Common Errors in English

Incorrect - John is kindness, so many people want to chat with him.
Correct - John is so kind that many people want to chat with him.

Incorrect - Had you come to Korea ? Randy
Correct - Have you ever been to Korea, Randy ?

Incorrect - Chan, are your work busy ?
Correct - Chan, do you have a busy job ?

Incorrect - I am going to a picnic.
Correct - I am going on a picnic.

Incorrect - I am a bit in a hurry.
Correct - I am in a bit of a hurry.

Incorrect - Ah Ling, What is Hong Kong interesting.
Correct - Ah Ling, What is in Hong Kong interesting.

Incorrect - I'll date her out this Saturday.
Correct - I'll take her out on a date this Saturday.

Incorrect - My house is to ten minute of her.
Correct - It is a ten minute drive from my house to hers.

Incorrect - I had told you I am from China.
Correct - I have told you before that I am from China.

Incorrect - I am come from China.
Correct - I am from China/ I come from China.

Incorrect - OK, I will see you late !
Correct - OK, I will see you later !

Incorrect - I wish I have .....
Correct - I wish I had ....

Incorrect - I am going to watch the cinema tonight.
Correct - I am going to a movie tonight.

Incorrect - I am difficult to learn English.
Correct - It is difficult for me to learn English.


Incorrect - I still so surprise we were born in same day.
Correct - I am so surprised that we were born on the same day.


Incorrect - Is there some topic talk about ?
Correct - Is there any topic to talk about ?


Incorrect - Give me a favor !
Correct - Please do me a favor !


Incorrect - I don't understand the meaning what you say...
Correct - I don't understand the meaning of what you said ....


Incorrect - There are not anything wrong ...
Correct - There is nothing wrong ....

Incorrect - Why not come yesterday ?
Correct - Why didn't you come yesterday ?

Incorrect - What hobby do you like ?
Correct - What is your hobby ?

Incorrect - Almost people here I never met before.
Correct - Almost all the people here are strangers to me.


Incorrect - How do you think to learn the English ?
Correct - What is your point on learning English ?

Incorrect - Would you please don't ask me this question, OK ?
Correct - Would you please not ask me this question, OK ?

Incorrect - I'm heard music.
Correct - I am listening to some music now.

Incorrect - You must be quite a character.
Correct - You are quite a character

Incorrect - In fact, Billy really owns some personality to be a VIP.
Correct - In fact, Billy really has what it takes to be a VIP.

Incorrect - Just now my connection have problem ........
Correct - I just had a connection problem.........

Incorrect - Joei, maybe I will sleepless after I saw his pic !
Correct - Joei, I may be sleepless tonight after seeing his picture !


Incorrect - I am so boring today, please bring me fun.
Correct - I feel so bored today, please say something funny.


Incorrect - Judy : Tom sent his pic to me for long time ago.
Correct - Judy : Tom sent me his picture a long time ago.

Incorrect - You can try it more ..........
Correct - You can try a few times ...........

Incorrect - He went to abroad to further his study.
Correct - He went abroad to further his study.

Incorrect - Because that can let me more to be clear about your talk.
Correct - Because that can help me to understand what you said better.


Incorrect - Do you live there from the day your born.
Correct - Have you lived there since birth ?

Incorrect - You are very learned.
Correct - You are very knowledgeable.

Incorrect - I am sorry, my computer have the problem.
Correct - I am sorry, there is a problem with my computer.


Incorrect - Today, I'll wash my cat.
Correct - I'll give my cat a bath today.


Incorrect - How many days left for you to quit your position ?
Correct - How many days are left before you quit your job?
Correct - How many days are left until you quit your job?

Incorrect - Well, now my connection have problem.
Correct - Well, I have some problems with my connection now.

Incorrect - I writed the sentences yours down ... Maggie.
Correct - I have written down your sentences, Maggie.

Incorrect - Did Thailand come into rain season ?
Correct - Is it the rainy season in Thailand ?

Incorrect - Well, Peter !!! You must not a material boy, that is my kind too.
Correct - Well, Peter !!! You are not a materialistic person like me.

Incorrect - I'm so much pleasing to talk with you.
Correct - I'm so pleased/happy to talk with you.

Incorrect - But I had sent it for 3 days.
Correct - But I sent it 3 days ago.

Incorrect - How is going everything ?
Correct - How is everything going ?

Incorrect - I don't know how speak it in English.
Correct - I don't know how to say it in English.

Incorrect - How many mountains exist in China ?
Correct - How many mountains are there in China ?

Incorrect - How was your sleeping yesterday ? Judy
Correct - Did you have a good sleep yesterday, Judy ?

Incorrect - You're not get used to it, I guess ..........
Correct - You're not used to it, I guess ..........

Incorrect - He is trying to look cute to make himself forgiven.
Correct - He is trying to get away with it by looking cute.

Incorrect - Chen, you are informed. Thanks for your information.
Correct - Chen, you are informative. Thanks for your information.

Incorrect - Why are you come here so often ?
Correct - Why do you come here so often ?

Incorrect - Are you born in Malaysia ?
Correct - Were you born in Malaysia ?

Incorrect - Why don't stay more time here ?
Correct - Why don't you stay a little longer ?

Incorrect - He was in a hospital, and he is recently out of it.
Correct - He was discharged from the hospital recently.

Incorrect - I'm also from China, but I'm live in Phillipines now.
Correct - I'm also from China, but I'm living in the Phillipines now.

Incorrect - But chat room of teacher with this chat room are difference. Right ?
Correct - But there is difference between the teacher's chat room and this chat room, right ?

Incorrect - If oneday I am good in English, I would definitely admit it.
Correct - If someday I am good at English, I will definitely admit to it.


Incorrect - I have not 2 years meet him
Correct I - haven't met him for 2 years.


Incorrect - It is simply unimaginable on me not to fight back.
Correct - It is simply unimaginable to me not to fight back.


Incorrect - I hate my boss, I feel like kicking on his butt.
Correct - I hate my boss, I feel like kicking his butt.

Incorrect - I do not like English, so, I will go out here.
Correct - I don't like English, so I am leaving here now.

Incorrect - This is the last time I went there, as the doctor has unravel the stitches.
Correct - It was the last time that I had to go there as the doctor took out the stitches.

