Introduction
How many of us believe we speak English properly and use only “good” English when writing for school, college or the office? It’s surprising just how easy it is to use bad English unwittingly. It’s not just a case of making grammatical errors or even misspelling the occasional words. In many instances it is using words in the wrong context, or using a word that means something altogether different. Sometimes, differences between “American” and “UK” English pronunciation and/or usage affect the way words are spoken or the words used, which will be indicated where applicable in the following paragraphs. This essay provides some examples of those common errors and usage differences. See how many you recognize from your own work!
Words Used Incorrectly
Alternate: This often-used word has two distinct pronunciations. Stressing the last syllable makes it a verb and stressing the second syllable instead makes it an adjective (try it). Examples of both could be: “I tend to alternate [verb]. One day I cycle to the office, the next day I walk.” “We visit on alternate [adjective] Tuesdays. In both cases the word is used to indicate two items changing one to the other in a predictable way; the most common error comes when the word alternative should be used instead. For example, if someone meant to say “Let’s drive via an alternative route” (meaning let’s go a different way), but used alternate instead, the literal meaning could be to go left, then right, then left, then right again, and so on.
Bonus: Unlike the previous item, this word, meaning something additional, something extra to what might otherwise be given or earned, often introduces an error when the word added is coupled with it. An example is when someone says: “This could be an added bonus.” Unless the speaker was referring (unlikely) to a second bonus, the use of the word added is superfluous and therefore incorrect. The following two items are simply incorrect uses of words.
Center Around: “The essence of the story centers around the event in Paris.” To say something centers around something else is contradictory. One thing can center on another or revolve around something, but can never center around anything.
Less and Fewer: These two words are often confused and therefore misused. Less means a smaller quantity, whereas fewer means a smaller number. As examples of correct usage you might say “I’ll put less seasoning in my cooking” but you would say “I’ll cook fewer potatoes this evening”. The words much and many follow the same principle, but most people find those easier to use correctly. The next item discusses one of the most common errors in English.
Only: Another word commonly misused or positioned incorrectly. The general rule is that it should be placed directly adjacent to the word it is qualifying, to avoid ambiguity. For example, if a man says: “I only gave him five dollars this morning” there are various ways to interpret that statement. It could mean that the speaker was the sole person to give the five dollars, or that the speaker is emphasizing how recently he gave the five dollars, or that he gave no more than five dollars, or that no other person was given five dollars, or that this morning was the only time that five dollars was given. It’s even possible to interpret the statement as meaning that the speaker merely gave the man five dollars, but did nothing else. An unambiguous version could be: “I gave him only five dollars this morning.” (I gave him not more than five). Try rewording the other versions yourself to give unambiguous meanings.
Differences between UK and American English
Momentarily: This is a classic of Anglo-American English language divergence. The principal meaning of the word is to describe a very short period of time. Example: “Shooting stars are visible momentarily in the night sky.” In America, the word is also used (incorrectly), to mean soon. An example could be: “I’ll join you momentarily to have a long conversation.” Clearly it would be difficult to have a long conversation in a very short time.
Regular: In British English this word means something that repeats at a predictable interval of time, or an individual who has served in the armed forces for a long time, or an even or symmetrical shape (e.g. a square is a regular shape). In American English it can mean medium (size), ordinary, or standard or normal. So in Britain a regular beer might be one drunk each day, whereas in America a regular beer would be one of a standard size, or not of any special brew.
Using Longer Words than Necessary
Many people use everyday words when speaking, but feel obliged to use longer alternatives if (e.g.) writing for publication. That is not bad English as such, but does seem rather pointless and often unnecessarily verbose. For example, instead of using “at the start”, you might see someone has written “at the commencement of.” Or you might see “now” replaced with “at this moment in time.” An example of what we might call a pompous word choice is “amelioration” which means “improvement” – a word we can all recognize and understand. It is very likely you can think of many more examples.
Conclusions
The content of the foregoing paragraphs has illustrated just some of the more common ways of creating bad English (without trying). Using words incorrectly, such as alternate instead of alternative, is one frequently-encountered form of error, as is using a word in the wrong position within a phrase or sentence. The item on the word only was just one example of this common mistake that is very easy to make, especially if we think “as we speak” while writing a document. Positioning a word like only incorrectly when in a conversation is not so important as making the same error in a written work. During conversation the other party can ask you to clarify any perceived ambiguity, whereas the reader of a document may have to make an inspired guess if the text around it doesn’t make the meaning clear(er).
American English versus UK English is a different issue altogether. However, what may be incorrect today may well become accepted and thus correct in the future. All languages develop and new words become accepted through popular usage; this is just as true for these transatlantic English issues. The word momentarily discussed in this essay is already so widely used in the U.S. that its “incorrect” meaning will no doubt be fully adopted in time, whereas at present dictionaries tend to define the “soon” meaning as either secondary or as incorrect usage.
The final section on using unnecessarily long words or “fancy” language instead of the commonly-used words illustrates another way of writing “bad” English. Although the use of such long or uncommon words or verbose alternatives to a shorter word or phrase is not incorrect as such, it does inhibit ready comprehension of the written work. It does seem that this particular writing style pops up more frequently in academic / scientific papers – perhaps to impress the author’s peers?
Works Cited:
Lloyd, Nikolas. “Opinions: Grating English”. (n.d.). Web. 14 October 2012.
