Common Errors in English - Part 6

G/Q

Lower­case "q" is the mirror image of lower­case "g" in many typefaces, and the two are often confused with each other and the resulting misspelling missed in proofreading, for instance "quilt" when "guilt" is intended.

GP PRACTICE/GENERAL PRACTICE

If you want to be technical, "GP Practice" to label the work of a physician is redundant, because "GP" stands for "General Practitioner." But if you don't want to spell it out, there doesn't seem to be a good substitute for the phrase­­it won't bother many people.

GAFF/GAFFE

"Gaffe" is a French word meaning "embarrassing mistake," and should not be mixed up with "gaff": a large hook.

GAMUT/GAUNTLET

To "run a gamut" is to go through the whole scale or spectrum of something. To "run the gauntlet" (also gantlet) is to run between two lines of people who are trying to beat you. And don't confuse "gamut" with "gambit," a play in chess, and by extension, a tricky maneuver of any kind.

GANDER/DANDER

When you get really angry you "get your dander up." The derivation of "dander" in this expression is uncertain, but you can't replace it with "dandruff" or "gander." The only way to get a gander up is to awaken a male goose.

GAURD/GUARD

Too bad the Elizabethan "guard" won out over the earlier, French­derived spelling "garde"; but the word was never spelled "gaurd." The standard spelling is related to Italian and Spanish "guarda," pronounced "gwarda."

GENIUS/BRILLIANT

In standard English "genius" is a noun, but not an adjective. In slang, people often say things like "Telling Mom your English teacher is requiring the class to get HBO was genius!" The standard way to say this is "was brilliant."

 

GET ME/GET MYSELF

"I gotta get me a new carburetor," says Joe­Bob. Translated into standard English, this would be "I have to get myself a new carburetor." Even better: leave out the "myself."

GHANDI/GANDHI

Mohandas K. Gandhi's name has an H after the D, not after the G. Note that "Mahatma" ("great soul") is an honorific title, not actually part of his birth name. The proper pronunciation of the first syllable should rhyme more with "gone" than "can." Among Indians, his name is usually given a respectful suffix and rendered as Gandhiji, but adding Mahatma to that form would be honorific overkill.

GIBE/JIBE/JIVE

"Gibe" is a now rare term meaning "to tease." "Jibe" means "to agree," but is usually used negatively, as in "the alibis of the two crooks didn't jibe." The latter word is often confused with "jive," which derives from slang which originally meant to treat in a jazzy manner ("Jivin' the Blues Away") but also came to be associated with deception ("Don't give me any of that jive").

GIFT/GIVE

Conservatives are annoyed by the use of "gift" as a verb. If the ad says "gift her with jewelry this Valentine's Day," she might prefer that you give it to her.

GIG/JIG

"The jig is up" is an old slang expression meaning "the game is over­­we're caught." A musician's job is a gig.

GILD/GUILD

You gild an object by covering it with gold; you can join an organization like the Theatre Guild.

GOAL/OBJECTIVE

Most language authorities consider "goal" to be a synonym of "objective," and some dismiss the popular bureaucratic phrase "goals and objectives" as a meaningless redundancy.

However, if you have to deal with people who insist there is a distinction, here is their usual argument: goals are general, objectives are more specific. If your goal is to create a safer work environment, your objective might be to remove the potted poison ivy plant from your desk. In education, a typical example would be that if your goal is to improve your French, one objective might be to master the subjunctive.

GOD

 

When "God" is the name of a god, as in Judaism, Christianity and Islam ("Allah" is just Arabic for "God," and many modern Muslims translate the name when writing in English), it needs to be capitalized like any other name. When it is used as a generic term, as in "He looks like a Greek god," it is not capitalized.

If you see the word rendered "G*d" or "G­d" it's not an error, but a Jewish writer reverently following the Orthodox prohibition against spelling out the name of the deity in full.

GOES

"So he goes" I thought your birthday was tomorrow," and I'm­­like­­" well, duh!" Perhaps this bizarre pattern developed in analogy to childish phrases such as "the cow goes "moo" and "the piggy goes "oink, oink." Is there any young person unaware that the use of "go" to mean "say" drives most adults crazy? Granted, it's deliberate slang rather than an involuntary error; but if you get into the habit of using it all the time, you may embarrass yourself in front of a class by saying something witless like "So then Juliet goes "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

GONE/WENT

This is one of those cases in which a common word has a past participle which is not formed by the simple addition of ­ED and which often trip people up. "I should have went to the business meeting, but the game was tied in the ninth" should be "I should have gone. . . ." The same problem crops up with the two forms of the verb "to do." Say "I should have done my taxes before the IRS called" rather than "I should have did. . . ."

See "drank/drunk."

GONNA/GOING TO

How do you pronounce "going to" in phrases like "going to walk the dog"? "Gonna," right? Almost everyone uses this slurred pronunciation, but it's not acceptable in formal writing except when you're deliberately trying to convey the popular pronunciation. In very formal spoken contexts you might want to (not "wanna") pronounce the phrase distinctly.

GOOD/WELL

You do something well, but a thing is good. The exception is verbs of sensation in phrases such as "the pie smells good," or "I feel good." Despite the arguments of nigglers, this is standard usage. Saying "the pie smells well" would imply that the pastry in question had a nose.

Similarly, "I feel well" is also acceptable, especially when discussing health; but it is not the only correct usage.

GOT/GOTTEN

 

In the UK, the old word "gotten" dropped out of use except in such stock phrases as "ill­gotten" and "gotten up," but in the US it is frequently used as the past participle of "get." Sometimes the two are interchangeable, However, "got" implies current possession, as in "I've got just five dollars to buy my dinner with." "Gotten," in contrast, often implies the process of getting hold of something: "I've gotten five dollars for cleaning out Mrs. Quimby's shed" emphasizing the earning of the money rather than its possession. Phrases that involve some sort of process usually involve "gotten": "My grades have gotten better since I moved out of the fraternity." When you have to leave, you've got to go. If you say you've "gotten to go" you're implying someone gave you permission to go.

GOVERNMENT

Be careful to pronounce the first "N" in "government."

GRADUATE/GRADUATE FROM

In certain dialects (notably that of New York City) it is common to say "he is going to graduate school in June" rather than the more standard "graduate from." When writing for a national or international audience, use the "from."