Incorrect - Derek, why are you come and go say nothing to us?
Correct - Derek, why did you come and go without saying anything to us?

Incorrect - I must to say that your's english is perfect. How did you learn it ?
Correct - I must say that your English is perfect. How did you learn it ?


Incorrect - I want to talk someone.
Correct - I want to talk to someone.

Incorrect - You are right. Just now I have leisure. Peter
Correct - You are right. I was free just now, Peter

Incorrect - I'm very sorry for yesterday, but my chief returned and I must to leave the chatroom at once.
Correct - I am sorry for my abrupt exit yesterday because my boss suddenly turned up.

Incorrect - I didn't say bye for you yesterday, please don't be angry.
Correct - I didn't say bye to you yesterday, please don't be angry.

Incorrect - Betty, are you investing on stock market ?
Correct - Betty, are you investing in the stock market ?

Incorrect - Can you join me the talk ?
Correct - Can I join in the talk ?

Incorrect - We have full off and half off on Sunday.
Correct - We are given the option to work either full or half day on Sunday.

Incorrect - Kelvin, don't be so jealousy !
Correct - Kelvin, don't be so jealous !

Incorrect - The china is coming into rainy weather.
Correct - China is in rainy season now.

Incorrect - All these three cities are similar warm as Malaysia.
Correct - All three of these cities are as warm as Malaysia.

Incorrect - What time of a day now in your country ?
Correct - What is the time now in your country ?

Incorrect - Comes to think of it, it sounds right !
Correct - Come to think of it, it does sound right !

Incorrect - Last one typhoon let person 4 hundred million damage.
Correct - The latest typhoon has cost the people 400 million damage.

Incorrect - But I 'm illiterature computer ....
Correct - But I'm a computer illiterate ....

Incorrect - The farm can't also be escaped from that typhoon.
Correct - The typhoon has caused great damage on the farm.

Incorrect - I can't follow you two talk now.
Correct - I can't follow what both of you are talking about.

Incorrect - You must know she is jealous very much.
Correct - You must know that she is jealous by nature.

Incorrect - Seems nothing changed to me ......
Correct - It seems that nothing has changed to me .....

Incorrect - Will she come to there soon ?
Correct - She will go there soon, won't she ?

Incorrect - Today is very slow.
Correct - The connection is slow today.

Incorrect - But you know a lot about computer, isn't it ? I know nothing at all about it !
Correct - But you know a lot about computer, don't you ? I myself know nothing about it !

Incorrect - The sales of light arms is the main cause of heavy casualty in conflicting nations.
Correct - The sale of light arms to conflicting nations is the main cause of heavy casualities.

Incorrect - Why you want to know more about me ? I am just a small people.
Correct - Why do you want to know more about me ? I am a nobody.

Incorrect - Make sure that it is a high pay job.
Correct - Make sure that it is a high paying job.

Incorrect - I wonder if there is a comment on the certificate by GE about how good a student perform in the course ?
Correct - I wonder if there is a comment on the certificate by GE about how well a student performs in the course ?

Incorrect - We have lots of rain, because we're in monsoon season.
Correct - There is a lot of rain here as we are in monsoon season now.

Incorrect - How much is the temperature?
Correct - What is the temperature ?

Incorrect - Don't feel anger with me !!! I'm just kidding.
Correct - Don't be mad at me !!! I'm just kidding.

Incorrect - Kitty, your honey was left just now because I told him you will coming soon.
Correct - Kitty, your honey has just left as I told him you would be coming soon.

Incorrect - I am a Chinese and have been abroad 10 years.
Correct - I am Chinese and have been in abroad for 10 years.

Incorrect - OK, tell me how does he like ?
Correct - OK, tell me what he looks like ?

Incorrect - I think you should go to abroad find a job make your life a little bit changed.
Correct - I think you should go abroad to find a job and make your life a little bit different for a change.

Incorrect - Lilian is living far away with China.
Correct - Lilian is living far away from China.

Incorrect - I am sure not even one man can control himself if he meet this kind of situation.
Correct - I doubt that there is even one man who can control himself in this situation.

Incorrect - Are you a saler, Alvin ?
Correct - Are you a salesman, Alvin ?

Incorrect - The team bring a lot of happy for football fan in the world but now I doubtful them.
Correct - The team used to bring a lot of fun to the soccer fans in the world but I am doubtful of them now.

Incorrect - Which kind of car ?
Correct - What type of car ?

Incorrect - I think your express will have a little difficult, but that is a lucky thing, I can understand you.
Correct - I think you have difficulty in expressing your idea. Luckily, I can understand you.

Incorrect - How are you this week ?
Correct - How have you been this week ?

Incorrect - I know you are good in computer and English.
Correct - I know you are good at computers/computing and English.

Incorrect - I think your qualification will surely make you open a computer or English training center.
Correct - I think you can open up a computer or English training center with your qualifications.

Incorrect - I am no exceptional.
Correct - I am no exception.

Incorrect - My telephone conversation with you for past one and half week has made me feel you as a very firm character.
Correct - Having telephoned with you for one week, I think you have a very firm/strong character.

Incorrect - It is easy or not get visa?
Correct - Is it easy to get visa ?

Incorrect - I wonder why are you keep study after graduated high school ?
Correct - I wonder why you keep studying after graduation from high school ?

Incorrect - He will be great help for you.
Correct - He will be of great help to you.

Incorrect - Am I a simple girl and has not any brains ?
Correct - Am I a naive lady who doesn't have intelligence ?

Incorrect - What sport are you interest ?
Correct - What sports are you interested in ?

Incorrect - Can you tell me when are you birthday date ?
Correct - Can you tell me when your birthday is ?

Incorrect - Should we continuous our speak in English language ?
Correct - Shall we continue speaking in English ?

Incorrect - Do you like your female staff flirted you when you be a boss ?
Correct - Would you mind if your staff flirted with you if you were the boss ?

Incorrect - Where is the students come from ?
Correct - Where do the students come from ?

Incorrect - I wonder have you be teacher before ?
Correct - I wonder if you were a teacher before ?

Incorrect - How long does the news ?
Correct - How long does the news last ?

Incorrect - We better don't tell anothers.
Correct - We had better not tell others.

Incorrect - I am worry about your English level will getting worse if you talk to me only.
Correct - I am worried that your English will get worse if you only talk to me.

