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Literally is an English adverb meaning "in a literal sense or manner" or an intensifier which strengthens the following statement. It has been used as an intensifier in English for several centuries, though recently this has been considered somewhat controversial by language prescriptivists .
Bisect means "to cut into two"; dissect means "to cut apart", both literally and figuratively. Disect is an archaic word meaning "to separate by cutting", but has not been in common use since the 17th century. Standard: The Americas are bisected by the Panama canal. Standard: She dissected Smith's dissertation, pointing out scores of errors.
The use of acronyms to create new words was nearly non-existent in English until the middle of the 20th century. Nearly all older words were formed in other ways. [27] [Military] Brat: Not an acronym for "British Regiment Attached Traveller". [28]
A aggravate – Some have argued that this word should not be used in the sense of "to annoy" or "to oppress", but only to mean "to make worse". According to AHDI, the use of "aggravate" as "annoy" occurs in English as far back as the 17th century. In Latin, from which the word was borrowed, both meanings were used. Sixty-eight percent of AHD4's usage panel approves of its use in "It's the ...
A malapropism (/ ˈ m æ l ə p r ɒ p ɪ z əm /; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance.
c. ^ Chicago elaborates by noting Charles Allen Lloyd's observations on this phenomenon: "Next to the groundless notion that it is incorrect to end an English sentence with a preposition, perhaps the most wide-spread of the many false beliefs about the use of our language is the equally groundless notion that it is incorrect to begin one with ...
A misspelling in English might be made by someone used to a different spelling in another language; for example, "address" is translated "adresse" in French and German. Many Spanish words are similar or identical to English words, but with an "n" inserted, or replacing an "m", leading to errors: "inmigrant" from " inmigrante ", "cementery" from ...
In the English language, there are grammatical constructions that many native speakers use unquestioningly yet certain writers call incorrect. Differences of usage or opinion may stem from differences between formal and informal speech and other matters of register, differences among dialects (whether regional, class-based, generational, or other), difference between the social norms of spoken ...