GRAMMER/GRAMMAR

it's amazing how many people write to thank me for helping them with their "grammer." It's "grammar." The word is often incorrectly used to label patterns of spelling and usage that have nothing to do with the structure of language, the proper subject of grammar in the most conservative sense. Not all bad writing is due to bad grammar.

GRATIS/GRATUITOUS

If you do something nice without being paid, you do it "gratis." Technically, such a deed can also be "gratuitous"; but if you do or say something obnoxious and uncalled for, it's always "gratuitous," not "gratis."

GRAY/GREY

"Gray" is the American spelling, "grey" the British spelling of this color/colour. When it's part of a British name­­like Tarzan's title, "Lord Greystoke"­­or part of a place name­­like "Greyfriars"­­it should retain its original spelling even if an American is doing the writing.

GREATFUL/GRATEFUL

Your appreciation may be great, but you express gratitude by being grateful.

GRIEVIOUS/GRIEVOUS

 

There are just two syllables in "grievous," and it's pronounced "grieve­us."

GRILL CHEESE/GRILLED CHEESE

The popular fried sandwich is properly called "grilled cheese."

GRISLY/GRIZZLY

"Grisly" means "horrible"; a "grizzly" is a bear. "The grizzly left behind the grisly remains of his victim." "Grizzled," means "having gray hairs," not to be confused with "gristly," full of gristle.

GROUND ZERO

"Ground zero" refers to the point at the center of the impact of a nuclear bomb, so it is improper to talk about "building from ground zero" as if it were a place of new beginnings. You can start from scratch, or begin at zero, but if you're at ground zero, you're at the end.

The metaphorical extension of this term to the site of the destruction of the World Trade Center towers is, however, perfectly legitimate; but because in this case it is a place name it needs to be capitalized: "Ground Zero."

GROUP (PLURAL VS. SINGULAR)

When the group is being considered as a whole, it can be treated as a single entity: "the group was ready to go on stage." But when the individuality of its members is being emphasized, "group" is plural: "the group were in disagreement about where to go for dinner."

GROW

We used to grow our hair long or grow tomatoes in the yard, but now we are being urged to "grow the economy" or "grow your investments." Business and government speakers have extended this usage widely, but it irritates traditionalists. Use "build," "increase," "expand," "develop," or "cause to grow" instead in formal writing.

GUESS WHO?/GUESS WHO!

Since "Guess who" is a command rather than a real question, technically it should not be followed by a question mark. A period or exclamation point will do fine. Similarly, there should be no question mark after the simple command "Guess!"

GUT­RENDING, HEART­WRENCHING/GUT­WRENCHING, HEART­RENDING

Upsetting events can be gut­wrenching (make you sick to the stomach) or heart­breaking (make you feel terribly sad); but many people confuse the two and come up with "heart­wrenching." "Gut­rending" is also occasionally seen.

 

GYP/CHEAT

Gypsies complain that "gyp" ("cheat") reflects bias; but the word is so well entrenched and its origin so obscure to most users that there is little hope of eliminating it from standard use any time soon.

Note that the people commonly called "Gypsies" strongly prefer the name Rom (plural form Roma or Romanies).

HIV VIRUS

"HIV" stands for "human immunodeficiency virus," so adding the word "virus" to the acronym creates a redundancy. "HIV" is the name of the organism that is the cause of AIDS, not a name for the disease itself. A person may be HIV­positive (a test shows the person to be infected with the virus) without having yet developed AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). HIV is the cause, AIDS the result.

HADN'T HAVE/HADN'T

Many people throw in an extra "have" when they talk about things that might have happened otherwise: "If he hadn't have checked inside the truck first he wouldn't have realized that the floorboards were rusted out." This is often rendered "hadn't of" and pronounced "hadn'ta." In standard English, omit the second word: "If he hadn't checked inside the truck. . . ."

HAIRBRAINED/HAREBRAINED

Although "hairbrained" is common, the original word "harebrained," means "silly as a hare" (the little rabbit­like creature) and is preferred in writing.

HAND AND HAND/HAND IN HAND

"Poverty goes hand in hand with malnutrition." The image here is of the two subjects holding hands, one hand in the other. The phrase is very frequently misspelled "hand and hand," which does not convey the same sort of intimate connection.

HANDICAP/DISABILITY

In normal usage, a handicap is a drawback you can easily remedy, but a disability is much worse: you're just unable to do something. But many people with disabilities and those who work with them strongly prefer "disability" to "handicap," which they consider an insulting term. Their argument is that a disability can be compensated for by­­for instance­­a wheelchair, so that the disabled person is not handicapped. Only the person truly unable by any means to accomplish tasks because of a disability is handicapped. The fact that this goes directly counter to ordinary English usage may help to explain why the general public has been slow to adopt it; but if you want to avoid offending anyone, you're

 

safer using "disability" than "handicap."

Many of the people involved also resent being called "disabled people"; they prefer "people with disabilities."

HANGED/HUNG

Originally these words were pretty much interchangeable, but "hanged" eventually came to be used pretty exclusively to mean "executed by hanging." Does nervousness about the existence of an indelicate adjectival form of the word prompt people to avoid the correct word in such sentences as "Lady Wrothley saw to it that her ancestors' portraits were properly hung"? Nevertheless, "hung" is correct except when capital punishment is being imposed or someone commits suicide.

HANGING INDENTS

Bibliographies are normally written using hanging indents, where the first line extends out to the left­hand margin, but the rest of the entry is indented.

Twain, Mark. Mark Twain at the Buffalo Express: Articles and Sketches by America's Favorite Humorist, edited by Joseph B. McCullough and Janice McIntire­Strasburg (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2000).

These are extremely easy to create on a word processor, but many people have never mastered the technique. Normally the left­hand margin marker at the top of the page consists of two small arrows. Drag the top one to the right to make a normal indent, the bottom one to create a hanging indent. In most programs, you have to hold down the Shift key while dragging the bottom marker to leave the top part behind. Don't get into the habit of substituting a carriage return and a tab or spaces to create hanging indents because when your work is transferred to a different computer the result may look quite different­­and wrong.

HANUKKAH, CHANUKAH

This Jewish holiday is misspelled in a host of ways, but the two standard spellings are "Hanukkah" (most common) and "Chanukah" (for those who want to remind people that the word begins with a guttural throat­clearing sound).

HARD/HARDLY

Everybody knows "hard" as an adjective: "Starfleet requires a hard entrance exam." The problem arises when people needing an adverb try to use the familiar pattern of adding ­ly to create one, writing things like "we worked hardly at completing the test." The adverbial form of this word is in fact the same as the adjectival form: "hard." So it should be "we worked hard at completing the test."