Incorrect - Come to here is more easy for you.
Correct - If you come here it will be easier for you.

Incorrect - Are they supported by Taliban or Iran.
Correct - Are they supported by the Taliban or Iran.

Incorrect - I was/got cancelled our date by her ?
Correct - She cancelled the date.

Türk Öğrencilerin İngilizce Öğrenirken Yaptıkları Yanlışlar


Türkçe’de ‘to be’ formunun bağımsız bir karşılığı olmadığı için öğrencilerde İngilizce’de bu formu kullanmama eğilimi mevcut - I happy gibi

Türkçe'de çoğul kullanımı İngilizce’ye nazaran oldukça sınırlı olduğu için öğrenciler genellikle tekil form kullanırlar - mesela there are many book

Öğrenciler genellikle her gün yaptıkları işleri anlatırken fiilin şimdiki zaman kipini (present continuous form) kullanırlar- I am going to school everyday gibi

Sayılabilir ve sayılamaz isimler (uncountable and countable nouns) Türk öğrenciler için çoklukla karmaşık bir konudur- a news, informations, advices, a money gibi

Telaffuz
Three kelimesindeki ‘th’, threre’deki ‘th’ ünsüzleri, 'hot' ve 'hat' kelimelerindeki ünlüler ve 'stage'deki geçişli ses (diphthong) probleme sebep olan seslerden bazıları.

Türkçe’ de kelimeler normalde /d/ ile bitmez bu yüzden öğrenciler İngilizce’de de kelimeleri yanlış bir biçimde /t/ ile bitirme eğilimindedir - standart, hart

Vurgu
İngilizce’ de listelerde yükselen bir perde kullanılırken (we’ve got green cars, red cars, black cars...) Türkçe’ de alçalan bir perde kullanılır.

Öğrenciler, özellikle erkekler, belki utandıklarından veya hatta bir erkeğe yakışmayacağını düşündüklerinden yükselen-alçalan vurguları gerektiği kadar kullanmazlar.

Kelime Hazinesi
Kelimelerin, deyim ve ifadelerin doğrudan tercümesi toe yerine footfinger, pass an exam yerine win an exam, earn a salary yerine win a salary denilmesine yol açmaktadır.

Fazlalık belirten ifadelerinin aşırı kullanılması ve too ve very arasındaki farkın anlaşılmaması 'he drank a lot of milk' ifadesinin doğru olacağı yerde he drank too much milk denilmesine sebep olmaktadır.

Bazı sahte arkadaşlar mevcuttur: Türkçe’de İngilizce’deki kelimelere benzeyen ancak anlamları tam olarak aynı olmayan kelimeler. Bunlar öğrenciler gibi öğretmenlerin de kafasını karıştırmaktadır. Bunlardan bazıları sempatik, sportmen

Türkçe karşılıklarından daha farklı kullanım alanları olan kelimeler de problem oluşturabilmektedir. Bunlardan bazıları ...to control/check, say/tell, professor, nervous, excited, loan, debt.

Her iki dilde de karşılığı olmayan kelimeler de sorunlara yol açabiliyor. Başlangıç seviyesindeki öğrenciler aile üyelerine dair terimleri karıştırmaktadır. Bu konuda Türkçe İngilizce’ den çok daha zengin; annenin erkek kardeşi ve babanın erkek kardeşi, babanın annesi ve annenin annesi vs. için ayrı kelimeler mevcut.

Türkçe’ de ayrıca İngilizce’ de karşılığı olmayan çok sayıda günlük ifade mevcuttur. Ancak bu, öğrencileri bu ifadeleri çevirmekten alıkoymayacaktır. Türkçe’ deki bu deyimlerin en yaygın olanları; yemeğe başlarken Afiyet Olsun, bir hediye verirken Güle Güle Kullan, duş alan birine Sıhhatler Olsun, başından nahoş bir olay geçen birisine Geçmiş Olsun demektir.

TAUGHT/TAUT

Students are taught, ropes are pulled taut.


TAUNT/TAUT/TOUT

I am told that medical personnel often mistakenly refer to a patient’s abdomen as “taunt” rather than the correct “taut.” “Taunt” (“tease” or “mock” ) can be a verb or noun, but never an adjective. “Taut” means “tight, distended,” and is always an adjective.

Don’t confuse “taunt” with “tout,” which means “promote,” as in “Senator Bilgewater has been touted as a Presidential candidate.” You tout somebody you admire and taunt someone that you don’t.


TENANT/TENET

These two words come from the same Latin root, tenere, meaning “to hold” but they have very different meanings. “Tenet” is the rarer of the two, meaning a belief that a person holds: “Avoiding pork is a tenet of the Muslim faith.” In contrast, the person leasing an apartment from you is your tenant. (She holds the lease.)


THAN/THEN

When comparing one thing with another you may find that one is more appealing “than” another. “Than” is the word you want when doing comparisons. But if you are talking about time, choose “then“: “First you separate the eggs; then you beat the whites.” Alexis is smarter than I, not “then I."


THEY’RE/THEIR/THERE

Many people are so spooked by apostrophes that a word like “they’re” seems to them as if it might mean almost anything. In fact, it’s always a contraction of “they are.” If you’ve written “they’re,” ask yourself whether you can substitute “they are.” If not, you’ve made a mistake. “Their” is a possessive pronoun like “her” or “our” “They eat their hotdogs with sauerkraut.” Everything else is “there.” “There goes the ball, out of the park! See it? Right there! There aren’t very many home runs like that.” “Thier” is a common misspelling, but you can avoid it by remembering that “they” and “their” begin with the same three letters. Another hint: “there” has “here” buried inside it to remind you it refers to place, while “their” has “heir” buried in it to remind you that it has to do with possession.


THEREFOR/THEREFORE

The form without a final “E” is an archaic bit of legal terminology meaning “for.” The word most people want is “therefore.”

    
THRONE/THROWN

A throne is that chair a king sits on, at least until he gets thrown out of office.


TO/TOO/TWO

People seldom mix “two” up with the other two; it obviously belongs with words that also begin with TW, like “twice” and “twenty” that involve the number 2. But the other two are confused all the time. Just remember that the only meanings of “too” are “also” (“I want some ice cream too.”) and “in excess” (“Your walkman is playing too loudly.”). Note that extra O. It should remind you that this word has to do with adding more on to something. “To” is the proper spelling for all the other uses.


