Words that have caused me the most trouble, here in their proper forms (mostly according to the Oxford dictionary):

  • adviser
  • Afghans
  • Aids
  • Al Jazeera
  • Al Qaeda
  • almost - not ‘most.
  • always
  • Antichrist
  • any more - always two words.
  • anyone - one word when it means the same as anybody.
  • anyway
  • archaeology
  • as, like - Use like to compare nouns, as to begin a clause.
  • ASEAN
  • Ashkenazic
  • atom bomb
  • Authorized Version
  • Benetton
  • Berne
  • between you and me - me always follows prepositions.
  • BlackBerrys
  • blacks - the dark-skinned people from Africa and Australia.
  • Bombay
  • bookshop - not bookstore.
  • bottom - not butt, bum, ass, arse or rear end.
  • burka
  • Burma
  • Calcutta
  • Caltech
  • Caribbean
  • cinema - not movie theater.
  • Colombia
  • communist
  • Condoleezza Rice
  • defence - not defense.
  • dependant - one who is dependent.
  • dependent - depending on something else.
  • dialog box - when talking about computers, otherwise dialogue.
  • disc - like a compact disc.
  • disk - like a hard disk.
  • DJ
  • Dostoevsky
  • dot-com
  • East Timor
  • email
  • embarrass
  • encyclopedia
  • estate car - not station wagon.
  • film - not movie.
  • first-hand
  • first lady
  • forever - one word
  • full-time
  • gender, sex - sex is physical, gender social or grammatical.
  • ghettos
  • gram - an ounce is 28.35 grams.
  • guerrilla
  • hairdos
  • halfway
  • harass
  • hare-brained - not hairbrained.
  • hectare – equals 2.47 acres.
  • heroes
  • Hezbollah
  • hip hop
  • Hispanics
  • home-grown
  • home page
  • Internet
  • Ivory Coast
  • jewellery
  • kilogram - a pound is 0.4536 kilograms.
  • kilometre – a mile is 1.609344 kilometres.
  • kilowatt - a horsepower is 0.7457 kilowatts.
  • Koran
  • Kyrgyzstan
  • Lao-tzu
  • licence - noun
  • license – verb
  • lie, lay - In the present you lie down or lay yourself down. In the past you lay down or laid yourself down.
  • lifetime
  • litre - a gallon is 3.785 litres.
  • Mac OS X
  • Maccabees
  • Madras
  • madrasa
  • maize - not corn.
  • make-up - what women put on their face.
  • may, might - see style guide on the subjunctive.
  • medieval
  • Mediterranean
  • metre - a foot is 0.3048 metres.
  • Michelangelo
  • millennium
  • millilitre - one fluid ounce is 29.57 millilitres.
  • misspell
  • mobile phone - not cellphone or handphone.
  • Moguls - once ruled India.
  • Muhammad
  • Musharraf
  • Muslim
  • NASA
  • Native Americans
  • NATO
  • Neoplatonism
  • New Year’s Eve
  • New York Times - “the” is not part of its name.
  • north-east
  • north-west
  • occurred
  • oestrogen
  • off – not off of.
  • offered
  • outgun
  • part-time
  • Pashtuns - they speak Pashto.
  • perform
  • Philippines
  • preferred
  • principle - a guiding idea
  • privilege
  • proceed
  • program - on a computer; otherwise it is programme.
  • prostitute - not hooker
  • R & B
  • recognize
  • referred
  • Romania
  • saditty
  • Samarkand
  • sceptic
  • Second World War
  • shall - no hard and fast rules. Use it where it sounds natural.
  • Shia - refers to a sect of Islam.
  • Shiite - a believer of Shia Islam.
  • short cut
  • soft drink - not soda, pop, coke or even fizzy drink.
  • south-east
  • south-west
  • supersede
  • Tajikistan
  • Taliban
  • Tao-te-Ching
  • Tatars
  • taxi - not taxicab or cab.
  • telephone – not phone.
  • television - not TV or telly.
  • the Gambia
  • T.I. - the rapper
  • towards
  • tsar
  • Turkestan
  • Turkmens
  • Tutankhamen
  • UNESCO
  • Unix
  • up to date
  • URL
  • VH1
  • video game
  • Vietnam
  • Virgil
  • Wahhabi
  • Wal-Mart
  • Web, the
  • web page
  • website
  • whom – The uses of this word are changing. Use it only where it sounds natural.
  • Wi-Fi
  • yogurt

See also:

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