In American English "hardly" always means something like "scarcely," as in "we hardly worked on the test." In British English the word "hardly" is sometimes used to mean "severely, harshly," as in "Trevor felt

 

himself to have been used hardly [badly treated] by the executive committee"; but this pattern is unfamiliar to most American readers.

HARDLY

When Bill says "I can't hardly bend over with this backache," he means he can hardly bend over, and that's what he should say. Similarly, when Jane says "you can feed the cat without hardly bending over" she means "almost without bending over."

HARDLY NEVER/HARDLY EVER

The expression is "hardly ever" or "almost never."

HARDY/HEARTY

These two words overlap somewhat, but usually the word you want is "hearty." The standard expressions are "a hearty appetite," "a hearty meal," a "hearty handshake," "a hearty welcome," and "hearty applause." Something difficult to kill is described as a "hardy perennial," but should not be substituted for "hearty" in the other expressions. "Party hearty" and "party hardy" are both common renderings of a common youth saying, but the first makes more sense.

HARK/HEARKEN

One old use of the word "hark" was in hunting with hounds, meaning to turn the dogs back on their course, reverse direction. It was this use that gave rise to the expression "hark back." It refers to returning in thought to an earlier time or returning to an earlier discussion: "That tie­died shirt harks back to the days we used to go to rock festivals together."

The expression is not "hearkens back." Although "hark" and "hearken" can both mean "listen," only "hark" can mean "go back."

HE DON'T/HE DOESN'T

In formal English, "don't" is not used in the third person singular. "I don't like avocado ice cream" is correct, and so is "they don't have their passports yet" and "they don't have the sense to come in out of the rain"; but "he don't have no money," though common in certain dialects, is nonstandard on two counts: it should be "he doesn't" and "any money." The same is true of other forms: "she don't" and "it don't" should be "she doesn't" and "it doesn't."

HEADING/BOUND

If you're reporting on traffic conditions, it's redundant to say "heading northbound on I­5." it's either "heading north" or "northbound."

HEAL/HEEL

 

Heal is what you do when you get better. Your heel is the back part of your foot. Achilles' heel was the only place the great warrior could be wounded in such a way that the injury wouldn't heal. Thus any striking weakness can be called an "Achilles' heel." To remember the meaning of "heal," note that it is the beginning of the word "health."

HEAR/HERE

If you find yourself writing sentences like "I know I left my wallet hear!" you should note that "hear" has the word "ear" buried in it and let that remind you that it refers only to hearing and is always a verb (except when you are giving the British cheer "Hear! Hear!"). "I left my wallet here" is the correct expression.

HEARING­IMPAIRED/DEAF

"Hearing­impaired" is not an all­purpose substitute for "deaf" since it strongly implies some residual ability to hear.

HEAVILY/STRONGLY

"Heavily" is not an all­purpose synonym for "strongly." It should be reserved for expressions in which literal or metaphorical weight or density is implied, like "heavily underlined," "heavily influenced," "heavily armed," or "heavily traveled." Not standard are expressions like "heavily admired" or "heavily characteristic of." People sometimes use "heavily" when they mean "heartily," as in "heavily praised."

HEIGHTH/HEIGHT

"Width" has a "TH" at the end, so why doesn't "height"? In fact it used to, but the standard pronunciation today ends in a plain "T" sound. People who use the obsolete form misspell it as well, so pronunciation is no guide. By the way, this is one of those pesky exceptions to the rule, "I before E except after C," but the vowels are seldom switched, perhaps because we see it printed on so many forms along with "age" and "weight."

HELP THE PROBLEM

People say they want to help the problem of poverty when what they really mean is that they want to help solve the problem of poverty. Poverty flourishes without any extra help, thank you. I guess I know what a "suicide help line" is, but I'd rather it were a "suicide prevention help line." I suppose it's too late to ask people to rename alcoholism support groups as sobriety support groups, but it's a shoddy use of language.

HENCE WHY/HENCE

Shakespeare and the Bible keep alive one meaning of the old word "hence": "away from here" ("get thee hence"). There's no need to add "from" to the word, though you often see "from hence" in pretentious writing, and it's not likely to bother many readers.

 

But another sense of the word "hence" ("therefore") causes more trouble because writers often add "why" to it: "I got tired of mowing the lawn, hence why I bought the goat." "Hence" and "why" serve the same function in a sentence like this; use just one or the other, not both: "hence I bought the goat" or "that's why I bought the goat."

HERBS/SPICES

People not seriously into cooking often mix up herbs and spices. Generally, flavorings made up of stems, leaves, and flowers are herbs; and those made of bark, roots, and seeds and dried buds are spices. However saffron, made of flower stamens, is a spice. The British pronounce the H in "herb" but Americans follow the French in dropping it.

HERO/PROTAGONIST

In ordinary usage "hero" has two meanings: "leading character in a story" and "brave, admirable person." In simple tales the two meanings may work together, but in modern literature and film the leading character or "protagonist" (a technical term common in literary criticism) may behave in a very unheroic fashion. Students who express shock that the "hero" of a play or novel behaves despicably reveal their inexperience. In literature classes avoid the word unless you mean to stress a character's heroic qualities. However, if you are discussing the main character in a traditional opera, where values are often simple, you may get by with referring to the male lead as the "hero"­­but is Don Giovanni really a hero?

See also "heroin/heroine."

HEROIN/HEROINE

Heroin is a highly addictive opium derivative; the main female character in a narrative is a heroine.

HIGHLY LOOKED UPON/HIGHLY REGARDED

Many people, struggling to remember the phrase "highly regarded," come up with the awkward "highly looked upon" instead; which suggests that the looker is placed in a high position, looking down, when what is meant is that the looker is looking up to someone or something admirable.

HIM, HER/HE, SHE

There is a group of personal pronouns to be used as subjects in a sentence, including "he," "she," "I," and "we." Then there is a separate group of object pronouns, including "him," "her," "me," and "us." The problem is that the folks who tend to mix up the two sets often don't find the subject/object distinction clear or helpful, and say things like "Her and me went to the movies."

 

A simple test is to substitute "us" for "her and me." Would you say "us went to the movies?" Obviously not. You'd normally say "we went to the movies," so when "we" is broken into the two persons involved it becomes "she and I went to the movies."

