{"id":477,"date":"2023-04-05T12:43:54","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T16:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/?p=477"},"modified":"2023-06-15T11:39:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T15:39:20","slug":"common-idioms-that-people-frequently-write-incorrectly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/?p=477","title":{"rendered":"Common Idioms (That People Frequently Write Incorrectly)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It\u2019s: \u201cI\u2019ve been to hell and back\u201d OR \u201cI\u2019ve been through hell,\u201d but not \u201cthrough hell and back\u201d<\/li><li>\u201cOnce in a while\u201d is a phrase that stands alone: He goes once in a while.<\/li><li>\u201cA while\u201d is a noun phrase meaning \u201can undefined period of time\u201d: He will be there for a while.<\/li><li>\u201cawhile\u201d is an adverb meaning \u201cfor an undefined amount of time.\u201d It modifies a\u00a0verb, like any adverb, and therefore probably follows one: He\u2019s been gone awhile.<\/li><li>Cement is the flour to concrete\u2019s bread. It\u2019s concrete floor\/wall\/building and cement truck\/cement mix\/wet cement.<\/li><li>Hay is the entire harvested plant, including the seedheads. Hay is for feed. Straw is the hollow tube, i.e. the plant stalk, that&#8217;s left behind when the seedhead is removed, and is used for bedding\/mulch.<\/li><li>Wine names are capitalized (e.g., Cabernet Sauvignon).<\/li><li>Dog breeds are capitalized (e.g., Rottweiler).<\/li><li>Affect\/effect: it is almost always the case that \u201caffect\u201d is a verb and effect is a \u201cnoun,\u201d but less commonly, both words can be nouns and verbs, with different meanings. For more details, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grammarly.com\/blog\/affect-vs-effect\/\">see this<\/a>.<\/li><li>Best-laid plans, not best-made plans.<\/li><li>Best intentions: often best interest\/s is meant when this is used<\/li><li>Intently vs. intensely: \u201clooked at me intently\u201d is probably what is meant more often. Intensely is good for &#8220;I hate this intensely.&#8221;<\/li><li>It\u2019s: look\/glance at, not look\/glance to (unless you\u2019re looking up to someone).<\/li><li>Chomping at the bit: even though the phrase was originally champing, everyone knows chomping, so both are generally considered correct now. Unless you\u2019re a purist, in which case&#8230;relax.\u00a0<\/li><li>Sleight of hand, not slight of hand.\u00a0<\/li><li>Piqued my interest, not peaked my interest.<\/li><li>Complete 180 degree change, not 360 (this would put you back where you started).\u00a0<\/li><li>Another think coming: even though this is the original, everyone knows \u201cthing,\u201d so both are acceptable now. Again, don\u2019t be prescriptivist in my comments.\u00a0<\/li><li>It&#8217;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/words-at-play\/just-deserts-or-just-desserts\">Just deserts<\/a>,&#8221; not &#8220;Just desserts.&#8221; This comes from an archaic English noun, &#8220;desert,&#8221; (roughly, a thing someone deserves, but see Merriam Webster for more). It is pronounced like &#8220;desserts,&#8221; hence the confusion.\u00a0<\/li><li>I couldn\u2019t care less, not could care less. If you could care less, you wouldn\u2019t be saying it.\u00a0<\/li><li>Nip in the bud, not butt (though that\u2019s much funnier).\u00a0<\/li><li>Rein it in, not reign (that\u2019s for monarchs).<\/li><li>Rite of passage, not right of passage.<\/li><li>Relish means enjoy and revel means bask: I relish your suffering. I revel in your suffering.\u00a0<\/li><li>Plane of muscle, not plain of muscle.<\/li><li>Funny as all get-out (n).<\/li><li>For those writing about New York: J train (see the style guide for the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2019\/01\/21\/andrew-cuomo-and-the-unwinnable-l-train-game\">New Yorker<\/a>).<\/li><li>Beside oneself: distressed.<\/li><li>Besides: \u201cAnd besides, I hate her.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s: \u201cI\u2019ve been to hell and back\u201d OR \u201cI\u2019ve been through hell,\u201d but not \u201cthrough hell and back\u201d \u201cOnce in a while\u201d is a phrase that stands alone: He goes once in a while. \u201cA while\u201d is a noun phrase meaning \u201can undefined period of time\u201d: He will be there for a while. \u201cawhile\u201d is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maggiebillard.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}