avenge/revenge: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, November 30, 2015

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.

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This week on the podcast we present Paul Brians’ reading from his blog post “Let’s Talk Turkey” and a discussion of lots of other place names.

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music/singing: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, November 29, 2015

music/singing 
After my wife—an accomplished soprano—reported indignantly that a friend of hers had stated that her church had “no music, only singing,” I began to notice the same tendency among my students to equate music strictly with instrumental music. I was told by one that “the singing interfered with the music” (i.e., the accompaniment). In the classical realm most listeners seem to prefer instrumental to vocal performances, which is odd given the distinct unpopularity of strictly instrumental popular music. People rejoice at the sound of choral works at Christmas but seldom seek them out at other times of the year. Serious music lovers rightly object to the linguistic sloppiness that denies the label “music” to works by such composers as Palestrina, Schubert, and Verdi. From the Middle Ages to the late 18th century, vocal music reigned supreme, and instrumentalists strove to achieve the prized compliment of “sounding like the human voice.” The dominance of orchestral works is a comparatively recent phenomenon.

In contrast, my students often call instrumental works “songs,” being unfamiliar with the terms “composition” and “piece.” All singing is music, but not all music is singing.

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This week on the podcast we present Paul Brians’ reading from his blog post “Let’s Talk Turkey” and a discussion of lots of other place names.

End-of-year sale on the book: Use the coupon code FIFTEEN to get Common Errors in English Usage 3rd Edition at $4 off the cover price. Order through wmjasco.com.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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paranoid: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Saturday, November 28, 2015

paranoid 
The most common meaning of “paranoid” has to do with irrational fears of persecution, especially the unjustified fear that people are plotting against you. More generally it is applied to irrational fears of other kinds; but it is often misused of rational fears, as in “I know my Mom has been reading my blog, so I’m paranoid that she’s found out what Jason and I did last Saturday night.” That’s not paranoia, but fully justifiable fear. It also doesn’t make sense to use “paranoid” about mild worries and fears. When you say you are paranoid, you should be conveying your own irrationality, not the risks you feel you are running.

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This week on the podcast we present Paul Brians’ reading from his blog post “Let’s Talk Turkey” and a discussion of lots of other place names.

End-of-year sale on the book: Use the coupon code FIFTEEN to get Common Errors in English Usage 3rd Edition at $4 off the cover price. Order through wmjasco.com.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.
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notorious: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday, November 27, 2015 + Don't miss the end-of-the year sale (details below)

notorious 
“Notorious” means famous in a bad way, as in “Nero was notorious for giving long recitals of his tedious poetry.” Occasionally writers deliberately use it in a positive sense to suggest irony or wit, but this is a very feeble and tired device. Nothing admirable should be called “notorious.”

The same goes for “notoriety,” which also indicates a bad reputation.

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This week on the podcast we present Paul Brians’ reading from his blog post “Let’s Talk Turkey” and a discussion of lots of other place names.

End-of-year sale on the book: Use the coupon code FIFTEEN to get Common Errors in English Usage 3rd Edition at $4 off the cover price. Order through wmjasco.com.


This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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job titles: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, November 26, 2015 + Don't miss the end-of-the year sale (details below)

job titles 
The general rule is to capitalize a title like “President” only when it is prefixed to a particular president’s name: “It is notable that President Grover Cleveland was the first Democratic president elected after the Civil War.” Similar patterns apply for titles like “principal,” “senator,” “supervisor,” etc.

But often the American president’s title is used as a sort of substitute for his name, and routinely capitalized despite the objections of some style manuals: “The President pardoned the White House Thanksgiving turkey yesterday.” And the British would never write anything other than “The Queen ate strawberries in the Royal Enclosure.” The Pope is also usually referred to with a capital P when the specific individual is meant: “The Pope announced that he will visit Andorra next month.” Following these common patterns is not likely to get you in trouble unless your editor has adopted a contrary rule.