But you would say "the murder scene scared us," so it's correct to say "the murder scene scared her and me."

If you aren't involved, use "they" and "them" as test words instead of "we" and "us." "They won the lottery" becomes "he and she won the lottery," and "the check was mailed to them" becomes "the check was mailed to him and her."

See also "I/me/myself"

HINDI/HINDU

Hindi is a language. Hinduism is a religion, and its believers are called "Hindus." Not all Hindus speak Hindi, and many Hindi­speakers are not Hindus.

HIPPIE/HIPPY

A long­haired 60s flower child was a "hippie." "Hippy" is an adjective describing someone with wide hips. The IE is not caused by a Y changing to IE in the plural as in "puppy" and "puppies." It is rather a dismissive diminutive, invented by older, more sophisticated hipsters looking down on the new kids as mere "hippies." Confusing these two is definitely unhip.

HISSELF/HIMSELF

In some dialects people say "hisself" for "himself," but this is nonstandard.

AN HISTORIC/A HISTORIC

You should use "an" before a word beginning with an "H" only if the "H" is not pronounced: "an honest effort"; it's properly "a historic event" though many sophisticated speakers somehow prefer the sound of "an historic," so that version is not likely to get you into any real trouble.

HOARD/HORDE

A greedily hoarded treasure is a hoard. A herd of wildebeests or a mob of people is a horde.

HOI POLLOI

Hoi polloi is Greek for "the common people," but it is often misused to mean "the upper class" (does "hoi" make speakers think of "high" or "hoity­toity"?). Some urge that since "hoi" is the article "the hoi polloi" is redundant; but the general rule is that articles such as

 

"the" and "a" in foreign language phrases cease to function as such in place names, brands, and catch phrases except for some of the most familiar ones in French and Spanish, where everyone recognizes "la"­­for instance­­as meaning "the." "The El Nino" is redundant, but "the hoi polloi" is standard English.

HOLD YOUR PEACE/SAY YOUR PIECE

Some folks imagine that since these expressions are opposites, the last word in each should be the same; but in fact they are unrelated expressions. The first means "maintain your silence," and the other means literally "speak aloud a piece of writing" but is used to express the idea of making a statement.

HOLE/WHOLE

"Hole" and "whole" have almost opposite meanings. A hole is a lack of something, like the hole in a doughnut (despite the confusing fact that the little nubbins of fried dough are called "doughnut holes"). "Whole" means things like entire, complete, and healthy and is used in expressions like "the whole thing," "whole milk," "whole wheat," and "with a whole heart."

HOLOCAUST

"Holocaust" is a Greek­derived translation of the Hebrew term "olah," which denotes a sort of ritual sacrifice in which the food offered is completely burnt up rather than being merely dedicated to God and then eaten. It was applied with bitter irony by Jews to the destruction of millions of their number in the Nazi death camps. Although phrases like "nuclear holocaust" and "Cambodian holocaust" have become common, you risk giving serious offense by using the word in less severe circumstances, such as calling a precipitous decline in stock prices a "sell­off holocaust."

HOME PAGE

On the World Wide Web, a "home page" is normally the first page a person entering a site encounters, often functioning as a sort of table of contents for the other pages. People sometimes create special pages within their sites introducing a particular topic, and these are also informally called "home pages" (as in "The Emily Dickinson Home Page"); but it is a sure sign of a Web novice to refer to all Web pages as home pages.

HOMOPHOBIC

Some object to this word­­arguing that it literally means "man­fearing," but the "homo" in "homosexual" and in this word does not refer to the Latin word for "man," but is derived from a Greek root meaning "same" while the "­phobic" means literally "having a fear of," but in English has come to mean "hating." "Homophobic" is now an established term for "prejudiced against homosexuals."

 

HONE IN/HOME IN

You home in on a target (the center of the target is "home"). "Honing" has to do with sharpening knives, not aim.

HORS D'OEUVRES

If you knew only a little French, you might interpret this phrase as meaning "out of work," but in fact it means little snack foods served before or outside of ("hors") the main dishes of a meal (the "oeuvres"). English speakers have trouble mastering the sounds in this phrase, but it is normally rendered "or­DERVES," in a rough approximation of the original. Mangled spellings like "hors' dourves" are not uncommon. Actually, many modern food writers have decided we needn't try to wrap our tongues around this peculiar foreign phrase and now prefer "starters." They are also commonly called "appetizers."

HOW COME/WHY

"How come?" is a common question in casual speech, but in formal contexts use "why?"

HOW TO/HOW CAN I

You can ask someone how to publish a novel; but when you do, don't write "How to publish a novel?" Instead ask "How can I publish a novel?" or "How does someone publish a novel?" If you're in luck, the person you've asked will tell you how to do it. "How to" belongs in statements, not questions.

HUNDREDS/CENTURY

"Eighteen hundreds," "sixteen hundreds" and so forth are not exactly errors; the problem is that they are used almost exclusively by people who are nervous about saying "nineteenth century" when, after all, the years in that century begin with the number eighteen. This should be simple: few people are unclear about the fact that this is the twenty­first century even though our dates begin with twenty. For most dates you can just add one to the second digit in a year and you've got the number of its century. It took a hundred years to get to the year 100, so the next hundred years, which are named "101," "102," etc. were in the second century. This also works BC. The four hundreds BC are the fifth century BC. Using phrases like "eighteen hundreds" is a signal to your readers that you are weak in math and history alike.

HYPHENATION

The Chicago Manual of Style contains a huge chart listing various sorts of phrases that are or are not to be hyphenated. Consult such a reference source for a thorough­going account of this matter, but you may be able to get by with a few basic rules. An adverb/adjective combination in which the adverb ends in "­LY" is never hyphenated: "His necktie reflected his generally grotesque taste." Other sorts of adverbs are followed by a hyphen when combined with an adjective: "His

 

long­suffering wife finally snapped and fed it through the office shredder." The point here is that "long" modifies "suffering," not "wife." When both words modify the same noun, they are not hyphenated. A "light­green suitcase" is pale in color, but a "light green suitcase" is not heavy. In the latter example "light" and "green" both modify "suitcase," so no hyphen is used.

Adjectives combined with nouns having an "­ED" suffix are hyphenated:

"Frank was a hot­headed cop."

