Different vocabulary2 pps

The A at the beginning of the phrase is the common article “a” but is here treated as if it were simultaneously the first letter of “another,” interrupted by “whole.” List of errors fil

a whole ” nother

A WHOLE ’NOTHER

A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

It is one thing to use the expression “a whole ’nother” as a consciously slangy phrase suggesting rustic charm and a completely different matter to use it

mistakenly The A at the beginning of the phrase is the common article “a” but is here treated as if it were simultaneously the first letter of “another,”

interrupted by “whole.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/whole.html03/09/2005 15:40:30

WHO’S EVER

WHOEVER’S

In speech people sometimes try to treat the word “whoever” as two words when it‘s used in the possessive form: “Whose-ever delicious plums those were in the refrigerator, I ate them.” Occasionally it's even misspelled as “whoseever.” The standard form is “whoever’s,” as in “Whoever's plums those were .”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/whoseever.html03/09/2005 15:40:31

-WISE

In political and business jargon it is common to append “-wise” to nouns to create novel adverbs:

“Revenue-wise, last quarter was a disaster.” Critics of language are united in objecting to this pattern, and it is often used in fiction to satirize less than eloquent speakers

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/-wise.html03/09/2005 15:40:31

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.

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/woman.html03/09/2005 15:40:31

WORLD WIDE WEB

“World Wide Web” is a name that needs to be capitalized, like “Internet.” It is made up of Web pages and Web sites (or, less formally, Websites)

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/www.html03/09/2005 15:40:31

worse comes to worse

WORSE COMES TO WORSE

WORST COMES TO WORST

The traditional idiom is “if worst comes to worst.” The modern variation “worse comes to worst” is a little more logical “Worse comes to worse” is just

a mistake

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/worse.html03/09/2005 15:40:32

WRECKLESS

RECKLESS

This word has nothing to do with creating the potential for a wreck Rather it involves not reckoning carefully all the hazards involved in an action The correct spelling is therefore “reckless.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/wreckless.html03/09/2005 15:40:32

WRITTING

WRITING

One of the comments English teachers dread to see on their evaluations is “The professor really helped me improve my writting.” When “-ing” is added

to a word which ends in a short vowel followed only by a single consonant, that consonant is normally doubled, but “write” has a silent E on the end to ensure the long I sound in the word Doubling the T in this case would make the word rhyme with “flitting.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/writting.html03/09/2005 15:40:32

XMAS/CHRISTMAS

“Xmas” is not originally an attempt to exclude Christ from Christmas, but uses an abbreviation of the

Greek spelling of the word “Christ” with the “X”representing the Greek letter chi However, so few

people know this that it is probably better not to use this popular abbreviation in religious contexts

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/xmas.html03/09/2005 15:40:32

ya” ll

YA’LL

Y’ALL

“How y’all doin’?” If you are rendering this common Southernism in print, be careful where you place the apostrophe, which stands for the second and third letters in “you.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/yall.html03/09/2005 15:40:33

YE

THE

Those who study the history of English know that the word often misread as “ye” in Middle English is good old “the” spelled with an unfamiliar

character called a thorn which looks vaguely like a “Y” but which is pronounced “TH.” So all those quaint shop names beginning “Ye Olde” are based

on a confusion: people never said “ye” to mean “the.” However, if you’d rather be cute than historically accurate, go ahead Very few people will know any better

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/ye.html03/09/2005 15:40:33