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Every day (two words) is an adverb phrase meaning "daily" or "every weekday". Everyday (one word) is an adjective meaning "ordinary". [48] exacerbate and exasperate. Exacerbate means "to make worse". Exasperate means "to annoy". Standard: Treatment by untrained personnel can exacerbate injuries.
The following list, of about 350 words, is based on documented lists [4] [10] of the top 100, 200, or 400 [3] most commonly misspelled words in all variants of the English language, rather than listing every conceivable misspelled word. Some words are followed by examples of misspellings:
Such errors are sometimes called "Fay–Cutler malapropism", after psycholinguists David Fay and Anne Cutler, who described the occurrence of such errors in ordinary speech. [ 7 ] [ 9 ] Most definitions, however, include any actual word that is wrongly or accidentally used in place of a similar sounding, correct word.
Definitional retreat – changing the meaning of a word when an objection is raised. [23] Often paired with moving the goalposts (see below), as when an argument is challenged using a common definition of a term in the argument, and the arguer presents a different definition of the term and thereby demands different evidence to debunk the argument.
can back up [verb]) (can be) (can black out [verb]) (can breathe [verb]) (can check out [verb]) (can play back [verb]) (can set up [verb]) (can try out [verb])
The word verbosity comes from Latin verbosus, "wordy". There are many other English words that also refer to the use of excessive words. Prolixity comes from Latin prolixus, "extended". Prolixity can also be used to refer to the length of a monologue or speech, especially a formal address such as a lawyer's oral argument. [2]
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The Big Friendly Giant (title of a children's book by Roald Dahl); giants are inherently already "big". Prolixity: A phrase may have words which add nothing, or nothing logical or relevant, to the meaning. "I'm going down south." (South is not really "down", it is just drawn that way on maps by convention.) "You can't seem to face up to the facts."