The expression “as such” has to refer to some status mentioned earlier. “The CEO was a former drill sergeant, and as such expected everyone to obey his orders instantly.” In this case “such” refers back to “former drill sergeant.” But often people only imply that which is referred to, as in “The CEO had a high opinion of himself and as such expected everyone to obey his orders instantly.” Here the “such” cannot logically refer back to “opinion.” Replace “as such” with “therefore.”

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“Enclosed is the shipment of #2 toggle bolts as per your order of June 14” writes the businessman, unaware that not only is the “as” redundant, he is sounding very old-fashioned and pretentious. The meaning is “in accordance with,” or “in response to the request made”; but it is better to avoid these cumbersome substitutes altogether: “Enclosed is the shipment of bolts you ordered June 14.”

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“As of yet” is a windy and pretentious substitute for plain old English “yet” or “as yet,” an unjustified extension of the pattern in sentences like “as of Friday the 27th of May.”

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The expression is not “as less as possible,” but “as little as possible.”

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If you agree with a theory or belief, you subscribe to it, just as you subscribe to a magazine.

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“My birthday requests are as follows.” This standard phrase doesn’t change number when the items to follow grow from one to many. It’s never correct to say “as follow.”

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Originally people used to say things like “As far as music is concerned, I especially love Baroque opera.” Recently they have begun to drop the “is concerned” part of the phrase. Perhaps this shift was influenced by confusion with a similar phrase, “as for.” “As for money, I don’t have any,” is fine; “As far as money, I don’t have any,” is clumsy.

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You can try to be as good as you can be, but it’s not standard to say that you do something “as best as you can.” You need to eliminate the second “as” when “good” changes to “best.” You can try to do something as best you can. You can also do the best that you can (or even better, the best you can).

Unlike asbestos removal, “as best as” removal is easy, and you don’t have to wear a hazmat suit.

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In some American dialects it is common to say things like “I see lots of folks as hasn’t got the sense to come in out out of the rain.” In standard English, the expression would be “folks that” or “folks who.”

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For the past half-century foodies have referred to foods and drinks made in small batches by hand using traditional methods as artisanal—made by artisans: workers in handicrafts. It has also been extended to a wide variety of other handmade products. Dictionaries agree that the word should be pronounced “ARR-tizz-uh-nul” with the accent on the first syllable and the second syllable rhyming with “fizz.” Just say “artisan” and add “-ul.”

Diners and restaurant workers alike commonly confuse the pronunciation of its first three syllables with that of “artesian”—“arr-TEE-zhun”—which is an adjective to describe water which spurts out of the earth under natural pressure. In this word the accent falls on the second syllable, pronounced like “tea.” A spring such as this is called an “artesian spring” or “artesian well.”

If you hand-bottle water from a natural spring in your back yard I suppose you could label the result artisanal artesian water.

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