Use These Words Correctly

Fragile / Frail

Fragile: delicate, easily broken; frail: weak in health; without strong support.

e.g. This piece of glassware is fragile; please handle it with care.

e.g. You look pale and frail today. What's wrong with you?

e.g. The presidential candidate received frail support from his own State.

High / Highly

High: referring to altitude or position; highly: the degree or intensity. 

e.g. The airplane is flying high.

e.g. This disease is highly contagious.

Portend / Portent

Portend: foretell or forewarn; portent: self-importance.

e.g. This political decision may portend more trouble in the coming election.

e.g. The arrogant demeanor reflects the portent of the candidate.

Genteel / Gentle

Genteel: trying to be polite, and imitating good manners; gentle: kind, friendly.

e.g. He is living in genteel poverty (i.e. he is living a lifestyle that imitates that of the rich).

e.g. She is gentle in nature, and people like her.

Exhausting / Exhaustive

Exhausting: using much energy; exhaustive: very thorough or complete.

e.g. The exhausting work of working in the garden made me want to go to bed right away.

e.g. The police conducted an exhaustive investigation into this crime.

Observance / Observation

Observance: following rules and regulations; observation: seeing or paying attention to.

e.g. Tell me about your observation of the future of this company.

e.g. What do you think of the observance of the law on texting while driving?

Precede / Proceed

Precede: come or go before in time or place; proceed: go forward.

e.g. Soaking the beans overnight should precede the cooking.
e.g. We decided to proceed with the plan, even without the funding.

Half-blood / Half-breed

Half-blood: a person having one parent in common with another; half-breed: a person whose parents are of different races.

e.g. He is my half-blood: we have the same mother.

e.g. My girlfriend is a half-breed: her father is Danish, and her mother is Chinese.

Overall / Total

Overall: describing a measurement between two extremities, from one end to the other; total: complete;

e.g  What is the overall length of the bridge?

e.g. The project was a total success (not overall) 

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Right Choice of Words

Effective writing involves not only having a good vocabulary but also knowing how to choose the right words to express the right ideas. There are many English words that are frequently confused and misused.

Fewer / Less

Fewer is used for items that can be counted; less is used for items that cannot be counted.

e.g. Fewer people came to the meeting today than yesterday.

e.g. We have less money to spend on this trip than we used to have.

Moral / Morale

Moral as a noun means a standard of behavior or teaching of a story; morale as a noun means a positive state of mind with reference to confidence.

e.g. Not to take advantage of the poor is a moral act (as an adjective).

e.g. The moral of the story is that dishonesty never pays off.

e.g. This victory has increased the morale of the soldiers.

Farther / Further

Father refers to greater distance; further means more or greater intensity.

e.g. Our new house is farther from the lake than from the river.

e.g. The demonstration only led to further racial tension.

Allow / Allow of

Allow: permit; allow of: leave room for.

e.g. The regulation does not allow you to do this.

e.g. The regulation is so clear and specific that it does not allow of any other interpretation.

Bereaved / Bereft

Bereaved: taken away by death; bereft: being taken away or deprived of.

e.g. He was bereaved of his parents when he was a child.

e.g. He was bereft of all his possessions when he went bankrupt.

Definite / Definitive

Definite: clear and unmistakable; definitive: final and unchangeable.

e.g. The path going forward is definite with its goals carefully outlined.

e.g. The proposal is definitive with no further amendment.

Negligent / Negligible

Negligent: careless; negligible: that may be disregarded, not very important.

e.g. That officer is always negligent of his duties; he has been warned by his supervisor on several occasions.

e.g. These details are negligible; you don’t need to include them in the report.

Spoiled / Spoilt

Spoiled: (past tense or past participle of spoil) lay waste, rob; spoilt: mar or ruin.

e.g. Your car accident spoiled my vacation: I had to cancel the trip and take care of you.

e.g. You are a spoilt child!

Aside / beside

Aside: to one side; beside: by the side of.

e.g. We turned aside from the main road to avoid the heavy traffic.

e.g. The mother put the toddler beside her.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Use Pronouns Correctly

Use Pronouns Correctly

A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun. Effective use of pronouns gives flexibility in your writing.

e.g. The manager left for New York. He took a train.

e.g. I bought a winter coat. It cost me one hundred dollars.

Relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that) introduce clauses that describe nouns or pronouns. These relative clauses can be restrictive (i.e. containing essential information), or non-restrictive (i.e. containing only additional but non-essential information).

Compare the following pairs of sentences:

e.g. The man who shot the policeman was an illegal immigrant. (correct)

The relative clause above identifies the man, and therefore is essential to meaning of the sentence.

e.g. The man, who shot the policeman, was an illegal immigrant. (incorrect)

The non-restrictive relative clause above provides only additional information. The use of a non-restrictive clause with the two commas further implies that it can be deleted; however, without “who shot the policeman”, the sentence would not make much sense. unless you would emphasize the fact that he was an illegal immigrant. 

e.g. The reporter who took the photos is now being sued for invasion of privacy. (correct)

The relative clause above is restrictive because it identifies the reporter being sued.

e.g. The reporter, who took the photos, is now being sued for invasion of privacy. (correct)

The relative clause above becomes non-restrictive with the addition of two commas, and “who took the photos becomes extra information non-essential to the meaning of the sentence. The sentence without the non-restrictive clause “who took the photos” would still make sense, and therefore is correct as it stands.

