Simplify wordy expressions

Here are examples of wordy phrases and how they can be simplified.

• "in today's modern society" -> today, nowadays
• "in spite of the fact that" -> although
• "in order to" -> to
• "has the ability to" -> can

These expressions are acceptable to use (they are not ungrammatical), but you shouldn't overuse them. You can see this phenomenon happening both in professional and amateur situations.

Why use wordy expressions?

Wordiness is used by professionals to make them sound more intelligent (in the marketing world, there is a tendency to think "more words = smart person").

Wordy expressions are often used by students to "fill up" their required word count up for an essay assignment!

Common English misspellings and errors

Here are some English words which are commonly misspelled and/or mispronounced. Words that appear in red are considered incorrect.

mischievous: This words is pronounced with 3 syllables and does NOT rhyme with "devious", but is often heard with an extra "i" added, as in mischievious.

realtor: Another case of an extra syllable popping in, it is not pronounced realator.

nuptial: Pronounced using 2 syllables only, not 3 as in "nuptual". The -ual ending is prevalent in English, so it is only natural that this word is commonly mispronounced.

espresso: Is it made expressly for you? Or is it made at express speed? Nope, we are used to words starting with ex- so we also apply it here incorrectly. Its misuse is so common that even some dictionaries are starting to list expresso as an entry.

Depreciate or deprecate

These two words are very similar in spelling and meanings, but they are often confused with each other.

Here is a quick rundown of their definitions:

Depreciate is used to denote objects whose values have dropped in price over a period of time after you have bought them. This is often applied to houses, cars, computers, etc.

Deprecate is a term for items that should no longer be in use. Common uses are in computer software versions, in which an older version is said to be no longer supported. A related term is self-deprecating humor, which is the term for comedians who make jokes about themselves.

Notice the similarity in spelling between the two words. The latter is missing an i and has one less syllable. Most English speakers haven't encountered deprecate that much, it is usually seen in written form rather than spoken. This is probably the cause of the confusion over the words, and that is why depreciate is often used in place of either of those words.