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Sep 20

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Sunday, September 20, 2009 in Misspelled words

fluorescent, not flurescent

friend, not freind

harass, not harrass

hors d’oeuvre, not ordurves [and don't add an s at the end]

Sep 19

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Saturday, September 19, 2009 in Misspelled words

definitely, not definately

desperate, not desparate

embarrass, not embaress

exercise, not exersize

Sep 18

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Friday, September 18, 2009 in Misspelled words

business, not busyness

cemetery, not cemetary

collectible, not collectable

committee, not comitee

conceive, not concieve

Sep 17

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2009 in Misspelled words

achievement, not acheivement

ad nauseam, not ad nauseum

alcohol, not alcahol

apology, not apolagy

apparent, not apparant

atheist, not athiest

Sep 16

Commonly misspelled words

Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 in Misspelled words

absence, not absense or abcense

abundance, not abundence [imagine: a bun dance]

accessible, not accessable

accommodate, not acomadate

Sep 15

One of these words is not absolutely essential

Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 in Redundant word usage

Here are a few more redundant phrases that are used often.

essential, not absolutely essential [essential means necesssary]

same, not exactly the same [same means identical]

unite, not unite together [unite means to come together]

unique, not very unique [unique means one of a kind]

Sep 14

Don’t use the variant spelling

Posted on Monday, September 14, 2009 in Misspelled words

The second spelling is acceptable but it is better to choose the first.

liquefy rather than liquify

rarefy rather than rarify

minuscule rather than miniscule

OK or O.K. rather than okay

Till rather than til or ’til

Sep 13

Don’t use the variant spelling

Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 in Misspelled words

The second spelling is acceptable but it is better to choose the first.

all right rather than alright

ax rather than axe

catalog rather than catalogue

gauge rather than gage

gray rather than grey

Sep 12

Why don’t they ask for your future experience?

Posted on Saturday, September 12, 2009 in Redundant word usage

These are crazy redundant phrases that are used often.

experience, not past experience [all experience is in the past]

innovation, not new innovation [all innovations are new]

plans, not future plans [all plans are in the future]

Sep 11

Number usage: multiple numbers in a sentence

Posted on Friday, September 11, 2009 in Number usage

If there are two numbers next to each other, use a combination of numerals and characters for clarification.
   There were twenty 6-foot-high posts used for the fence.
   They gave away 123 ten-page booklets.

If a sentence starts with a number and another number is separated by no more than three words, use text for both. Otherwise a number starting a sentence has no affect on the other number styles.
   Thirty men and forty women attended the event.
   Fifty years ago they saw an eclipse and the next one won’t occur for another 40 years.