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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sirajstc" data-source="post: 14032572" data-attributes="member: 91140">Because English is such a complex language, it is fraught with traps  that we all frequently fall into. With this list I hope to clear up at  least a few of the confusing words we use every day. This is a list of  some of the more common errors people make with English. 1. Practice / PractiseIn US English, practice is used as either a verb (doing word), or noun  (naming word). Hence, a doctor has a practice, and a person practices  the violin. In UK english, practice is a noun, and practise is a verb. A  doctor has a practice, but his daughter practises the piano.2. Bought / BroughtBought relates to buying something. Brought relates to bringing  something. For example, I bought a bottle of wine which had been brought  over from France. The easy way to remember which is which is that bring  start with ‘br’ and brought also does. Buy and bought start with ‘b’  only. This is one of those difficult ones that a spelling checker won’t  catch.3. Your / You’reYour means “belonging to you”. You’re means “you are”. The simplest way  to work out the correct one to use is to read out your sentence. For  example, if you say “you’re jeans look nice” expand the apostrophe. The  expanded sentence would read “you are jeans look nice” – obviously  nonsensical. Remember, in English, the apostrophe often denotes an  abbreviation. 4. Its / It’sAs in the case above, the apostrophe denotes an abbreviation: it’s = it  is. Its means “belongs to it”. The confusion arises here because we also  use an apostrophe in English to denote possession – except in  this case; if you want to say “the cat’s bag” you say “its bag” not  “it’s bag”. “It’s” always means “it is” or “it has”. “It’s a hot day.”  “it’s been fun seeing you.”5. Two / To / TooWith a ‘w’ it means the number 2. With one ‘o’ it refers to direction:  ‘to France’. With two ‘o’s it means “also” or refers to quantity – for  example: “There is too much money”. A good way to remember this one is  that too has two ‘o’s – ie, it has more ‘o’s than ‘to’ – therefore it  refers to quantity.6. Desert / Dessert   This is a confusing one because in English an ‘s’ on its own is  frequently pronounced like a ‘z’ and two ‘s’s are usually pronounced as a  n ‘s’ (for example: prise, prissy). In this case, desert follow the  rule – it means a large stretch of sand. However, dessert is pronounced  “dez-urt” with the emphasis on the second syllable – ie, something we  eat as part of our meal. To make matters worse, when a person leaves the  army without permission, it is spelt desert. So, let’s sum up:desert (pronounced dez’-it): dry landdesert (pronounced dez-urt’): abandondessert (pronounced dez-urt’): yum yum! – remember, two ‘s’s because you want second helpings!Oh – one more thing – another very common mistake is using the word  dessert (two ‘s’s) to mean pudding – pudding is a sweet course, often  consisting of some kind of cake or icecream. Dessert is fruit or cheese –  normally taken after the pudding course.7. Dryer / DrierIf your clothes are wet, put them in a clothes dryer. That will make them drier. A hair dryer also makes hair drier. 8. Chose / ChooseThis is actually quite an easy one to remember – in English we generally  pronounce ‘oo’ as it is written – such as “moo”. The same rule applies  here: choose is pronounced as it is written (with a ‘z’ sound for the  ‘s’) – and chose is said like “nose”. Therefore, if you had to choose to  visit Timbuktu, chances are you chose to fly there. Chose is the past  tense, choose is the present tense.9. Lose / LooseThis one is confusing. In this case, contrary to normal rules of  English, the single ‘s’ in loose is pronounced like an ‘s’ – as in  wearing trousers that are too loose. Lose on the other hand, relates to  loss – for example: “I hope we don’t lose this game”. A good way to  remember this is that in the word “lose” you have lost the second ‘o’  from loose. If you can’t remember a rule that simple, you are a loser!10. LiterallyThis one is not only often used in error, it is incredibly annoying when  it is used in the wrong way. Literally means “it really happened” –  therefore, unless you live on a parallel universe with different rules  of physics, you can not say “he literally flew out the door”. Saying  someone “flew out the door” is speaking figuratively – you could say “he  figuratively flew out the door” but figuratively is generally implied  when you describe something impossible. Literally can only be used in  the case of facts – for example: he literally exploded after swallowing  the grenade. If he did, indeed, swallow the grenade and explode – that  last sentence is perfectly correct. It would not be correct to say “she  annoyed him and he literally exploded” unless she is Wonder Woman and  her anger can cause people to blow up.Bonus: I could care lessI have to add this one as a bonus because it is one I especially hate.  When you say “I could care less” you are saying “I care a little so I  could care less”. Most people when using this horrific sentence mean to  say “I couldn’t care less” which means “I care so little I could not  care less”.Bonus 2: IronicIsn’t it ironic? Actually, no, most of the time it is not. Irony, in its  true form, is when you state something to a person who does not  understand what you truly mean, but another person does. Essentially, it  makes the hearer the brunt of the joke without their being aware of it.  This is called dramatic or tragic irony because it originated on the  stage where the audience knew what was happening but the victim on stage  did not. The most sustained example of dramatic irony is undoubtedly  Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, in which Oedipus searches to find the murderer  of the former king of Thebes, only to discover that it is himself, a  fact the audience has known all along.Another form of irony is Socratic irony, in which the person pretends to  be ignorant of a subject in order to truly show the ignorance of the  person with whom he is arguing.Unfortunately, poor Alanis Morissette had no clue when she said “it’s a  free ride when you’ve already paid” or “it’s like rain on your wedding  day”. This is not irony – it is misfortune or coincidence.To sum it up, basically Irony is a figure of speech in which what is  stated is not what is meant. Sarcasm can be a type of Irony. </blockquote>

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