<p>Deferred, not defferred or deffered</p>
<p>per se, not per say</p>
<p>disappointed, not dissappointed
A lot, not alot.</p>
<p>Sorry, Bethievt, I have to side with TheDad. Reticent is not quite the same as reluctant and duress and pressure are not synonyms. A reticent student is very likely reluctant to speak. But if I’m reluctant to get up in the morning, it does not make me reticent, just either lazy or sleep-deprived or both. But reticent? moi?
If someone suggests s/he has high blood duress, my blood pressure is likely to go up. :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is the one I notice most on CC.</p>
<p>VeryHappy–
Sorry, but the word is “acknowledgment.” <a href=“http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/acknowledgment[/url]”>http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/acknowledgment</a>. The British spell it with an “e.”</p>
<p>My pet peeves?</p>
<p>“Data” and “media” used as singular nouns. (They’re plural nouns.)</p>
<p>Singular and plural nouns and pronouns “intermingled” incorrectly, e.g., “The Admissions Office said that they’ll accept applications postmarked as of XX.” (Plus, when can an office speak?)</p>
<p>Adjectives used as adverbs.</p>
<p>“You and me” as subjects when it should be “You and I” and vice versa (“I” used as the object–“He gave it to her and I.”)</p>
<p>Misplaced modifiers, including modifying phrases!!!</p>
<p>Plurals using apostrophes–always on roadside signs</p>
<p>“Blue Jean’s on Sale”</p>
<p>and</p>
<p>It is Martial Law, not Marshall Law</p>
<p>My personal pet peeve–even the NYTimes is getting it wrong these days:</p>
<p>every day is TWO words, except when used as an adjective.</p>
<p>My students can’t get there, their and they’re right.
Or it’s and its. Then and than.</p>
<p>Those kinds of misspellings show up more often than the definitely and separate errors, because of spellcheck. </p>
<p>I tell them on the first day of school–“Spellcheck is stupid. It has no idea what you mean to say. It will leave the wrong word there if it is a word. Also, it will make wrong suggestions. Don’t just ‘accept’ changes it suggests!” As an example of that, in papers they just wrote about The Kite Runner, one paper kept refering to the father as Babe, rather than Baba. I am absolutely certain that was a spellcheck suggestion.</p>
<p>I am still bothered by the use of the plural pronoun with reference to a single individual as in “Make sure that your child has their vaccination records up-to- date.”</p>
<p>That makes me nuts–I’m constantly trying to drum that out of my students.</p>
<p>Juilliard! The name contains two els.</p>
<p>Fewer: Use when it’s a bunch of things that you can count – like, I will make fewer mistakes. I should have had fewer children. I will take fewer AP classes.</p>
<p>Less: Use when it’s a pile of something that you can’t count, and you don’t want so much of it: I will have less mashed potatoes. I would like to weigh less. </p>
<p>BUT: I will have fewer hot dogs. I would like to weigh fewer pounds.</p>
<p>Marian,
Leaving “L” out of the word “public.” I once glanced at a copy of legal papers which had left my office (not papers I had churned out!) which had the heading, “The Department of Pubic Works.” I kid you not. 
Sorry to hijack momentarily, but that brought back a really funny memory.</p>
<p>“Amount” when used for countable quantities as in “There’s a huge amount of students who…” It makes me think of piles of bodies.</p>
<p>Necessary</p>
<p>You’ve already managed to catch my other favorites.</p>
<p>And the correct spelilng is Renselear, I mean Rennsellear, I mean Rensellear, I mean…</p>
<p>I want to weigh less?</p>
<p>It’s drug “withdrawal.” </p>
<p>“Withdrawl” is the way people speak in Texas. (Of course, it should really be two words: “with drawl.”)</p>
<p>The issue of fewer vs. less for pounds can be argued. We may think of pounds as countable, but they’re not really something that can only be expressed in whole numbers. Weight is a continuum. You could weigh 160 1/2 pounds or 160 3/4 pounds, for example.</p>
<p>WashDad, try Quinnipiac U.</p>
<p>
On a similar note, it’s “I withdrew from my chemistry class,” not “I withdrawaled.” (Yes, that is a real error.)</p>
<p>And how about “hopefully”? One can be hopeful, but one cannot do something hopefully.</p>
<p>Garland, I think the singular “their” is a lost cause in the evolution of language, caused by the ugliness of his/her on one hand and the desire not to appear sexist on the other.</p>
<p>Bethie, the problem is that reticent means reluctant to speak is being commonly used to mean “reluctant” in an broad, unqualified sense.</p>
<p>Similar splitting with “transpired”: it means “happened but with the connotation of and became known.” </p>
<p>Actually, the whole notion of the difference between denotation and connotation seems to be becoming increasingly elusive to younger writers.</p>
<p>“Duress” means not just “pressure” but “compulsion.” We have a Rhodes Scholar sportscaster to thank for making that one popular.</p>
<p>One usage issue that I need to sit down and teach myself one of these years is the that/which choice. I think I choose correctly about 90 percent of the time but it’s one of those intuitive things, not where I can cite the rule. (Yes, I’ve read the rule but it has never stuck in what passes for my memory.)</p>
<p>MathMom…on moot vs. mute…so true, that’s why CC has a MootMom, not a MuteMom.</p>
<p>Momof3, on a related issue, it is reported that an assistant cabinet secretary once asked a department head for a list of all employees, broken down by sex. The response came back, “I don’t think we have any but we do have two or three alcoholics.”</p>
<p>Another one that gets mangled around here is “extracurricular”, which shows up as something like “extracirricular” all too often.</p>