement party was a disaster, not having
realized that Arthur had been jailed the previous week." There is nobody
here doing the realizing. One fix: "The retirement party was a disaster
because we had not realized that Arthur had been jailed the previous
week."

Using passive verbs will often trip you up: "In reviewing Gareth's
computer records, hundreds of hours spent playing online games were
identified." This sort of thing looks fine to a lot of people and in
fact is common in professional writing, but technically somebody
specific needs to be mentioned in the sentence as doing the identifying.
Inserting a doer and shifting to the active voice will fix the problem.
While we're at it, let's make clear that Gareth was doing the playing:
"The auditor, in checking Gareth's computer records, identified hundreds
of hours that he had spent playing online games."

Adverbs like "almost," "even," "hardly," "just," "only," and "nearly,"
are especially likely to get stuck in the wrong spot in a sentence.
"Romeo almost kissed Juliet as soon as he met her" means he didn't kiss
her--he only held her hand. True, but you might want to say something
quite different: "Romeo kissed Juliet almost as soon as he met her." The
placement of the modifier is crucial.

DARING-DO/DERRING-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 plu