If you’re writing for a non-discerning audience, you can probably get away with a couple of grammar errors. When you’re trying to craft your piece to make an impression, however, you’d want to shine that writing into a polish. Come that time, a vocabulary of words that are colloquial at best and made up at worst won’t exactly serve you.
Do you ever make any of these common mistakes with your writing? Now might be a good time to drop them from your regular use.
Using irregardless as a word
Irregardless is not a word. Regardless, on its own, already means “without regard.” What, then, does irregardless mean? It means you’re not a good English writer, that’s what!
Adding the suffix -wise to everything
Lots of common words end in “-wise.” That doesn’t give you the license, however, to affix it to everything. Words like “specs-wise” and “profit-wise” have no place in formal business writing, or for any form of writing in general.
Using gift as a verb
Some nouns may be used as a verb but gift, with the many action forms that can be used to express an act of giving, isn’t one of them. Instead of saying “We gifted him with a new toy,” you can use presented, gave, awarded, provided, confer and many more. Run your English grammar software through that sentence and stumble upon about a dozen alternative words you can use instead.
Tags: correct words, good words, Grammar Errors, word usage, wrong words
