Common Spelling Mistakes Today’s lesson is all about spelling mistakes involving adding an extra letter to a word, or accidentally removing a letter from a word. There are so many words in English where these errors can happen, but again Read More …
Tag: Common Errors
Common errors with adjectives and adverbs
Today we’ll focus on mistakes with adjectives and adverbs. The first one involves the word “enough”: ERROR #1 Don’t say: This box isn’t enough big for all the books. Say: This box isn’t big enough for all the books. Enough Read More …
Climactic vs Climatic
It is not surprising that the words climactic and climatic would cause confusion among people. Not only do their spellings look alike, with only a single extra ‘c’ separating these two words, they also have similar sounds. Despite these similarities, these terms are different Read More …
Understanding Confusing Expressions
A common writing error occurs when students use the wrong version of a compound word or phrase. It’s important to know the difference between everyday and every day because these expressions have very different meanings. Improve your writing by learning Read More …
Guidelines for Using Apostrophes Correctly
The apostrophe has two main jobs in English: to mark contractions and to indicate possession. While that may sound simple enough, clearly many people are baffled by the little squiggle. The apostrophe is often misplaced or forgotten, and sometimes it shows up in words Read More …
Did You Do “Good” or “Well”?
The common modifiers good and well are easily (and frequently) confused. Definitions Good is usually an adjective (a good book, a good job). Good can also function as a noun (the common good). Well is usually an adverb (runs well, a well-written essay). In formal speech and writing, the adjective good generally follows Read More …
Latin Abbreviations You Might Be Using Incorrectly
In this list of common Latin abbreviations you’ll find what they stand for and how they’re used. The first list is alphabetical, but the definitions that follow are linked thematically. For instance, p.m. follows a.m. A.D. A.D. stands for Anno Read More …
A Little – A Few / Little – Few
The quantifiers ‘a little’, ‘little’, ‘a few’, and ‘few’ are often used interchangeably in English. However, there is a difference based on whether the object specified is countable or uncountable. The use of the indefinite article ‘a’ also changes the meaning of these important words. Read More …
Alternate and Alternative
The words alternate and alternative are closely related, but they can’t be used interchangeably in all cases. DEFINITIONS Alternate As a verb, alternate (the last syllable rhymes with late) means to happen by turns, to take turns, or to exchange places. As a noun, alternate (the last syllable Read More …
Common Grammatical Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
The English Language is a difficult beast to tie down. Even those rules which we consider mandatory may actually change very quickly, especially with words moving into ever more fleeting media. However, there are a few mistakes which – for Read More …