Common mistakes in word choices 14 Articles

by Karen Chamchuk

Most of us would like to express ourselves in a professional, concise manner but unfortunately lack the basic knowledge and skills to do this. In addition, many of us tend to make the same mistakes over and over again in o...read more

by baldy

ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT THE USE OF INCORRECT WORDS The occasional, common mistakes we English-speaking peoples make in the choices of the words we use in our speech and employ in our writing are eminently avoidable. The er...read more

by John Neely

There are a few ideas surrounding word choice that can make a huge difference in the quality of a person's finished article. What's more these mistakes, or errors of judgement, are fairly straightforward and are quite easi...read more

by Ted Sherman

For writers and public speakers, the most prevalent error in using wrong words is called a malaprop. The origin is the French phrase "mal a propos" (bad proposal), and it came into English usage when playwright Richard She...read more

by Jerry Curtis

Just for fun, take the following little quiz on commonly mistaken word choices. Select one of the choices in parenthesis in the following sentences: 1. (Its/it's) the (principle/principal) of the matter, even if you do...read more

by Shilo Dawn Goodson

When writing everyone wants to use the correct words at the correct time. Sometimes, though, it's difficult to know what word is the right word. There are a few common mistakes that people make when they are writing. Th...read more

by Cicely Richard

English is one of the hardest languages to learn for non-native speakers. While most languages in the world are phonetic, our wonderful language has so many variations that it's no wonder that people, even those who have b...read more

by EMSalem

Deciding which word to use is not easy and the most common mistakes in word choices are made when we use three or four words when one will do; when we talk all around what we mean and will say at *this point in time* inste...read more

by Noleen Wyatt-Jones

There are so many quirks to the English Language which mean that errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation can all too often change the meaning of what is being said, or simply confuse the reader with its inherent inaccu...read more

by Cynthia Wall

"I only made but one mistake in English, and I seen it when I done it and I tooken it back." My mother, an English teacher, used to laughingly quote that, but correct grammar and word usage were no joke with her. We of...read more

by Donna Carroll Batton

There is nothing more deflating than writing a good, substantial article then having it rejected or snubbed because of erroneous word choices. Keeping a good dictionary and thesaurus at your side when writing is fundament...read more

by Dr Victoria PhD

As a college freshmen English teacher, I encounter numerous word choice errors, among other things, in student essays. In my attempts to (hopefully) eradicate some of these errors, I've selected a few of the more common on...read more

by Stacy Jackson

It can be extremely embarrasing to use the wrong words in your writing. You either sound ignorant or convey the totally wrong idea altogether. Below I have outlined three examples of phrases/word choices that are often m...read more

by Amanda Sparks

Whether your writing is on a high school honors English level or an "I spent high school sleeping through in-school suspension" level, everyone on this site has to wade through many poorly written articles when we are rati...read more