10 of the Most Commonly Misused Words and What They Actually Mean

Last year an expert said that English was evolving at a faster rate than it has at any other time in history, with researchers at Instagram also noting that emoji are replacing acronyms to form more of a picture-based language used on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

In his book The Sense of Style, Harvard cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker explored the most common words and phrases that people tend to trip up on.

As there is no definitive body that governs the rules of the English language (as there is for French), matters of style and grammar are generally able to be debated.

Pinker’s rules are no different, but the 58 words and phrases he picked out are the ones that are agreed upon, and knowing the correct versions can help improve your writing and understanding of the English language.

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Here are 10 of the most commonly misused, along with meanings and explanations from the author of the word origins guide Haggard Hawks & Paltry Poltroons, Paul Anthony Jones:

1) Bemused means bewildered and does not mean amused. The Sense of Style: Th... Pinker, Steven Best Price: $5.30 Buy New $11.85 (as of 12:25 UTC - Details)

Correct: The unnecessarily complex plot left me bemused. / The silly comedy amused me.

PAJ — Bemuse and amuse both derive from ‘muse’, meaning ‘to ponder’ or ‘to be lost in thought’. But the be– of bemused essentially means ‘extremely’ or ‘to excess’, as it does in words like bewitched, bedazzled, and befuddled. So if you’re ‘extremely lost in thought’ then you’re utterly confused.

2) Disinterested means unbiased and does not mean uninterested.

Correct: “The dispute should be resolved by a disinterested judge.” / Why are you so uninterested in my story?

PAJ —The trick to remembering this one is that disinterest is a word on its own, while ‘uninterest’ isn’t. If you ‘disinterest’  yourself, you remove your ‘interest’ or concern in something, whereas if you’re just not interested in it, then you’re uninterested.

3) Hone means to sharpen and does not mean to home in on or to converge upon.

Correct: She honed her writing skills. / We’re homing in on a solution. The Elements of Style,... William Strunk Jr., E.... Best Price: $1.25 Buy New $3.75 (as of 03:05 UTC - Details)

PAJ — The best way to remember this one is that ‘hone’ is also another word for a whetstone (a stone used to sharpen razors and knives), and the verb ‘hone’ derives from the image of things being ‘sharpened’ on it.

4) Appraise means to ascertain the value of and does not mean to apprise or to inform.

Correct: “I appraised the jewels.” / “I apprised him of the situation.”

PAJ — Appraise and appraisal come from the same root as price, and so refer to cost or money. Apprise comes from the same root as apprentice, and so refers to knowledge or information.

5) Enervate means to sap or to weaken and does not mean to energize.

Correct: That was an enervating rush hour commute. / That was an energizing cappuccino.

PAJ — Whereas energize derives from energy, enervate derives from a Greek word literally means ‘to cut the nerves’, and so is used to mean ‘to weaken’.

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