Common errors in the use of the English language

The way we speak is usually, except in formal situations, somewhat casual, and we do not expect to be judged on every error. However, the written word is our representative, particularly when we send it winging across the Internet, or let it speak for us at our websites. We might hope that both spoken and written media would use language correctly, so providing us with good models. Yet there are some errors that occur time after time, and that proclaim, sometimes falsely, that our command of the English language is weaker than we might wish. Here are a few of the most common errors, with the correct version capitalized:

Your instead of YOU’RE: “Your welcome to browse,” proclaims the website. The message is intended to be an abbreviation of “You are welcome…” Hence, the correct version is “You’re welcome…,” with the apostrophe substituting for the omitted “a”.

Irregardless instead of REGARDLESS: When we write “He pushed forward, regardless of public opinion…” we are saying that he gave no regard to public opinion. The suffix, “less” tell us this. Why, then, should an additional negative be added with the prefix “Ir”? Yes, I know it’s in the dictionary, but it is marked as “non-standard”, and the double negative really makes it meaningless, so why not stick with “regardless”?

Disinterested instead of UNINTERESTED:  Disinterested means that you do not have a vested interest in the issue, i.e. you are impartial. It is often wrongly used when the speaker actually means that the person is uninterested, i.e. feels that the topic is of no interest, or boring. We hope that all judges will be interested in their cases, but at the same time disinterested so that they are unbiased and have no conflict of interest.

Peaked instead of PIQUED:  “Your article peaked my interest,” does make sense, for perhaps it raised the writer’s interest to a peak that it had never before reached. Nonetheless, the word piqued means sharpened, aroused, excited, intensified, and this is the correct usage. 

 Authoritative as a negative instead of AUTHORITARIAN:  Authoritarian means demanding blind and complete compliance to authority and is generally regarded as a negative. Authoritative means having authority or being based on solid knowledge, i.e. knowing what you are talking about. It is not unusual to hear news media people using the two words interchangeably and incorrectly.

Mixing singular and plural verbs and nouns:  The sentence starts out with a singular subject, but somewhere before its ending the accompanying pronoun and/or verb become plural, or vice versa. This may be done as a quick-and-easy way to avoid using the gender-specific “he” or “she” but there are better ways. It is often easiest to use plural forms for both subject and verb right from the beginning of the sentence. “A child (singular) may run down the street but they (plural to avoid “he or she” need to be careful of traffic.” Better to start “Children may run down the street…” then there is no problem.

Could care less versus COULDN’T CARE LESS:  “I could care less,” taken literally, means that it would be possible for me to care about the topic much less than I do. It is often used (especially by teenagers) to mean the reverse. Correctly, the meaning that they intend is “I couldn’t care less.”

 There’s lots of… instead of THERE ARE LOTS OF:  “There’s” is an abbreviation of “there is.” We would not say “There is lots of car dealerships on this road.” Correctly, “There are lots of….”

Affect and effect:  Complicated, because both words can be used correctly as a noun or as a verb but the meanings are very different. “Effect” as a noun – the result of something:  “The effect of the lack of rain was that the wheat crop was very sparse.” “Effect” as a verb – to bring about: “It is your job to effect the changes on which the Board has agreed.”  “Affect” as a noun – your outward appearance of emotion (used mainly by psychologists): “She though he would be angry, but he maintained such a flat affect that it did not appear that he was at concerned.” “Affect” as a verb – when you cause a change in something, i.e. the lack of rain severely affected the wheat crop. 

 Different than/DIFFERENT FROM and looking to/PLANNING (or HOPING) TO:  I give up on these two, because the incorrect versions have become so commonly used that they are probably listed as common usage. However, if you really want to use your words correctly, “different from” is more correct than “different than.” Likewise, “hoping to” or “planning to” give far more meaning to your words than the ubiquitous (but, if you think about it, actually meaningless) “looking to.”