TOLLED/TOLD

Some people imagine that the expression should be “all tolled” as if items were being ticked off to the tolling of a bell, or involved the paying of a toll; but in fact this goes back to an old meaning of "tell": “to count.” You could “tell over” your beads if you were counting them in a rosary. “All told” means “all counted."


TOWARD/TOWARDS

These two words are interchangeable, but “toward” is more common in the U.S. and “towards” in the U.K.

TROOP/TROUPE

A group of performers is a troupe. Any other group of people, military or otherwise, is a troop. A police officer, member of a mounted military group or similar person is a trooper, but a gung-ho worker is a real trouper.

Troops are always groups, despite the current vogue among journalists of saying things like “two troops were wounded in the battle” when they mean “two soldiers.” “Two troops” would be two groups of soldiers, not two individuals.


UNDO/UNDUE

The verb “undo” is the opposite of “do.” You undo your typing errors on a computer or undo your shoelaces to go wading.

The adjective “undue” is the opposite of “due”; and means “unwarranted” or “improper.” It is used in phrases like “undue influence,” “undue burdens,” and “undue expense.”


USE/USAGE

“Use” and “usage” overlap somewhat, but they are not entirely synonymous. Many people treat “usage” as if it were just a fancier form of “use” in phrases like “make usage of,” where “make use of” is the standard expression. As a rule of thumb, if either “use” or “usage” seems appropriate, go with “use.”

USED TO COULD/ USED TO BE ABLE

“I used to could lift a hay-bale with my teeth,” says Jeb, meaning “I used to be able to.”


VAIN/VANE/VEIN

When you have vanity you are conceited: you are vain. “You’re so vain you probably think this song is about you.” This spelling can also mean “futile,” as in “All my love’s in vain” (fruitless). Note that when Ecclesiastes says that “all is vanity” it doesn’t mean that everything is conceited, but that everything is pointless.

A vane is a blade designed to move or be moved by gases or liquid, like a weathervane.

A vein is a slender thread of something, like blood in a body or gold in a mine. It can also be a line of thought, as in “After describing his dog’s habit of chewing on the sofa, Carlos went on in the same vein for several minutes.”


VARY/VERY

“Vary” means “to change.” Don’t substitute it for “very” in phrases like "very nice” or “very happy."


VERSES/VERSUS

The “vs.” in a law case like “Brown vs. The Board of Education” stands for Latin versus (meaning “against” ). Don’t confuse it with the word for lines of poetry—“verses”—when describing other conflicts, like the upcoming football game featuring Oakesdale versus Pinewood.

Note that in formal legal contexts the usual abbreviation is usually just “v.,” as in “Brown v. The Board of Education.”

VICIOUS/VISCOUS CIRCLE/CYCLE

The term “vicious circle” was invented by logicians to describe a form of fallacious circular argument in which each term of the argument draws on the other: “Democracy is the best form of government because democratic elections produce the best governments.” The phrase has been extended in popular usage to all kinds of self-exacerbating processes such as this: poor people often find themselves borrowing money to pay off their debts, but in the process create even more onerous debts which in their turn will need to be financed by further borrowing. Sensing vaguely that such destructive spirals are not closed loops, people have transmuted “vicious circle” into “vicious cycle.” The problem with this perfectly logical change is that a lot of people know what the original “correct” phrase was and are likely to scorn users of the new one. They go beyond scorn to contempt however toward those poor souls who render the phrase as “viscous cycle.” Don’t use this expression unless you are discussing a Harley-Davidson in dire need of an oil change.


VIOLA/VOILA

A viola is a flower or a musical instrument. The expression which means “behold!” is voila. It comes from a French expression literally meaning “look there!” In French it is spelled with a grave accent over the A, as voilà, but when it was adopted into English, it lost its accent. Such barbarous misspellings as “vwala” are even worse, caused by the reluctance of English speakers to believe that OI can represent the sound “wah,” as it usually does in French.


WAIL/WHALE

One informal meaning of “whale” is “to beat.” Huck Finn says of Pap that “He used to always whale me when he was sober.”

Although the vocalist in a band may wail a song, the drummer whales on the drums; and lead guitarists when they thrash their instruments wildly whale on them.

Although this usage dates back to the 18th century and used to be common in Britain and America, it is now confined mostly to the U.S., and even there people often mistakenly use “wail” for this meaning.



WANDER/WONDER

If you idly travel around, you wander. If you realize you’re lost, you wonder where you are.


WARRANTEE/WARRANTY

Confused by the spelling of “guarantee,” people often misspell the related word “warrantee” rather than the correct “warranty.” “Warrantee” is a rare legal term that means “the person to whom a warrant is made.” Although “guarantee” can be a verb (“we guarantee your satisfaction”), “warranty” is not. The rarely used verb form is “to warrant.”



WARY/WEARY/LEERY

People sometimes write “weary” (tired) when they mean “wary” (cautious) which is a close synonym with “leery” which in the psychedelic era was often misspelled “leary”; but since Timothy Leary faded from public consciousness, the correct spelling has prevailed.


WAS/WERE

In phrases beginning with “there” many people overlook the need to choose a plural or singular form of the verb “to be” depending on what follows. ”There were several good-looking guys at the party” [plural]. “There was one of them who asked for my phone number” [singular].


WEAK/WEEK

People often absentminedly write “last weak” or “next weak.” Less often they write “I feel week.” These mistakes will not be caught by a spelling checker.

“Weak” is the opposite of “strong.” A week is made up of seven days.


WEATHER/WETHER/WHETHER

The climate is made up of “weather”; whether it is nice out depends on whether it is raining or not. A wether is just a castrated sheep.

WERE/WHERE

Sloppy typists frequently leave the H out of “where.” Spelling checkers do not catch this sort of error, of course, so look for it as you proofread.


WE’RE/WERE

“We’re” is a contraction of the phrase “we are”: the apostrophe stands for the omitted letter A. “Were” is simply a plural past-tense form of the verb “are.” To talk about something happening now or in the future, use “we’re”; but to talk about something in the past, use “were.” If you can’t substitute “we are” for the word you’ve written, omit the apostrophe.

“We were going to go to the party as a prince and princess, but Derek cut himself shaving, so we’re going instead as a female werewolf and her victim.”