If no specific individual is meant, then definitely use lower case: “We need to elect a homecoming queen”; “The next president will inherit a terrible budget deficit.”

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Happy Thanksgiving! This week on the podcast we present Paul Brians’ reading from his blog post “Let’s Talk Turkey” and a discussion of lots of other place names.

Read more about presidential turkey-pardoning here:

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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marital/martial: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, November 25, 2015 + Don't miss the end-of-the year sale (details below)

marital/martial 
“Marital” refers to marriage, “martial” to war, whose ancient god was Mars. These two are often swapped, with comical results.

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Happy Thanksgiving! This week on the podcast we present Paul Brians’ reading from his blog post “Let’s Talk Turkey” and a discussion of lots of other place names.


End-of-year sale on the book: Use the coupon code FIFTEEN to get Common Errors in English Usage 3rd Edition at $4 off the cover price. Order through wmjasco.com.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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sarcastic/ironic: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, November 24, 2015

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.

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Issac/Isaac: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, November 23, 2015

Issac/Isaac 
Words with a double A are rare in English, causing many to misspell the Biblical name “Isaac.”

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This week on the Common Errors in English Usage podcast we interview Ingrid Tieken about her work on the history of usage guides.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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a/an: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, November 22, 2015

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.

The same rule applies to initialisms like “NGO” (for “non-governmental organization”). Because the letter N is pronounced “en,” it’s “an NGO” but when the phrase is spoken instead of the abbreviation, it’s “a non-governmental organization.”

When the following word definitely begins with a consonant sound, you need “a”: “A snake told me apples enhance mental abilities.”

Note that the letter Y can be either a vowel or a consonant. Although it is sounded as a vowel in words like “pretty,” at the beginning of words it is usually sounded as a consonant, as in “a yolk.”
Words beginning with the letter U and starting with a Y consonant sound, like “university” and “utensil,” also take an “a”: “a university” and “a utensil.” But when an initial U has a vowel sound, the word is preceded by “an”: it’s “an umpire,” “an umbrella,” and “an understanding.”

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This week on the Common Errors in English Usage podcast we interview Ingrid Tieken about her work on the history of usage guides.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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revelant/relevant: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Saturday, November 21, 2015

revelant/relevant 
“Relevant” matters are related to the subject at hand. “Revelant” is both spoken and written frequently when “relevant” is intended.

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This week on the Common Errors in English Usage podcast we interview Ingrid Tieken about her work on the history of usage guides.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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risky/risqué: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday, November 20, 2015

risky/risqué 
People unfamiliar with the French-derived word “risqué” (“slightly indecent”) often write “risky” by mistake. Bungee-jumping is risky, but nude bungee-jumping is risqué.

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This week on the Common Errors in English Usage podcast we interview Ingrid Tieken about her work on the history of usage guides.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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proof is in the pudding/proof of the pudding is in the eating: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, November 19, 2015

proof is in the pudding/proof of the pudding is in the eating 
This common truncated version of an old saying conjures up visions of poking around in your dessert looking for prizes, but “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” means that you don’t really know that your dessert has come out right until you taste it.

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This week on the Common Errors in English Usage podcast we interview Ingrid Tieken about her work on the history of usage guides.

End-of-year sale on the book: Use the coupon code FIFTEEN to get Common Errors in English Usage 3rd Edition at $4 off the cover price. Order through wmjasco.com.

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backward/backwards: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, November 18, 2015

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.”


 

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This week on the Common Errors in English Usage podcast we interview Ingrid Tieken about her work on the history of usage guides.

End-of-year sale on the book: Use the coupon code FIFTEEN to get Common Errors in English Usage 3rd Edition at $4 off the cover price. Order through wmjasco.com.

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hardly never/hardly ever: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, November 17, 2015

hardly never/hardly ever 
The expression is “hardly ever” or “almost never.”

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This week on the podcast we go back in time and discuss a great George Eliot sentence.

