Diction

1
Diction

• A guide to a few words that are commonly misused

2
Accept Except

• Accept means to agree or to take something that
  is offered
• I will accept his offer
• Except means everything but
• Everyone was here except Fred
• As a verb except means to leave out
• All minors were excepted from jury duty

3
Affect Effect

• Affect is usually used as a verb
• How will the rising dollar affect our business?
• Effect is usually a noun
• Her lottery win had a huge effect on her credit
  rating
• Note Effect also has another, less common
  meaning. Effect can be used as a verb to mean
  bring about
• We will effect numerous changes to the
  organization

4
Aggravate Irritate Annoy

• Aggravate means to make worse. Do not use it
  in place of irritate or annoy
• Falling down the stairs aggravated his knee injury

5
All right Alright

• Alright is an informal spelling of all right
• Many guides consider it incorrect

6
Among Between

• Between is used only for two items
• Homer and his wife kept the juicy gossip between
  them
• Among is used for lists of three or more
• Lenny shared the pictures among the entire staff

7
Amount Number

• Number is used for quantities that can be
  counted
• A number of people are missing
• Amount is used for quantities that cannot be
  counted liquids, sand, etc
• He put a large amount of sugar in his coffee

8
Anxious Eager

• Use anxious to express nervousness or fear
• I was anxious about my final grade after failing
  the mid-term exam
• Use eager for a more positive tone
• She was eager to begin her summer job

9
Can May

• Can relates to the ability to do something
• I can drive a car
• May indicates permission
• May I borrow yours

10
Complement Compliment

• Complement means to complete something
• That blue tie complements the grey shirt
• Compliment means to say something nice
• Mr. Burns complimented us on our efficient office
• Complimentary means to do something nice
• We received a complimentary appetizer with our
  meal

11
Could of Should of Would of

• These are all variations of the same mistake
• It comes from using pronunciation, rather than
  meaning, as a guide
• You should use could have or couldve
• I could have been a contender

12
Council / Councillor Counsel /
Counsellor

• A council is a group of bureaucrats. A
  councillor is a member of that group
• All members of the city council agreed to listen
  to the councillors presentation
• Counsel is advice or the act of giving advice.
  A counsellor is one who gives that advice
• Barts counsellor suggested that his best
  strategy would be to obtain counsel from others
  like him

13
Eligible Illegible

• These words have completely different meanings
• Eligible means qualified to be chosen
• To be an eligible to vote, you must be a Canadian
  citizen 18 years old or over
• Illegible means unreadable
• After the ballots got wet they were illegible

14
Disinterested Uninterested

• Disinterested means neutral or objective
• Uninterested means bored
• The union and management brought in a
  disinterested arbitrator to settle the dispute

15
Emigrate Immigrate

• Emigrate means to leave a country
• Immigrate means to come to a country

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Farther Further

• Use farther only to discuss distance
• Regina is farther from Winnipeg than Brandon
• Further is used for meanings other than
  physical distance
• Let me explain this further

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Fewer Less

• Fewer is used for quantities that can be
  counted
• There are fewer people here today than there were
  yesterday
• Less is used for quantities that cannot be
  counted liquids, sand, etc
• I should probably drink less coffee
• Note For reasons understood only by a few
  mystical economists, money is considered an
  uncountable commodity
• The amount of money I earn today is less than the
  amount I earned last year

18
Flaunt Flout

• Flaunt means to show off
• If youve got it, flaunt it
• Flout means to disregard a law with contempt
• The mayor flouted the law every time he ran the
  red light in front of the police station

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Flammable Inflammable

• These words have the same meaning, creating a
  dangerous ambiguity
• Inflammable is not used for any purposes
  anymore
• Flammable means capable of burning
• Use nonflammable to indicate that something
  cannot be burned

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Forward Foreword

• A foreword is a preface to a book
• Forward is the opposite direction to backward

21
Hanged Hung

• Hanged should only be used when referring to
  executions
• The prisoner was hanged at dawn
• Hung is the past participle of hang in all
  other situations
• He hung his coat on a nail

22
Imply Infer

• Imply means to make a hint
• Pat implied that I might get lucky tonight
• Infer means to interpret someone elses words
• I inferred from those words that Pat had just
  bought me a lottery ticket

23
Irregardless

• Irregardless aint a word
• Use regardless
• (Dont use aint either)
• We will hold classes regardless of the weather

24
Like As if

• Like is a preposition. Use it to join words or
  phrases to the rest of a sentence
• He is drinking like a fish
• As if is a conjunction. Use it to join clauses
• He is acting as if he is going to be sick

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Lightning Lightening

• Lightning comes in electrical storms
• Lightening means either to reduce somethings
  weight or to make its colour paler

26
Literally

• Literally means actually. Dont use it to
  emphasize something
• The bookcase literally collapsed when I tried to
  use it as a ladder

27
Moral Morale

• Use moral when discussing right and wrong
• Use morale when discussing team spirit

28
Personal Personnel

• Use personal when discussing something relating
  to a particular personsomeones personal
  property
• Use personnel to discuss the staff of an
  organization

29
Principle Principal

• Principle means a general rule
• Principal means central or most important. It
  can refer to the most important person in a
  school, or the part of a loan that has interest
  added to it

30
Stationary Stationery

• Stationary means motionless
• Stationery means office supplies

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Unusual Unique

• Unique means one of a kind
• Something cant be quite unique any more than
  it can be very dead or a bit pregnant
• Do not use unique when you mean unusual
• Janet Jackson wore a very unique outfit to the
  Superbowl
• Janet Jackson wore a unique outfit to the
  Superbowl
• Janet Jackson wore a very unusual outfit to the
  Superbowl