Tìm hiểu nghĩa của từ 6 doc

LARGE IMPORTANT In colloquial speech it’s perfectly normal to refer to something as a “big problem,” but when people create analogous expressions in writing, the result is awkward.. Don’

LARGE

IMPORTANT

In colloquial speech it’s perfectly normal to refer to something as a “big problem,” but when people create analogous expressions in writing, the result is awkward Don’t write “this is a large issue for our firm” when what you mean is “this is an important issue for our firm.” Size and intensity are not synonymous.

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/large.html03/09/2005 15:38:42

LATE/FORMER

If you want to refer to your former husband, don’t call him your “late husband” unless he’s dead

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/late.html03/09/2005 15:38:42

LATER/LATTER

Except in the expression “latter-day” (modern), the word “latter” usually refers back to the

last-mentioned of a set of alternatives “We gave the kids a choice of a vacation in Paris, Rome, or Disney World Of course the latter was their choice.” In other contexts not referring back to such a list, the word you want is “later.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/later.html03/09/2005 15:38:42

laundry mat

LAUNDRY MAT

LAUNDROMAT

“Laundromat” was coined in the 1950s by analogy with “automat”—an automated self-service restaurant— to label an automated self-service laundry People unaware of this history often mistakenly deconstruct the word into “laundry mat” or “laundrymat.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/laundrymat.html03/09/2005 15:38:42

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.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/lay.html03/09/2005 15:38:43

LEACH/LEECH

Water leaches chemicals out of soil or color out of cloth, your brother-in-law leeches off the family

by constantly borrowing money to pay his gambling debts (he behaves like a bloodsucking leech)

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/leach.html03/09/2005 15:38:43

LEAD/LED

When you’re hit over the head, the instrument could be a “lead” pipe But when it’s a verb, “lead” is the present and “led” is the past tense The problem is that the past tense is pronounced exactly like the above-mentioned plumbing material (“plumb” comes from a word meaning “lead”), so people confuse the two In a sentence like “She led us to the scene of the crime,” always use the three-letter spelling

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/lead.html03/09/2005 15:38:43

LEAVE

LET

The colloquial use of “leave” to mean “let” in phrases like “leave me be” is not standard “Leave me alone” is fine, though List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/leave.html03/09/2005 15:38:43

LEGEND/MYTH

Myths are generally considered to be traditional stories whose importance lies in their significance, like the myth of the Fall in Eden; whereas legends can be merely famous deeds, like the legend of Davy Crockett In common usage “myth” usually implies fantasy Enrico Caruso was a legendary tenor, but Hogwarts is a mythical school Legends may or may not be true But be cautious about using “myth” to mean “untrue story” in a mythology, theology, or literature class, where teachers can

be quite touchy about insisting that the true significance of a myth lies not in its factuality but in its meaning for the culture which produces or adopts it

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/legend.html03/09/2005 15:38:44

LENSE

LENS

Although the variant spelling “lense” is listed in some dictionaries, the standard spelling for those little disks that focus light is “lens.” List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/lense.html03/09/2005 15:38:44

LIABLE/LIBEL

If you are likely to do something you are liable to do it; and if a debt can legitimately be charged to you, you are liable for it A person who defames you with a false accusation libels you There is no such word as “lible.”

List of errors

file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/liable.html03/09/2005 15:38:44