8 Commonly Misunderstood Words

Recently, I received a letter from a new private school
opening in my neighborhood. The letter asked parents to
attend an open house session to learn more about the
school.
It’s the kind of direct mail that we all receive, and the
only reason I paid attention to it was because of an error
in the salutation. It read, “Dear prospective parent/
guardian.”
Hmmmm.
Prospective means “likely or expected to happen or likely
to become or be.” I’m already a parent and have been
for many years. And so were most of the people who
received the letter, otherwise they would not have
received it. To address us “prospective parents” is
wrong. To address us as “prospective clients” or
“parents of prospective students” would have been
correct, but awkward. In this case “Dear parent” would
have been the better choice.
Word choice can be tricky. The English language is full
of words that don’t mean what people think they mean
or words that have subtle shades of meaning.
Here are a few examples.
1. Averse
Averse means opposed to or having a strong dislike of
something. Example: "He was averse to the idea of
using a new style guide."
Averse is often confused with adverse, which means
unfavorable or harmful. Ex.: "Report any adverse effects
to your physician."
2. Comprise
To comprise is to enclose or include. Comprise is used
in the active voice; therefore, “comprised of” is not
correct. Ex.: "The university comprises six colleges and
nine divisions."
Comprise is often confused with compose, which means
to make up or be a constituent of. Compose can be used
in the passive voice. Ex.: "The company is composed of
14,000 employees."
3. Imply
Imply is often used incorrectly as a synonym for infer.
To imply is to speak indirectly or suggest.Ex.: "You are
implying that changing the style guide is our only
alternative."
To infer is to surmise or conclude. Ex.: "I infer from your
statement that you agree with this solution."
4. Less
Less is often confused with fewer. Use less to refer to
quantities that can’t be counted and fewer to refer to
numbers. "There were less people in the office today" is
incorrect, because people can be counted. "There were
fewer people in the office today" is correct.
5. Poisonous
Poisonous — often confused with venomous — means a
plant, animal, or substance capable of causing death or
illness if one comes into contact with
it. Venomous means capable of injecting venom.
A rattlesnake is not itself poisonous, because if you eat
one it won’t poison you. A blowfish will kill you if you
eat it, so it is poisonous, but not venomous.
6. Precision
In science and medical writing, precision is how close a
set of measured values are to each other.Precision is
often confused with accuracy, which means how close a
measured value is to the true value.
Confused? As explained on Mathisfun.com , “If you are
playing soccer and you always hit the left goal post
instead of scoring, then you are not accurate, but you
are precise.”
7. Than
Than should not be confused with then. Than is a
conjunction used to compare things. Ex.: "Editing is
easier said than done."
Then has several meanings, but none of them are
comparative. In general, then is used in relation to time
and the order in which events occur. Ex.: "I would like to
meet for drinks, then have dessert."
8. Verbiage
Verbiage is not a synonym for wording, content or
language. It means an excess of words; wordiness or
verbosity. Ex: "Most press release quotes are riddled
with irrelevant verbiage."