Commonly Misused words

 

In the business world, knowing how and when to use the right word is very important. The following words are commonly misused word in English language:

1.       Well and Good- People often use these words synonymously, but they actually have distinct roles in grammar. Good is an adjective; well is an adverb. Typically, an individual is well vs and an object is good.  FYI: Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns while an adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb.

Example: Cynthia performed well on her Accounting exam VS.  Cynthia will be a good accountant.

 

2.       Affect and Effect-Affect is as an action word (a verb) and typically means to have an impact (effect) on something. Effect is a noun, which is a change that results or a consequence of an action or cause. 

Example: The student lobbying groups want to affect the business courses taught in the Business College vs. The new change in the business courses was an effect of student lobbying groups.

 

3.       Then and Than- Then is an adverb used to describe timing or sequence of events while than is used for comparison.

Example: Susie performed better than everyone else on the accounting test but then she did not perform as well on the marketing test.

 

4.       Everyday and Every day- people also wrongly use these interchangeably. Every day is an adverb and often describes a daily occurrence while every-day as an adjective often used to describe a commonplace occurrence, a mundane or ordinary activity.

Example: David attends his accounting class every day, goes to his marketing club every day, and goes to his business meetings every day. These are all David’s everyday school activities.

 

5.       Bring and Take- though two verbs have very distinct meaning, they are often mistakenly misused. The distinction is in the direction of the person speaking. To take implies to move object away from the speaker to another location. To bring is to move object from one location towards the speaker.

 

Example: Both Cynthia and David will bring their accounting assignments with them to the meeting so they can take their awards.

 

 

How often misused words generated misleading thoughts. –Robert Spencer.