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Much or Many
We sometimes tend to use these two words interchangeably but while they both show an amount of something, they are used in two different situations.
Use “much” with uncountable nouns. Uncountable nouns are things or concepts that we can’t divide into individual elements. For example, we would say “much oxygen”, “much sleep” and “much sand”.
When referring to countable nouns, use “many”. These are things that we can count. For example, “many students” and “many bottles of water”.
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Much or Many
“Many” and “much” are both modifiers: words that add details, limits or change the meaning of another word or phrase.
But when do you know which modifier to use?
The simple rule is “many” modifies things that can be counted and “much” modifies things that cannot be counted.
For example, we would say “There are many dogs in the park” because we can count the number of dogs. If we can’t count the items, we would use “much”. For example, “There is too much information for me to digest now.”
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Marketing
Do you often hear your mother or grandmother say they are “going marketing tomorrow morning”?
Actually, they can’t be “going marketing” because “marketing” is something usually done by executives, salespeople or advertisers who are promoting and selling their products or services.
The correct way to say it would be “my mother or grandmother is going to the market tomorrow morning to buy fruits and vegetables for dinner”.
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May or Might
"May" and "might" is another pair of words we tend to use interchangeably.
However, they imply different meanings.
"May" implies a possibility. For example, "I may go to the office party if you go."
"Might" implies more uncertainty. For example, "I might go to the office party if all 400 employees in the company go."
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Nauseous or Nauseated
After a long road trip along winding roads, have you ever commented that you feel “nauseous”?
This is probably one of the most common mistakes we unknowingly make because of its widespread use.
The correct way to express it is to say, “I feel nauseated.” This is because you were made ill by something.
To say you are “nauseous”, means you have the ability to make someone or something else nauseated. I believe none of us wants to have this ability!
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Neither
A friend said to you, “Neither of the girls brought their toys.”
Words like "everybody", "anyone", "each", "neither" and "nobody" are singular and take singular pronouns.
So it should be “neither of the girls brought her book.”
And here’s another tip, Wednesday is pronounced as wens-day, instead of wed-ners-day.
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Why You Never
Have you overheard a parent nagging at a child and asking “Why you never do your homework?”
If the child objects to this statement, he isn’t wrong because he might have done his homework in the past and the word “never” implies that he has not ever, at any time, done any form of homework before!
Perhaps it would be better for the parent to be specific and ask, “Why have you not done yesterday's homework?”
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Upon or Out of
We often hear students comparing test scores by saying “I scored 10 upon 10 of the questions correct!”
Well, the correct way to phrase it would be “10 out of the 10 questions correct”.
“Upon” is a more formal term for the word “on”, thus we would actually be saying “10 on 10 questions correct” which would be grammatically wrong.
Here’s an example of how to use the word “upon” correctly: “The teacher immediately gave out the test scores upon her arrival at the classroom.”
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Off Your Phone
The movie is starting and your friend nudges you and says: “Off your phone, please." He then says that he wishes they would “off the lights” too.
"Off" is not an action word. The correct phrase should be "turn off your phone" and "switch off the lights".
And here’s another tip, when you go for a trip, you should plan your i-tee-ner-rare-ry, its i-tee-ner-rare-ry, not i-tee-ner-ry.
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Stuff or Things
“Where is that metal stuff I was using to mix the cake batter?” your mum exclaimed.
The sentence sounds a bit strange because it would have been better to use the word “thing” instead of “stuff” in this instance.
“Thing” is used to refer to anything you don’t want to or can’t give a specific name to. In this case, your mum forgot that she was using a whisk.
On the other hand, “stuff” is more commonly used to describe any article, material or activity. It is usually uncountable too. For example, “I’ve got so much stuff in the kitchen that the cupboards are all full.”
Another difference is that “stuff” can also be used as a verb. For example, “Mum stuffed the kitchen cupboards with more stuff.”
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Stationery or Stationary
Words that sound the same or have similar spellings can be a bit tricky as in this case of the word “stationary”, spelled with the letter A, and “stationery”, spelled with the letter E.
When spelled with the letter A, the word means “having a fixed position” or “not moving”. When spelled with the letter E, the word refers to writing materials such as pencils, pens and paper.
Here’s a quick tip on how to remember the different meanings of these two words.
For “stationary” with the letter A, remember that a cAr is stationary when it is parked. For “stationery” with the letter E, remember that pEns are a type of stationery we use to write with.
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Which or That
We tend to unconsciously use "which" and "that" interchangeably. However, there is a difference between these two pronouns.
Use "that"’ when referring to a specific and restrictive noun. For example, "I only eat noodles from that stall in Chinatown."
