Clarification on 15 Words Commonly Misused in English

1. Artist/Artiste
An Artist is a painter or somebody who draws or carves while an Artiste is a performer such as a dancer, an actor, or a singer.

2. Biannual/Biennial
Biannual means happening twice in a year while Biennial means an event taking place once every two years. Perennial means happening for very long period of time; happening again and again.

3. Luxurious/Luxuriant
Luxuriant is used to describe something rich, attractive, and beautiful while Luxurious is used to describe something that is very comfortable containing expensive and enjoyable things.

4. Born/Borne
Born normally comes before the preposition "of" e.g. Angela was born of Nigerian parents in Italy. Borne comes before the preposition "by". Borne is the last participle of bear while the past tense is bore e.g. Owen, the Italian football was borne by British mother.

5. Comprehensible/Comprehensive
Comprehensible is used to describe something that can be easily understood by an average reader e.g. His letter was quite Comprehensible. Comprehensive is used to describe what is complete and has all necessary information e.g. The report of the robbery crime was quite comprehensive. They are both adjective.

6. Client/Customer
A customer is one who buys something from a shop while a client is one who receives or gets services from a professional.

7. Elder/Senior/Younger/Junior
Elder and Younger are used within the family while Senior and Junior are used in schools or offices. Therefore, it is wrong to say: That boy is my senior brother. It should be: That boy is my elder brother.

8. Academic/Academia/Academician
An Academic is someone who teaches and does research in a university. That is, a lecturer. Many people mistake it for Academia which actually means a world of learning, teaching and research at a university. An Academician on the other hand is a member of an academy. An academy here means a type of official organization aimed at encouraging art, literature and science.

9. Talker/Speaker
A Talker is somebody who speaks well in a conversation e.g. Mary is a good talker, I enjoy her conversation. A Speaker on the other hand is used to talk about somebody who makes or delivers speeches in events e.g. Felicia Duncan is a good public speaker.

10. Altogether/All together
Altogether means "in total" or "completely" e.g. We are expecting twenty people altogether for the party. All together on the other hand means "all at once or all in one place" e.g. Pay me my money all together.

11. Beside/Apart from/Besides
Beside is a preposition used to show location e.g. I saw a rat beside your leg just now. Besides is used for making an extra comment to what has been said earlier e.g. I don't really love the girl. Besides she is ugly. It can also be used as a preposition meaning 'Apart from' and 'in addition' e.g. I do admire everything about you besides your laziness. Besides losing his parents, the poor boy is a school dropout.

12. Blind/Blindly
Blindly (adverb) means 'not being able to see what you are doing' or 'not thinking about something' e.g. The boy blindly went ahead to marry the evil girl. Blind (adverb) means not being able to see.

13. Cautious/Careful
Being Cautious means doing something slowly or after a lot of thought because of fear or nervousness while being Careful means doing something after a lot of thought but without fear or nervousness.

14. Close/Shut
Close and Shut could really means the same thing but note that when 'shut' is used, it involves more noise. Also, shut is more often used for containers such as boxes, suitcases, etc. Closed is used in front of a noun whereas, shut is not e.g. A closed door, but we cannot say: A shut door. Closed is also usually used with roads, airports, etc. e.g. The roads were closed because of the protest.

15. Distrust/Mistrust
Distrust is used if you are sure that someone is acting dishonestly or cannot be relied on while Mistrust is used if you express doubt and suspicious over a person's honesty. You are not quite sure.

Phrasal Verbs and Idiomatic Expressions

This article treats the meaning of idiomatic/figurative expressions as well as phrases realized by verbs with prepositions, known as phrasal verbs. Here are some phrasal verbs and idiomatic expression you should know.

