“Closed-minded” might seem logical, but the traditional spelling of this expression is “close-minded.” The same is true for “close-lipped” and “close-mouthed.”

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

In some American dialects it is common to use the phrase “come with” without specifying with whom, as in “We’re going to the bar. Want to come with?” This sounds distinctly odd to the majority of people, who would expect “come with us.”

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

In modern English “confident’ is almost always an adjective. Having studied for a test you feel confident about passing it. You’re in a confident frame of mind. This spelling is often misused as a noun meaning “person you confide in,” especially in the misspelled phrase “close confident.”

The spelling “confidante” suggests that such a close friend might be a female, and conservatives prefer to confine its use to refer to women. But this spelling is also very common for males, and the spelling “confidant” is also used of both males and females. Either one will do in most contexts, but the person you trust with your deep secrets is not your “confident.”

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

You can copyright writing, but you can also copyright a photograph or song. The word has to do with securing rights. Thus, there is no such word as “copywritten”; it’s “copyrighted.”

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

“Coarse” is always an adjective meaning “rough, crude.” Unfortunately, this spelling is often mistakenly used for a quite different word, “course,” which can be either a verb or a noun (with several different meanings).

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

You can paste together bits of paper to make a collage, but the institution of higher education is a college.

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

You might suppose that this word had to do with taking a census of the participants in a discussion, but it doesn’t. It is a good old Latin word that has to do with arriving at a common sense of the meeting, and the fourth letter is an “S.”

Speaking of a “general consensus” is extremely common, though strictly speaking it’s a redundant expression since a consensus is by definition a general agreement.

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

Colons have a host of uses, but they mostly have in common that the colon acts to connect what precedes it with what follows. Think of the two dots of a colon as if they were stretched out to form an equal sign, so that you get cases like this: “he provided all the ingredients: sugar, flour, butter, and vanilla.” There are a few exceptions to this pattern, however. One unusual use of colons is in between the chapter and verses of a Biblical citation, for instance, “Matthew 6:5.” In bibliographic citation a colon separates the city from the publisher: “New York: New Directions, 1979.” It also separates minutes from hours in times of day when given in figures: “8:35.”

It is incorrect to substitute a semicolon in any of these cases. Think of the semicolon as erecting a little barrier with that dug-in comma under the dot; semicolons always imply separation rather than connection. A sentence made up of two distinct parts whose separation needs to be emphasized may do so with a semicolon: “Mary moved to Seattle; she was sick of getting sunburned in Los Angeles.” When a compound sentence contains commas within one or more of its clauses, you have to escalate to a semicolon to separate the clauses themselves: “It was a mild, deliciously warm spring day; and Mary decided to walk to the fair.” The other main use of semicolons is to separate one series of items from another—a series within a series, if you will: “The issues discussed by the board of directors were many: the loud, acrimonious complaints of the stockholders; the abrupt, devastating departure of the director; and the startling, humiliating discovery that he had absconded with half the company’s assets.” Any time the phrases which make up a series contain commas, for whatever reason, they need to be separated by semicolons.

Many people are so terrified of making the wrong choice that they try to avoid colons and semicolons altogether; but formal writing often requires their use, and it’s wise for serious writers to learn the correct patterns.

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

What follows is not a comprehensive guide to the many uses of commas, but a quick tour of the most common errors involving them.

The first thing to note is that the comma often marks a brief pause in the flow of a sentence, and helpfully marks off one phrase from another. If you write “I plan to see Shirley and Fred will go shopping while we visit” your readers are naturally going to think the announced visit will be to both Shirley and Fred until the second half surprises them into realizing that Fred is not involved in this visit at all. A simple comma makes everything clear: “I plan to see Shirley, and Fred will go shopping while we visit.” People who read and write little have trouble with commas if they deal with English primarily as a spoken language, where emphasis and rhythm mark out phrases. It takes a conscious effort to translate the rhythm of a sentence into writing using punctuation.

Not many people other than creative writers have the occasion to write dialogue, but it is surprising how few understand that introductory words and phrases have to be separated from the main body of speech in direct address: “Well, what did you think of that?” “Good evening, Mr. Nightingale.”

Commas often help set off interrupting matter within sentences. The proper term for this sort of word or phrase is “parenthetical.” There are three ways to handle parenthetical matter. For asides sharply interrupting the flow of the sentence (think of your own examples) use parentheses. For many other kinds of fairly strong interjections, dashes—if you know how to type them properly—work best. Milder interruptions, like this, are nicely set off with commas. Many writers don’t realize that they are setting off a phrase, so they begin with the first comma but omit the second, which should conclude the parenthetical matter. Check for this sort of thing in your proofreading.

A standard use for commas is to separate the items in a series: “cats, dogs, and gerbils.” Authorities differ as to whether that final comma before the “and” is required. Follow the style recommended by your teacher, editor, or boss when you have to please them; but if you are on your own, I suggest you use the final comma. It often removes ambiguities.

A different kind of series has to do with a string of adjectives modifying a single noun: “He was a tall, strong, handsome, but stupid man.” But when the adjective becomes an adverb modifying another adjective instead of the noun, then no comma is used: “He was wearing a garish bright green tie.” A simple test: if you could logically insert “and” between the adjectives in a series like this, you need commas.

English teachers refer to sentences where clauses requiring some stronger punctuation are instead lightly pasted together with a comma as “comma splices.” Here’s an example: “He brought her a dozen roses, he had forgotten she was allergic to them.” In this sentence the reader needs to be brought up sharply and reoriented mid-sentence with a semicolon; a comma is too weak to do the trick. Here’s a worse example of a comma splice: “It was a beautiful day outside, she remembered just in time to grab the coffee mug.” There is no obvious logical connection between the two parts of this sentence. They don’t belong in the same sentence at all. The comma should be a period, with the rest being turned into a separate sentence.

Some writers insert commas seemingly at random: “The unabridged dictionary, was used mainly to press flowers.” When you’re not certain a comma is required, read your sentence aloud. If it doesn’t seem natural to insert a slight pause or hesitation at the point marked by the comma, it should probably be omitted.

See also colons/semicolons and hyphens & dashes.

Hear Paul Brians discuss commas on his Common Errors in English Podcast.

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!

“Colorado” is one of three states whose names are commonly mispronounced by non-Westerners. The third syllable should sound like “rad,” not “rod.”

See also Oregon and Nevada.

Back to list of errors

BUY THE BOOK!