Hyphenate ages when they are adjective phrases involving a unit of measurement: "Her ten­year­old car is beginning to give her trouble." A girl can be a "ten­year­old" ("child" is implied). But there are no hyphens in such an adjectival phrase as "Her car is ten years old." In fact, hyphens are generally omitted when such phrases follow the noun they modify except in phrases involving "all" or "self" such as "all­knowing" or "self­confident." Fractions are almost always hyphenated when they are adjectives: "He is one­quarter Irish and three­quarters Nigerian." But when the numerator is already hyphenated, the fraction itself is not, as in "ninety­nine and forty­four one hundredths." Fractions treated as nouns are not hyphenated: "He ate one quarter of the turkey."

A phrase composed of a noun and a present participle ("­ing" word) must be hyphenated: "The antenna had been climbed by thrill­seeking teenagers who didn't realize the top of it was electrified."

These are the main cases in which people are prone to misuse hyphens. If you can master them, you will have eliminated the vast majority of such mistakes in your writing. Some styles call for space around dashes (a practice of which I strongly disapprove), but it is never proper to surround hyphens with spaces, though in the following sort of pattern you may need to follow a hyphen with a space: "Stacy's pre­ and post­ haircut moods."

HYPHENS & DASHES

Dashes are longer than hyphens, but since some browsers do not reliably interpret the code for dashes, they are usually rendered on the Web as they were on old­fashioned typewriters, as double hyphens­­like that.

Dashes tend to separate elements and hyphens to link them. Few people would substitute a dash for a hyphen in an expression like "a quick­witted scoundrel," but the opposite is common. In a sentence like "Astrud­­unlike Inger­­enjoyed vacations in Spain rather than England," one often sees hyphens incorrectly substituted for dashes.

When you are typing for photocopying or direct printing, it is a good idea to learn how to type a true dash instead of the double hyphen (computers differ). In old­fashioned styles, dashes (but never hyphens) are surrounded by spaces ­­ like this. With modern computer output which emulates professional printing, this makes little sense. Skip the spaces unless your editor or teacher insists on them.

There are actually two kinds of dashes. The most common is the "em­dash"

 

(theoretically the width of a letter "M"­­but this is often not the case). To connect numbers, it is traditional to use an "en­dash" which is somewhat shorter, but not as short as a hyphen: "cocktails 5­7 pm." All modern computers can produce en­dashes, but few people know how to type them. For most purposes you don't have to worry about them, but if you are preparing material for print, you should learn how to use them.

HYPOCRITICAL

"Hypocritical" has a narrow, very specific meaning. It describes behavior or speech that is intended to make one look better or more pious than one really is. It is often wrongly used to label people who are merely narrow­minded or genuinely pious. Do not confuse this word with "hypercritical," which describes people who are picky.

HYSTERICAL/HILARIOUS

People say of a bit of humor or a comical situation that it was "hysterical"­­shorthand for "hysterically funny"­­meaning "hilarious." But when you speak of a man being "hysterical" it means he is having a fit of hysteria, and that may not be funny at all.

I/ME/MYSELF

In the old days when people studied traditional grammar, we could simply say, "The first person singular pronoun is "I" when it's a subject and "me" when it's an object," but now few people know what that means. Let's see if we can apply some common sense here. The misuse of "I" and "myself" for "me" is caused by nervousness about "me." Educated people know that "Jim and me are goin' down to slop the hogs," is not elegant speech, not "correct." It should be "Jim and I" because if I were slopping the hogs alone I would never say "Me is going. . . ." If you refer to yourself first, the same rule applies: It's not "Me and Jim are going" but "I and Jim are going."

So far so good. But the notion that there is something wrong with "me" leads people to overcorrect and avoid it where it is perfectly appropriate. People will say "The document had to be signed by both Susan and I" when the correct statement would be, "The document had to be signed by both Susan and me." Trying even harder to avoid the lowly "me," many people will substitute "myself," as in "The suspect uttered epithets at Officer O'Leary and myself."

"Myself" is no better than "I" as an object. "Myself" is not a sort of all­purpose intensive form of "me" or "I." Use "myself" only when you have used "I" earlier in the same sentence: "I am not particularly fond of goat cheese myself." "I kept half the loot for myself." All this confusion can easily be avoided if you just remove the second party from the sentences where you feel tempted to use "myself" as an object or feel nervous about "me." You wouldn't say, "The IRS sent the refund check to I," so you shouldn't say "The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and I" either. And you shouldn't say "to my wife and myself." The only correct way to say this is, "The IRS sent the refund check to my wife and me." Still sounds too casual? Get over it.

 

On a related point, those who continue to announce "It is I" have traditional grammatical correctness on their side, but they are vastly outnumbered by those who proudly boast "it's me!" There's not much that can be done about this now. Similarly, if a caller asks for Susan and Susan answers "This is she," her somewhat antiquated correctness is likely to startle the questioner into confusion.

­IC

In the Cold War era, anti­socialists often accused their enemies of being "socialistic" by which they meant that although they were not actually socialists, some of their beliefs were like those of socialists. But the "­ic" suffix is recklessly used in all kinds of settings, often without understanding its implications. Karl Marx was not "socialistic," he was actually socialist.

IDEA/IDEAL

Any thought can be an idea, but only the best ideas worth pursuing are ideals.

IF I WAS/IF I WERE

The subjunctive mood, always weak in English, has been dwindling away for centuries until it has almost vanished. According to traditional thought, statements about the conditional future such as "If I were a carpenter . . ." require the subjunctive "were"; but "was" is certainly much more common. Still, if you want to impress those in the know with your usage, use "were" when writing of something hypothetical, unlikely, or contrary to fact.

The same goes for other pronouns: "you," "she," "he," and "it." In the case of the plural pronouns "we" and "they" the form "was" is definitely nonstandard, of course, because it is a singular form.

IF NOT

"He was smart if not exactly brilliant." In this sort of expression, "if not" links a weaker with a stronger word with a related meaning. Other examples: "unattractive if not downright ugly," "reasonably priced if not exactly cheap," "interested if not actually excited."

But this sort of "if not" is often misused to link words that don't form a weaker/stronger pair: "obscure if not boring," "happy if not entertained," "anxious if not afraid." The linked terms in these examples do have some logical relationship, but they do not form a weaker/stronger pair.

IGNORANT/STUPID

A person can be ignorant (not knowing some fact or idea) without being stupid (incapable of learning because of a basic mental deficiency). And those who say, "That's an ignorant idea" when they mean "stupid idea"

 

are expressing their own ignorance.

