Because English is such a complex language, it is fraught with
traps that we all frequently fall into. With this list I hope to clear
up at least a few of the confusing words we use every day. This is a
list of some of the more common errors people make with English.
1. Practice / Practise
In US English, practice is used as either a verb (doing word), or
noun (naming word). Hence, a doctor has a practice, and a person
practices the violin. In UK english, practice is a noun, and practise
is a verb. A doctor has a practice, but his daughter practises the
piano.
2. Bought / Brought
Bought relates to buying something. Brought relates to bringing
something. For example, I bought a bottle of wine which had been
brought over from France. The easy way to remember which is which is
that bring start with ‘br’ and brought also does. Buy and bought start
with ‘b’ only. This is one of those difficult ones that a spelling
checker won’t catch.
3. Your / You’re
Your means “belonging to you”. You’re means “you are”. The simplest
way to work out the correct one to use is to read out your sentence.
For example, if you say “you’re jeans look nice” expand the apostrophe.
The expanded sentence would read “you are jeans look nice” – obviously
nonsensical. Remember, in English, the apostrophe often denotes an
abbreviation.
4. Its / It’s
As in the case above, the apostrophe denotes an abbreviation: it’s =
it is. Its means “belongs to it”. The confusion arises here because we
also use an apostrophe in English to denote possession – except
in this case; if you want to say “the cat’s bag” you say “its bag” not
“it’s bag”. “It’s” always means “it is” or “it has”. “It’s a hot day.”
“it’s been fun seeing you.”
5. Two / To / Too
With a ‘w’ it means the number 2. With one ‘o’ it refers to
direction: ‘to France’. With two ‘o’s it means “also” or refers to
quantity – for example: “There is too much money”. A good way to
remember this one is that too has two ‘o’s – ie, it has more ‘o’s than
‘to’ – therefore it refers to quantity.
6. Desert / Dessert
This is a confusing one because in English an ‘s’ on its own is
frequently pronounced like a ‘z’ and two ‘s’s are usually pronounced as a
n ‘s’ (for example: prise, prissy). In this case, desert follow the
rule – it means a large stretch of sand. However, dessert is pronounced
“dez-urt” with the emphasis on the second syllable – ie, something we
eat as part of our meal. To make matters worse, when a person leaves
the army without permission, it is spelt desert. So, let’s sum up:
desert (pronounced dez’-it): dry land
desert (pronounced dez-urt’): abandon
dessert (pronounced dez-urt’): yum yum! – remember, two ‘s’s because you want second helpings!
Oh – one more thing – another very common mistake is using the word
dessert (two ‘s’s) to mean pudding – pudding is a sweet course, often
consisting of some kind of cake or icecream. Dessert is fruit or cheese
– normally taken after the pudding course.
7. Dryer / Drier
If your clothes are wet, put them in a clothes dryer. That will make them drier. A hair dryer also makes hair drier.
8. Chose / Choose
This is actually quite an easy one to remember – in English we
generally pronounce ‘oo’ as it is written – such as “moo”. The same
rule applies here: choose is pronounced as it is written (with a ‘z’
sound for the ‘s’) – and chose is said like “nose”. Therefore, if you
had to choose to visit Timbuktu, chances are you chose to fly there.
Chose is the past tense, choose is the present tense.
9. Lose / Loose
This one is confusing. In this case, contrary to normal rules of
English, the single ‘s’ in loose is pronounced like an ‘s’ – as in
wearing trousers that are too loose. Lose on the other hand, relates to
loss – for example: “I hope we don’t lose this game”. A good way to
remember this is that in the word “lose” you have lost the second ‘o’
from loose. If you can’t remember a rule that simple, you are a loser!
10. Literally
This one is not only often used in error, it is incredibly annoying
when it is used in the wrong way. Literally means “it really happened” –
therefore, unless you live on a parallel universe with different rules
of physics, you can not say “he literally flew out the door”. Saying
someone “flew out the door” is speaking figuratively – you could say “he
figuratively flew out the door” but figuratively is generally implied
when you describe something impossible. Literally can only be used in
the case of facts – for example: he literally exploded after swallowing
the grenade. If he did, indeed, swallow the grenade and explode – that
last sentence is perfectly correct. It would not be correct to say “she
annoyed him and he literally exploded” unless she is Wonder Woman and
her anger can cause people to blow up.
Bonus: I could care less
I have to add this one as a bonus because it is one I especially
hate. When you say “I could care less” you are saying “I care a little
so I could care less”. Most people when using this horrific sentence
mean to say “I couldn’t care less” which means “I care so little I could
not care less”.
Bonus 2: Ironic
Isn’t it ironic? Actually, no, most of the time it is not. Irony,
in its true form, is when you state something to a person who does not
understand what you truly mean, but another person does. Essentially,
it makes the hearer the brunt of the joke without their being aware of
it. This is called dramatic or tragic irony because it originated on
the stage where the audience knew what was happening but the victim on
stage did not. The most sustained example of dramatic irony is
undoubtedly Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus searches to find
the murderer of the former king of Thebes, only to discover that it is
himself, a fact the audience has known all along.
Another form of irony is Socratic irony, in which the person pretends
to be ignorant of a subject in order to truly show the ignorance of the
person with whom he is arguing.
Unfortunately, poor Alanis Morissette had no clue when she said “it’s
a free ride when you’ve already paid” or “it’s like rain on your
wedding day”. This is not irony – it is misfortune or coincidence.
To sum it up, basically Irony is a figure of speech in which what is
stated is not what is meant. Sarcasm can be a type of Irony.
