Pretty much often people get confused with simple words and end up with grammatical shortcomings in an otherwise good writing. Words that seem to convey the same meaning but not mean the same thing can spike all our writing. Have you come across such words? One word of caution though. Don’t take it personally. Any of us can get on the spikes if we are not careful about them.
Is it not common to use one word for another invariably without spotting the difference until somebody else pulls our ears? Let’s face it. This kind of mistake does often find its way in no less classy publications. Only the witty eyes will spot it.
I’m not a grammar specialist. I’m not a mentor. I won’t pretend to teach anybody. That’s not the aim of this post. I just want to share what I read from one of Nick Daws’ posts “Bad Grammar in a Holiday Brochure”. I thought his appreciation and advice about the use of words like “among”, “amongst”, “amid”, “amidst”, “between” are legitimate.
Nick has also been publishing quite a few books about writing and his latest gem is Essential English for Authors.
To your writing.
Mauritian residing in Rodrigues, Amanoola Khayrattee (pen name Alfa King) is contributing writer and journalist to La Gazette Mag de l’océan indien and This Week News Mauritius.
Retired, former meteorological cadre, trade unionist and OSH consultant, Amanoola has written for in-house union and other journals, publications and magazines. He runs two blogs since 2007: “Alfa King Memories”, and “Le Journal d’Alfa King”. When he is not reading or writing, he is on a 10+ km daily hike in anticipation of his monthly trails.
Amanoola may be reached at [email protected].