ILLINOIS

It annoys Chicagoans when people pronounce their state's final syllable to rhyme with "noise." The final "S" in "Illinois" is silent. The final "S" in "Illinois" is silent.

ILLUDE/ELUDE

"Illude" is a very rare word, most of whose former meanings are obsolete, but which can mean "to deceive, lead astray." But in modern usage this word is almost always used as an error for "elude," meaning "escape, evade." Similarly, you would be better off avoiding the word "illusive" and using the much more common word "illusory" to mean "deceptive." "Illusive" is almost always an error for "elusive."

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION/VIRGIN BIRTH

The doctrine of "immaculate conception" (the belief that Mary was conceived without inheriting original sin) is often confused with the doctrine of the "virgin birth" (the belief that Mary gave birth to Jesus while remaining a virgin).

IMPACT

One (very large) group of people thinks that using "impact" as a verb is just nifty: "The announcement of yet another bug in the software will strongly impact the price of the company's stock." Another (very passionate) group of people thinks that "impact" should be used only as a noun and considers the first group to be barbarians. Although the first group may well be winning the usage struggle, you risk offending more people by using "impact" as a verb than you will by substituting more traditional words like "affect" or "influence."

IMPACTFUL/INFLUENTIAL

Many people in business and education like to speak of things that have an impact as being "impactful," but this term does not appear in most dictionaries and is not well thought of by traditionalists. Use "influential" or "effective" instead.

IMPERTINENT/IRRELEVANT

"Impertinent" looks as if it ought to mean the opposite of "pertinent," and indeed it once did; but for centuries now its meaning in ordinary speech has been narrowed to "impudent," specifically in regard to actions or speech toward someone regarded as socially superior. Only snobs and very old­fashioned people use "impertinent" correctly; most people would be well advised to forget it and use "irrelevant" instead to mean the opposite of "pertinent."

IMPLY/INFER

 

These two words, which originally had quite distinct meanings, have become so blended together that most people no longer distinguish between them. If you want to avoid irritating the rest of us, use "imply" when something is being suggested without being explicitly stated and "infer" when someone is trying to arrive at a conclusion based on evidence. "Imply" is more assertive, active: I imply that you need to revise your paper; and, based on my hints, you infer that I didn't think highly of your first draft.

IN REGARDS TO/WITH REGARD TO

Business English is deadly enough without scrambling it. "As regards your downsizing plan . . ." is acceptable, if stiff. "In regard to" "and "with regard to" are also correct. But "in regards to" is nonstandard. You can also convey the same idea with "in respect to" or "with respect to," or­­simplest of all­­just plain "regarding."

IN SHAMBLES/A SHAMBLES

Your clothes are in tatters, your plans are in ruins, but you can console yourself that your room cannot be "in shambles."

The expression meaning "like a wreck" is "a shambles": "Your room is a shambles! It looks like a cyclone hit it."

A shambles used to be the counter in a meat stall and later, a bloody butchery floor. Settings like the throne room at the end of Hamlet or a disastrous battlefield strewn with body parts can be called "a shambles" in the traditional sense. Now the phrase usually means just "a mess."

IN SPITE OF/ DESPITE

Although "in spite of" is perfectly standard English, some people prefer "despite" because it is shorter. Be careful not to mix the two together by saying "despite of" except as part of the phrase "in despite of" meaning "in defiance of."

And note that unlike "despite," "in spite" should always be spelled as two separate words.

IN STORE

Some people say things like "he is in store for a surprise on his birthday" when they mean he is in line for a surprise. The metaphor is not based on the image of going shopping in a store but of something awaiting you­­stored up for you­­so the correct form would be "a surprise is in store for him on his birthday."

IN TERMS OF

Originally this expression was used to explain precise quantifiable relationships: "We prefer to measure our football team's success in terms of the number of fans attending rather than the number of games won." But it has for a long time now been greatly overused in all kinds

 

of vague ways, often clumsily.

Here are some awkward uses followed by recommended alternatives: "We have to plan soon what to do in terms of Thanksgiving." (for) "What are we going to do in terms of paying these bills?" (about)

"A little chili powder goes a long way in terms of spicing up any dish." (toward).

"What do you like in terms of movies?" (What kind of movies do you like?)

IN THE FACT THAT/IN THAT

Many people mistakenly write "in the fact that" when they mean simply "in that" in sentences like "It seemed wiser not to go to work in the fact that the boss had discovered the company picnic money was missing." Omit "the fact." While we're at it, "infact" is not a word; "in fact" is always a two­word phrase.

IN THE MIST/IN THE MIDST

When you are surrounded by something, you're in the midst of it­­its middle. If you're in a mist, you're just in a fog.

INCASE/IN CASE

Just in case you haven't figured this out already: the expression "in case" is two words, not one. There is a brand of equipment covers sold under the incase brand, but that's a very different matter, to be used only when you need something in which to encase your iPod.

INCENT, INCENTIVIZE

Business folks sometimes use "incent" to mean "create an incentive," but it's not standard English. "Incentivize" is even more widely used, but strikes many people as an ugly substitute for "encourage."

INCIDENCE/INCIDENTS/INSTANCES

These three overlap in meaning just enough to confuse a lot of people. Few of us have a need for "incidence," which most often refers to degree or extent of the occurrence of something: "The incidence of measles in Whitman County has dropped markedly since the vaccine has been provided free." "Incidents," which is pronounced identically, is merely the plural of "incident," meaning "occurrences": "Police reported damage to three different outhouses in separate incidents last Halloween". Instances (not "incidences") are examples: "Semicolons are not required in the first three instances given in your query." Incidents can be used as instances only if someone is using them as examples.

INCREDIBLE

The other day I heard a film reviewer praise a director because he created "incredible characters," which would literally mean unbelievable characters. What the reviewer meant to say, of course, was precisely the opposite: characters so lifelike as to seem like real people.

 

Intensifiers and superlatives tend to get worn down quickly through overuse and become almost meaningless, but it is wise to be aware of their root meanings so that you don't unintentionally utter absurdities. "Fantastic" means "as in a fantasy" just as "fabulous" means "as in a fable." A "wonderful" sight should make you pause in wonder (awe). Some of these words are worn down beyond redemption, however. For instance, who now expects a "terrific" sight to terrify?

INCREDULOUS/INCREDIBLE

"When Jessica said that my performance at the karaoke bar had been incredible, I was incredulous." I hope Jessica was using "incredible" in the casual sense of "unbelievably good" but I knew I used "incredulous" to mean "unbelieving, skeptical," which is the only standard usage for this word.

