| Word |
Common Mistake |
| a lot |
should be two words "a lot", never "alot"; don't confuse this with the homophone "allot" which means to share out. |
| affect and effect |
affect is usually a verb: it's the thing that I do to influence something. I yelled at my student but it didn't affect his study habits.
effect is usually a noun: it's the thing that happens as a result of some cause. I yelled at my student but there was no effect on his study habits.
People get confused about this because there are two exceptions. We can use "effect" as a verb in the construction "to effect change." We can use "affect" as a noun when we talk about someone's psychological condition: he has a depressed affect.
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| but, and |
Beginning a sentence with "But" or "And" is acceptable according to Fowler's Modern English usage. But I don't think it's good style. And avoid it in your formal papers. But learn to live with it in journalism. |
| centre, center |
Visitors from the US can skip to the next one. This is for Canucks only. The correct usage in Canada is the British spelling: "centre." Due to the lax standards in most of our post-secondary institutions, you will probably be able to get away with either one. Should you get a particularly ignorant teacher, you may be marked down for the British form. You can refer the teacher to the Oxford Dictionary which allows either but the roots of the word are from the French which still spells it "centre." |
| colour, color |
It's the British thing here; colour is the British spelling. |
| defence, defense |
Defence is British, therefore Canadian; defense is American. |
| ensure, insure |
Ensure is when you make sure of something. Often confused with insure which means to secure payment of a sum of money in the event of some kind of loss or injury. |
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| first of all |
Actually, this can be used but I prefer the shorter "first." The common mistake associated with the word is to follow it by the erroneous "second of all" and even by the egregiously horrible "third of all." Think about it. Something can come first before all (first of all) but not second of all because it's really "second of all but one" and finally "third of all but the first two." Why not forty seventh of all but the first forty six? |
| firstly |
the suffix "ly" is used to make a descriptive word into an adverb, not modify a counting word. It's just "First" which usually leads off a sentence with some part of a list in it. Unfortunately in many other adverbs people are constantly dropping the -ly.
"First, he told me how to write."
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| garnishee, garnish |
I got my comeuppance researching this one. Oxford says both can be used as a verb which means to legally seize money. For years I have been embarassing myself by stating that I would welcome having my salary 'garnished' because it would then have some extra decoration. In actual fact, with or without the extra 'ee' it's something to be avoided. |
| honour, honor |
It's just like 'colour'; Brit vs. Yank. My degree, however, granted by Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC, Canada, states "Honors English" when it should state "Honours English." |
| its, it's & its' |
Let's be clear about this:
it's = it is
its = possessive of it
its' = NEVER USED IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!!
The grammatical use of its or it's is one of the most common search terms in grammar on the internet. Clearly many people are still struggling with it.
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| jargon |
It's not a word that's misused, but it's a terribly common writing fault. Sometimes terms specific to certain disciplines are needed to make the meaning clear, but don't use esoteric language solely for the onanistic pleasure of discourse which is ultimately exclusionary and creates redundant pleonasms. Read my blog about "penultimate." |
| likelihood |
one word, sometimes misspelled
"likely hood" |
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Who, Whom
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Who — used as the subject of a sentence
Example: Who threw the ball?
Whom — used as the object of a sentence
Example: To whom was the ball thrown?
Use 'who' when it's the subject of a clause when even though the clause is the object of the sentence.
I spoke to the principal, who is also the gym teacher.
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