ceremony singular ceremonies plural See PLURALS iii.. chateau/chaˆteau chateaux or chaˆteaux plural singular See FOREIGN PLURALS.. not ‘check’ as in the United States cherub singular Thi
Trang 1ceremony (singular) ceremonies (plural)
See PLURALS (iii) certain or curtain CERTAIN means sure
Are you CERTAIN that he apologised? CURTAINS are window drapes
Do draw the CURTAINS
Note that the c sounds like s in certain and like k in curtain
See SOFT C AND SOFT G
See SOFT C AND SOFT G
chateau/chaˆteau chateaux or chaˆteaux (plural)
(singular) See FOREIGN PLURALS
check or cheque? Use these exemplar sentences as a guide:
AlwaysCHECK your work
May I pay by CHEQUE? (not ‘check’ as in the United States)
cherub (singular) This word has two plurals
Cherubim is reserved exclusively for the angels often portrayed as little children with wings
Cherubs can be used either for angels or for enchanting small children
chestnut (not chesnut, as it is often mispronounced) chief (singular) chiefs (plural)
See PLURALS (v) childish or childlike? The teenager was rebuked by the
magistrate for his CHILDISH behaviour (i.e which he should have outgrown) The grandfather has retained his sense of CHILDLIKE wonder at the beauty of the
CHILDISH OR CHILDLIKE?
Trang 2natural world (i.e marvellously direct, innocent and enthusiastic)
chimney (singular) chimneys (plural)
SeePLURALS (iii)
chocolate (not choclat although often
mispronounced as such)
I amCHOOSING my words carefully
I CHOSE my words carefully yesterday
I have CHOSEN them carefully
chord or cord? CHORD is used in a mathematical or
musical context
CORD refers to string and is generally used when referring to anatomical parts like the umbilical cord, spinal cord and vocal cords
Note: you will occasionally see CHORD used instead ofCORD in a medical context but it seems very old-fashioned now
Christmas (not Cristmas or Chrismas)
This word is often misused It doesn’t mean terrible or serious It means long-lasting, persistent, when applied to an illness
chrysanthemum (not cry-)
chrystal Wrong spelling SeeCRYSTAL
cieling Wrong spelling SeeCEILING
CHIMNEY
Trang 3cite, sight or site? To CITE means to refer to
SIGHT is vision or something seen
A SITE is land, usually set aside for a particular purpose
clothes or cloths? CLOTHES are garments
CLOTHS are dusters or scraps of material coarse or course? COARSE means vulgar, rough:
COARSE language, COARSE cloth
COURSE means certainly:
OF COURSE COURSE also means a series of lectures, a direction, a sports area, and part of a meal:
an advanced COURSE
to change COURSE
a golf COURSE the main COURSE
collaborate collaborated, collaborating
collaborator collaboration
collapse collapsed, collapsing
collapsible (not -able)
colleagues
collective nouns See NOUNS
colloquial
collossal Wrong spelling SeeCOLOSSAL
colonel or kernel? A COLONEL is a senior officer
A KERNEL is the inner part of a nut
COLONEL OR KERNEL?
Trang 4colons (i) Colons can introduce a list:
Get your ingredients together:
flour, sugar, dried fruit, butter and milk
Note that a summing-up word should always precede the colon (here
‘ingredients’)
(ii) Colons can precede an explanation or amplification of what has gone before: The teacher was elated: at last the pupils were gaining in confidence Note that what precedes the colon must always be able to stand
on its own grammatically It must be
a sentence in its own right
(iii) Colons can introduce dialogue in a play:
Henry (with some embarrassment): It’s all my own fault
(iv) Colons can be used instead of a comma to introduce direct speech: Henry said, with some embarrassment:
‘It’s all my own fault.’
(v) Colons can introduce quotations: Donne closes the poem with the moving tribute:
‘Thy firmness makes my circle just And makes me end where I began.’ (vi) Colons can introduce examples as in this reference book
Compare SEMICOLONS
colour (not color, as in American English)
COLONS
Trang 5colourful
comemorate Wrong spelling SeeCOMMEMORATE
comfortable (four syllables, not three)
See ADDING ENDINGS (ii) comission Wrong spelling SeeCOMMISSION
commands (i) Direct commands, if expressed
emphatically, require an exclamation mark:
Stop, thief!
Put your hands up!
Stop talking!
If expressed calmly and conversationally, however, a full stop
is sufficient:
Just wait there a moment and I’ll be with you
Tell me your story once again
(ii) Reported commands (indirect commands) never need an exclamation mark because, when they are reported, they become statements
He ordered the thief to stop
She told him to put his hands up The teacher yelled at the class to stop talking
commas Commas are so widely misused that it is
worth discussing their function in some detail First, let us make it very clear when commas cannot be used
(a) A comma should never divide a subject from its verb The two go together:
My parents, had very strict views.
My parents had very strict views
COMMAS
Trang 6Take extra care with compound subjects:
The grandparents, the parents, and the children, were in some ways to blame.
The grandparents, the parents, and the children were in some ways to blame.
(b) Commas should never be used in an attempt to string sentences together Sentences must be either properly joined (and commas don’t have this function) or clearly separated by full stops, question marks or exclamation marks
Commas have certain very specific jobs to
do within a sentence Let us look at each
in turn:
(i) Commas separate items in a list:
I bought apples, pears, and grapes She washed up, made the beds, and had breakfast
The novel is funny, touching, and beautifully written
The final comma before ‘and’ in a list
is optional However, use it to avoid any ambiguity See (ix) below
(ii) Commas are used to separate terms of address from the rest of the sentence: Sheila, how nice to see you!
Can I help you, madam?
I apologise, ladies and gentlemen, for this delay
Note that a pair of commas is needed
in the last example above because the term of address occurs mid-sentence
It is a very common error to omit COMMAS