Use "which" when there is no reference to a specific or restrictive noun. For example, "I recommend eating noodles from stalls which are located in Chinatown."
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Purposely or Purposefully
Although they sound similar, the words purposely and purposefully are used to describe different scenarios.
We use “purposely” when describing something that is done deliberately or on purpose. For example, “He purposely set a difficult test so that he could gauge the standard of his students.”
“Purposefully” is often used to describe the action or demeanour of someone who is determined or resolute. For example, “Set on asking his boss for a raise, he purposefully walked into the boss’s office to make the request.”
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Who or Whom
‘Who’ or ‘Whom’. Which pronoun do we use in a question?
‘Who’ is used when referring to the subject of a clause, while ‘whom’ is used when referring to the object of a clause. Sounds confusing?
To make things easier, ask yourself if the answer to the question is ‘him’ or ‘he’.
If you answer ‘him’, use ‘whom’. But if you answer ‘he’, use ‘who’.
For example, if someone asks you about the person you like, and your answer is “I like him”, the question should be “Whom do you like?”
But if someone wants to find out about the person who ate the chocolates, it should be “Who ate the chocolates?”, because the answer is “He ate the chocolates”.
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Rise or Raise
When used as a verb, they both have the same meaning “to move upwards”. The difference is that “rise” is a verb that doesn’t take an object while “raise” is a verb that requires an object.
Simply put, use “rise” when referring to an object that rises by itself. For example, we would say the sun rises because it doesn’t need anyone or anything to move it upwards.
“Raise” is just the opposite – we use it when something or someone else is needed to move something. Thus, we would say “The children raised their hands to answer the teacher’s question.”
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Scan or Skim
“I’m just going to quickly scan through the newspaper this morning,” says your dad. But what is he really doing?
Dad is actually skimming through the newspapers because he’s quickly gathering information using the titles, summaries and captions found in the newspaper.
If he were really “scanning” the newspapers, he would actively be searching for something in particular, for example, a word, phrase, picture or specific information about something or someone.
In summary, you scan to find something specific whereas you skim to get an overview of all the information present.
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Sometime or Some Time
Although they sound the same when spoken, these two phrases have different meanings.
As one word, "sometime” is an adverb that implies some vague or unknown time in the future. For example, “Let’s have coffee sometime next week.”
As two words, the word “some” becomes as adjective and the phrase describes a certain amount of time that’s usually long. For example, “I took some time to finish my cup of coffee because it tasted awful.”
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See or Watch
We use our eyes for these two actions, but they have quite different meanings.
When we “see” something, it simply means that we are looking at or have spotted something. This may be an unintentional action. For example, I saw a shiny object along the pavement on my way to school.
On the other hand, to “watch” something means to look at it closely and intently, usually because that object is moving. For example, you would say you “watched” a movie rather than “saw” a movie because you purposefully concentrated on the moving pictures on the large screen.
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Parameter or Perimeter
At one glance, the word “parameter” and “perimeter” may look and even sound alike. However, there are differences in their meanings and pronunciations.
“Parameter”, pronounced with a short “a” sound, refers to a limit or boundary, something like an OB marker that your boss sets for you at work.
On the other hand, “perimeter”, pronounced with a short “i” sound followed by a short and controlled “e” sound, refers to a continuous line that forms the border of a space. So if you decided to adopt a healthy lifestyle for 2015, you would be jogging the perimeter of your neighbourhood park every evening.
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With Regard To
It is common to hear someone say “I am calling with regards to this situation.”
"Regards" is usually used only in expressions like “Please give them my best regards.”
So if you’re referring to something in your conversation use "with regard to".
And here’s another tip, when in doubt, consult the dictionary. Yes, that’s daut. The "b" is silent.
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Revert
The word most often misused in the office is probably "revert".
Every other day, we receive an email asking us to revert soon.
"Revert" does not mean reply. It means to return to a previous state, such as ice reverting to water when it melts.
So don’t use revert without knowing its true meaning.
Say you will get back soon or ask them to reply soon.
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Stay Tuned
Sometimes, we hear people saying, “We’ll reveal more exciting details about the contest tomorrow. Stay tune!”
The correct way to say it should be ‘stay tuned’. Stay tuned for the next newsletter or stay tuned for more.
And here’s another tip, colleague is pronounced as kol-leag instead of ker-lick.
Say kol-leag.
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Summon
"Don’t park here, or you will get a parking summon", says your friend.
The word "summon" is usually used to refer to a parking ticket. The meaning of summon though, is a command for you to appear in court to answer a charge or bear witness.
So, unless you are due to appear in court, the next time your friend parks illegally, it should be "don’t park here, or you will get a parking ticket".