INDEPTH/IN DEPTH

You can make an "in­depth" study of a subject by studying it "in depth," but never "indepth." Like "a lot" this expression consists of two words often mistaken for one. The first, adjectival, use of the phrase given above is commonly hyphenated, which may lead some people to splice the words even more closely together. "Indepth" is usually used as an adverb by people of limited vocabulary who would be better off saying "profoundly" or "thoroughly." Some of them go so far as to say that they have studied a subject "indepthly." Avoid this one if you don't want to be snickered at.

INDIAN/NATIVE AMERICAN

Although academics have long promoted "Native American" as a more accurate label than "Indian," most of the people so labeled continue to refer to themselves as "Indians" and prefer that term. In Canada, there is a move to refer to descendants of the original inhabitants as "First Nations" or "First Peoples," but so far that has not spread to the US

UNIVERSITY OF INDIANA

There is no such place as "the University of Indiana"; it's "Indiana University."

I should know; I went there.

INDIVIDUAL/PERSON

Law­enforcement officers often use "individual" as a simple synonym for "person" when they don't particularly mean to stress individuality: "I pursued the individual who had fired the weapon at me for three blocks." This sort of use of "individual" lends an oddly formal air to your writing. When "person" works as well, use it.

INFAMOUS/NOTORIOUS

"Infamous" means famous in a bad way. It is related to the word

 

"infamy." Humorists have for a couple of centuries jokingly used the word in a positive sense, but the effectiveness of the joke depends on the listener knowing that this is a misuse of the term. Because this is a very old joke indeed you should stick to using "infamous" only of people like Hitler and Billy the Kid.

"Notorious" means the same thing as "infamous" and should also only be used in a negative sense.

INFACT/IN FACT

"In fact" is always two words.

INFINITE

When Shakespeare's Enobarbus said of Cleopatra that "age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety," he was obviously exaggerating. So few are the literal uses of "infinite" that almost every use of it is metaphorical. There are not an infinite number of possible positions on a chessboard, nor number of stars in the known universe. To say of snowflakes that the possible variety of their shape is infinite is incorrect: surely one could theoretically calculate the maximum possible size of something one could justly call a "snowflake," calculate the number of molecules possible in that volume, and the number of possible arrangements of those molecules. The result would be a very large number, but not an infinity. Things can be innumerable (in one sense of the word) without being infinite; in other words, things which are beyond the human capacity to count can still be limited in number. "Infinite" has its uses as a loose synonym for "a very great many," but it is all too often lazily used when one doesn't want to do the work to discover the order of magnitude involved. When you are making quasi­scientific statements you do a disservice to your reader by implying infinity when mere billions are involved.

INFLAMMABLE

"Inflammable" means the same thing as "flammable": burnable, capable of being ignited or inflamed. So many people mistake the "in­" prefix as a negative, however, that it has been largely abandoned as a warning label.

INFLUENCIAL/INFLUENTIAL

If you have influence, you are "influential," not "influencial."

INK PEN/PEN

If there were any danger of confusing pens for writing with other kinds of pens (light­, sea­, pig­) the phrase "ink pen" might be useful, but it seems to be mainly a way of saying "not a pencil." Plain old "pen" will do fine.

INPUT

 

Some people object to "input" as computer jargon that's proliferated unjustifiably in the business world. Be aware that it's not welcome in all settings; but whatever you do, don't misspell it "imput."

INSIGHT/INCITE

An insight is something you have: an understanding of something, a bright idea about something.

To incite is to do something: to stimulate some action or other to be taken. You can never have an incite.

INSTALL/INSTILL

People conjure up visions of themselves as upgradable robots when they write things like "My Aunt Tillie tried to install the spirit of giving in my heart." The word they are searching for is "instill." You install equipment, you instill feelings or attitudes.

INSTANCES/INSTANTS

Brief moments are "instants," and examples of anything are "instances."

INTEND ON/INTEND TO

You can plan on doing something, but you intend to do it. Many people confuse these two expressions with each other and mistakenly say "intend on." Of course if you are really determined, you can be intent on doing something.

INTENSE/INTENSIVE

If you are putting forth an intense effort, your work is "intense": "My intense study of Plato convinced me that I would make a good leader." But when the intensity stems not so much from your effort as it does from outside forces, the usual word is "intensive": "the village endured intensive bombing."

INTENSIFIERS

People are always looking for ways to emphasize how really, really special the subject under discussion is. (The use of "really" is one of the weakest and least effective of these.) A host of words have been worn down in this service to near­meaninglessness. It is good to remember the etymological roots of such words to avoid such absurdities as "fantastically realistic," "absolutely relative," and "incredibly convincing." When you are tempted to use one of these vague intensifiers consider rewriting your prose to explain more precisely and vividly what you mean: "Fred's cooking was incredibly bad" could be changed to "When I tasted Fred's cooking I almost thought I was back in the middle­school cafeteria."

See also "Incredible."

 

INTERCESSION/INTERSESSION

In theology, "intercession" is a prayer on behalf of someone else; but an alarming number of colleges use the word to label the period between regular academic sessions. Such a period is properly an "intersession."

INTERGRATE/INTEGRATE

There are lots of words that begin with "inter­" but this is not one of them. The word is "integrate" with just one R.

INTERESTING

The second syllable is normally silent in "interesting." It's nonstandard to go out of your way to pronounce the "ter," and definitely substandard to say "innaresting."

INTERFACE/INTERACT

The use of the computer term "interface" as a verb, substituting for "interact," is widely objected to.

INTERMENT/INTERNMENT

Interment is burial; internment is merely imprisonment.

INTERMURAL/INTRAMURAL

"Intramural" means literally "within the walls" and refers to activities that take place entirely within an institution. When at Macbeth State University the Glamis Hall soccer team plays against the one from Dunsinane Hall, that's an intramural game. When MSU's Fighting Scots travel to go up against Cawdor U. in the Porter's Bowl, the game is "intermural" (though the perfectly correct "intercollegiate" is more often used instead). "Intermural" is constantly both said and written when "intramural" is meant.

INTERNET/INTRANET

"Internet" is the proper name of the network most people connect to, and the word needs to be capitalized. However "intranet," a network confined to a smaller group, is a generic term which does not deserve capitalization. In advertising, we often read things like "unlimited Internet, $35." It would be more accurate to refer in this sort of context to "Internet access."