WHENEVER/WHEN

“Whenever” has two main ********s. It can refer to repeated events: “Whenever I put the baby down for a nap the phone rings and wakes her up.” Or it can refer to events of whose date or time you are uncertain: “Whenever it was that I first wore my new cashmere sweater, I remember the baby spit up on it.” In some dialects (notably in Northern Ireland and Texas) it is common to substitute “whenever” for “when” in statements about specific events occurring only once and whose date is known: “Whenever we got married, John was so nervous he dropped the ring down my décolletage.” This is nonstandard. If an event is unique and its date or time known, use “when.”

WHETHER/WHETHER OR NOT

“Whether” works fine on its own in most contexts: “I wonder whether I forgot to turn off the stove?” But when you mean “regardless of whether” it has to be followed by “or not” somewhere in the sentence: “We need to leave for the airport in five minutes whether you’ve found your teddy bear or not.”

WHILST/WHILE

Although “whilst” is a perfectly good traditional synonym of “while,” in American usage it is considered pretentious and old-fashioned.

WHISKY/WHISKEY

Scots prefer the spelling “whisky”; Americans follow instead the Irish spelling, so Kentucky bourbon is “whiskey.”


WHO’S/WHOSE

This is one of those cases where it is important to remember that possessive pronouns never take apostrophes, even though possessive nouns do (see it’s/its). “Who’s” always and forever means only “who is,” as in “Who’s that guy with the droopy mustache?” or “who has,” as in “Who’s been eating my porridge?” “Whose” is the possessive form of “who” and is used as follows: “Whose dirty socks are these on the breakfast table?”


WITHIN/AMONG

“Within” means literally “inside of,” but when you want to compare similarities or differences between things you may need “among” instead. It’s not “There are some entertaining movies within the current releases,” but “among the current releases.” But you can use “within” by rewriting the sentence to lump the movies together into a single entity: “There are some entertaining movies within the current batch of releases.” A batch is a single thing, and the individual films that make it up are within it.


WOMAN/WOMEN

The singular “woman” probably gets mixed up with the plural “women” because although both are spelled with an O in the first syllable; only the pronunciation of the O really differentiates them. Just remember that this word is treated no differently than “man” (one person) and “men” (more than one person). A woman is a woman—never a women.


YOUR/YOU

“I appreciate your cleaning the toilet” is more formal than “I appreciate you cleaning the toilet.”


YOKE/YOLK

The yellow center of an egg is its yolk. The link that holds two oxen together is a yoke; they are yoked.

YOUR/YOU’RE

“You’re” is always a contraction of “you are.” If you’ve written “you’re,” try substituting “you are.” If it doesn’t work, the word you want is “your.” Your writing will improve if you’re careful about this.

If someone thanks you, write back “you’re welcome” for “you are welcome.”

REACTIONARY/REACTIVE

Many people incorrectly use “reactionary” to mean “acting in response to some outside stimulus.” That’s reactive. “Reactionary” actually has a very narrow meaning; it is a noun or adjective describing a form of looking backward that goes beyond conservatism (wanting to prevent change and maintain present conditions) to reaction—wanting to recreate a lost past. The advocates of restoring Czarist rule in Russia are reactionaries. While we’re on the subject, the term “proactive” formed by analogy with “reactive” seems superfluous to many of us. Use “active,” “assertive,” or “positive” whenever you can instead.


REAL/REALLY

The correct adverbial form is “really” rather than “real”; but even that form is generally confined to casual speech, as in “When you complimented me on my speech I felt really great!” To say “real great” instead moves the speaker several steps downscale socially. However “really” is a feeble qualifier. “Wonderful” is an acceptable substitute for “really great” and you can give a definite upscale slant to your speech by adopting the British “really quite wonderful.” Usually, however, it is better to replace the expression altogether with something more precise: “almost seven feet tall” is better than “really tall.” To strive for intensity by repeating “really” as in “that dessert you made was really, really good” demonstrates an impoverished vocabulary.

REBELLING/REVOLTING

Even though “rebel” and “revolt” mean more or less the same thing, people who are revolting are disgusting, not taking up arms against the government.


    
REBUT/REFUTE

When you rebut someone’s argument you argue against it. To refute someone’s argument is to prove it incorrect. Unless you are certain you have achieved success, use “rebut.”


RECENT/RESENT

There are actually three words to distinguish here. “Recent,” always pronounced with an unvoiced hissy S and with the accent on the first syllable, means “not long ago,” as in, “ I appreciated your recent encouragement.” “Resent” has two different meanings with two different pronunciations, both with the accent on the second syllable. In the most common case, where “resent” means “feel annoyed at,” the word is pronounced with a voiced Z sound: “I resent your implication that I gave you the chocolates only because I was hoping you’d share them with me.” In the less common case, the word means “to send again,” and is pronounced with an unvoiced hissy S sound: “The e-mail message bounced, so I resent it.” So say the intended word aloud. If the accent is on the second syllable, “resent” is the spelling you need.


REGARD/REGARDS

Business English is deadly enough without scrambling it. “As regards your downsizing plan . . .” is acceptable, if stiff. “In regard to” “and “with regard to” are also correct. But “in regards to” is nonstandard. You can also convey the same idea with “in respect to” or “with respect to.”


REIGN/REIN

A king or queen reigns, but you rein in a horse. The expression “to give rein” means to give in to an impulse as a spirited horse gives in to its impulse to gallop when you slacken the reins. Similarly, the correct expression is “free rein,” not “free reign."

REPEL/REPULSE

In most of their meanings these are synonyms, but if you are disgusted by someone, you are repelled, not repulsed. The confusion is compounded by the fact that “repellent” and “repulsive” mean the same thing. Go figure.


RESISTER/RESISTOR

A resistor is part of an electrical circuit; a person who resists something is a “resister."


RIFFLE/RIFLE

To rifle something is to steal it. The word also originally had the sense of “to search thoroughly,” often with intent to steal. But if you are casually flipping through some papers, you riffle through them. You never “rifle through” anything.


ROLE/ROLL

An actor plays a role. Bill Gates is the entrepreneur’s role model. But you eat a sausage on a roll and roll out the barrel. To take attendance, you call the roll.


