right_wrong_word

Right Word

Wrong Word

Words and structures confused and misused by learners of English

L. G. Alexander

LONGMAN

Addison Wesley Longman Limited

Edinburgh Gate, Harlow

Essex CM20 2JE, England

and Associated Companies throughout the world.

© Longman Group UK Limited 1994

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

First published 1994 Fifth impression 1997 Illustrated by Chris Ryley

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Alexander, L. G.

Right Word Wrong Word: Words and Structures Confused and Misused by Learners of English. - (Longman English Grammar Series)

I. Title II. Ryley, Chris III. Series

428.24

ISBN 0-582-21860-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alexander, L.G.

Right word wrong word: words and structures confused and misused by learners of English/L.G. Alexander.

p.cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-582- 21860-8

1. English language-Usage. 2. English language-Errors of usage. I. Title.

CIP

We have been unable to trace the copyright holder of the text for Exercise 52

Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, Nobody and would appreciate any information that would enable us to do so.

Set in Times New Roman, TrueType Produced through

Longman Malaysia, ETS ISBN 0 582 21860 8

Acknowledgements

I would express my sincere thanks to the following people who supplied extremely useful data while this work was being developed:

Julia Alexander

Mohamed Eid, Cairo, Egypt

Professor Jacek Fisiak, O.B.E., Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland

Cristina Germanis, Verona, Italy

Jurgen Kienzler, Ludwigsburg, Germany

Roy Kingsbury

Professor Hanna Komorowska, University of Warsaw, Poland

Gottfried Kumpf, Vaihingen, Germany

Chris Lynch, Tokyo, Japan

Penelope Parfitt

Professor T. Takenaka, Kagawa University, Japan

Longman English Grammar Series

by L. G. Alexander

Longman English Grammar: a reference grammar for English as a foreign language Step by Step 1-3: graded grammar exercises (beginners' to pre-intermediate level) Longman English Grammar Practice: reference and practice (intermediate level)

Longman Advanced Grammar: reference and practice (advanced level) The Essential English Grammar: a handy reference grammar (all levels)

Contents

v

a)War and peace

b)Geography, natural phenomena

vi

VII

representative spread of languages, including Arabic, European (Germanic, Romance, Greek, Slavonic) and Asiatic (Japanese). The words in this collection are the survivors of the original database that followed this investigation and number more than 5,000 items.

A description of the material

The material consists of the following sections:

•A reference section (pages 1-201)

•Test Yourself (pages 203-283)

•Answer Key (pages 284-288)

•Technical Terms (pages 289-290)

•Index (pages 291-308)

How to use Right Word Wrong Word

Index

If you are in doubt about the use of a word, look in the index to find it, then go to the reference section. You may have to do this more than once to locate the meaning you are looking for. When you find the word you want, check whether the mistake listed is one you are likely to make yourself and which you must train yourself to suppress.

The reference section

The 'wrong word' is generally listed first, followed by the 'right word'. For example: block*pad

-I've brought this nice new pad to take notes during the meeting. (Not *block*) (pad/writing pad = sheets of paper held together, used for writing or drawing)

-How did the ancient Egyptians cut and move such huge stone blocks ?

(= stone, wood, etc., cut with straight sides)

Some words appear in different places. For example, mark has its own entry, but is also listed under grade/mark/degree, note down/mark and speck/spot/mark. The reference section focuses sharply on particular problems of contrast or use. It is not a dictionary and so does not deal with every possible meaning of a particular word.

Technical terms

The terms used in the reference section are briefly explained on pages 289-290.

Test Yourself

Exercises 1-41 are suitable for students of all levels, but especially for intermediate; exercises 42-96 are upper intermediate and advanced. The exercises deal with topics (e.g. health), functions (e.g. doing things for people) or grammar (e.g. phrasal verbs).

You may work through the exercises in the order they occur, or pick and choose, according to level.

1.Attempt an exercise, then check your answers in the answer key.

2.Look up any item or items you aren't sure of in the index, which will refer you to the reference section.

Practise using the items you have learned in your own speech and writing.

ix