‘ Either ’ versus ‘ neither ’
‘ Either ’ takes ‘ or ’, while ‘ neither ’ takes ‘ nor ’: Either he goes or I go .
Neither Kensington nor Paddington has a train service .
‘ Either ’ and ‘ neither ’ can only be used to compare two items : Neither Kensington , Paddington nor Randwick has a train service .
As pronouns and adjectives , ‘ either ’ and ‘ neither ’ take a singular verb : Neither Kensington nor Paddington has a train service .
Neither Kensington nor Paddington have a train service .
‘ Fewer ’ and ‘ less ’
Use ‘ fewer ’ when discussing nouns that can be counted : The new campus will offer fewer courses .
Use ‘ less ’ when discussing singular mass nouns , or things that cannot be counted : There will be less effort involved .
Figures of speech
Take care when using standard phrases , as many have been corrupted in popular use : |
toe the line |
tow the line |
home in on |
hone in on |
pore over a map |
pour over a map |
wait with bated breath |
wait with baited breath |
with one fell swoop |
with one foul swoop |
shoo-in |
shoe-in |
moot point |
mute point |
‘ Forego ’ and ‘ forgo ’
To ‘ forego ’ means to go before , while to ‘ forgo ’ means to give up or relinquish : The trailers will forego the feature film .
You do not have to forgo your creature comforts .
‘ Lay ’ and ‘ lie ’
To ‘ lay ’ primarily means to set something down in a resting position . It requires a direct object : I laid the notebook on the table .
I don ’ t like to lay my notebook on the floor .
In addition to telling an untruth , to ‘ lie ’ also means to set in a resting position but it does not have a direct object :
The notebook lies on the table .
To make matters more confusing , the past tense of ‘ lie ’ is ‘ lay ’: Yesterday the notebook lay on the table .
Myriad
‘ Myriad ’ can be used in place of ‘ many ’: There were myriad complications .
There was a myriad of complications .
‘ Onto ’ and ‘ on to ’
‘ Onto ’ is used as one word where it is a preposition : He jumped onto the bus .
But in cases where on is tied to the verb , it should be written as two words : She moved on to the next course .
The same rule applies to ‘ into ’ and ‘ in to ’.
Writing Style Guide | Commonly misused terms 52 | Back to contents