Knowing the difference between a restrictive and non-restrictive relative clause will help you in effective sentence construction.

Incorrect use of subjective pronouns is a common grammatical error.

e.g. My father and I went to see the show. (NOT me: both of us went to see the show)

e.g. It is I who made the decision. (NOT me: I made the decision.)

e.g. The real winners are we ourselves. (NOT us: we are the real winners.)

e.g. The man who called us was who? (NOT whom: who called us?)

e.g. The woman who lost her purse was she. (NOT her: she lost her purse.)

e.g. John and he went to the movie. (NOT him: both went to the movie.)

The correct use of pronouns can be difficult with certain expressions, such as, as and more than. The following pairs of sentences are correct, but the meaning is different.

e.g. She likes him more than I. (She likes him more than I like him.)

e.g. She likes him more than me. (She likes him more than she likes me.)

e.g. I like Peter better than she. (I like Peter better than she likes Peter.)

e.g. I like Peter better than her. (I like Peter better than I like her.)

Use possessive pronouns with gerunds (words ending in ing) correctly.

e.g. You don’t like my going to the movie by myself. (NOT me going: you don’t like the “going” not “me” the person.)

e.g. Your smirking irritates me. (NOT you smirking: not “you” but your “smirking” irritates me)

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent (the noun that a pronoun refers to).

e.g. All is well. (referring to the sum of all things)

e.g. All are well. (referring to a number of people)

e.g. Everyone wants to get his or her application submitted. (NOT their)

e.g. None of them is going to succeed. (NOT are: the subject is none)

e.g. Some is better than none. (referring to a quantity)

e.g. Some are good. (referring to a number of things)

EFFECTIVE WRITING MADE SIMPLE

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Know Grammar Terms

KNOW GRAMMAR TERMS

8 PARTS OF SPEECH

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. 

(1) Nouns are names of things (book, chair, pen), people (boy, David, policeman)

(2) Pronouns stand for nouns: I (me); we (us); he (him); she (her); it (it); they (them); who (whom). The words in brackets are object pronouns.

e.g. I like him.

e.g. We like it.

e.g. He likes her.

e.g. She likes him.

e.g. It likes them.

e.g. They like it.     

e.g. Who likes it?

e.g. Whom do you like?

(3) Verbs are words that show being:

e.g. I am a student.

e.g. You are happy.

e.g. He is poor.

e.g. We are doctors.

e.g. They are nurses.

Verbs are also words that describe an action:

e.g. I love you.

e.g. You go away!

e.g. She cries a lot.

e.g. We sleep at night.

e.g. They work in the office.

Some verbs are transitive: they need an object; some verbs are intransitive: they do not need an object; some verbs are both transitive and intransitive.

e.g. Please bring a chair. (transitive)

e.g. The sun rises. (intransitive)

e.g. He sings a song. (transitive)

e.g. He sings every morning. (intransitive)

(4) Adjectives describe nouns: e.g. a heavy chair; e.g. a pretty dress; e.g. You are happy.

(5) Adverbs describe verbs or adjectives: e.g. He eats slowly. e.g. You look very pretty.

(6) Prepositions are words that show the relationship between words.

e.g. I depend on you.

e.g. Give this to him.

e.g. We live in the United States.

e.g. They go with you.

(7) Conjunctions are words that are used to join sentences: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.

e.g. Get up and go to bed.

e.g. You like him, but he does not like you.

e.g. Put it here, or put it there.

e.g. I do not eat this, nor do I drink that.

e.g. You can stay, for it is raining.

e.g. I am tired, so I lie down.

e.g. You are tired, yet you do not want to go to bed.

(8) Interjections are words used to express different levels of emotions, such as surprise: e.g. Wow! My goodness!

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Use the Correct Tenses

To write well, you need to know how to use English tenses correctly. Tenses are difficult to many because in many languages tenses are not used to express "time" or the "relationship of sequence"; instead, adverbs, such as "yesterday", "tomorrow", "soon" etc. are used.

To learn how to use English tenses correctly, you must have a perception of the "time" element.

Let's take a looks at present tense, present continuous tense, present perfect tense, past tense, and past perfect tense with the following examples:

PAST<----------------------------------------------------->PRESENT

I lived in Texas.   *                            

I had lived in Texas for more than 20 years.  *****       

I moved to Ohio 5 years ago.  *                                  Now, I live in Ohio.

                                                                                     I am living in Ohio. **

                                                                     I have lived in Ohio for 5 years. *****

"I lived in Texas" (past tense): an action in the past; it was a fact. (*)

"I had lived in Texas for more than 20 years." (past perfect tense): an action that "continued" (****)for some time in the past.

