grammar tips

The Most Misused Words…

Over the years I have written a number of blog posts lamenting the poor English usage that I see and hear all around me every day. Yes, the language is alive and constantly growing and evolving, so I do try to let a lot of things go. I do understand that new words and terms are constantly coming into use and becoming part of the “living language”. However, that doesn’t mean that long-time accepted words and terms, and their proper usage, have to go out the proverbial window.

It particularly drives me to distraction when I read or hear words and terms being used incorrectly by people who should know better. I’m talking about folks who use words every day while practicing their profession, such as: journalists, writers, broadcasters, academics, and politicians, to name a few. Sadly, in my daily life, while listening to the radio, watching TV, and/or reading newspapers and magazines, I hear or read egregious errors in word usage and/or grammar almost every single day!

So, I went back over my blog posts of the past five years or so, and I came up with the top 15 or so of what I consider to be the most common errors in English that I still regularly encounter in my everyday life. Here’s that list below, in alphabetical order:

advice, advise
“Advice” is a noun, and “advise” is a verb.
Example:
I advise you to follow Frank’s advice.
My advice to you is to hire an expert to advise you on the matter.

amount, number [see “fewer, less” below]
Use “amount” with quantities that can’t be counted.
Use “number” with things that can be counted.
Examples:
The amount of money we collect will depend on the number of people who attend.
There are a number of recipes in the book that call for a large amount of salt.
A large amount of contraband was seized during a number of overnight raids.

bad, badly
“Bad” is an adjective, “badly is an adverb.
Examples:
They felt bad about being late. His leg hurt badly after his accident.
It was a bad game; I played very badly.

bored “with”, bored “of”
I am bored “with” school is correct; NOT – I am bored “of” school.
Examples:
I am tired of school. I am sick of school.
I am bored with having to eat the same food every day.

bring, take
Use “bring” when an object is being brought/moved “towards” where you are now.
Use “take” when an object is being taken/moved “away” from where you are now.
Examples:
Bring the tickets with you when you come to join us.
We will take the car to the club after we finish dinner.
I will take the money to the bank, but first I need you to bring the deposit slips to me here.

complement, compliment
“Complement” with an “e” means “to go with or complete” something.
“Compliment” withan “i” means “to flatter”.
Examples:
His lyrics complement her playing.
The maestro complimented her on her musicianship.

fewer, less [see “amount, number” above]
“Fewer” refers to items that can be counted. “Less” refers to quantities.
Examples:
Because fewer people were there, we collected less money.
Even though there was less rain this time, fewer cars were on the roads.
I have less money than when I left home but I have fewer items left to buy.
There were fewer players on the field, so their chance of winning was less.

good, well
“Good” is an adjective; It does not stand alone; it needs to modify or describe something else.
“Well” is an adverb that can stand alone as the object of a phrase or sentence.
Examples:
She hasn’t felt good about her game since late last season.
She performed well in the final event of the competition.
Tiger played good golf last weekend; he knows he played well.
NOT: Tiger played good last weekend! INSTEAD, USE: Tiger played well last weekend.

its, it’s
Confusing these two is an error I often make when writing something in a rush.
“its” is a possessive pronoun; used to indicate that something belongs to something else.
“it’s”, with an apostrophe, is a contraction for the phrase “it is”.
Examples:
We inspected every square inch of its hull and didn’t find anything.
It’s going to be a very long trip.

laptop, labtop
“labtop” with a “b” is NOT a word!
Many people use it incorrectly when they mean “laptop”; a computer that fits on one’s “lap”.

loose, lose
“Loose” is an adjective that means “not securely attached”.
“Lose” means “to misplace” something or “to be deprived of, or “not to win”.
Examples:
The muffler was so loose that I feared we would soon lose it.
When you lose your focus, sometimes you lose the game.
If you play too fast and loose, you are sure to lose.

myself, me
“Myself” is a reflexive or intensive pronoun.
Examples:
I hurt myself [reflexive]. I drove myself [intensive].
She gave the books to Francis and me [NOT myself].
As for me, [NOT myself] I’m always available.

practice, practise
“practice” with a “c” is a noun that refers to “a way of doing things”.
“practise” with an “s” is a verb.
Examples:
He wanted to practise his song, but the practice was canceled.
It was his practice to go for a drink after band practice was over.

principal, principle
“Principal” can be a noun or adjective and can mean different things in different contexts.
As a noun, it can mean “the head of a school” or “a sum of money”.
As an adjective, “principal” means “most important”.
On the other hand, “principle” is a noun that means “basic truth or law”.
Examples:
Mary Stone is the principal of our high school.
My monthly loan payment includes principal plus interest.
The main principle behind his argument is equality for all.

relation, relationship
“Relation” describes a connection between things.
“Relationship” refers to a connection between people.
Example:
He studied the relation between income and intellect.
Their relationship soured after the company went broke.

