Common Usage Errors

1. Common Usage Errors By: Kendra Nulton and Kaila Dubranski

2. kind of/sort of • Do not use kind of and sort of to mean “rather” or “somewhat.” • Incorrect: I felt kind of tired.Correct: I felt rather tired.

3. Easy Way to Remember • Rather than use sort of, use rather.

4. loose/lose • Loose is usually an adjective • Examples: My pants are loose. • Lose is always a verb, generally meaning “to miss from one’s confession.” • Examples: Don’t lose my new phone number.

5. Easy Way to Remember • loose is loose because it has two O's. • lose has lost an O and therefore is just lose.

6. principal/principle • As an adjective, principal means “most important” or “chief.” • As a noun, it means “a person who has controlling authority” or “a main circuit” • Example as adj.: Our principal means of transportation is our car. • Example as noun: Our school’s principal is very kind. • Principle is always a noun and means “a fundamental law” or “rule” • Example: We discussed the main principle of Kendra’s philosophy.

7. Easy Way to Remember • principALPHA • Alpha means “head or main” • principLE ends in ‘le’ and so does ruLE

8. precede/proceed • Precede means “to go before.” • Example: Precede the assignment with a summary. • Proceed means “to move or go forward.” • Example: You may proceed down the road.

9. Easy Way to Remember • Precede means to come before and the ‘e’ in precede comes BEFORE the ‘c’.