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carat/caret/carrot/karat: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, November 16, 2015

carat/caret/carrot/karat 
“Carrots” are those crunchy orange vegetables Bugs Bunny is so fond of, but this spelling gets misused for 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.

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This week on the podcast we go back in time and discuss a great George Eliot sentence.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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Noble Prize/Nobel Prize: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, November 15, 2015

Noble Prize/Nobel Prize 
Nobel laureates may indeed be intellectual nobility, but the award they get is not the “Noble Prize” but the “Nobel Prize,” named after founder Alfred Nobel.

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This week on the podcast we go back in time and discuss a great George Eliot sentence.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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if not: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Saturday, November 14, 2015

if not 
“He was smart if not exactly brilliant.” In this sort of expression, “if not” links a weaker with a stronger word with a related meaning. Other examples: “unattractive if not downright ugly,” “reasonably priced if not exactly cheap,” “interested if not actually excited.”

But this sort of “if not” is often misused to link words that don’t form a weaker/stronger pair: “obscure if not boring,” “happy if not entertained,” “anxious if not afraid.” The linked terms in these examples do have some logical relationship, but they do not form a weaker/stronger pair.

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This week on the podcast we go back in time and discuss a great George Eliot sentence.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

Enjoy the calendar? Buy the book!

none: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday, November 13, 2015

none 
There’s a lot of disagreement about this one. “None” can be either singular or plural, depending on the meaning you intend and its context in the sentence. “None of the pie is left” is clearly singular. But “None of the chocolates is left” is widely accepted, as is “None of the chocolates are left.” If it’s not obvious to you which it should be, don’t worry; few of your readers will be certain either.

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This week on the podcast we go back in time and discuss a great George Eliot sentence.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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ever so often/every so often: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, November 12, 2015

ever so often/every so often 
In British-Irish English people sometimes speak of something that happens frequently as happening “ever so often.” But when something happens only occasionally, it happens every so often.

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This week on the podcast we go back in time and discuss a great George Eliot sentence.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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rate of speed/rate, speed: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, November 11, 2015

rate of speed/rate, speed 
Lots of people like to say things like “traveling at a high rate of speed.” This is a redundancy. Say instead “traveling at a high rate” or “traveling at high speed.”

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This week on the podcast we go back in time and discuss a great George Eliot sentence.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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presently/currently: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, November 10, 2015

presently/currently 
Some argue that “presently” doesn’t mean “in the present.” It means “soon.” If you want to talk about something that’s happening right now, they urge you to say it’s going on “currently.”

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This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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let alone: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, November 9, 2015

let alone 
“I can’t remember the title of the book we were supposed to read, let alone the details of the story.” In sentences like these you give a lesser example of something first, followed by “let alone” and then the greater example. But people often get this backwards, and put the greater example first.
The same pattern is followed when the expression is “much less”: “I can’t change the oil in my car, much less tune the engine.” The speaker can much less well tune the engine than he or she can change the oil.

Another common expression which follows the same pattern uses “never mind,” as in “I can’t afford to build a tool shed, never mind a new house.”

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Paul Brians' alter-ego makes an appearance on the latest Common Errors in English Usage podcast.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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ravaging/ravishing/ravenous: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, November 8, 2015

ravaging/ravishing/ravenous
To ravage is to pillage, sack, or devastate. The only time “ravaging” is properly used is in phrases like “When the pirates had finished ravaging the town, they turned to ravishing the women.” Which brings us to “ravish”: meaning to rape or rob violently. A trailer court can be ravaged by a storm (nothing is stolen, but a lot of damage is done), but not ravished. The crown jewels of Ruritania can be ravished (stolen using violence) without being ravaged (damaged).

To confuse matters, people began back in the 14th century to speak metaphorically of their souls being “ravished” by intense spiritual or aesthetic experiences. Thus we speak of a “ravishing woman” (the term is rarely applied to men) today not because she literally rapes men who look at her but because her devastating beauty penetrates their hearts in an almost violent fashion. Despite contemporary society’s heightened sensitivity about rape, we still remain (perhaps fortunately) unconscious of many of the transformations of the root meaning in words with positive connotations such as “rapturous.”

