BUT
Brittany
(not
Britanny)
broach
or
brooch?
You
BROACH
a
difficult
topic
or
BROACH
a
bottle.
You
wear
a
BROOCH.
broccoli
(not
brocolli)
broken
(not
brocken)
brought
See
BOUGHT
OR
BROUGHT?.

business
(not buisness)
but
See
AND/BUT.
35
buy/by
Use
these exemplar sentences
as a
guide:
I
need
to BUY
some
new
jeans.
The
book
is BY
Charlotte Bronte.
Wait
BY the
gate.
The
children rushed
BY.
36
BUY/BY
cactus

article
bicycle
circle
cubicle
cuticle
miracle
particle
spectacle
uncle
vehicle
calf
(singular) calves (plural)
See
PLURALS
(v).
callous
or
callus?
CALLOUS
means cruel, insensitive,
not
caring
about
how
others
feel.
CALLUS
means
a
hard patch

H
CANING
OR
CANNING?
distinction
in
formal
contexts. However, informally,
CAN
is
used
to
cover both meanings:
You
CAN go now
(=
are
permitted).
caning
or
canning?
cane
+ ing =
caning
CANING
is now
banned
in all
schools.
Can + ing =

acceptable
but the
second
is
rarely
seen.
canoe
canoed, canoeing, canoeist
See
ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
canon
See
CANNON
OR
CANON?.
can't
Contraction
of
CANNOT.
canvas
or
canvass?
CANVAS
is a
rough
cloth.
To
CANVASS
is to ask for
votes.

morning,'
she
said.
She
said,
'You
will
be
sorry
for
this
in the
morning.
You
never
learn.'
for
the
pronoun
T
wherever
it
comes
in the
sentence:
You
know that
I
have
no

months
of the
year (September)
but
not
usually
the
seasons
Note
these adjectives derived
from
proper nouns also
have
a
capital letter:
a
Jewish
festival;
a
German poet
However,
the
capital
is
dropped
when
the
connection with
the
proper noun becomes lost:

like e.e. cummings
dispense
with
this
convention)
to
mark
the first
word
and the
subsequent
key
words
in
titles:
The
Taming
of the
Shrew
An
Old
Wives' Tale
for
emphasis:
And
then
-
BANG!
for
some acronyms

Deity
as a
mark
of
respect
and for
sacred
books:
God,
Jesus Christ,
the
Holy Spirit,
the
Almighty,
Allah,
Jehovah,
Yahweh
the
Bible,
the
Koran,
the
Vedas
to
begin each
word
in an
address:
Mrs
Anna

faithfully
Yours
sincerely
With much love
With best wishes
capital
punishment
or
corporal
punishment?
CAPITAL
PUNISHMENT
=
death
CORPORAL
PUNISHMENT
=
beating
cappuccino
(not -p-)
capsize
This
is the
only verb
in the
English language
of
more
than
one

CAST
OR
CASTE?
See
ADDING
ENDINGS
(iii).
cast
or
caste?
Use
CAST
for a
group
of
actors
in a
play
and for a
plaster
CAST
and a
CAST
in an
eye.
Use
CASTE
when
referring
to a

furniture.
But
castor oil,
not
caster oil.
catagorical
Wrong spelling.
See
CATEGORICAL.
catagory
Wrong spelling.
See
CATEGORY.
catarrh
(not
-rh)
catastrophe
(not
-y)
categorical
categorically (not cata-)
category
(singular) categories (plural) (not
cata-)
cauliflower
(not -flour)
ceiling
(not
-ie-)
See

if
they
are
suitable
for
public
performance
or
publication.
To
CENSOR
is to do the
work
of a
CENSOR.
CENSURE
is
official
and
formal disapproval
or
condemnation
of an
action.
To
CENSURE
is to
express this condemnation
in a
formal

or
serial?
CEREAL
is
food processed
from
grain.
A
SERIAL
is a
book
or
radio
or
television
performance
delivered
in
instalments.
ceremonial
or
ceremonious?
Both
adjectives
come
from
the
noun
CEREMONY.
CEREMONIAL

wave
of the
hand).
ceremony
(singular)
ceremonies
(plural)
See
PLURALS
(iii).
43
CERTAIN
OR
CURTAIN
certain
or
curtain
CERTAIN
means sure.
Are
you
CERTAIN
that
he
apologised?
CURTAINS
are
window drapes.
Do
draw

(not
charachter)
chateau/chateau
(singular) chateaux
or
chateaux (plural)
See
FOREIGN PLURALS.
check
or
cheque?
Use
these exemplar sentences
as a
guide:
Always
CHECK
your work.
May
I pay by
CHEQUE?
(not
'check'
as in the
United
States)
cherub
(singular)
This
word

CORD?
chief
(singular) chiefs (plural)
See
PLURALS
(v).
childish
or
childlike?
The
teenager
was
rebuked
by the
magistrate
for his
CHILDISH
behaviour,
(i.e.
which
he
should
have
outgrown)
The
grandfather
has
retained
his
sense

choir
(not
-io-)
choose
I
CHOOSE
my
words
carefully.
I
am
CHOOSING
my
words
carefully.
I
CHOSE
my
words
carefully
yesterday.
I
have
CHOSEN
them
carefully.
chord
or
cord?
CHORD

CORD
in a
medical context
but it
seems very old-
fashioned
now.
45
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity
(not
Cr-)
Christinas
(not
Cristmas
or
Chrismas)
chronic
(not
cr-)
This
word
is
often
misused.
It
doesn't
mean terrible
or
serious.

SIGHT
is
vision
or
something seen.
A
SITE
is
land, usually
set
aside
for a
particular
purpose.
clarity
See
AMBIGUITY.
clothes
or
cloths?
CLOTHES
are
garments.
CLOTHS
are
dusters
or
scraps
of
material.

meal:
an
advanced
COURSE
to
change
COURSE
a
golf
COURSE
the
main
COURSE
codeine
(not
-ie-)
colander
(not
-ar)
collaborate
collaborated,
collaborating
collaborator
collaboration
collapse
collapsed, collapsing
collapsible
(not
-able)
colleagues

Colons
can
introduce
a
list:
Get
your ingredients together:
flour,
sugar, dried
fruit,
butter
and
milk.
Note that
a
summing-up
word
should always
precede
the
colon (here
'ingredients').
(ii)
Colons
can
precede
an
explanation
or
amplification

right.
(iii)
Colons
can
introduce dialogue
in a
play:
Henry
(with some embarrassment):
It's
all my
fault.
(iv)
Colons
can be
used instead
of a
comma
to
introduce direct speech:
Henry
said, with some embarrassment:
'It's
all
my
fault.'
(v)
Colons
can
introduce quotations:

-11-)
48
t
COMMAS
colour
(not
color,
as in
American
English)
colourful
comemorate
Wrong spelling.
See
COMMEMORATE.
comfortable
(four
syllables,
not
three)
coming
come
+ ing =
coming (not comming)
See
ADDING ENDINGS (ii).
comission
Wrong spelling.
See
COMMISSION.

I'll
be
with you.
Tell
me
your story once again.
(ii)
Reported commands (indirect commands) never
need
an
exclamation mark because, when they
are
reported, they become statements.
He
ordered
the
thief
to
stop.
She
told
him to put his
hands
up.
The
teacher yelled
at the
class
to
stop talking.