INTERPRETATE/INTERPRET

"Interpretate" is mistakenly formed from "interpretation," but the verb form is simply "interpret." See also "orientate."

INTO/IN TO

"Into" is a preposition which often answers the question, "where?" For

 

example, "Tom and Becky had gone far into the cave before they realized they were lost." Sometimes the "where" is metaphorical, as in, "He went into the army" or "She went into business." It can also refer by analogy to time: "The snow lingered on the ground well into April." In old­fashioned math talk, it could be used to refer to division: "two into six is three." In other instances where the words "in" and "to" just happen to find themselves neighbors, they must remain separate words. For instance, "Rachel dived back in to rescue the struggling boy." Here "to" belongs with "rescue" and means "in order to," not "where." (If the phrase had been "dived back into the water," "into" would be required.)

Try speaking the sentence concerned aloud, pausing distinctly between "in" and "to." If the result sounds wrong, you probably need "into."

Then there is the 60s colloquialism which lingers on in which "into" means "deeply interested or involved in": "Kevin is into baseball cards." This is derived from usages like "the committee is looking into the fund­raising scandal." The abbreviated form is not acceptable formal English, but is quite common in informal communications.

INTRICATE/INTEGRAL

An integral part of a machine, organization, or idea is a necessary, inseparable part of it. Many people mistakenly substitute "intricate" for "integral" in the phrase "an integral part."

A very simple bit of metal can be an integral part of an intricate machine.

INTRIGUE

Something mysterious or alluring can be called "intriguing," but "intrigue" as a noun means something rather different: scheming and plotting. Don't say people or situations are full of intrigue when you mean they are intriguing. The Oldsmobile car model called the Intrigue is probably based on this common confusion.

INVITE/INVITATION

"Invite" (accent on the second syllable) is perfectly standard as a verb: "Invite me to the birthday party and I'll jump out of the cake."

But "invite" (accent on the first syllable) as a noun meaning "invitation" is less acceptable: "I got an invite to my ex­wife"s wedding." Though this formn has become extremely popular, even in fairly formal contexts, it is safer to use the traditional "invitation."

IRAQ

Want to sound like a good old boy who doesn't give a hoot what foreigners think? Say "EYE­rack." But if you want to sound knowledgeable, say "ear­ROCK." Politicians who know better sometimes adopt the popular mispronunciation in order to sound more folksy and

 

down to earth.

Similarly in standard English, Iran is not pronounced "eye­RAN" but "ear­RON."

On a related matter, the first syllable of "Italian" is pronounced just like the first syllable in "Italy," with an "it" sound. "Eye­talian" sounds distinctly uneducated.

IRONICALLY/COINCIDENTALLY

An event that is strikingly different from or the opposite of what one would have expected, usually producing a sense of incongruity, is ironic: "The sheriff proclaimed a zero­tolerance policy on drugs, but ironically flunked his own test." Other striking comings­together of events lacking these qualities are merely coincidental: "the lovers leapt off the tower just as a hay wagon coincidentally happened to be passing below."

IRREGARDLESS/REGARDLESS

Regardless of what you have heard, "irregardless" is a redundancy. The suffix "­less" on the end of the word already makes the word negative. It doesn't need the negative prefix "ir­" added to make it even more negative.

IS, IS

In speech, people often lose track in the middle of a sentence and repeat "is" instead of saying "that": "The problem with the conflict in the Balkans is, is the ethnic tensions seem exacerbated by everything we do." This is just a nervous tic, worth being alert against when you're speaking publicly.

However, when you begin a sentence with the phrase "What it is," it's normal, though awkward, to follow the phrase with another "is": What it is, is a disaster." This colloquialism is probably derived from expressions like this: "I'll tell you what it is; it is a disaster." In this case, each "is" has its own proper "it," whereas the condensed version sounds like a verbal stumble. If you would rather avoid this sort of "is, is" you can avoid using "what it is" and say something simple like "It's a disaster," or "The point is that it's a disaster."

Of course, I suppose it all depends on what you think the meaning of "is" is.

ISN'T IT/INNIT

In South Asia you often hear people end sentences with "isn't it?" in contexts where traditional English would require "doesn't it," "won't it," "aren't you," and related expressions. In Britain and among American Indians, among others, this "invariant isn't" is reduced to "innit," and may be used even more broadly as a general emphatic exclamation at the end of almost any statement.

 

This interesting pattern is liable to puzzle, amuse, or annoy those who aren't used to it, isn't it?

ISLAMS/MUSLIMS

Followers of Islam are called "Muslims," not "Islams." "Muslim" is now widely preferred over the older and less phonetically accurate "Moslem."

The S in "Islam" and "Muslim" is sibilant like the S in "saint." It should not be pronounced with a Z sound.

ISREAL/ISRAEL

To remember how to spell "Israel" properly, try pronouncing it the way Israelis do when they're speaking English: "ISS­rah­el."

ISSUES/PROBLEMS

An "issue" used to be a matter for consideration or discussion. For instance, a group might discuss the issue of how best to raise funds for its scholarship program. But people could also disagree with each other by saying "I take issue [disagree] with you on that point."

But then mental health professionals began to talk about "child­rearing issues" and "relationship issues," and such. In this context the meaning of "issues" began to blur into that of "problems" and cross­pollinate with "take issue," leading ordinary folks to began saying things like "I have tendonitis issues." or "I have issues with telemarketing." This very popular sort of expression is viewed with contempt or amusement by many traditionalists, who are truly appalled when it's extended to the inanimate world: "these laptops have issues with some wireless cards."

ITCH/SCRATCH

Strictly speaking, you scratch an itch. If you're trying to get rid of a tingly feeling on your back scratch it, don't itch it.

ITS/IT'S

The exception to the general rule that one should use an apostrophe to indicate possession is in possessive pronouns. Some of them are not a problem. "Mine" has no misleading "s" at the end to invite an apostrophe. And few people are tempted to write "hi's," though the equally erroneous "her's" is fairly common, as are "our's" and "their's" ­­all wrong, wrong, wrong. The problem with avoiding "it's" as a possessive is that this spelling is perfectly correct as a contraction meaning "it is." Just remember two points and you'll never make this mistake again. (1) "it's" always means "it is" or "it has" and nothing else. (2) Try changing the "its" in your sentence to "his" and if it doesn't make sense, then go with "it's."

(Common Errors in English by Paul Brians)