ROLLOVER/ROLL OVER

A rollover used to be only a serious highway accident, but in the computer world this spelling has also been used to label a feature on a Web page which reacts in some way when you roll the ball inside a mouse or a trackball over it without having to click. It also became an adjective, as in “rollover feature.” However, when giving users instructions, the correct verb form is “roll over”—two words: “roll over the photo of our dog to see his name pop up.”

Since most people now use either optical mice or trackpads the term “rollover” has become technically obsolete, but it persists.


ROOT/ROUT/ROUTE

You can root for your team (cheer them on) and hope that they utterly smash their opponents (create a rout), then come back in triumph on Route 27 (a road).

SACRED/SCARED

This is one of those silly typos which your spelling checker won’t catch: gods are sacred, the damned in Hell are scared.

SAIL/SALE/SELL

These simple and familiar words are surprisingly often confused in writing. You sail a boat which has a sail of canvas. You sell your old fondue pot at a yard sale.


SAY/TELL

You say “Hello, Mr. Chips” to the teacher, and then tell him about what you did last summer. You can’t “tell that” except in expressions like "go tell that to your old girlfriend."

SEAM/SEEM

“Seem” is the verb, “seam” the noun. Use “seam” only for things like the line produced when two pieces of cloth are sewn together or a thread of coal in a geological formation.

SAW/SEEN

In standard English, it’s “I” ve seen” not “I” ve saw.” The helping verb "have” (abbreviated here to “” ve” ) requires “seen.” In the simple past (no helping verb), the expression is “I saw,” not “I seen.” “I” ve seen a lot of ugly cars, but when I saw that old beat-up Rambler I couldn’t believe my eyes."


SELECT/SELECTED

“Select” means “special, chosen because of its outstanding qualities.” If you are writing an ad for a furniture store offering low prices on some of its recliners, call them “selected recliners,” not “select recliners,” unless they are truly outstanding and not just leftovers you’re trying to move out of the store.


    
SENSE/SINCE

“Sense” is a verb meaning “feel” (“I sense you near me”) or a noun meaning “intelligence” (“have some common sense!”). Don’t use it when you need the adverb “since” (“since you went away,” “since you’re up anyway, would you please let the cat out?”).


SERVICE/SERVE

A mechanic services your car and a stallion services a mare; but most of the time when you want to talk about the goods or services you supply, the word you want is “serve": “Our firm serves the hotel industry."

SETUP/SET UP

Technical writers sometimes confuse “setup” as a noun ("check the setup” ) with the phrase “set up” ("set up the experiment” ).

SHEAR/SHEER

You can cut through cloth with a pair of shears, but if the cloth is translucent it’s sheer. People who write about a “shear blouse” do so out of sheer ignorance.

SILICON/SILICONE

Silicon is a chemical element, the basic stuff of which microchips are made. Silicones are plastics and other materials containing silicon, the most commonly discussed example being silicone breast implants. Less used by the general public is “silica“: an oxide of silicon.


SOAR/SORE

By far the more common word is “sore” which refers to aches, pains and wounds: sore feet, sore backs, sores on your skin. The more unusual word used to describe the act of gliding through the air or swooping up toward the heavens is spelled ”soar.” This second word is often used metaphorically: eagles, spirits, and prices can all soar. If you know your parts of speech, just keep in mind that “soar” is always a verb, and “sore” can be either a noun (“running sore”) or an adjective (“sore loser”) but never a verb. In archaic English “sore” could also be an adverb meaning “sorely” or “severely”: “they were sore afraid.”


SOLE/SOUL

The bottom of your foot is your sole; your spirit is your soul.


SOMETIME/SOME TIME

"Let's get together sometime." When you use the one-word form, it suggests some indefinite time in the future. "Some time" is not wrong in this sort of context, but it is required when being more specific: "Choose some time that fits in your schedule." "Some" is an adjective here modifying "time." The same pattern applies to "someday" (vague) and "some day" (specific).


SPECIALLY/ESPECIALLY

In most contexts “specially” is more common than “especially,” but when you mean “particularly” “especially” works better: “I am not especially excited about inheriting my grandmother’s neurotic Siamese cat.” “Especial” in the place of “special” is very formal and rather old-fashioned.


SPECIE/SPECIES

In both the original Latin and in English “species” is the spelling of both the singular and plural forms. Amphiprion ocellaris is one species of clownfish. Many species of fish are endangered by overfishing.

Specie is a technical term referring to the physical form of money, particularly coins.


STAID/STAYED

“Staid” is an adjective often used to label somebody who is rather stodgy and dull, a stick-in-the mud.” But in modern English the past tense of the verb “stay” is “stayed”: “I stayed at the office late hoping to impress my boss.”


SUIT/SUITE

Your bedroom suite consists of the bed, the nightstand, and whatever other furniture goes with it. Your pajamas would be your bedroom suit.


SULKING/SKULKING

That guy sneaking furtively around the neighborhood is skulking around; that teenager brooding in his bedroom because he got grounded is sulking. “Sulking around” is not a traditional phrase.


SUMMARY/SUMMERY

When the weather is warm and summery and you don’t feel like spending a lot of time reading that long report from the restructuring committee, just read the summary.


SWAM/SWUM

The regular past tense of “swim” is “swam”: “I swam to the island.” However, when the word is preceded by a helping verb, it changes to “swum”: “I’ve swum to the island every day.” The “’ve” stands for “have,” a helping verb.


STAND/STANCE

When you courageously resist opposing forces, you take—or make—a stand. The metaphor is a military one, with the defending forces refusing to flee from the attacker. Your stance, on the other hand, is just your position—literal or figurative—which may not be particularly militant. A golfer wanting to improve her drives may adopt a different stance, or your stance on cojack may be that it doesn’t belong on a gourmet cheese platter; but if you organize a group to force the neighbors to get rid of the hippo they’ve tethered in their front yard, you’re taking a stand.

SO / VERY

Originally people said things like, “I was so delighted with the wrapping that I couldn’t bring myself to open the package.” But then they began to lazily say “You made me so happy,” no longer explaining just how happy that was. This pattern of using “so” as a simple intensifier meaning “very” is now standard in casual speech, but is out of place in formal writing, where “very” or another intensifier works better. Without vocal emphasis, the “so” conveys little in print.


SARCASTIC/IRONIC

Not all ironic comments are sarcastic. Sarcasm is meant to mock or wound. Irony can be amusing without being maliciously aimed at hurting anyone.

