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Sep 30

Come here then go away

Posted on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 in Incorrect word usage

blatant, flagrant
blatant means obvious
flagrant means obvious and offensive

boom, boon
boom means a period of rapid growth
boon means is a turn of fortune

come, go
come is used for movement toward the speaker
go is used for movements away from the speaker

Sep 29

The biannual meeting is also semiannual

Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 in Incorrect word usage

biannually means occuring twice a year

bimonthly means occuring twice a month (or once every two months)

biweekly means occuring once every two weeks

semiannually means occuring twice a year

semimonthly means occurring twice a month

semiweekly means occurring twice a week

or just avoid these and use twice a year, twice a month, etc.

for a litle more confusion, biennially means occuring once every two years

Sep 28

Insurance can be assurance

Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 in Incorrect word usage

adverse, averse
adverse
means unfavorable (she had an adverse reaction to the drug)
averse means opposed to (he was averse to going into deep water)

anxious, eager
anxious
means worried (he was anxious about the surgery)
eager means enthusiastic desire (she was eager to start college)

assure, ensure, insure
assure
means to put at ease (he was able to assure them of success)
ensure means to guarantee (the lab results could ensure the purity of the milk)
insure means cover with insurance (they can insure your loss)

Sep 27

Mispronounced then misspelled

Posted on Sunday, September 27, 2009 in Misspelled words, Pronunciation

perseveres, not perserveres

verbiage, not verbage

Sep 26

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 in Misspelled words

threshold, not threshhold

tomorrow, not tommorrow

unfortunately, not unfortunatly

vehicle, not vehical

weird, not wierd

withold, not withhold

Sep 25

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Friday, September 25, 2009 in Misspelled words

seize, not sieze

seizure, not siezeure

separate, not seperate

sufficient, not sufficeint

surprise, not suprise

Sep 24

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009 in Misspelled words

presence, not precense

privilege, not privalige

recommend, not reccomend

restaurateur, not restaurantur

Sep 23

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 in Misspelled words

occasion, not ocasion

omission, not ommision

possess, not posess

practice, not practise

Sep 22

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2009 in Misspelled words

maneuver, not manuver 

millennium, not millenium

misspell, not mispell

necessary, not necesary

Sep 21

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Monday, September 21, 2009 in Misspelled words

immediate, not imediate

independent, not independant

independence, not independance

liaise, not leaise

liaison, not leason

license, not licence