Thirteen Commonly Misused, Misspelled, or Mispronounced Words

Have you ever been in a social situation where someone said something so inaccurate, so ridiculous, that you had to hold yourself back from buckling at the waist in laughter? Or (gulp), have you ever been in a social situation where the person making a fool out of his/her self was … you?

Let’s face it: We’ve all been there. We’ve all said the wrong thing at the wrong time, called someone by the wrong name, accidentally said “I love you” two weeks into the relationship. It’s humiliating. It’s soul-shattering. Because, as much as we hate to admit it, the words that we speak can have a lasting effect on the people we find ourselves interacting with once, twice, even on a daily basis.

Which is why for this month’s blog post, I decided to feature 13 of the most common grammar mistakes that you might not even know you’re making. And if I’m being honest, a few of these surprised me, too. While I can’t promise that you’ll never make a fool of yourself in public again, I hope that this list supplies you with a few nuggets of gold to stump your friends and family at your next gathering.

Angie’s List of Social No-Nos

1. Is it “Supposedly” OR “Supposably”?

Answer: Regardless of what Joey Tribbiani would have you believe, “supposably” is not a word. The correct term is “supposedly.”

Example:  Supposedly, Ron returned his books to the library three days ago.

 

2. Is it “Home in” OR “Hone in”?

Answer: I’m guilty of this one, too. To “hone” actually means to sharpen or to strengthen something. It is not followed by the preposition “in.” To “home in” on something means to gain proximity to an object, whether physical or metaphorical.

Example: While most students had to hone their skills, Harry was a natural on a broomstick.

Example: Harry homed in on the location of the next Horcrux.

 

3. Is it “Champing at the bit” OR “Chomping at the bit”?

Answer: Another mistake I’ve definitely made once or twice (or ten times). Believe it or not, most of America has been saying this phrase wrong! The origin of this phrase came from the notion of horses “champing,” or chewing, on their mouthpieces before the start of a race. But it was replaced with “chomping” so many times that many people now view “chomping” as acceptable too!

Example: Hermione was so eager to receive the results of her OWLs, she was practically champing at the bit.

 

4. Is it “Bated breath” OR “Baited breath”?

Answer: The correct choice here is “bated” breath, unless, of course, you are trying to describe someone whose breath stinks of rotting fish corpses.

Example: As the werewolf closed in, Harry and Hermione waited behind the tree with bated breath.

 

5. Is it “Sneak Peek” OR “Sneak Peak”?

Answer: Again, I’m so guilty of this. “Peek” is a verb that means “to look,” while “peak” is the tip at the top of a mountain. Unless you can perform the undetectable extension charm that allows Hermione to fit limitless items into her purse, I doubt you will ever be able to sneak a peak into a movie theater.

Example: Hagrid brought Harry to the Forbidden Forest for a sneak peek at the Triwizard Tournament’s first challenge.

 

6. When do you use “Comprise” and when do you use “Compose”?

Answer: An entity comprises several parts. Several parts compose an entity. Easy, right? But in the moment, this mistake is an easy one to make.

Example: The Weasley family comprises seven children, along with Arthur and Molly.

Example: Seven children, Arthur and Molly compose the Weasley family.

 

7. When do you use “Farther” and when do you use “Further”?

Answer: Farther is more acceptable when describing an actual location in the physical world. Further, on the other hand, is more acceptable in the metaphorical sense.

Example: “How much farther?” Umbridge asked Harry and Hermione as they journeyed through the forest.

Example: The students at Hogwarts weren’t sure how much further they could be pushed by Umbridge before reaching their breaking point.

 

8. When do you use “Fewer” and when do you use “Less”?

Answer: This one is similar to our last example. Use fewer when describing plural items that can be counted. Reserve less for items that cannot be counted, or do not have a plural form.

Example: Dumbledore could not accept anything less than 100% effort on Harry’s part.

Example: According to J.K. Rowling, Dumbledore lived no fewer than 150 years before he died.

 

9. When do you use “Ensure” and when do you use “Insure”?

Answer: While these words might have similar definitions, they are not the same. To ensure means to make certain that the desired outcome happens. To insure is to spend an inordinate amount of money on the chance that something, somewhere, sometime might happen to you, your home, your car, or anything else you deem valuable. (Although if you don’t buy insurance, that same unfortunate occurrence will probably hit and you’ll be sorry you didn’t, so break out that wallet anyway!)

Example: Harry ensured Ron that he would have a great game, but nothing convinced him more than the Felix Felicis supposedly (not supposably, remember?) dropped in his cup.

Example: Ron knew he should have insured the car before crashing it into the Whomping Willow.

 

10. Is it “For all intensive purposes” OR “For all intents and purposes”?

Answer: Unless your purposes are really quite intense, you’ll want to go with the second option here.

Example: For all intents and purposes, life at the Dursleys was dismal.

 

11. When do you use “Bear” and when do you use “Bare”?

As the bare bear bared his teeth, I fought him off by bearing arms.

Or is it: “the bear bare beared his teeth” while I “bared” arms?

Fun, isn’t it?

Answer: Here’s a tip. To “bare” is to get naked. Imagine Joey Tribbiani whistling every time you see the word “bare” and you’re good to go. Bare is exposed, like the bear’s exposed teeth, or Daniel Radcliffe’s exposed body in that horse movie. (Seriously, though, what was he thinking?)

Bear can be a noun, like our grizzly friend, or a verb, as in “to bear in mind,” “to bear with him,” or “to bear arms.”

Get it? Got it? Good.

Example: In order to hear the next clue, Harry would have to bare all in the prefix bathroom.

Example: Harry couldn’t bear to lose a friend to Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

 

12. How do you pronounce “Forte”?

Answer: This is one of my dad’s biggest pet peeves. This word is pronounced “fort.” The “e” is silent! Unless you’re talking the musical term, forte, which means to sing or play loudly.

Example: Being kind to Mudbloods was not Draco’s forte.

 

13. Is it “Moot” OR “Mute”?

Answer: If the point is “moot,” it doesn’t matter. A “mute” point would not exist, because points must be declared in order to be heard.

Example: Professor McGonagall understood that whether or not the students used Voldemort’s name before battle was now a moot point, because he was going to try to kill them either way.

How did you do? Don’t hang your heads in shame if you answered some of these incorrectly on the first try. Now that you’re a sophisticated Grammar King/Queen, you can quiz everyone you know! And if one of these still troubles you, feel free to send me a message or leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading!