Usage (u), grammar (g), pronunciation (p), spelling (s). An apostrophe ' is used to denote emphasis on the syllable preceding the apostrophe.
| Appreciate (p) | Preferred: app-ree'shiate [as opposed to app-ree'-see-ate] |
| Beg The Question (u) | Used frequently and always incorrectly in the media. Do not use it unless you understand its meaning |
| Bored/Fed Up (g) | Correct: bored/fed
up with... Incorrect: bored/fed up of... |
| Contribute (p) | Preferred: Con-trib'ute [as opposed to con'trib-ute] |
| Definite (s) | Often misspelled as definate |
| Fed Up (g) | see Bored/Fed Up |
| Gerund (g) | Correct: I hope
you appreciate my helping you Incorrect: I hope you appreciate me helping you |
| Harass (p) | Preferred (UK): Har'ass |
| Kilometre (p) | Correct:
Kilo'metre (as in kilo'gram) Incorrect: Kil-om'etre |
| Medicine (p) | Preferred (UK): Med-sin |
| Merrily group (p) | So
named because of the incorrect pronunciation of words
such as temporarily, militarily, primarily etc. Preferred (UK): tem'por-aly, mil'it-arily, prim'-arily [as opposed to tem-por-ar'ily etc] |
| Militarily (p) | See Merrily group |
| Moment In Time (g) | Correct: At this
moment Incorrect: At this moment in time Correct: At this point in time |
| Negotiate (p) | Preferred: Neg-osh'iate |
| Neither (g) | Should take a singular verb |
| None (g) | As a safe and general rule it should take a singular verb |
| Primarily (p) | See Merrily group |
| Railway Station (u) | Whatever happened to the Railway Station? We only seem to have Train Stations now! |
| Royal Navy (u) | The adjectival form is Royal Naval (not Royal Navy!) as in Royal Naval Officer, ship etc. |
| Secretary (p) | Preferred (UK): Sec're-tary |
| Temporarily (p) | See Merrily group |
| Their They’re There (u,s) | They're on their own again. There are several reasons for their unpopularity |
| To and Too (u,s) | On too
many occasions, it is just too
awful to have to
see incorrect use of these words. Too bad. Too many. To give to. To be too nice |
© Copyright 2002, G K Garwood