Usage and Misusage

affect / effect Affect is a verb meaning "act upon or influence." Effect is most commonly used as a noun meaning "result" or "impact"; effect can also be used as a verb meaning "to bring about."

alot While you may get away with writing alot in an informal letter, likely your word processor will not even allow you to type it as one word. Alot is not a standard English word, and even a lot is rather unbecoming in formal prose. The sound-alike word allot is a verb meaning "to assign or distribute a portion of something."

alright / all right Perhaps because we tend to pronounce all right as though it were one word, the alright spelling has appeared. While the familiar words altogether and already were once two words, the spelling of alright for all right is still considered unacceptable by most dictionaries, though the single word spelling is widely used. You should not use alright in formal, academic writing.

between / among Use between when referring to two things ("between a rock and a hard place") and among when referring to more than two persons or things ("among the members of her squadron").

complement / compliment Complement with an e refers to things that fit together and is related to the word complete; compliment with an i is something I give to someone who is deserving of praise.

could of / would of / should of When speaking, it may sound as if we are saying these phrases, but they are more properly could have, would have, and should have when they appear in print.

defuse / diffuse A potential conflict or argument is defused, made less explosive or rendered powerless: the word was originally used only by explosives experts. Sound-alike verb diffuse means "to spread something around."

delusion / illusion A delusion is a pathological condition in which an individual believes something to be true that is categorically untrue. An illusion is a temporary false perception or misleading appearance. One can suffer from delusions (a form of mental affliction) but not from illusions.

discreet / discrete A discreet person shows good judgment or is able to keep a secret. The sound-alike adjective discrete means "separate, distinct." Both words have an anagram of the word secret in them, but discreet keeps the secret better hidden.

eminent / imminent An eminent person is someone of distinction. An imminent disaster is likely to occur at any moment.

etc. Some usage commentators state that etc. should not be used in formal writing, that it is the sign of a lazy writer. Other usage commentators suggest that etc. be used only when a list could include several other items that are reasonably obvious, and that it should never be used in reference to people. If and when you use etc.—an abbreviation of the Latin phrase et cetera, meaning "and so forth"—it should always be accompanied by a period, even when it does not appear in its usual position at the end of a sentence.

hopefully Consider the meaning of the following sentence: "Hopefully, Bidwell joined the army." It could be that the writer means to imply that Bidwell was such a fine upstanding individual with evident leadership qualities that the writer hopes she joined the army. Or, perhaps the sentence makes a statement about Bidwell, who, with a hope for a purposeful and adventurous future, joined the army. The problem with hopefully is that in form it is an adverb meaning "in a hopeful manner." Yet since the early 1930s the word has been used to mean something like "let's hope," or "it is hoped that," as in the sentence, Hopefully, the soccer game won't be rained out tonight. In conversation and in informal writing, hopefully is frequently used in this way. To avoid ambiguous statements such as the first sample sentence, in formal writing you should restrict the use of hopefully to contexts in which it means "in a hopeful manner," and use "I hope" or "It is hoped that" to express the idea of hopefulness.

imply / infer A speaker or writer implies (hints at or suggests) an intended meaning; the listener or reader infers from what is said or written (comes to a reasoned conclusion or deduction).

into (for "interested in") If you are into using into to mean "interested in," get out of it. This is a 60s colloquialism that does not belong in formal writing, and which should be dropped from casual speech as well. No dictionary or language expert is "into" this usage.

irregardless / regardless Regardless means "without regard to" (the suffix -less conveys negation). Irregardless is a non-standard word that by its appearance would mean, illogically, "without without regard" (the prefix ir- conveys negation as well). The most widely used illiteracy in English, irregardless is likely a blend of irrespective and regardless. Do not use it.

is when / is where Neither of these phrases is considered grammatical in English. Do not write something like "A sortie is when a fighter pilot is sent to bomb a target." Rather, re-write the sentence by inserting a noun after is, or, if appropriate, by replacing is with occurs ("A sortie occurs when . . ."). Better still, change the sentence altogether: "Sortie is the term used for a bombing raid."

its / it's Like yours or hers, its is a possessive pronoun that indicates possession without an 's. It is often confused with it's, a contraction for "it is" or "it has." The apostrophe indicates the missing letter(s). There is no such word as its'.

militate / mitigate To militate against something means "to work or operate (usually) against it." To mitigate a circumstance means "to reduce its severity, make it less serious."

phenomena / phenomenon Phenomena is the plural form of singular phenomenon. It is incorrect to use phenomenas or phenomenons. The short form phenom is sportswriter's slang.

principle / principal As an adjective, principal means "first or most important." The most important person to a grade-schooler is the school principal (noun), who wants to be considered a pal. The homophone principle is a noun meaning "a rule of conduct or law." Principals are usually people of principle.

quote / quotation Quote is a verb; quotation is a noun. In formal writing you should not use quote to mean quotation, though in speech this is more acceptable.

reason is because / reason why In both of these commonly used phrases, one word is redundant. The word because means "for the reason that." So, when you use the reason is because you are saying, "the reason is for the reason that," most certainly an unnecessary repetition. Same for the equally popular the reason why, where why in context means "for that reason." Do not write, "The reason I did not show up for drill on time is because I had to shine my boots." Rather, make the sentence tidier and avoid the redundancy: "I did not show up for drill on time because I had to shine my boots."

systemic / systematic Something that is systemic, like racism or discrimination, operates within a system and is hard to detect. A systematic approach to a task is carried out in a thorough, orderly way.

unique (really, very, somewhat) Unique is an absolute term meaning "one of a kind." Therefore, it cannot sensibly be modified with words like rather, really, very, somewhat, quite, most, or more. How can a thingamajig be very one-of-a-kind or the most one-of-a-kind? If the thingamajig is one of a kind, it is unique. If there are other thingamajigs like it, though few to be found, use words such as rare, uncommon, or unusual to describe it.

than / then Than is used when making a comparison: She is wiser than me; then is a time word that indicates when or in what order an action or event occurred. Because these words sound alike, than is frequently misspelled then.

who / whom Who is a pronoun used as the subject of a sentence or clause. Whom is the object form of the pronoun. A who can be sensibly replaced with he or she, a whom with him or her.

Practice Exercises (13 questions)