common errors in English
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Posted by Michael Rundell on November 12, 2009
One of the downsides of being in the dictionary business is that most people have a completely erroneous idea of what we do. A recent article in the Times ticked all the boxes in its caricature of the lexicographer: old, “boffinish” and hopelessly outmoded (still working with card indexes, apparently), we are nevertheless seen as [...]
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Posted by Stephen Bullon on November 10, 2009
There are a number of words in English which end with the consonant m followed by the consonant n. Words like hymn, condemn, solemn. We don’t pronounce the n so the words are pronounced /hɪm/, /kənˈdem/, and /ˈsɒləm/. When they form derived words, such as hymnal, condemnation, or solemnity, then the letter n becomes pronounced: [...]
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Posted by Stephen Bullon on October 22, 2009
There’s an old chestnut about the pronunciation of the word GHOTI. It’s pronounced, obviously enough, /fɪʃ/. The GH is /f/ as in cough; the O is /ɪ/ as in women; and the TI is /ʃ/ as in motion.
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Not true, of course (it’s a made up word and you can read about it on Wikipedia, but [...]
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Posted by Stephen Bullon on September 08, 2009
One of the leading UK newspapers is always referred to in the satirical magazine Private Eye as the Grauniad. This is a humorous reference to the supposedly high number of typographical errors that used to be found in the Guardian.
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Typographical errors have more than one category. There are miskeyings, such as form instead of from, [...]
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Posted by Jonathan Cole on August 19, 2009
BBC Radio 4 has started a new series on the English language, titled Fry’s English Delight. In the second programme, which you can listen to below, Fry explores the subject of pronunciation. He is joined by experts of communication skills and elocution to dicuss the power of proper pronunciation. This radio broadcast will be available [...]
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Posted by Gedaly Guberek on August 18, 2009
Are you a practical joker? Is April Fools Day your favorite day of the year? Are you accused of being devilish, impish, naughty, puckish, rascally, or mischievous?
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If you feel like you’re on top of the world and want to cause some mischief, you might say that you’re mischievous. I have been accused of being mischievous [...]
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Posted by Jonathan Cole on August 13, 2009
BBC Radio 4 has started a new series on the English language, titled Fry’s English Delight. In the first programme, which you can listen to below, Fry looks at how ‘wrong English’ can become ‘right English’. Or, in his words (cue Star Trek theme music), ‘to boldly go into the outer reaches of the language [...]
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Posted by Gwyneth Fox on May 04, 2009
I’m turning into a grumpy old woman. Or perhaps I’ve been one for ages without noticing and I’m only just becoming aware of how grumpy I can get. I used not to bother when people got apostrophes wrong; I refused to join a society for the preservation of the apostrophe; and I gently corrected my [...]
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Posted by Shane Rae on April 22, 2009
I was recently visiting a primary school and had the great pleasure of sitting in on an assembly that was to be a celebration of some of the children’s fantastic work. It was also a chance for the pupils to bring in things to show to their peers as well. In a nice clear voice, [...]
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Posted by Stephen Bullon on April 15, 2009
If you’re like me, you’ll have spent many years labouring under the misapprehension that Jimi Hendrix sang ’Scuse me while I kiss this guy in his 1967 hit, Purple Haze. But in fact he didn’t – what he actually sang was ’Scuse me while I kiss the sky. There’s a word for this sort of [...]
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