Overdo and Overdue are not interchangeable.
This error is a simple mix-up due to sloppy pronunciation. Overdo (which should be pronounced /oh vuhr doo/) means to attempt too much or to go too far. Examples: Don’t overdo the pepper in that soup, or it will be inedible. Myra wanted to work outside on this hot day, so we told her to […]
The Core of the Corps Is Loyalty
But if you use the wrong form of the word pronounced /kohr/, you will have little loyalty from your editors or your employers. Core means the middle, the base, the main parts. An apple core, core curriculum, core values … all basics. Corps means a body of people acting as a single group. The Marine […]
To Clench or To Clinch … That Is the Question
The Grammar Guru has received a request to explain the difference between these two words, to settle a fellow-editor’s dispute with her typesetter. Always glad to oblige — we editors need to keep those uppity typesetters in their places. According to Fowler, clinch is a variant of clench that appeared in the sixteenth century and […]
You Can Have Your Dessert in a Desert
Don’t mix the spelling of these two. It might leave a bad taste in your mouth — or your reader’s. Dessert is the noun we all know and love as the final course of a meal. Sweets to wrap up a culinary experience, or to make a bad day better. It always has two S’s […]
Sheer and Shear May Confuse You!
A simple tip today: don’t get these two homophones confused. Sheer is an adjective used to describe something that is nearly transparent (like sheer stockings) or that is smooth (like a sheer cliff). It is rarely used as a verb meaning “to move abruptly in a different direction,” as in The plane sheered away from […]
If You Meet a Murderer, Will You Mete Out Justice?
Watch these tricky little sound-alikes, because misusing them can really make you look bad. Both are verbs (well, most commonly used as verbs). Meet means to come face to face with, to come together with. (Example: We will meet in the conference room.) Mete means to dispense or hand out. (Example: The food pantry will […]
It’s Just a Phase; Don’t Let It Faze You …
and don’t give me any flak … I’m just a flack for good grammar and usage. These two pairs of words are consistently misused, so I want to set the record straight once and for all. Phase is a noun indicating a passing behavioural pattern or a certain stage of development. (Example: Most children go […]
Unh, Thag Use Big Word…
and nine-tenths of the population probably has no clue what Thag meant. I have come across the word solipsism or one of its variants three times in one day. That’s not exactly a common word among the general population, yet the first two times I met it, I nodded politely and read on. The third […]
Do Not Exacerbate My Exasperation
Two frequently misused words which can make you sound very foolish when you mix them up, or quite brilliant if you get them right, are exasperate and exacerbate. The problem is really quite simple, as the words have nothing at all in common except the prefix “ex-.” Exasperate (/eks ASS purr ate/) means to make […]
The Past Has Passed ….
Emergency beacons in my Inbox — a concerned blogger wants us to clear up the difference between “passed” and “past.” Actually, this one’s really easy, because the two words are completely different parts of speech. Past is either a noun or adjective. It means “previous times.” noun: His past is a closed book. adjective: That […]