So what you said specific like (PACIFIC)? Or – so what you thought mind-boggling was actually, mind-bottling? The world won’t stop spinning and life will go on. However, as marketing experts and communication professionals, we must warn you the danger that comes with misusing/mispronouncing words. Words are hard and the English language can be complex, so we are here to share 8 commonly misused words and phrases to avoid so you sound SUPER sophisticated.
1. Home in NOT Hone in
When you get closer to the truth or you want to focus on finding that criminal in your Netflix documentary, you home in on the subject. To hone means to sharpen. As in, “Katy honed her cooking skills while on vacation.”
2. Flesh it out NOT Flush it out
Both expressions. Both have different meanings.
How to use flesh it out: Let’s flesh out this proposal and beef it up before sending to our client.
How to use flush it out: The FBI is going to flush out the bad guy.
3. Name and me NOT Name and I
Alright, listen up. This one is hard and even stumps us from time to time and takes us way back to the days of middle school English. When using this in a sentence, it all depends on the context it is used. We suggest if you are drafting an email or something for a client, take a look at the Google and see how you should phrase the above.
4. Whole other NOT Whole nother
Beyonce is on a whole other level than Miley Cyrus. Let’s leave it at that.
5. Anyway NOT Anyways
The proper use of these two words is Anyway. As in, “Anyway, I will call you later!” Typically, we use the word accompanied with a phrase, which means that word is used as a form of something like the term “regardless.”
“Regardless, I will call you later!”
6. Should have NOT Should of
Come on peeps, we all know this. It’s not just written grammar we are talking about. It’s spoken as well. You should have done something that your boss told you to do. NOT, I should of done something my boss told me to do. See what we mean?
7. I couldn’t care less NOT I could care less
Grammatically speaking, when using the phrase I couldn’t care less, it means that you don’t care about that topic at all. When using I could care less, well…you can’t care less than you already do. Make sense? So let’s all agree to say it the right way and restore the proper use.
8. Supposedly NOT Supposably
Our guess is that a wild game of telephone is how the word (that’s not actually a word) was brought into the universe.
And one just for fun, on the house because we are caffeine fanatics. Espresso NOT Expresso. So, there you have it. A grammar lesson from yours truly, the KM&A team.
