Word Choice Errors
A Descriptive Linguistics Approach
Preview
Book Description
American English has many word pairs and trios that are alike enough to be confusing. Word Choice Errors provides a novel way to empower writers of all levels to cut through the confusion to understand which word to use and why that’s the word to use. Written in a user-friendly style, grounded in descriptive linguistics methods, and eschewing memorization, this book trains writers to detect, interpret, and act on language clues – with exercises, "wild idea" analytical tricks, and additional resources throughout. It is an excellent resource for instructors and students of grammar or writing/rhetoric, as well as for individuals looking to develop their language and writing skills.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1. Introduction: Inaccurate Word Choices and Linguistic Criteria
1.1. Morpho-Syntactic Criterion
1.2. Syntactic Criterion
1.3. Semantic Criterion
Review Exercises: Linguistic Criteria
Chapter 1 Recap
Chapter 2. Commonly Confused Words: Affect/Effect – Cue/Queue
2.1. Affect/Effect
2.2. Allude/Elude
2.3. Breach/Breech
2.4. Cache/Cachet
2.5. Capital/Capitol
2.6. Censor/Censure/Sensor
2.7. Cite/Sight/Site
2.8. Colombia/Columbia
2.9. Complement/Compliment
2.10. Confident/Confidant/Confidante
2.11. Conscience/Conscientious/Conscious/Consciousness
2.12. Cue/Queue
Review Exercises: Affect/Effect – Cue/Queue
Chapter 2 Recap
Lesson Learned
Chapter 3. Commonly Confused Words: e .g./i.e – Hail/Hale
3.1. e.g./i.e.
3.2. Either … or/Neither … nor
3.3. Elicit/Illicit
3.4. Emulate/Imitate
3.5. Emigrate/Immigrate/Migrate
3.6. Ensure/Insure/Assure
3.7. Envelop/Envelope
3.8. Everyone/Every one
3.9. Farther/Further
3.10. Gild/Guild
3.11. Grill/Grille
3.12. Hail/Hale
Review Exercises: i.e./e.g. – Hail/Hale
Chapter 3 Recap
Lessons Learned
Chapter 4. Commonly Confused Words: It’s/Its – Right/Rite/Write
4.1. It’s/Its
4.2. Lay/Lie
4.3. Less/Fewer
4.4. Let’s/Lets
4.5. Loose/Lose
4.6. Moral/Morale
4.7. Onto/On to
4.8. Quiet/Quite
4.9 Principal/Principle
4.10. Raise/Raze
4.11. Rational/Rationale
4.12. Right/Rite/Write
Review Exercises: It’s/Its – Right/Right/Rite
Chapter 4 Recap
Lesson Learned
Chapter 5. Commonly Confused Words: Setup/Set up – Your/You’re
5.1. Setup/Set up
5.2. Shear/Sheer
5.3. Sic/Sick
5.4. Their/There/They’re
5.5. Than/Then
5.6. To/Too/Two
5.7. Vain/Vane/Vein
5.8. Well/Good
5.9. Weather/Whether
5.10. Were/We’re/Where
5.11. Wet/Whet
5.12. Which/Witch
5.13. Whose/Who’s
5.14. Your/You’re
Review Exercises: Setup/Set up – Your/You’re
Chapter 5 Recap
Lesson Learned
Chapter 6. Cumulative Application
Summary Points
Chapter 7. Conclusion
Answer Key for Fill-in-the-Blank Exercises
Consulted Works
Glossary
Index
Author(s)
Biography
Gülsat Aygen is Professor of Linguistics and a Distinguished Teaching Professor at Northern Illinois University, USA.
Sarah Eastlund is Assistant Professor of English at Brescia University, USA.
Reviews
"This unique book systematically guides students through structural, semantic, and strategic criteria to help them distinguish such difficult pairs as affect/effect, principal/principle, farther/further. Simultaneously, students learn the basics of structural linguistics. Copious exercises and other mnemonics facilitate internalization of the targeted distinctions."
D. Gary Miller, University of Colorado Boulder, USA.
"Language learners are often told just to memorize words from the dictionary, but that makes language look like a mess of irregular and arbitrary words. Aygen and Eastlund identify common errors and explain how linguistic form, meaning, and structure can be used to correct these mistakes. This book provides advanced English learners with the tools they need to figure out the regularities of language, giving them practice at linguistic skills to make their own linguistic generalizations. Aygen and Eastlund have created a very useful text, full of exercises which clearly test progress. It's an incredible resource for both learners and teachers."
Claire Bowern, Yale University, USA.
"Teachers of writing most often focus on such global concerns as organization, development, and coherence. At the same time, learners, especially English learners, can concern themselves with making appropriate choices at the word level. An instructor’s prescriptive approach offers general rules and sometimes admonishments. As a wise alternative, Aygen and Eastlund, in their Word Choice Errors: A Descriptive Linguistics Approach, show students how to interrogate errors to understand their causes and then devise practices that will help them to become more precise and confident writers. This useful book helps emerging writers to make choices based on linguistic principles and not based on recall of prescriptions nor intuition."
Thomas M. McCann, Northern Illinois University, USA.