This word does not mean what you probably think it might mean (shame on you).*
Bag-o’-wrinkle is a variant of the nautical term baggywrinkle.
Baggywrinkle: rope yarns (usually old) wound around parts of a ship’s rigging to prevent chafing.
From the pictures I have seen, it looks like a cross between a brush and a mop head.
*Don’t look up baggywrinkle on Urban Dictionary though.
‘Allusion’ and ‘illusion’ are often confused. ‘Elusion’ doesn’t get mixed up with them that often but sometimes it makes a surprise appearance.
An allusion is usually defined as an indirect reference. However, Fowler’s states that it is acceptable to use ‘allude’ to mean ‘refer’.
An illusion is a false appearance or deceptive impression of reality. It can also be a false or misleading idea or belief.
Elusion means the act of escaping or avoiding.
Thank you to Aeryn Rudel for suggesting a new addition to my blog topics – weird hyphenated words!
‘Arsy-versy’ is an informal, primarily British English word. It means backwards, upside down, in reverse, confused or disordered.
I got things arsy-versy.
I probably wouldn’t use it in front of polite company.
Till is not a shortened form of until. Till has actually been in use longer than until.
They are often interchangeable; they both mean ‘up to’ (a point in time or event).
However, until is more likely to be used at the beginning of a sentence while till often appears before a noun. Until is also slightly more formal.
The contraction of until is ‘til and many sources will tell you not to use it. You can ignore them in informal contexts.
If I had a penny for every time I saw these mixed up, I would have a very heavy penny jar.
And I would get fed up of that face the cashiers at the bank pull when they see you are depositing lots of change.*
*I always sort it into the correct denominations and amounts, and put it into the little plastic bags. I don’t know why I still get the face.
‘Defiantly’ is not the only misspelling of ‘definitely’. However, it is the one that I read most often – spellcheckers don’t point it out with a helpful wiggly red line.
Definitely means without doubt or in a clear (definite) manner.
Defiantly means to do something in a way that shows resistance or rebellion.
I am delighted to be able to say that I am now on Royal Holloway’s register of approved proofreaders!
Founder’s Building
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) is located in Egham, Surrey. I visited the Centre for the Development of Academic Skills on campus at the end of last week.
I passed the proofreading assessment, and I have agreed to abide by the proofreading policy that is in place for RHUL students. I was also given training on RHUL’s error identification code.
I have very clear boundaries in regard to the proofreading that I do for student clients (these are written into my terms and conditions for students). The guidelines given by RHUL are a little stricter in that they only allow the identification of errors. For RHUL students, these guidelines will take precedence over the services stated in my own terms.
As has previously been mentioned in the comment section of one of my posts, pore and pour are often confused. In my experience, this tends to manifest as writers using poured over when they actually mean pored over.
Therefore, I poured cream over the pudding and I pored over my latest manuscript.
Lightening is often used when the word should be lightning. It is a mistake that is easy to skim over when checking your own writing.
Lightning is a flash of light in the sky caused by electrical discharge. (It can also be used to mean fast and sudden.)
Lightening is the -ing form of lighten. Lighten has two meanings as a verb:
It is possible that some confusion arises because lighten can be used to mean to flash when referring to lightning (but I think this is rare).
A few months ago, I tweeted this:*
Most people are able to use paragraphs very well without any help from me. But occasionally I am confronted with a solid block of words that makes my heart sink a little.
You can think of paragraphs as units of thought. There are no real rules about how long they should be, but one-sentence paragraphs should not be used too often and paragraphs any longer than a page are going to lose you readers. As usual, context will dictate what is appropriate. The best way to approach it is one idea per paragraph. (This doesn’t have to be a huge change of idea – it is usually nuanced.)
It might be helpful to consider the structure for paragraphs in essays. They should typically be structured as follows: introduce idea, elaborate on idea, reach conclusion and/or establish direction for the next paragraph. This can be applied to most other writing situations but its usefulness will depend on style and context (again).
Paragraphs are particularly important for web-based content, and they should be fairly short. Because readers tend to scan text online, gaining and keeping their attention is easier with short paragraphs.
Paragraphs break up the text, making it look less intimidating and more accessible. They make it easier to follow and understand the argument, discussion or narrative. And they will help the writer to focus on and progress through their ideas.
Use paragraphs. They’re great.
*The universe Twitter largely ignored me.
Hannah McCall 