closed-minded/close-minded: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, June 30, 2014

closed-minded/close-minded
“Closed-minded” might seem logical, but the traditional spelling of this expression is “close-minded.” The same is true for “close-lipped” and “close-mouthed.”

espouse/expound/expand: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, June 27–29, 2014

espouse/expound/expand
The core meaning of “espouse” is “marry.” When you espouse an idea or cause in public you are proclaiming that you are wed to it; you are promoting it as yours.

When you expound an idea you are explaining it. Theoretically you could expound an idea that you don’t personally espouse. “Expound” was traditionally used mainly to refer to detailed examinations of complex or obscure systems of thought, but it is most often used today to mean “to speak at length about” and frequently occurs in the phrase “expound on”: “the senator expounded on his love for the traditional family farm.”

Sometimes in such contexts it would be more appropriate to use “expand on,” which means “to speak at further length about.” “Expand” in this sense lacks the systematic analytical connotations of “expound.”

You never “espouse on” an idea; you just espouse it.


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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "Whits and pieces . . ." (April 21, 2011)

wary/weary/leery: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, June 26, 2014

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

time period: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, June 25, 2014

time period
The only kinds of periods meant by people who use this phrase are periods of time, so it’s a redundancy. Say simply “time” or “period.”

knots per hour/knots: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, June 24, 2014

knots per hour/knots 
A knot equals one nautical mile per hour, so it makes no sense to speak of “knots per hour.” Leave off “per hour” when reporting the speed of a vessel in knots. 

sole/soul: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, June 23, 2014

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

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Listen to Paul Brians discuss RBI vs. RBIs on Gary Hill's Mariners podcast (at the 27:35 mark).

Happy Belated Birthday/Belated Happy Birthday: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, June 20–22, 2014

Happy Belated Birthday/Belated Happy Birthday 

When someone has forgotten your birthday, they’re likely to send you a card reading “Happy Belated Birthday.” But this is a mistake. The birthday isn’t belated; the wishes are.

Better-phrased cards read “Belated Happy Birthday.” This form treats “Happy Birthday” as a phrase equivalent to something like “Late Congratulations.” (If you sent out your holiday cards in early January you might wish someone a “Belated Merry Christmas.”) Even clearer would be “Belated Happy Birthday Wishes,” but most people seem to consider this too wordy.

  

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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "Spaces in Family Names" (June 7, 2011).

whilst/while: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, June 19, 2014

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

all: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, June 18, 2014

all
Put this word where it belongs in the sentence. In negative statements, don’t write, “All the pictures didn’t show her dimples” when you mean, “The pictures didn’t all show her dimples.”

neck in neck/neck and neck: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, June 17, 2014

neck in neck/neck and neck
When a race is very tight, it’s described not as “neck in neck” but “neck and neck.”

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Love it or hate it, Pachelbel's Canon in D is a cultural phenomenon—one of the most identifiable pieces of music ever. In his latest blog entry, Paul Brians uses his reference to it in the "canon/cannon" entry of the book as a springboard to discussing the piece more thoroughly.

You can follow the page references in the book.

think on/think about: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, June 16, 2014

think on/think about
An archaic form that persists in some dialects is seen in statements like “I’ll think on it” when most people would say “I’ll think about it.”

stood/stayed: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, June 13–15, 2014

stood/stayed
In standard English, “stayed” is the past tense of “stay,” and “stood” is the past tense of “stand.” If you speak a dialect which uses “stood” for the past tense of “stayed” and want to switch to standard usage, try changing your sentence to the present tense to check: “I stood still” becomes “I stand still.” But “I stood up past midnight” becomes “I stay up,” not “I stand up.” So you should say “I stayed up past midnight” and “I stayed in the best hotel in town.”
The popular saying “I shoulda stood in bed” conjures up an amusing image, but it’s not a model for standard usage.

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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "'Both,' 'neither,' 'either,' and the slippery plural" (November 26, 2012).

flustrated, fustrated/frustrated: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, June 12, 2014

flustrated, fustrated/frustrated
People often get flustered and mispronounce (and sometimes misspell) “frustrated” as “flustrated.” Another common mispronunciation is “fustrated.”

differently abled, physically challenged/disabled: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, June 11, 2014

differently abled, physically challenged/disabled
These rather awkward euphemisms for “disabled” have attracted widespread scorn and mockery. They have achieved some limited currency, but it’s generally safer to use “disabled.”

roomate/roommate: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, June 10, 2014

roomate/roommate
You have to crowd two M’s into “roommate.”

ala/à la: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, June 9, 2014

ala/à la
If you offer pie à la mode on your menu, be careful not to spell it “ala mode” or—worse—“alamode.” The accent over the first “a” is optional in English, although this is an adaptation of the French phrase à la mode de meaning “in the manner of.” The one-word spelling used to be common, but as people became more sensitive to preserving the spelling of originally French phrases, it fell out of favor. In whose manner is it to plop ice cream on your pie? Nobody really knows, but it’s yummy. Stick with the two-word spelling in all other uses of the phrase à la as well.

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Paul Brians' latest blog post ponders developments in the evolution of the expression "it's sad."

How can you support the calendar and support your local grad at the same time? Buy the book! 

Jew/Hebrew: The Weekend Edition—Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Friday–Sunday, June 6–8, 2014

Jew/Hebrew
These terms overlap but are often distinguished in usage. In the older portions of the Bible the descendants of Abraham and Sarah are referred to as “Hebrews.” Since the sixth century BCE Babylonian captivity and the return from exile, they have been known as “Jews,” a name derived from the dominant remaining tribe of Judah. Modern Jews are seldom referred to as “Hebrews” but the language spoken in the state of Israel today, based on ancient Hebrew, is “Modern Hebrew.” Although “Hebrew” has sometimes been used in a condescending or insulting manner to refer to modern Jews, it is not in itself an insulting term. However, it is normal when you have a choice to use “Jew” to refer both to people of the Jewish faith and to ethnic Jews, religious or not.

“Hewbrew” is a common misspelling of “Hebrew.” If you’re in the habit of ignoring names when they are flagged by your spelling checker, don’t ignore this one.


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The Week's End Extra from the Archives: "Coat Strings" (August 24, 2012).

How can you support the calendar and support your local grad at the same time? Buy the book! 

teenage/teenaged: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Thursday, June 5, 2014

teenage/teenaged
Some people object that the word should be “teenaged”; but unlike the still nonstandard “ice tea” and “stain glass,” “teenage” is almost universally accepted now.

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How can you support the calendar and support your local grad at the same time? Buy the book! 

though/thought/through: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Wednesday, June 4, 2014

though/thought/through
Although most of us know the differences between these words, people often type one of them when they mean another. Spelling checkers won’t catch this sort of slip, so look out for it.

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How can you support the calendar and support your local grad at the same time? Buy the book! 

the both of them/both of them: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Tuesday, June 3, 2014

the both of them/both of them
You can say “the two of them,” as in “the two of them make an interesting couple”; but normally “the” is not used before “both,” as in “both of them have purple hair.”

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How can you support the calendar and support your local grad at the same time? Buy the book!

digestive track/digestive tract: Common Errors in English Usage Entry for Monday, June 2, 2014

digestive track/digestive tract
It may seem logical to think of your guts as forming a track through your body, but the correct spelling is “digestive tract.”