    
SPADED/SPAYED

If you’ve had your dog surgically sterilized, you’ve spayed it; save the spading until it dies.

O/zero

When reciting a string of numbers such as your credit card number it is common and perfectly acceptable to prononounce zero as “oh.” But when dealing with a registration code or other such string of characters which mixes letters and numbers, it is important to distinguish between the number 0 and the letter O. In most typefaces a capital O is rounder, fatter, than a zero; but that is not always the case. What looks unambiguous when you type it may come out very unclear on the other end on a computer which renders your message in a different typeface.

In technical contexts, the distinction is often made by using zeros with slashes through them, but this can create as many problems as it solves: those unfamiliar with the convention will be confused by it, numbers using such characters may not sort properly, and slashed zeros created in some fonts change to normal zeros in other fonts.

If you work for a company that requires registration codes you do a disservice to your customers and yourself by including either zeros or O’s in your codes where there is any possibility of confusion.


OBSOLESCENT/OBSOLETE

Many people assume the word “obsolescent” must be a fancy form of “obsolete,” but something obsolescent is technically something in the process of becoming obsolete. Therefore it’s an error to describe something as “becoming obsolescent.”


OF ___’S

Phrases combining “of” with a noun followed by “S” may seem redundant, since both indicate possession; nevertheless, “a friend of Karen’s” is standard English, just as “a friend of Karen” and “Karen’s friend” are.


ONTO/ON TO

“Onto” and “on to” are often interchangeable, but not always. Consider the effect created by wrongly using “onto” in the following sentence when “on to” is meant: “We’re having hors d’oeuvres in the garden, and for dinner moving onto the house.” If the “on” is part of an expression like “moving on” it can’t be shoved together with a “to” that just happens to follow it.


OPPRESS/REPRESS

Dictators commonly oppress their citizens and repress dissent, but these words don’t mean exactly the same thing. “Repress” just means "keep under control.” sometimes repression is a good thing: “During the job interview, repress the temptation to tell Mr. Brown that he has toilet paper stuck to his shoe.” Oppression is always bad, and implies serious persecution.

ORAL/VERBAL

Some people insist that “verbal” refers to anything expressed in words, whether written or spoken, while “oral” refers exclusively to speech; but in common usage “verbal” has become widely accepted for the latter meaning. However, in legal contexts, an unwritten agreement is still an “oral contract,” not a “verbal contract.”


ORDINANCE/ORDNANCE

A law is an ordinance, but a gun is a piece of ordnance.


ONLINE/ON LINE

The common adjective used to label Internet activities is usually written as one word: “online”: “The online site selling banana cream pies was a failure.” But it makes more sense when using it as an adverbial phrase to write two separate words: “When the teacher took her class to the library, most of them used it to go on line.” The hyphenated form “on-line” is not widely used; but would be proper only for the adjectival ********. However, you are unlikely to get into trouble for using “online” for all purposes.


OVERSEE/OVERLOOK

When you oversee the preparation of dinner, you take control and manage the operation closely. But if you overlook the preparation of dinner you forget to prepare the meal entirely—better order pizza.

PAGE/SITE

In the early days of the Internet, it became customary to refer to Web sites as “pages” though they might in fact consist of many different pages. The Jane Austen Page, for instance, incorporates entire books, and is organized into a very large number of distinct Web pages. This nomenclature is illogical, but too well established to be called erroneous. However, it is not wise to write someone who has created a large and complex site and call it a “page.” Not everyone appreciates having their work diminished in this way.


PARAMETERS/PERIMETERS

When parameters were spoken of only by mathematicians and scientists, the term caused few problems; but now that it has become widely adopted by other speakers, it is constantly confused with “perimeters.” A parameter is most commonly a mathematical constant, a set of physical properties, or a characteristic of something. But the perimeter of something is its boundary. The two words shade into each other because we often speak of factors of an issue or problem being parameters, simultaneously thinking of them as limits; but this is to confuse two distinct, if related ideas. A safe rule is to avoid using “parameters” altogether unless you are confident you know what it means.


PEAL OUT/PEEL OUT

Bells and thunderclaps peal out; but if your car “lays down rubber” in a squealing departure, the expression is “peel out” because you are literally peeling a layer of rubber off your tires.

PASSED/PAST

If you are referring to time or distance, use “past”: “the team performed well in the past,” “the police car drove past the suspect’s house.” If you are referring to the action of passing, however, you need to use “passed“: “when John passed the gravy, he spilled it on his lap,” “the teacher was astonished that none of the students had passed the test.”


PATIENCE/PATIENTS

Doctors have patients, but while you’re waiting to see them you have to have patience.


PAYED/PAID

If you paid attention in school, you know that the past tense of “pay” is “paid” except in the special sense that has to do with ropes: “He payed out the line to the smuggler in the rowboat.”


PEACE/PIECE

It’s hard to believe many people really confuse the meaning of these words; but the spellings are frequently swapped, probably out of sheer carelessness. “Piece” has the word “pie” buried in it, which should remind you of the familiar phrase, “a piece of pie.” You can meditate to find peace of mind, or you can get angry and give someone a piece of your mind. Classical scholars will note that pax is the Latin word for peace, suggesting the need for an “A” in the latter word.


PEAK/PEEK/PIQUE

It is tempting to think that your attention might be aroused to a high point by “peaking” your curiosity; but in fact, “pique” is a French word meaning “prick,” in the sense of “stimulate.” The expression has nothing to do with “peek,” either. Therefore the expression is “my curiosity was piqued.”

PEASANT/PHEASANT

When I visited the former Soviet Union I was astonished to learn that farmworkers were still called “peasants” there. In English-speaking countries we tend to think of the term as belonging strictly to the feudal era. However you use it, don’t confuse it with “pheasant,” a favorite game bird. Use the sound of the beginning consonants to remind you of the difference: pheasants are food, peasants are people.


PEN/PIN

In the dialect of many Texans and some of their neighbors “pen” is pronounced almost exactly like “pin.” When speaking to an audience outside this zone, it’s worth learning to make the distinction to avoid confusion.


PERSONAL/PERSONNEL

Employees are personnel, but private individuals considered separately from their jobs have personal lives.