1. Leave out – Omit
2. Drop off – decline gradually
3. Drop our – cease from participating
4. Run off (documents) – to copy from machine
5. Catch on – understand
6. Leave no stone unturned – do everything possible
7. Round off – to conclude
8. Round up – to arrest
9. Take in – to deceive
10. Take after – to resemble or look like
11. Fall through – to fail
12. Write off – to cancel
13. A leader in a newspaper – an editor
14. A dark horse – an unexpected winner
15. Small fry – an unimportant person
16. To be insolvent – to be bankrupt, to be cash-strapped
17. A plaintiff – a complainant
18. Perjury – to tell a lie in the court
19. To buckle down – to be hardworking or serious
20. Give in – to accept defeat
21. Jaundiced view – partial or bias view
22. Ostracize – to reject or send away
23. To cross the Rubicon – not going back on a decision
24. To leave for good – no coming back
25. White elephant – high cost, little value
26. To lead a dog's life – to live a life of misery, suffering
27. To be under a weather – to be ill
28. To be in the black – to have money in one's account
29. To make an appearance – to show up in a party for a short-time
30. To clear the air – to eliminate tension, confusion, anger
31. The bird has flown – a wanted person has escaped
32. To come off – to live above board, to be above suspicion
33. Laissez faire attitude – careless, care-free
34. To go with a chip on one's shoulder – to prepare for a quarrel
35. To have one's head in one's mouth – to be frightened or afraid
36. To break even – no loss no gain
37. To present a bold front – to be brave
38. To exhume a body – to dig up
39. To be gullible – to be easily deceived
40. To loathe – having a strong hatred, aversion, dislike towards somebody or something.

In the next article we are going to be writing about Words Commonly Misused.

Reporting Questions (Interrogative Sentence)

It has been statements we have been reporting all the while. When reporting a question (an interrogation sentence), the sentence begins with the pronoun or the name of the person asking the question e.g. we, she, Teddy, etc. Common verbs used in reporting questions include ask, inquire, query, wish to, know, demand, etc. Note that the verb (auxiliary verb) normally comes after the subject when reporting a question and the question mark is usually omitted.

Examples:
1. "Where is Owen going?" The woman asked. (Direct speech question)
The woman asked where Owen was going. (Indirect speech question)

2. "Are you coming now?" The principal asked me. (Direct speech question)
The principal asked me if I was coming then. (Indirect Speech question)

Note that reporting a polar question is different from reporting a non-polar question. A polar question is that which required "yes" or "no" answer while a non-polar question does not require "yes" or "no". It usually starts with "Wh" words. When reporting a polar question, we begin the report with "if" or "whether". Examples:

1. "Are you coming tomorrow?" The man asked me. (Dir. Sp. Polar question)
Indirect report: The man asked whether I was coming the next day.

2. "What is your name?" The principal inquired. (Dir. Sp. Non-polar question)
Indirect report: The principal inquired what his name was.

3. "Will I see you today?" The girl asked us. (Dir. Sp. Polar question)
Indirect report: The girl asked us if she would see us that day.

4. "Does the sun go round the earth?" The boy asked the professor. (Direct speech question)
Indirect report: The boy asked the professor whether the sun goes round the earth.

In the last example, nothing has changed in the report because the question is on a scientific issue and has a permanent truth.

Reporting Commands (Imperative Sentences)
Commands (imperative sentences) are structurally known to begin with verbs e.g. Get out, sit down, shut the door, shut up, etc.

When reporting a command, one common feature is that the verb in the direct speech form takes a "to-infinite". Reporting a piece of advice is usually the same as reporting commands. Commands are usually expressed with verbs such as commanded, instructed, ordered, demanded, advised, etc.

Examples:
1. "Get out now," the man ordered. (Direct speech command)

2. "Be frugal with your income these days of economic recession," the old man advised. (Direct speech advice)
Indirect report: The old man advised them (or him or her) to be frugal with their (or his or her) income those days of economic recession.

In the next article we are going to be writing about Phrasal Verbs and Idiomatic Expressions.

Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct Speech
In a direct speech, there are two clauses, the reporting clause and the actual clause. The reporting clause contains the words of the reporter while the actual clause contains the words of the actual speaker. In a direct speech, the exact words of the speaker are reported directly or verbatim. The actual words are put in quotation mark.

NOTE: Every word including punctuation marks such as commas is enclosed inside the quotation marks.

