commonly misused English words - E to H

List of commonly misused English words

This is a list of English words which are commonly misused. It is meant to include only words whose misuse is deprecated by most usage writers, editors, and other professional linguists of Standard English. It is possible that some of the meanings marked non-standard may pass into Standard English in the future, but at this time all of the following Non-standard phrases are likely to be marked as incorrect by English teachers or changed by editors if used in a work submitted for publication. Some of the examples are homonyms or pairs of similarly spelled words which are often confused.

E to H

• economic and economical. Economic means "having to do with the economy". Economical means "financially prudent, frugal" and also figuratively in the sense "sparing use" (of time, language, etc.)^[2]
  • Standard: Buying in bulk can often be the most economical choice.
  • Standard: The actor should be economical in his use of movement.
  • Standard: He attended the School of Economic and Business Sciences.
  • Non-standard: Leading economical indicators suggest that a recession may be on the horizon.
  • Non-standard: The actor should be economic in his use of movement.

• e.g. and i.e. The abbreviation e.g. stands for the Latin exempli gratiā "for example", and should be used when the example(s) given are just one or a few of many. The abbreviation i.e. stands for the Latin id est "that is", and is used to give the only example(s) or to otherwise qualify the statement just made.
  • Standard: A Briton is a British citizen, e.g. John Lennon.
  • Standard: Tolkien's The Hobbit is named after its protagonist, i.e., Bilbo Baggins.
  • Non-standard: A Briton is a British citizen, i.e., Paul McCartney (at the last count, there were about 60 million Britons—Sir Paul is far from being the only one)

• emigration and immigration. Emigration is the process of leaving a country; immigration is the process of arriving in a country—in both cases, indefinitely.
  • Standard: Ethnic communities, such as Little Italy, were created by people emigrating from their home countries.

• eminent, preeminent, imminent, and immanent. Eminent, originally meaning "emerging", means "illustrious or highly-regarded". Preeminent means "most highly-regarded". Imminent means "about to occur". Immanent (less common than the other two, and often theological) means "indwelling, pervading".
  • Standard: The eminent doctor Jones testified on behalf of the defence.
  • Standard: Rumours that war was imminent soon spread through the population.
  • Standard: God's grace is immanent throughout the entire creation.

• exacerbate and exasperate. Exacerbate means "to make worse". Exasperate means "to exhaust", usually someone's patience.
  • Standard: Treatment by untrained personnel can exacerbate injuries.
  • Standard: Do not let Jack talk to the state trooper; he is tactless and will just exasperate her.

• flesh and flush. To flesh out is to add flesh to a skeleton, or metaphorically to add substance to an incomplete rendering. To flush out is to cause game fowl to take to flight, or to frighten any quarry from a place of concealment.
  • Standard: The forensic pathologist will flesh out the skull with clay.
  • Standard: The beaters flushed out the game with drums and torches.
  • Non-standard: This outline is incomplete and must be flushed out.

• flounder and founder. To flounder is to be clumsy, confused, indecisive or to flop around like a fish out of water. A flounder is also a type of flatfish. To founder is to fill with water and sink.
  • Standard: The ship is damaged and may founder.
  • Standard: She was floundering on the balance beam.
  • Non-standard: The ship is damaged and may flounder.

• flout and flaunt. One flouts a rule or law by flagrantly ignoring it. One flaunts something by showing it off.
  • Standard: If you have it, flaunt it.
  • Standard: He continually flouted the speed limit.
  • Non-standard: If you have it, flout it.
  • Non-standard: He continually flaunted the speed limit.

• hay and straw. Hay is a grassy plant used as animal fodder. Straw is the dry stalk of a cereal plant (e.g., barley, oats, rice, rye), after the grain or seed has been removed; it is used to line an animal's stall or for insulation.

• hang. To hang something or someone in the present tense, one uses the same form. In the past, however, pictures are hung and criminals are hanged.

• hangar and hanger. The aeroplane is in the hangar; the coat is on the hanger.

• hear and here. To "hear" is to detect a sound with one's ears. "Here" refers to one's immediate location.

• historic and historical. In strict usage, historic describes an event of importance—one that shaped history or is likely to do so. Historical merely describes something that happened in the past.
  • Standard: The president made a(n) historic announcement. (The announcement was of historical importance.)
  • Non-standard: The office kept an archive of historic records. (The records are not necessarily of historical importance—they are simply records from the past.)

• hoard and horde. A hoard is a store or accumulation of things. A horde is a large group of people.
  • Standard: A horde of shoppers lined up to be the first to buy the new gizmo.
  • Standard: He has a hoard of discontinued rare cards.
  • Non-standard: Do not horde the candy, share it.
  • Non-standard: The hoard charged when the horns sounded.