258 English Grammar Demystifi ed
On the other hand, misused words and phrases present an additional challenge.
There is no single list of words and phrases to study; there are books of them. How
can you learn more about these frequently misused words? People are usually
unaware of this type of error (that’s why people keep saying irregardless). If you are
lucky, someone will point out your errors; if not, you have to make an effort to fi nd
them. You might want to buy a book about word usage or use the Internet to fi nd
lists of errors and their corrections. An excellent book source is The American
Heritage Book of English Usage: A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contem-
porary English (Boston: Houghton Miffl in 1996 and New York: bartleby.com,
2000). If you buy this book or log on to the website, you will fi nd much more than
just help with homonyms. The information addresses grammar, style, pronuncia-
tion, and spelling as well as other topics.
The following is a list of commonly misused or confused words and phrases.
aggravate (make worse), annoy (infuriate)
The third fall on the same knee really aggravated the injury.The noise from the upstairs apartment fi nally began to annoy us.among (compares three or more), between (compares two or more)
Among all six counties, ours is the most progressive.Child care is divided between the parents.amount (quantity), number (fi gure used in counting)
The amount of paper we use is staggering!The number of sheets in a package is 200.anxious (feeling nervous), eager (enthusiastic and excited)
anywhere (There is no such word as anywheres.)
We’ll meet you anywhere you say.As (adverb, equally), like (preposition, similar to)
We use like orasto say that things are similar. Use like before a noun or
pronoun.