Example: "It is raining today," Peter said.
                    actual clause          reporting clause

Indirect Speech
The indirect speech on the other hand, involves reporting what the speaker has said with some modifications. This implies that the reporter does not use the exact words of the speaker, instead we have some alteration and because of this, quotation marks are not used. An indirect speech is also known as a reported speech. There are two clauses in an indirect speech. The two clauses are joined by 'that'. Sometimes 'that' is omitted.

Example: Peter said that it was raining that day.

The speech above is quite different from the earlier one we reported directly. Some parts of the speech have changed.

Parts of a reported speech that changed
– Pronouns
In a reported speech, the pronouns change i.e. all first person pronouns will change to their third person pronoun equivalent as seen below:

• I will change to He or She
• Me will change to Him or Her
• We will change to They
• Us will change to Them
• Our will change to Their
• Mine will change to His or Hers
• Ours will change to Theirs
• Myself will change to Himself or Herself
• Ourselves will change to Themselves

Note that when the reporter is the addressee, the pronoun "you" will change to "I/we" for subjective case or "me/us" for objective case. But if the reporter is not the addressee, "you" will change to "he/she/they" for subjective case or "him/her/them" for objective case. Examples:

1. "I will see you tomorrow ," the doctor told me. (Direct speech where the reporter is the addressee)
2. The doctor told me that he would see me the following day. (Indirect speech where the reporter is the addressee)
3. "You must be on your way now," the director told them that. (Direct speech where the reporter is not the addressee)
4. The director told them that they had to be on their way then. (Indirect speech where the reporter is the addressee)

– Verbs
In Reported Speech, verbs change in the other below:

• Present Tense verbs will change to Past Tense
• Past Tense will change to Past Perfect
• Present Progressive will change to Past Progressive
• Present Modal (shall, can, etc.) will change to Past Modal (should, could, etc.)
• Past Modal will remain as Past Modal

NOTE: Must and Ought to will change to Had to.

However, note that, the verbs will not change if the subject to be reported is a permanent truth. Instance include: Scientific statements, Geographical extrapolations, Statements from a Constitution or Charter, Statements from a Holy Book, etc. Also note that the verb in the reporter's clause determines the verb in the clause that is being reported. This implies that if the verb in the reporter's clause is present, the verb in the clause being reported will be present and if the verb is past then the other will also be past.

Examples:
1. "I am in the house," the man says (Direct Speech)
The man says he is in the house. (Indirect speech)

You will observe that the verb "says" in the direct speech is in the present tense and therefore, the verb "is" does not change to the past tense in the indirect speech.

2. "I am in the house," the man said. (Direct speech)
The man said he was in the house. (Indirect speech)

Unlike the first example, the verb in the reporter's clause is "said" which is a past tense verb therefore, the verb "am" changes to past tense "was".

In the next article we are going to be writing about Reporting Questions (Interrogative Sentence)

Disjunctive (Question Tag)

In a question tag there is usually a statement and a tag, the tag comes after the statement.

For example:  I saw Daniel, didn't I?
                          Statement        tag

Rules for Question Tag
– Rule one: If the statement is positive, the tag will be negative.

– Rule two: If the statement is negative, the tag will be positive. A negative statement or tag is identified by the present of the negators "not" and "never".

Examples:
1. I have not seen you before, Have I? (Negative statement-positive tag)
2. It is raining, isn't it? (Position statement-negative tag)

Note that the negative (not) in the tag is usually written with the verb in a contracted form e.g. (isn't)

– Rule Three: The statement is normally separated from the tag with a comma.

– Rule Four: The subject in the statement must be repeated in the tag e.g. He came yesterday, didn't he?

Note that if the subject is a noun, it must be changed to an appropriate pronoun in the tag. For instance, we cannot say: Julian is coming, isn't Julian? 'Julian' must be changed to its appropriate pronoun which is 'she'.

