by Pernickety Kate | May 23, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling, Words
Continuing my series on confusing English words, here are further explorations of some of the most troublesome… Literally How to annoy half the population without really trying: use the word literally when you’re talking about something that couldn’t actually... by Pernickety Kate | Apr 19, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling, Words
Continuing my series helping you to avoid some of the most common mistakes in English… Imply / Infer Perhaps you’ve seen a house like the one in the picture. Probably suburban; definitely well-kept. It has a garage and a drive. Across some part of the... by Pernickety Kate | Apr 9, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling
What exactly is a typo? We all know they’re sneaky, and they happen to the best of us. But we can’t blame our keyboards for everything… Technically, a typo is a mistake occurring through misuse (or failure) of the machinery used for typing. It is short for... by Pernickety Kate | Feb 28, 2022 | Spelling, Words
Continuing my series unpicking some of the most commonly confused words in the English language… Faze / Phase Faze is a weird word in meaning and usage as well as spelling. To faze means to disturb, worry or confuse. Examples: When asked to give an example, he... by Pernickety Kate | Jan 10, 2022 | Proofreading, Spelling, Words
Beginning a series de-mystifying the most common confusing words in English. The words are covered in alphabetical order – you can find other tricky words in other blog posts, as follows: faze, fewer & flaunt, imply & its, and literally, loose & lot. ... by Pernickety Kate | Jan 26, 2018 | Punctuation, Spelling, Words
Some words behave weirdly – and not just the fancy ones that few people understand. Here’s a collection of the first few that sprang to mind (as seen originally on my Facebook page). Weird Word of the Week #1: COMPLIMENT (and related words). Weird...