40 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Dumb by Jeff Haden-Day 1 While I like to think I know a little about business writing, I still fall into a few word traps. (Not to mention a few cliché traps.) Take the words who and whom. I rarely use whom when I should -- even when spell check suggests whom I think it sounds pretentious. So I use who. And then I sound dumb. Just like one misspelled word can get your resume tossed onto the nope pile, one incorrectly used word can negatively impact your entire message. Fairly or unfairly, it happens -- so lets make sure it doesnt happen to you. Adverse and averse Adverse means harmful or unfavorable: Adverse market conditions caused the IPO to be poorly subscribed. Averse refers to feelings of dislike or opposition: I was averse to paying $18 a share for a company that generates no revenue. But hey, feel free to have an aversion to adverse conditions. Affect and effect Verbs first. Affect means to influence: Impatient investors affected our roll-out date. Effect means to accomplish something: The board effected a sweeping policy change. How you use effect or affect can be tricky. For example, a board can affect changes by influencing them and can effect changes by directly implementing them. Bottom line, use effect if youre making it happen, and affect if youre having an impact on something that someone else is trying to make happen. As for nouns, effect is almost always correct: Once he was fired he was given 20 minutes to gather his personal effects. Affect refers to an emotional state, so unless youre a psychologist you probably have little reason to use it. Bring and take Both have to do with objects you move or carry. The difference is in the point of reference: you bring things here and you take them there. You ask people to bring something to you, and you ask people to take something to someone or somewhere else. “Can you bring an appetizer to Johns party”? Nope. Compliment and complement Compliment means to say something nice. Complement means to add to, enhance, improve, complete, or bring close to perfection. I can compliment your staff and their service, but if you have no current openings you have a full complement of staff. Or your new app may complement your website. For which I may decide to compliment you. Criteria and criterion We made the decision based on one overriding criteria, sounds fairly impressive but is also wrong. Remember: one criterion, two or more criteria. Or just use reason or factors and you won’t have to worry about getting it wrong. Discreet and discrete Discreet means careful, cautious, showing good judgment: We made discreet inquiries to determine whether the founder was interested in selling her company. Discrete means individual, separate, or distinct: We analyzed data from a number of discrete market segments to determine overall pricing levels. And if you get confused, remember you dont use “discretion” to work through sensitive issues; you exercise discretion. Elicit and illicit Elicit means to draw out or coax. Think of elicit as the mildest form of extract. If one lucky survey respondent will win a trip to the Bahamas, the prize is designed to elicit responses. Illicit means illegal or unlawful, and while I suppose you could elicit a response at gunpoint ... you probably shouldnt. Farther and further Farther involves a physical distance: Florida is farther from New York than Tennessee. Further involves a figurative distance: We can take our business plan no further. So, as we say in the South (and that we has included me), I dont trust you any farther than I can throw you, or, I aint gonna trust you no further. Fewer and less Use fewer when referring to items you can count, like “fewer hours” or “fewer dollars.” Use “less” when referring to items you can’t (or haven’t tried to) count, like “less time” or “less money.”
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 18:17:57 +0000
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