– Rule five: The verb in the statement must be repeated in the tag

Note: Only auxiliary verbs are applicable in question tag. This implies that if the verb in the statement is a lexical (main) verb, it must be changed to an auxiliary verb. The auxiliary verb applicable in replacing a lexical verb in the question tag is the auxiliary verb 'to-do'. This means that the lexical verb in the statement is changed to the verb 'to-do' in the tag. If the lexical verb is past tense, in the tag, it becomes did/didn't e.g. We stood up when the principal came in, didn't we?

If the lexical verb is present tense, in the tag, it becomes does/doesn't for singular subjects and do/don't for plural subjects. For instance, it is wrong to say: *"He came here, camen't he?* The verb 'came' is in past tense therefore it will be changed. Let us consider the examples below:

1. He came here, didn't he? (Past tense)
2. He comes here everyday, doesn't he? (Simple present singular verb)
3. They come here everyday, don't they? (Simple present plural verb)

– Rule Six: If the verb in the statement is the auxiliary should or must, it becomes need in the tag e.g. I should come tomorrow, needn't I? We must go, needn't we?

– Rule Seven: If the verb in the statement is a command verb, it is changed to will in the tag e.g. Get out, will you? Shut up, will you?

– Rule Eight: If the verb in the statement is "let" and the subject is "us" (let's), the verb in the the tag will be shall and the subject will be we e.g. Let us go now, shall we? Let's have a cup of coffee, shall we?

The rules we have discussed above are all based on Simple Sentences. The ruled to be discussed next are based on larger and non-simple sentence.

– Rule Nine: If the statement is a compound sentence, made up of two main clauses, the tag will be derived from the latter main clause. Examples:

1. Marina passed her exam and her father was very happy, wasn't he?
In the example above, there are two clauses joined by the coordinator 'and'. The tag is derived from the second clause 'her father was very happy'

2. You stole but your mother didn't beat you, did she?

– Rule Ten: If the statement is a complete sentence, the tag is derived from the main clause of the sentence. Remember that a complex sentence is made up of only one main/independent clause and the other(s), subordinate/dependent clause. Examples:

1. We stood up when the principal came in, didn't we?
The main clause here is 'We stood up'
2. When the principal came in, we stood up, didn't we?
3. We stood up when the Mrs Remix, the principal came in, even though Mr Akpan was angry, didn't we?

The tag is still derived from the main clause 'We stood up'. All other clauses are subordinate clauses. Note that the subordinate clauses in the examples above are adverbial clauses. It may also be a noun or an adverbial clause. Examples:

1. Marian doesn't know that you were joking, does she?
2. I said, "Kyle saw Daniel", didn't I?
3. It seems that the children are not paying attention, doesn't it?

In the next article we are going to be writing about Direct and Indirect Speech.

Miscellaneous Collocation

– Use of 'so' and 'that':
When 'so' is used in a sentence as an intensifier or degree adverb, not that a 'that' clause should follow e.g. The boy is so clever that he won all the prizes for his category. Avoid the use of 'so' if you do not use a 'that' clause.

– Use 'such' and 'that':
Just like 'so', when 'such' is used as an intensifier, it should be followed by a 'that' clause. The difference is that, an article 'a'/'an' should follow e.g. He is such a boy that everyone would love to see. Note that when an adjective and an article follow 'so', you should not use a 'that' clause e.g. it is wrong to say: He is so clever a boy that I would love to see him. It is better to just say: He is so clever a boy. If you must use a 'that' clause, then use 'such' instead of 'so' e.g. He is such a clever a boy that I would love to see him or He is such clever a boy that I would love to see him.

Two words that are also used as intensifier are 'too' and 'very'. However, note that when they are used, you must avoid the use of a 'that' clause e.g. it is wrong to say He is too/very clever that I would love to see him. Avoid the use of a 'that' clause with any of these intensifiers.

– Use of 'with a view to' and 'ing-verb':
When 'with a view to' is used in a sentence, note that the verb that should follow should be in a progressive (continuous) form e.g. I came here with a view to seeing the clever boy (not with a view to see).

