07/09/2021
TWO HUNDRED COMMONLY MISUSED ENGLISH EXPRESSIONS
1) He is a go getter (not, goal getter)
2) She wears lovely perfumes (not, sprays).
3) He is a godsend to me (not, godsent).
4) She has a runny nose (not, running nose)
5) I wish I can turn back the clock (not turn back the hand of time)
6) We would have to fight fire with fire (not fire for fire)
7) May our parents reap the fruits of their labour (not fruit)
8) Covenant: This is erroneously pronounced as convenant by some Christians to keep the rhythmic appeal in songs like Covenant-keeping God’.
9) Expatiate: Many think this word is derived from ‘expand’; hence, expantiate.
10) Augment: Because most Nigerian languages are syllable-timed, many Nigerians find it more convenient to say augument.
11) Pronunciation: This is wrongly pronounced by many as pronounciation because of the verb
pronounce.
12) Faithful (noun; not faithfuls): Many say faithfuls given their knowledge of plurality.
13) Uplift: (not, upliftment) People tend to naturally say upliftment just to make this sound like conventional nouns.
14) He is an up and coming artiste (not, upcoming).
15) Separate: Many Nigerians tend to spell this as pronounced and so they spell it as seperate.
16) Birds of a feather flock together (not, bed of the same feather fly together).
17) Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t (not, the devil you know is better than the angel you don’t know).
18) You can’t have your cake and eat it (not, you can’t eat your cake and have it).
19) What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander (not, what is good for the goose is good for the gander).
20) Make hay while the sun shines (not, make haste while the sun shines).
21) You mind we have a chit-chat (not, a gist)? A conversation about things that are not important is a chit-chat while gist means the most important part of something.
22) I like her looks (not, look). A person’s appearance or attractiveness is his or her looks.
