May 17, 2016

The centers of wheels are connected by axles. An axel is a tricky jump in figure skating named after Axel Paulsen. Back to list of errors

The dialectal pronunciation of “ask” as “ax” suggests to most people that the speaker has a substandard education. You should avoid it in formal speaking situations. Back to list of errors

When “awhile” is spelled as a single word, it is an adverb meaning “for a time” (“stay awhile”); but when “while” is the object of a prepositional phrase, like “Lend me your monkey wrench for a while” the “while” must be separated from the “a.” (But if the preposition “for” were lacking in this sentence, […]

“Aw, shucks,” is a traditional folksy expression of modesty. An “aw-shucks” kind of person declines to accept compliments. “Aw” is an interjection roughly synonymous with “oh.” “Awe” is a noun which most often means “amazed admiration.” So many people have begun to misspell the familiar phrase “awe, shucks,” that some writers think they are being […]

“Jessica commented on my haircut in a way that made me think maybe I shouldn’t have let my little sister do it for me.” In this sort of context, “a way” should always be two distinct words, though many people use the single word “away” instead. If you’re uncertain, try substituting another word for “way”: […]

Your avocation is just your hobby; don’t mix it up with your job: your vocation. Back to list of errors

When you try to get vengeance for people who’ve been wronged, you want to avenge them. You can also avenge a wrong itself: “He avenged the murder by taking vengeance on the killer.” Substituting “revenge” for “avenge” in such contexts is very common, but frowned on by some people. They feel that if you seek revenge in […]

Many people mispronounce and misspell “available” as “avaidable,” whose peculiar spelling seems to be influenced by “avoidable,” a word that has opposite connotations. “Avaidable” is avoidable; avoid it. Back to list of errors

When you write the story of your own life, you write an autobiography; but when you write the story of someone else’s life, it’s just a plain old biography. Back to list of errors

An augur was an ancient Roman prophet, and as a verb the word means “foretell”—“their love augurs well for a successful marriage.” Don’t mix this word up with “auger,” a tool for boring holes. Some people mishear the phrase “augurs well” as “all goes well” and mistakenly use that instead. Back to list of errors