– Use of 'look forward to' and 'ing-verb':
When 'look forward to' is used, the verb that should also follow should be in a progressive (continuous) form e.g. I look forward to seeing you next week (not look forward to see). We all look forward to enjoying ourselves at the party.

– Use of 'no sooner' and 'than':
When 'no sooner' is used in a clause, it should be followed by 'than' e.g. No sooner had I entered the house than the rain started.

– Use of 'scarcely'/'hardly' and 'when':
When 'scarcely' and 'hardly' are used in a clause, they should be followed by 'when' e.g. Scarcely had the semester started when the school was shut down. Hardly had I begun to speak when the bell rang. The concert had hardly started when the lights went off.

– Use of 'no choice' and 'but':
Note that when the phrase 'no choice' is used, you should not follow it with a clause beginning with 'than', but follow it with a clause that begins with 'but' e.g. The students have no choice but to pass. (Not than to pass).

In the next article we are going to write about Disjunctive (Question Tag).

Collocations in English

Collocation is a regular pattern in which words are formed. It is also described as the company that words keep.

Prepositional Collocations
Prepositional collocation involves the use of verbs with prepositions. It should be noted that certain verbs choose certain prepositions. This implies that the use of verbs with prepositions is not random.

1. Buckle down (not buckle up) meaning to concentrate on one's work.
2. Leave for (not leave to)
3. Link with (not link to)
4. Alongside (not alongside with)
5. Comprise (not comprise of)
6. Demand (not demand for)
7. Solicit (not solicit for)
8. Advocate (not advocate for)
9. Request (not request for)

Note that the verbs demand, solicit, advocate and request will only take the preposition 'for' if the speaker carries out the action on behalf of of somebody else. For instance: In the law court a lawyer can solicit or advocate for a client e.g. I, Barr Okon, am here to solicit for John. But when the speaker wants something for themselves, the preposition 'for' cannot be used. For instance: The protesters hit the streets to solicit their rights and request their salaries. They will also take "for" when used as nouns e.g. My demand for justice is firm; The request for our salary isn't a crime. Note that 'of' is used with 'comprise' when used in passive form and that case, it is used in the past form with the auxiliary verb 'to-be' (is, was, are, were, am, been and being) in front of it as in: 'be comprised of' e.g. The committee is comprised of eminent members of staff. When 'comprise' is used in an active form, it does not take 'of' e.g. The committee comprises eminent members of staff. (Not comprises of...)

10. Attached to (not attached with)
11. Interested in (not interest on)
12. In one's interest (not for one's interest)
13. Connect with (not connect to)
14. Believe in (not believe on)
15. Accordance with (not accordance to)
16. Congratulate on (not congratulate for)
17. In the meantime (not for the main time)
18. In black/white suit (not on black/white suit)
19. On campus (not in campus)
20. On bus (not in bus)
21. Round up ("round up" is usually misused to mean to end what one is doing. This is wrong! "round up" means to arrest while "round off" means to end what one is doing)
22. Agree with (somebody)
23. Agree to (something)
24. Angry with (somebody) (not angry at)
25. Result in (effect of something) e.g. the fuel subsidy removal resulted in a week-long strike.
26. Result from (the cause of something) e.g. the one week strike resulted from the removal of fuel subsidy.
27. In the long run (not on the long run)
28. Prefer to (not prefer than). E.g. it is wrong to say: I prefer rice than beans but you say I prefer rice to beans.
29. Share between/among: We use between when it is just two people that are involved e.g. Share the money between Jane and Juliet. On the other hand, we use among when more than two people are involved. E.g. Share the money among Jane, June and Juliet.
30. Deal in (trade) e.g. My mother deals in textile.
31. Deal on (treat or discuss an issue)
32. Travel abroad (not travel to abroad)
Note: It is wrong to put "to" when the name of the place is not mentioned. 'Abroad' is not a name of a country therefore it is wrong to say "travel to abroad" instead you say "travel abroad".
33. Eject (nor eject out): It is tautological to add " out" to eject.
34. Die of (a disease or sickness)
35. Die for (a cause, a belief or a struggle).

In the next article we are going to write about Miscellaneous Collocation.