PERSPECTIVE/PROSPECTIVE

“Perspective” has to do with sight, as in painting, and is usually a noun. “Prospective” generally has to do with the future (compare with “What are your prospects, young man?”) and is usually an adjective. But beware: there is also a rather old-fashioned but fairly common meaning of the word “prospect” that has to do with sight: “as he climbed the mountain, a vast prospect opened up before him.”


PICKUP/PICK UP

The noun is spelled “pickup” as in “drive your pickup” or “that coffee gave me a pickup,” or “we didn’t have a real date; it was just a pickup.” If it’s a thing, use the single-word form. But if it’s an action (verb-plus-adverb phrase) then spell it as two words: “pick up your dirty underwear.”

There’s also the adjectival form, which has to be hyphenated: “Jeremy tried out one of his corny pick-up lines on me at the bar.” According to this rule, it should be a “pick-up game” but you’re unlikely to get into trouble for writing “pickup game.”


PLAIN/PLANE

Both of these words have to do with flatness. A flat prairie is a plain, and you use a plane to smooth flat a piece of wood.

“Plain” is also an adjective which can describe things that are ordinary, simple, or unattractive.

But whether you go the airport to catch a plane or meditate to achieve a higher plane of consciousness, the meanings that have to do with things high up are spelled “plane.”


PLUS/ADD

Some people continue a pattern picked up in childhood of using “plus” as a verb to mean “add,” as in “You plus the 3 and the 4 and you get 7.” “Plus” is not a verb; use ”add” instead.


POLE/POLL

A pole is a long stick. You could take a “poll” (survey or ballot) to determine whether voters want lower taxes or better education.


PORE/POUR

When used as a verb, “pore” has the unusual sense of “scrutinize,” as in “She pored over her receipts.” If it’s coffee or rain, the stuff pours.


    
PRACTICE/PRACTISE

In the United Kingdom, “practice” is the noun, “practise” the verb; but in the U.S. the spelling “practice” is commonly used for both, though the distinction is sometimes observed. “Practise” as a noun is, however, always wrong in both places: a doctor always has a “practice,” never a “practise.”


    
PRAY/PREY

If you want a miracle, pray to God. If you’re a criminal you prey on your victims. Incidentally, it’s “praying mantis,” not “preying mantis.” The insect holds its forefeet in a position suggesting prayer.


PRECEDE/PROCEED

“Precede” means “to go before.” “Proceed” means to go on. Let your companion precede you through the door, then proceed to follow her. Interestingly, the second E is missing in “procedure.”

PRECEDENCE/PRECEDENTS

Although these words sound the same, they work differently. The pop star is given precedence over the factory worker at the entrance to the dance club. “Precedents” is just the plural of “precedent": “If we let the kids adopt that rattlesnake as a pet and agree to let them take it for a walk in Death Valley, we’ll be setting some bad precedents.”

PREDOMINATE/PREDOMINANT

“Predominate” is a verb: “In the royal throne room, the color red predominates.” “Predominant” is an adjective: “The predominant view among the touts is that Fancy Dancer is the best bet in the third race.”


PREJUDICE/PREJUDICED

People not only misspell “prejudice” in a number of ways, they sometimes say “he’s prejudice” when they mean “he’s prejudiced.”


PREMIER/PREMIERE

These words are, respectively, the masculine and feminine forms of the word for “first” in French; but they have become differentiated in English. Only the masculine form is used as an adjective, as in “Tidy-Pool is the premier pool-cleaning firm in Orange County.” The confusion arises when these words are used as nouns. The prime minister of a parliamentary government is known as a “premier.” The opening night of a film or play is its “premiere.”

“Premiere” as a verb is common in the arts and in show business (“the show premiered on PBS” ), but it is less acceptable in other contexts ("the state government premiered its new welfare system” ). Use “introduced,” or, if real innovation is involved, “pioneered.”


PRINCIPAL/PRINCIPLE

Generations of teachers have tried to drill this one into students’ heads by reminding them, “The principal is your pal.” Many don’t seem convinced. “Principal” is a noun and adjective referring to someone or something which is highest in rank or importance. (In a loan, the principal is the more substantial part of the money, the interest is—or should be—the lesser.) “Principle” is only a noun, and has to do with law or doctrine: “The workers fought hard for the principle of collective bargaining.”


PURPOSELY/PURPOSEFULLY

If you do something on purpose (not by accident), you do it purposely. But if you have a specific purpose in mind, you are acting purposefully.


QUESTION/ASK

When you question someone, you may ask a series of questions trying to arrive at the truth: ”The police questioned Tom for five hours before he admitted to having stolen the pig.” “Question” can also mean “challenge”: “His mother questioned Timmy’s claim that the cat had eaten all the chocolate chip cookies.” But if you are simply asking a question to get a bit of information, it is not appropriate to say “I questioned whether he had brought the anchovies” when what you really mean is “I asked whether he had brought the anchovies.”


QUIET/QUITE

This is probably caused by a slip of the fingers more often than by a slip of the mental gears, but one often sees “quite” (very) substituted for “quiet” (shhh!). This is one of those common errors your spelling checker will not catch, so look out for it.


G/Q

Lower-case “q” is the mirror image of lower-case “g” in many typefaces, and the two are often confused with each other and the resulting misspelling missed in proofreading, for instance “quilt” when “guilt” is intended.



RACK/WRACK

If you are racked with pain or you feel nerve-racked, you are feeling as if you were being stretched on that Medieval instrument of torture, the rack. You rack your brains when you stretch them vigorously to search out the truth like a torturer. “Wrack” has to do with ruinous accidents, so if the stock market is wracked by rumors of imminent recession, it’s wrecked. If things are wrecked, they go to “wrack and ruin.”

RAN/RUN

Computer programmers have been heard to say “the program’s been ran,” when what they mean is “the program’s been run.


RATIONAL/RATIONALE

“Rational” is an adjective meaning “reasonable” or “logical”: “Ivan made a rational decision to sell his old car when he moved to New York.” “Rational” rhymes with “national.”

“Rationale” is a noun which most often means ”underlying reason”: “His rationale for this decision was that it would cost more to pay for parking than the car was worth.” “Rationale” rhymes with “passion pal.”


RATIONALE/RATIONALIZATION

When you’re explaining the reasoning behind your position, you’re presenting your rationale. But if you’re just making up some lame excuse to make your position appear better—whether to yourself or others—you’re engaging in rationalization.