Some words are commonly misused. Learners should see that they understand the correct meaning of each. The aim of every word is to convey a thought.

The following list contains commonly misused words:

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• Aggravate means to increase, to make heavier, e.g. The pain was aggravated instead of alleviated.
  The use of aggravate (= to annoy or tease) is purely conversational (informal).
• Due to. There is no such compound preposition. "The music festival was postponed due to the heavy rains". This is not good English; the idiomatic construction should be: "owing to." "Due to" is correctly used in: "Her failure to achieve a matriculation exemption was purely due to negligence." And in, "Her failure, due to negligence, was inexcusable."
• Unique does not mean 'wonderful'. It does mean 'without parallel.' Nothing can be rather, or very or comparatively unique.
• Quite should, strictly, be used only in the sense of 'perfectly,' 'completely,' e.g.: "He is quite innocent." Colloquially (conversationally, informal) quite is used as an adjective or as an equivalent to 'rather,' e.g.: "Quite a crowd collected." "The pudding was quite nice."
• Mutual. Anything that is mutual can exist between two. There is a mutual friendship between Chelsea and Oliver when each has a friendly feeling for the other; Chelsea and Oliver cannot have a mutual friend in Cooper. Cooper is a friend who is common to Chelsea and Oliver.

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• Effect. "The cold weather has an effect on her previously broken leg"
• Affect. To produce an effect, e.g. "The cold weather affected the crops." To act on or to move, move the feeling of, "The music affected him deeply."
• Transpire means 'to leak out,' e.g. Budget secrets must not be allowed to transpire. Transpireis often wrongly used in the sense of 'happen.'
• Literally should be used with its original meaning of 'true to the letter.' We can say: "She interpreted the order literally" or "this is literally true"; but it is ridiculous to say: "His clever acting literally brought down the house."
• Chronic does not mean bad. It does mean lasting (of sickness), We speak of heart failure as a chronic condition.
• Individual was originally an adjective, and when used as a noun should mean one as contrasted with a number, e.g. He was one individual in the crowd. The word is sometimes wrongly used in a sneering sense, as "that individual with the big nose". Rather say "man."
• To criticize means to judge, not merely to find fault.
  
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• Accept. To accept an apology or an invitation. Accept means to agree on something.
• Except. "She would travel more, except for a lack of money" or "Everybody agreed to have a meeting on said date, except Iain."

How many words can you add to the list?

Source: J Rooz; Review Center: Published on Jun 27, 2014

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