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On this page, we'll look at such issues as spelling and words that are often misused. Students sometimes think they know what certain words mean, perhaps because they've seen those words in particular contexts, but can be quite mistaken. As for spelling, the English language doesn't make things easy even for native speakers. Spelling used to be phonetic or at least more phonetic than it is now, but as our pronunciation of words changed over the centuries the spelling often didn't. Some varied pronunciations--like the many ways that "-ough" can sound--reflect the way people in different parts of England said the same or similar words. The best way to learn how to spell is to read a lot (and even that's no guarantee...); on the other hand, there are some basic rules that should help. One main principle applies, whether it's a matter of meaning or spelling: when in doubt, consult your dictionary!
Spelling Students sometimes try to spell unfamiliar words phonetically, imagining that a good effort will pay off. Never guess--if you aren't sure how to spell a word, do your best to look it up. Remember that there is a sound in English known as a "schwa" that could be spelled with just about any vowel. Assume nothing. One of most frequent sources of errors is confusion over whether one is dealing with a single word or a phrase. Students sometimes write the following phrases as if they were single words:
Unfortunately, "anymore" appears frequently in magazines and books despite the fact that there is no such word The same is true to a lesser extent of "alright." Similarly, some students create phrases out of single words:
Beware of words that sound alike:
To complicate matters, affect can be a noun: it means "appearance," especially in terms of one's emotional state or lack of one: "he has a very unemotional affect." In addition, effect can be a verb: it means "to bring about" as in "he wants to effect a change in procedures." Suffixes Sometimes, you have to double the final consonant before adding a suffix like "-ed" or "-ing." How do you know whether to double it or not? It depends on whether you stress the final syllable of the word. Consider the following: differ (dif-fer) cover (cov-er) refer (re-fer) occur (oc-cur) In each of the first two cases, the stress falls on the first syllable, so the final consonant does not double: differed, differing covered, covering In the other two cases, however, the stress is on the final syllable, so the consonant is doubled: referred, referring occurred, occurring Return to top Vocabulary: Students often have trouble expressing themselves because they don't have large enough vocabularies; they can't quite come up with the words they need to make their points. Build your vocabulary as well as you can; once again, the best way is to read a lot. Popular culture generally, including television and the internet, and now text-messaging have all contributed to the decline in people's vocabulary (even as we develop more and more technical terms that, in some cases, just replace perfectly good ordinary words). Students run into problems when they misuse words whose meanings they think they know, or--when they're really struggling--even make up words. Misused Words: Here are some commonly misused words; there are several others, but these are the ones that students seem to misuse and abuse more frequently:
Part of the problem is what Grammar Man calls "syllable creep": people's tendency to add extra syllables to perfectly good words, perhaps to make them seem more elegant or because the bigger words are commonly used in the media. Thus, instead of saying "life" people say "lifestyle"; instead of "show" they use "showcase"; instead of "scene" they add three more syllables and say "scenario"; instead of plain old "in" they say "within"--the list goes on. By adding syllables, people end up using words that don't mean what's intended. The verb "showcase," for example, implies that someone is proud of what is being displayed. "The clothes he wears in this scenario showcase his simplistic lifestyle" doesn't mean what the writer thinks it does. Some pairs of words are a bit hard to distinguish: portray means to present a picture of someone or something; you can portray yourself in a certain way: "he likes to portray himself
as more humble than he is"
display
means to exhibit something of yourself, like a quality or an emotionimply means to suggest; it's what the speaker or writer does infer means to interpret what has been said; it's what the listener or reader does Return to top Usage Usage refers to rules about the use of particular words and phrases. These rules often involve idiomatic expressions, which in many cases follow no rules and even make no sense when separated into separate words. For example, "get up to" means "be involved in an activity" but you would find it difficult to explain why if you define the three words separately. Idiomatic expressions frequently include prepositions; you just have to learn the right one to use in each expression. Thus, we say "ignorant of" instead of "ignorant to"; there are numerous other examples. One phrase that people often mistake is: different from NOT different than Non-Words: The English language has hundreds of thousands of words; in other words, there are plenty to choose from, so you don't have to make up your own! Here is a list of words that our students have made up (or, in one or two cases, found somewhere and used in a very different context). To put it bluntly: don't use them, and don't create any more! The Student Pseudo-Word Dictionary
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