Mini Lesson

Abused and Misused Words

Language is continually evolving and new words are constantly being added to the dictionary. Some examples of recently added words are: crunk, hoody, or ringtone. These words didn’t exist ten or even five years ago but are now regular words in our vocabulary. In addition, as these new words are developing, old words are changing, but not necessarily for the best. Incorrect usage and pronunciation in speech can lead to misused, misspelled and made-up words. These words are ABUSED!

Examine the following list of abused words. Are you guilty of using any? Complete the activity that follows by rewriting and correcting any abused word errors. Some commonly abused words are listed while others require your skill to find and fix them.

Abused Word / Explanation / Correct Use
Anyways, anywheres and a long ways / There is no “s” on these words / Anyway, anywhere, a long way
Could of, would of, might of, should of, and so on. / The “of” should be “have” / Could have, should have, might have, etc
Off of / Use off alone / I feel off the step.
Suppose to, use to / Grammatically incorrect / Use supposed and used to.
Themself, theirself, ourselfs, yourselfs, and themselfs / The plural of self is selves / Themselves, ourselves, yourselves. Don’t use theirselves though, it’s not a word
For granit or granite / There is no such term. This is a pronunciation problem. / It is spelled “for granted”
Bet as a past tense form of beat / Grammatically incorrect / Always use “beat”

Complete the activity on the back for practice identifying misused words.


ACTIVITY

Read each of the sentences below. In each sentence there is at least one misused word or phrase.

1.  Find each misused word or phrase and underline it.

2.  Rewrite the sentence to be correct in the space below.

Sentences

  1. Nell should of gone with us to the beach; now she can’t go nowheres.
  1. I’m suppose to see whether the reason for the delay is because it’s raining.
  1. They are suppose to get the ball themselves, irregardless of where it is when they come off of the field.
  1. If youse don’t do nothing about boarding the windows, you’ll have pieces of glass everywheres in the house.
  1. It’s real sad to see signs of prejudism in young children, who must have been influenced by theys parents.
  1. It is irrelevant whether she fell off of or was pushed off of her bicycle; she is disqualified anyways.
  1. We should never take people for granite; when they are gone they can’t be replaced.
  1. They should of finished the race even though they were behind, since every entrant is suppose to finish unless disqualified or injured.
  1. We walked a long ways to the store but it was closed.
  1. I don’t think are marks are posted for the exams yet.

English 10 – M. Boudreau