Practical English Usage
Welcome to our section on Practical English Usage. This section provides a dictionary of problem points in English. Each entry contains an explanation of a problem and examples of correct usage. Examples of typical mistakes are also given. It will be most useful to a student who has made a mistake and wants to find out why it is wrong, or to a teacher who is looking for a clear explanation of a difficult point of English grammar or vocabulary.
A
- Abbreviations
- A bit vs. A bit of a
- About as a preposition
- Above vs. Over
- Abstract noun
- Accept vs. Agree
- According to
- Acronyms
- Across vs. Through
- Active verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverb and adverb clause
- Adverbs with two forms
- Adverb particle
- Affect vs. Effect
- Ago vs. Before
- Agree with vs. Agree about vs. Agree to vs. Agree on
- All vs. All of
- All vs. Every
- All vs. Whole
- A lot of vs. Lots of vs. Plenty of vs. A great deal of
- Already, just, yet
- Also, as well, too
- Alternate vs. Alternative
- Although vs. Though
- And as a conjunction
- Another
- Any
- Anyhow vs. Somehow
- Apostrophe
- Appear as a copular verb
- Around vs. About
- Articles
- Articles A/An - correct use
- Articles A vs. The | When to use a and when to use the
- Articles - use and omission
- As vs. Since vs. Because vs. For
- As if vs. As though
- Ask vs. Ask for
- As and though - Verb patterns
- Joining two sentences with as well as
- Auxiliary verbs
- Auxiliary verb equivalents
B
- Back vs. Again
- Bath vs. Bathe
- Beat vs. Win
- Been as the past participle of come and go
- Before as an adverb, conjunction and preposition
- Before vs. In front of
- Begin vs. Start
- Belong to vs. Belong on vs. Belong in
- Below vs. Under
- Beside vs. Besides
- Between vs. Among
- Between vs. During
- Big vs. Large vs. Great
- Born vs. Borne
- Both vs. Both of
- Bring vs. Take
- But as a conjunction
- But vs. Though vs. Despite vs. In spite of
- By vs. With
C
- Can vs. Be able to
- Can vs. Could
- Care vs. Care about vs. Take care of
- Change of tenses
- Clause
- Close vs. Shut
- Collective noun
- Colon
- Come what may, How come, Come to
- Comma
- Common noun
- Comparative and superlative
- Comparative vs. Superlative
- Comparative and superlative - a common error
- Complement - Subject and object complement
- Conjunctions
- Cool down vs. Cool off
- Correlative conjunctions
- Could have + past participle
- Countable and uncountable nouns
D
- Dare as an ordinary verb and an auxiliary verb
- Determiners
- Different to vs. Different from vs. Different than
- Discourse markers
- Double negatives
- Dress
- Due to vs. Owing to
- During vs. In vs. For
- During
E
- Each vs. Every
- East, eastern, north, northern etc.
- Either
- Embedded question
- Else - correct use
- End vs. Finish
- Enough, Enough to, too...to
- Especially vs. Specially
- Even
- Ever
- Every vs. Every one of
- Ergative verb
- Except vs. Except for
- Exchange for vs. Exchange with
F
- Fairly vs. Quite vs. Rather vs. Pretty
- Far vs. Long way
- Feel
- Few vs. Little
- Finally vs. At last vs. In the end vs. At the end
- Finished - I have finished vs. I am finished
- Finite verb
- Fit vs. Suit
- First person, second person and third person
- For - different uses
- Forward vs. Forwards; Backward vs. Backwards
- From as a preposition
G
H
- Had better
- Half, Half a, A half
- Hardly when
- Have vs. Have got
- Hear vs. Listen
- Help - Can't help
- He or she vs. They
- Home vs. At home
- Homograph and homophone
- Hope
- How vs. What like
- However vs. How ever
- However vs. Still vs. Yet vs. Though
I
- If I were you
- Ill vs. Sick
- Indicative, imperative and subjunctive mood
- In spite of
- Interested vs. Interesting, Bored vs. Boring
- Inversion of subject and verb
- Is, am, are
- Irregular verbs
- Inversion - When to put the auxiliary verb before the subject
- It as a preparatory subject
- Its vs. It's
J
K
L
- Laid off vs. Fired
- Last vs. The last
- Lay vs. Lie
- Less vs. Fewer; the least vs. the fewest
- Let
- Like vs. As
- Likely
- Little vs. A little
- Look as a copular verb and an ordinary verb
M
- Main clause
- Make
- Words ending in -man
- Maybe vs. May be
- May vs. Might
- Mind - Do you mind vs Would you mind?
- Misplace vs. Displace
- Much, many, more, most
- Must in questions and negatives
N
- Near
- Negative forms
- Neither/nor
- No vs. None
- No matter
- Nominative and objective case
- Not only / but also grammar
- Not only / but also worksheet
- Nouns
- Nouns and noun phrases
O
- Of course
- Once
- One | Indefinite personal pronoun
- On time vs. in time
- Otherwise
- Ought to + past participle
- Look over vs. Overlook
- Ordinal and cardinal numbers
P
- Pain vs. ache
- Participles
- Participial adjective and participial relative clause
- Passive voice
- Past participle
- Perhaps
- Phrasal verbs and idioms
- Possessives
- Prepositions
- Primary auxiliaries
- Pronouns
- Provided that vs. on condition that
- Provide vs. provide with
- Punctuation
Q
R
S
- Same
- Say vs. tell
- See
- See vs. look at vs. watch
- Seem
- Sensible vs. sensitive
- Sentence
- Shade vs. shadow
- Simple present vs. present perfect
- Should in subordinate clauses
- Since
- Since, as, because, so
- Some vs. any
- So...that...
- So that vs. in order that
- Since as an adverb and conjunction
- Singular and plural
- Subject and predicate
- Subject verb agreement rules
- Subjunctive
- Such...that
- Surely
T
- Take
- Talk to vs. talk with vs. talk at
- That-clauses
- There as an introductory subject
- Therefore
- They're vs. their vs. there
- Too vs. to
- Too...to vs. So...that
U
V
W