A-Z of English Usage
Oxford publishes a series of handy guides to various aspects of the English language, which aim to help improve readers' writing. The latest addition is the A-Z of English Usage, which offers straightforward and easy to understand advice on issues of English usage. A few examples of common errors are below.
AD
AD is normally written in small capital letters and should be placed before the numerals, as in AD 375 (not 375 AD). The reason for this is that AD is an abbreviation of anno domini, which means 'in the year of our Lord', which should logically come before the year. However, when the date is spelled out, it is normal to write the third century AD (not AD the third century). It is not written with full stops after the letters.
bated breath
It is a common mistake to write baited breath instead of bated breath. The first written example of the original phrase is in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and bate is a shortened version of abate. About a third of all examples of this phrase in the Oxford English Corpus are with the incorrect spelling.
fictional, fictitious
The distinction between fictional and fictitious is quite subtle but worth maintaining. Fictional means 'occurring in fiction', i.e. in a piece of literature, whereas fictitious means 'invented, not genuine'. So Oliver Twist is a fictional name when it refers to Dickens' character, and a fictitious name when someone uses it as a false or assumed name instead of their own. Similarly, events are fictional when described in a work of fiction, and fictitious when invented in ordinary life.
founder, flounder
It is easy to confuse the words founder and flounder, not only because they sound similar but also because the contexts in which they are used tend to be similar. Founder means 'to fail', as in the scheme foundered because of lack of organizational backing. Flounder, on the other hand, means 'to be in difficulties', as in new recruits floundering about in their first week.
ilk
Nowadays, ilk is used in phrases such as of his ilk, of that ilk, to mean 'type' or 'sort'. This use arose out of a misunderstanding of the earlier, Scottish use in the phrase of that ilk, where it means 'of the same name or place'. For this reason, some traditionalists regard the modern use as incorrect. It is, however, the only common current use and is now part of standard English.
perpetrate, perpetuate
The words perpetrate and perpetuate are sometimes confused. Perpetrate means 'to commit a harmful, illegal, or immoral action', as in a crime has been perpetrated against a sovereign state, whereas perpetuate means 'to make something continue indefinitely', as in a monument to perpetuate the memory of those killed in the war.
More help on usage can be found on AskOxford, which can be found here. And remember, you can always send in your language queries to us at Oxford; just head to this page.
Jeremy Butterfield
24/01/2007
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