April 2012
1 post
daily-common-english-mistake
The command, “Lay down!” - wrong It’s “Lie down!”
Apr 3rd
March 2012
1 post
daily-common-english-mistake
US: anymore UK: any more
Mar 13th
January 2012
1 post
daily-common-english-mistake
US: fill out (a form) UK: fill in (a form)
Jan 12th
December 2011
3 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
Further / Farther Further - refers to an extension of time or degree; e.g., “We need to study this further.” Farther - refers to length or distance; e.g., “I went farther north.”
Dec 21st
daily-common-english-mistake
Envelop - verb Envelope - noun
Dec 15th
daily-common-english-mistake
Dwarfs / Dwarves “Dwarfs” is correct. “Dwarves” used by Tolkien, and widely adopted ever after
Dec 6th
November 2011
1 post
daily-common-english-mistake
Pesky North, South, East, West Points of compass: small first letters - north, south, east, west. Regions: Capitalized first letters - I’ll be in the North; I’m heading South; I’m a Northerner. Descriptions of places: small first letters - eastern Siberia; western France. Descriptions of widely-known places: capitalized first letters - Southern California; Lower East Side.
Nov 15th
1 note
October 2011
1 post
daily-common-english-mistake
Dad, Mum - capitalized first letters only when used as a substitute for the name as a term of address (“hey, Dad!”); all other times - dad, mum.  (AP Style)
Oct 27th
September 2011
1 post
daily-common-english-mistake
“Best-seller” not “bestseller”, according to AP (US English).  (Hyphen-Hell).
Sep 7th
July 2011
2 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
“Have/Has Been” - Not “Is” If something has been happening - and is still happening - “have/has been” is used. In some foreign languages, the present tense is used - “the agreement is in force ten years” - but this would have to be “the agreement has been in force ten years” in English.
Jul 14th
daily-common-english-mistake
“Fact” Avoidance Use of “fact”, as in “proving the fact that…” not used in English like in some other languages (when a “fact” has yet to be established/confirmed) Examples: “To prove the fact that he left the country” - possible; but, better: “To prove whether/if he left the country” “Documents that confirmed...
Jul 7th
June 2011
6 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
% / Percentage Points Percentage points are the unit for the arithmetic difference of two percentages That is, rises or falls in pecentages are measured in percentage points, not percent E.g.: Home computer possession in 1990 stood at 5%; in 2010 it was 70%. So, there was an increase of 65 percentage points, not 65% (the increase was ~93% if the population remained constant)
Jun 24th
daily-common-english-mistake
No./Nos. E.g., “Addendums (or Addenda) Nos. 1, 2 and 3”; not “Addendum(s) No. 1, 2 and 3”; never “Addendum(s) NN 1, 2 and 3”; never “Addendum(s) N. 1, 2 and 3”.
Jun 14th
daily-common-english-mistake
“Ms.” (US) / “Ms” (UK), not “Miss” or “Mrs(.)” Miss & Mrs./Mrs considered non-PC.
Jun 9th
daily-common-english-mistake
Separate Words “Mr. Smith” (US) or “Mr Smith” (UK) (i.e., with a space); not “Mr.Smith” or “MrSmith” (without). Similarly, “St. Petersburg”, not “St.Petersburg”, etc.
Jun 6th
daily-common-english-mistake
US: Mr. UK: Mr
Jun 2nd
daily-common-english-mistake
To “serve notice” - *very* formal giving (serving) of notice of, e.g., writs To “give notice” is used in most/all cases when a court is not somehow connected, e.g., giving notice to a landlord/counterparty/friend of some intention; to serve notice in such cases would, to most people, not be correct English, although some would say it’s ok...
Jun 1st
May 2011
6 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
Another aimed at non-native speakers: Either/any: if referring to specifically two items - use “either”, not “any”; if more than two - “any”. E.g., “Either of the [two] parties can withdraw”, and “Any of the [three, four, five…] parties can withdraw”.
May 31st
daily-common-english-mistake
“E.g.,” and “i.e.,” (with commas - to signify a subclause) - not “e.g.” and “i.e.” (no commas), or “eg” and “ie” (no dots) … and not “e. g.” / “i. e.”, either.
May 30th
daily-common-english-mistake
Decimal points / commas in numbers “1.2”; never “1,2” (one point two); 12,000, never 12.000 (twelve thousand)
May 27th
daily-common-english-mistake
Dates “1 February” (UK) or “February 1” (US); never “01 February” or “February 01”; Comma use: 1 February 2010; February 1, 2010.
May 25th
daily-common-english-mistake
A hotel, a horrific film, a historic moment. Not: An hotel, an horrific film, an historic moment
May 21st
daily-common-english-mistake
All correct: in respect of, with respect to, as regards, with regard to; Other combinations (e.g., in respect to, as regard, with regards to, etc.): wrong.
May 4th
April 2011
9 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
Date Formats - UK: 1 January 2010; - US: January 1, 2010. Maintain consistency throughout a doc.
Apr 26th
daily-common-english-mistake
CAPITALIZATION - Three tips/”rules”: (i) Article - Art.; clause - cl.; (ii) Capitalization in addresses: Not to use lowercase first letters as they are used in Russian (e.g., not “pereulok”, but “Pereulok”); (ii) Capitalization in titles and headings: Capitalize all first letters of all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. Lowercase for all articles, coordinate conjunctions...
Apr 25th
daily-common-english-mistake
Wort - wert
Apr 22nd
daily-common-english-mistake
Vouchsafe - voutch-SAYF
Apr 21st
daily-common-english-mistake
Riesling - REES-ling
Apr 19th
daily-common-english-mistake
Chateauneuf-du-pape - sho-tuh-nuff-duh-parp
Apr 18th
daily-common-english-mistake
Unctuous - UNG-choo-uss
Apr 12th
daily-common-english-mistake
Temporarily - TEMP-ruh-ril-ee
Apr 11th
daily-common-english-mistake
Strength - strength, not strenth
Apr 8th
March 2011
8 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
Spiel - Shpeel
Mar 31st
daily-common-english-mistake
Species - SPEE-shees
Mar 30th
daily-common-english-mistake
Normally “tonne” not “ton”, meaning a metric tonne; “ton” is an Imperial or US customary-unit ton - comparable to the tonne though differing in mass.
Mar 28th
daily-common-english-mistake
Reciprocity - Ressi-PROS-ity
Mar 26th
daily-common-english-mistake
Secretary SEK-reh-tree
Mar 24th
daily-common-english-mistake
Shizophrenia - Skit-soh-FREE-nih-uh
Mar 17th
daily-common-english-mistake
Sanguine - SANG-win
Mar 14th
daily-common-english-mistake
Salade nicoise - sal-ud-nih-SWARZH
Mar 11th
February 2011
7 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
Sake - SAY-kih
Feb 25th
daily-common-english-mistake
Reprise - Ruh-PREEZ
Feb 21st
daily-common-english-mistake
Quorum - KWOR-ruhm
Feb 14th
daily-common-english-mistake
Quinine - kwih-NEEN
Feb 11th
daily-common-english-mistake
Quasi- - KWAYZ-eye
Feb 9th
daily-common-english-mistake
Promissory - PROM-iss-uh-ree
Feb 4th
daily-common-english-mistake
Posthumous - POS-tyoo-mus
Feb 2nd
1 note
January 2011
3 posts
daily-common-english-mistake
Poignant - POYN-yant
Jan 26th
daily-common-english-mistake
Plebeian - plih-BEE-yun
Jan 24th
daily-common-english-mistake
Plaid - plad
Jan 11th