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smarterYou don’t need

to be MerriaM or Webster to avoid coMMon Mistakes When

it coMes to Word use,

punctuation and graMMar.

by abel delgado

enhance

in an episode of The Sopranos, mobster christopher

Moltisanti speculated that the Fbi was trying to create

“dysentery among the ranks.” Mike tyson once said

that after his career was over, he might “fade into

bolivian.” and former president george W. bush once

declared, “We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations

hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.” verbal

missteps can be funny—unless we’re the ones who

make them. here are some common gaffes to avoid.

Alright. this is not a word, though you see it a lot, especially in

e-mails or texts. the correct phrase is “all right,” all right?

e.g. and i.e. the abbreviation e.g. stands for exempli gratia,

meaning “for example,” while i.e. stands for id est or “that

is.” Just remember that i.e. clarifies something—“We have to

protect strategic areas, i.e., power plants and military bases”—

while e.g. gives examples: “our dog scrappy loves chew toys,

e.g., pig ears, ropes and rawhide bones.”

It’s/Its, you’re/your, they’re/their. It’s, you’re and they’re

are contractions of the phrases “it is,” “you are” and “they are,”

respectively, while its, your

and their are possessive

adjectives. Just remember

that the apostrophe is used

for the verb, while no verb

usually means possession.

here’s an example: “get

your car. today, you’re the

one who’s driving.”

Me, Myself and I. Most

of us know that “John and

me went to the store” is

wrong and that “John and

i went to the store” is right.

but sometimes this makes us avoid “me” where we shouldn’t:

“please give the memo to John or myself.” to check if it’s

right, just take out the second party: “please give the memo

to myself.” that’s how you know it should be, “please give the

memo to John or me.” if you plan to say, “harry gave the paper

to John and i,” take out John. “harry gave the paper to i” may

make sense on the planet Zortron, but not in regular english.

What’s right: “harry gave the paper to John and me.”

Premier/Premiere. Premier is the best in a category or a prime

minister, while premiere is the opening of a movie or play.

Stratagem/Strategy. a stratagem is a plan intended to fool

someone or a scheme to achieve a goal, such as a thief posing

as an employee to get into a building. Strategy refers to overall

planning to achieve long-term goals.

Towards. in u.s. usage, it’s “toward,” with no “s” at the end.

Unique. this means one of a kind, so it makes no sense to call

something truly unique or very unique. it’s either a flying turtle or

it isn’t—there are no degrees to being unique.