“sneaked” vs. “snuck”
Believe it or not, it is still ok to say we “sneaked” in through the back door.
In fact, in my opinion, it is better to say “we sneaked in”, rather than to say “we snuck in”.

The above are just a few examples of dubious English usage that grate on my nerves whenever I hear or read them. I’m sure you can probably think of others as well. English is a beautifully precise language; try to be precisely right whenever you speak it or write it.

Listen up folks! Just because you hear something on the radio or television, or you read it in a newspaper or magazine, doesn’t make it correct! Really. This is especially true these days when journalists and writers copy and paste a good deal of their columns from facebook posts and twitter tweets. So what if Joe and Marjorie, living goodness knows where, with goodness knows what education level, spouted their opinion on whatever subject online! Does that mean we should all accept their grammar, phrasing and and/or spelling at face value? I don’t think so!

Again, I do understand that the English language is constantly growing and evolving. However, it’s not a total free-for-all out there folks! All I ask is that you at least wait until your “word” is listed as standard usage in major dictionaries before using it. This is especially important if you want to be taken seriously in business or academic circles. You must be careful not to fall into the trap of using popular jargon just because you heard or saw someone else use it; especially when writing.

So, whenever you are about to use a particular word or term, and any doubt about it creeps into your mind, check it out first before using it. Nine times out of ten, when you check your dictionary or style manual, you will find that your initial gut feeling was right. Don’t embarrass yourself unnecessarily just because you didn’t check; especially in a professional situation.

Common Irregular Verbs (4)

In March, August and November of last year I published the first three installments of my mini-series on the use and abuse of irregular verbs in English. Here’s the fourth and second last installment:

The English language is famous (or infamous!) for its many irregular verbs. For irregular verbs, most dictionaries list all of the irregular forms along with the base form of the verb. If you aren’t sure whether a verb is regular or irregular, and the dictionary only lists the base form, you can assume it is a regular verb. Following is a list of some of the most common irregular verbs (beginning with the letters “s”), along with a usage example for each tense.

For each verb, the three forms listed are: Base Form, Past Tense, and Past Participle.

say, said, said
– I will say it when the time is right.
– She said she was hungry after we arrived.
– I would have said it then, had I known everything.

see, saw, seen
– I can see it from here.
– They saw it the moment they got there.
– At one time, that would have been seen easily from there.

send, sent, sent
– I send you my very best wishes.
– She sent the package to you yesterday.
– By the time we arrived he had already sent it.

set (as in “to place”), set, set
– Please set the table for dinner.
– We set out on our hike at dawn.
– Had that happened, we would have been all set.

shake, shook, shaken
– Before you use it, shake the bottle vigorously.
– The explosion shook the building to its foundations.
– She was very shaken up after the accident.

shoot, shot, shot
– Shoot directly at the center of the target.
– He shot the rapids without losing his balance once.
– There was a time when he would have been shot by firing squad.

shrink, shrank, shrunk, shrunken
– You can shrink it by adding warm water.
– After the rain storm hit, the tent shrank by five per cent.
– He shrunk it so much that it eventually fit him.
– By the time we got there it was a shrunken hulk.

sing, sang, sung
– She will sing the national anthem at the game tonight.
– At last year’s competition they sang their hearts out.
– They had already sung the overture by the time we arrived.

sink, sank, sunk
– Let the container sink to the bottom by itself.
– Ten minutes after the collision, it sank to the river bed.
– By the time we got there his hopes were already sunk.

sit (as in “be seated”), sat, sat
– You can sit on the bench over there.
– We sat in the left-field bleachers.
– I would have sat there all night if necessary.

slay, slew, slain
– Anyone can slay large animals with that massive sword.
– He slew the bear in front of the cave.
– She had been slain by a group of mercenaries.

sleep, slept, slept
– I can sleep right here on the couch.
– They slept fitfully while the storm raged outside.
– I was so tired after that ordeal I would have slept anywhere.

speak, spoke, spoken
– Please speak to me.
– We spoke about the problem after the service was over.
– Had I been aware, I would have spoken about it then.

spin, spun, spun
– I see that you can spin a baton with flair.
– As soon as it hit the ice the car spun out of control.
– If Frank had been there he would have spun you a good tale.

spring, sprang, sprung
– They plan to spring him from jail tonight.
– The moment the door opened they sprang into action.
– Had I known it was safe, I would have sprung right up there.

The simple examples given above are provided to show how these verbs can be used in typical situations using the base form, the past tense, and the past participle.

To see my previous blog posts on common irregular verbs, please check: March 2014 (letters “a” to “c”), August 2014 (letters “d” to “g”), and November 2014 (letters “h” to “r”).

I will be posting one more article in this irregular verbs series in a few months.

Words Commonly Confused and/or Misused (3)

This post is my third in the current series. The previous article covered words/terms beginning with the letters “d” to “f”; this one covers the letters “g” through “I”. I will continue to post articles from this series every three or four months over the next year or so.

So, here are some frequently confused and/or misused words beginning with letters (“g” through “i”).

goods, good
There is often confusion whether to use singular or plural. Generally, the plural form should be used. However, the singular is sometimes used to simplify, as per the example.
Examples:
The goods will arrive by ocean container next week.
All goods received from China will be subject to that new tax.
That charge applies to any good or service originating in Mexico.

hardly
“hardly” means “scarcely” or “only just”.
It is often used incorrectly as a double negative, as in: “He can’t hardly do it…”, which is incorrect.
Examples:
I was so exhausted I could hardly make it back to camp.
After the accident, she could hardly remember anything that had taken place before.

has got, have got
“got” is unnecessary when used with have/has in such phrases as:
“We’ve got twelve days until the deadline.”
Examples:
We have only twelve days left until the deadline.
They have six months to go before their membership expires.

healthful, healthy
“healthful” means that something is conducive to good health.
“healthy” means that something possesses good health.
Examples:
That was a very healthful meal that they served us.
If you continue to follow that program you will be very healthy.

hisself
“Hisself” is non-standard. DON’T use it. INSTEAD use “himself”.
Examples:
He went to the game by himself.
He did it all himself.

historical, historic
“historical” means something is related to history.
“historic” means that something is famous or notable in history.
Examples:
That voyage was of great historical significance.
Gandhi is considered by most historians to be a major historical figure.
Her historic speech broke down many barriers for the first time.

hung, hanged
“hanged” is only used in the context of capital punishment.
“hung” is used in all other cases.
Examples:
In that country, all people convicted of murder are hanged.
He hung from the branch by the tips of his fingers.
She hung her degree directly above and behind her desk.
They hung out at their favorite hang-out, the corner store.

i.e., e.g.
These two abbreviations are often confused and/or used interchangeably.
“i.e.” means “that is to say…”. [from the Latin: “id est”]
“e.g.” means “for example…” [from the Latin “exempli gratia”]
Examples:
Conference attendees should assemble quickly (i.e., within five minutes).
To belong, you need to hold an accreditation with a professional society (e.g., CA, RN, MD).
[Note: with e.g. DO NOT add “etc.” at the end of the list. It is a given that these are just examples and there will be others.]

imply, infer
“imply” means to indicate a particular point or meaning in speech or in writing.
“infer” means to make a conclusion based on something that had been said or written.
Examples:
His statement is expected to clearly imply our future priorities.
Based on the thrust of her speech, we can infer that she is giving us the green light to proceed.

include, comprise
“include” refers to part of a whole.
“comprise” refers to all parts of something.
Examples:
The Cabinet includes five newly elected representatives.
The committee is comprised of eight members; one from each corporate region.

in regard to
“in regard to” [NOT “in regards to”]; means “with reference to” something.
Equivalent phrases are: “with respect to” or “with regard to” or “as regards”.
Examples:
He questioned her in regard to her whereabouts that night.
That decision was made with regard to historical religious practices.
With respect to the first paragraph, you are absolutely correct.
As regards our previous discussion, my position has not changed on that matter.

intense, intensive
“intense” means “to a high degree” or “in an extreme way”.
“intensive” means to do something thoroughly; in a concentrated manner.
Examples:
His focus on the task at hand was very intense.
Their training program was quite intensive.

irregardless
This is non-standard and redundant. DO NOT use it. Instead, use “regardless”.
Examples:
We are leaving tomorrow, regardless of the weather.
Regardless of her opinion, I am still going ahead with our plan.

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