‘ Over ’ and ‘ more than ’
Do not use ‘ over ’ instead of ‘ more than ’: You cannot study for more than 10 exams .
You cannot study for over 10 exams .
See ‘‘ Fewer ’ and ‘ less ’’ above .
Percentage increases
Beware the common blunder in calculating percentage increases . If a housing loan interest rate rises from 4 % to 5 %, it is not a rise of 1 %, but a rise of 1 percentage point ( a jump from 4 % to 5 % is in fact a rise of 25 %).
‘ That ’ and ‘ which ’
‘ That ’ usually introduces a clause that ’ s essential to the meaning of a sentence , while ‘ which ’ introduces asides or non-essential information :
The program features tools that make it easier for you to improve your writing .
The program features tools , which make it easier for you to improve your writing .
A pause , and therefore a comma , precedes ‘ which ’. If you can read the sentence without slightly pausing before ‘ which ’, you should probably be using ‘ that ’ instead :
Each school has a website , which can be a good starting point for finding information .
‘ Their ’, ‘ there ’ and ‘ they ’ re ’
‘ Their ’ is a possessive pronoun : I went to their school .
‘ There ’ is an adverb indicating direction or place , as well as impersonal constructions where the real subject follows the verb :
We went there for lunch .
There is no food on the table .
‘ They ’ re ’ is a contraction of ‘ they are ’.
‘ Who ’ and ‘ whom ’
If you can replace ‘ who ’ with ‘ him ’ or ‘ her ’, ‘ whom ’ is the correct word . If you can replace ‘ who ’ with ‘ his ’, ‘ her ’, ‘ he ’ or ‘ she ’, ‘ who ’ is the correct word :
To whom did you address the invitation ? ( You addressed it to her .)
Whom hosted the party ? ( He hosted the party .)
Although it is still often used in more formal or academic writing , ‘ whom ’ is becoming increasingly less common in modern writing and may generally be replaced by ‘ who ’ in all cases .
‘ That ’ and ‘ who ’
Each school has a website that can be a good starting point for finding information .
When referring to people , always use ‘ who ’ instead of ‘ that ’: We are lucky to have team members who care .
We are lucky to have team members that care .
Writing Style Guide | Commonly misused terms 53 | Back to contents