Originally, “raven” as a verb was synonymous with “ravish” in the sense of “to steal by force.” One of its specialized meanings became “devour,” as in “The lion ravened her prey.” By analogy, hungry people became “ravenous” (as hungry as beasts), and that remains the only common use of the word today.

If a woman smashes your apartment up, she ravages it. If she looks stunningly beautiful, she is ravishing. If she eats the whole platter of hors d’oeuvres you’ve set out for the party before the other guests come, she’s ravenous.

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Paul Brians' alter-ego makes an appearance on the latest Common Errors in English Usage podcast.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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nevermind/never mind: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Saturday, November 7, 2015

nevermind/never mind 
The standard spelling of this phrase is as two words: “never mind.” The popularity of the alternative one-word form “nevermind” was certainly enhanced by its use in 1991 as the title of a bestselling Nirvana album. “Nevermind” can look immature or slangy to some readers. You can still be cool by imitating the vocabulary choice in the title of another famous album: Never Mind the Bollocks: Here’s the Sex Pistols.

In expressions like “pay him no nevermind” where the word means “attention” it’s always one word, but those expressions are both slangy and old-fashioned.

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Paul Brians' alter-ego makes an appearance on the latest Common Errors in English Usage podcast.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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bare/bear: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday, November 6, 2015

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 10 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.”

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Paul Brians' alter-ego makes an appearance on the latest Common Errors in English Usage podcast.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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lay/lie: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, November 5, 2015

lay/lie 
You lay down the book you’ve been reading, but you lie down when you go to bed. In the present tense, if the subject is acting on some other object, it’s “lay.” If the subject is lying down, then it’s “lie.”

This distinction is often not made in informal speech, partly because in the past tense the words sound much more alike: “He lay down for a nap,” but “He laid down the law.” If the subject is already at rest, you might “let it lie.”

If a helping verb is involved, you need the past participle forms. “Lie” becomes “lain” and “lay” becomes “laid”: “He had just lain down for a nap,” and “His daughter had laid the gerbil on his nose.”

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Paul Brians' alter-ego makes an appearance on the latest Common Errors in English Usage podcast.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

Enjoy the calendar? Buy the book!

sacred/scared: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, November 4, 2015

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.

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Paul Brians' alter-ego makes an appearance on the latest Common Errors in English Usage podcast.

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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practicle/practical: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, November 3, 2015

practicle/practical 
Some words end in “-icle” and others in “-ical” without the result being any difference in pronunciation. But when you want somebody really practical, call on good old Al.

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Blue moons are not just for Kentucky. In episode #5 of the Common Errors in English Usage podcast, Paul Brians discusses the origin of "Once in a blue moon."

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

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near miss: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, November 2, 2015

near miss 
It is futile to protest that “near miss” should be “near collision.” This expression is a condensed version of something like “a miss that came very near to being a collision” and is similar to “narrow escape.” Everyone knows what is meant by it and almost everyone uses it. It should be noted that the expression can also be used in the sense of almost succeeding in striking a desired target: “His Cointreau soufflé was a near miss.”

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Blue moons are not just for Kentucky. In episode #5 of the Common Errors in English Usage podcast, Paul Brians discusses the origin of "Once in a blue moon."


This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

Enjoy the calendar? Buy the book!

koala bear/koala: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Sunday, November 1, 2015

koala bear/koala 
A koala is not a bear. People who know their marsupials refer to them simply as “koalas.” Recent research, however, indicates that pandas are related to other bears.

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Blue moons are not just for Kentucky. In episode #5 of the Common Errors in English Usage podcast, Paul Brians discusses the origin of "Once in a blue moon."

This is the tenth year of the Common Errors in English Usage calendar. To celebrate, we are bringing back some of our favorite interesting, funny, but sometimes merely silly entries through the years before going on hiatus in 2016.

Enjoy the calendar? Buy the book!