"I moved to Ohio 5 years ago" (past tense): an action in the past; it was a fact (*)

"Now I live in Ohio." (present tense): an action in the present; it is a fact. (*)

"I am living in Ohio." (present continuous tense): an action in the present, and it may continue for some time into the near future.**

"I have lived in Ohio for 5 years." (present perfect tense): an action in the past that has continued into the present, and will probably continue into the near future. *****

Hopefully, the above examples have demonstrated how you should use some of the English tenses correctly.

Stephen Lau

Read my book Effective Writing Made Simple. Click here for your copy.

Don't Confuse These Words

Don’t Confuse These Words

To write effectively, you must be careful with your choice of words. Here are some words that may be misused: 

Perishable / Perishing

Perishable: liable to die quickly; perishing: causing suffering.

e.g. Fresh vegetables are perishable; put them in the refrigerator.

e.g. Negative thinking may cause perishing emotions and thoughts.

Numerical / Numerous

Numerical: having to do with numbers; numerous: great in number.

e.g. If you want to do well in your math, you must learn these numerical symbols.

e.g. The turnout at the meeting was numerous.

Observable / Observant

Observable: can be seen or noticed; observant: quick to pay attention.

e.g. The solution to the problem is observable to many scientists.

e.g. To be a good scientist, you must be observant of all the relevant details and data.

Fragile / Frail

Fragile: delicate, easily broken; frail: weak in health; without strong support.

e.g. This piece of glassware is fragile; please handle it with care.

e.g. You look pale and frail today. What's wrong with you?

e.g. The presidential candidate received frail support from his own State.

Providing that / Provided that

Provided that: on condition that; providing that is incorrect.

e.g. You can go out to play provided (that) you have finished your homework.

e.g. You can keep the book for another week providing that no one has reserved it (incorrect)

e.g. The millionaire has helped the poor, providing many of them with food and shelter. (correct; meaning: giving or offering)

Noteworthy / Noticeable

Noteworthy means deserving attention; noticeable means easily seen.

e.g. The candidate's accomplishments are noteworthy.

e.g. The flaws in the Governor's character are easily noticeable to the public.

Indoor / Indoors

Indoor is an adjective; indoors is an adverb.

e.g. Basketball is both an indoor and outdoor game.

e.g. A storm is coming; let's go indoors.

Welcome / Welcomed

Welcome is an adjective or a verb; welcomed is a participle.

e.g. You are most welcome.

e.g. This is a welcome party for all newcomers.

e.g. I like to welcome all of you.

e.g. The guests were welcomed by all of us in front of the house.

Impersonate / Personate

Impersonate: copy or imitate a person for fun; personate is to claim to be another person with the purpose to cheat or deceive.

e.g. The comedian impersonated the movie star to entertain the audience.

e.g. Someone personated the doctor, and went into the surgery room

Accountable to / Accountable for

Accountable to: responsible to someone; accountable for: responsible for something.

e.g. The CEO is accountable to the Board; he has to be accountable for all his business decisions.

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Also read: American Idioms for ESL Learner

The 8 Parts of Speech of English

First and foremost, you must know the 8 parts of speech of the English language.

8 PARTS OF SPEECH

There are eight parts of speech in the English language: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. 

(1) Nouns are names of things (book, chair, pen), people (boy, David, policeman)

(2) Pronouns stand for nouns: I (me); we (us); he (him); she (her); it (it); they (them); who (whom). The words in brackets are object pronouns.

e.g. I like him.

e.g. We like it.

e.g. He likes her.

e.g. She likes him.

e.g. It likes them.

e.g. They like it.

e.g. Who likes it?

e.g. Whom do you like?

(3) Verbs are words that show being:

e.g. I am a student.

e.g. You are happy.

e.g. He is poor.

e.g. We are doctors.

e.g. They are nurses.

Verbs are also words that describe an action:

e.g. I love you.

e.g. You go away!

e.g. She cries a lot.

e.g. We sleep at night.

e.g. They work in the office.

Some verbs are transitive: they need an object; some verbs are intransitive: they do not need an object; some verbs are both transitive and intransitive.

e.g. Please bring a chair. (transitive)

e.g. The sun rises. (intransitive)

e.g. He sings a song. (transitive)

e.g. He sings every morning. (intransitive)

(4) Adjectives describe nouns: e.g. a heavy chair; e.g. a pretty dress; e.g. You are happy.

(5) Adverbs describe verbs or adjectives: e.g. He eats slowly. e.g. You look very pretty.

(6) Prepositions are words that show the relationship between words.

e.g. I depend on you.

e.g. Give this to him.

e.g. We live in the United States.

e.g. They go with you.

(7) Conjunctions are words that are used to join sentences: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.

e.g. Get up and go to bed.

e.g. You like him, but he does not like you.

e.g. Put it here, or put it there.

e.g. I do not eat this, nor do I drink that.

e.g. You can stay, for it is raining.

e.g. I am tired, so I lie down.

e.g. You are tired, yet you do not want to go to bed.

(8) Interjections are words used to express different levels of emotions, such as surprise: e.g. Wow! My goodness!

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau