Grammar Girl's 101 Misused Words You'll Never Confuse Again

by Mignon Fogarty

Millions of people around the world communicate better thanks to Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, whose top-rated weekly grammar podcast has been downloaded more than 30 million times. After realizing her fans were asking the same questions over and over, Mignon decided to focus her attention on those words that continuously confound the masses. In Grammar Girl's 101 Misused Words You'll Never Confuse Again, you'll learn:
- When you should use affect and when effect is right
- Whether you should you say purposely or purposefully
- The difference between hilarious and hysterical

Packed with clear explanations, fun quotations showing the word used in context, and the quick and dirty memory tricks Mignon is known for, this friendly reference guide ends the confusion once and for all and helps you speak and write with confidence.

Genres: Nonfiction, Writing, Language, Reference, Linguistics

123 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2011

About the author

Mignon Fogarty is better known as Grammar Girl — five-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards, an inductee in the Podcasting Hall of Fame, the founder of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network, and the former chair of media entrepreneurship in the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada. She is the author of seven books about language, including the New York Times bestseller, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. She has also appeared as a guest expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show.

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever wondered when to use fewer versus less? Or farther versus further? Read this short and concise book to gain a better command of the English language and thus become a better speaker and writer. The quick and dirty tips offer additional hints and fun memory tricks to help you keep words and their meanings straight.

[Flybyreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am absolutely spellbound by languages and linguistics, and I am thrilled to have discovered Quick and Dirty Tips by Mignon Fogarty. I am usually the annoying grammar police in my circle, going after the ones butchering the language like a lioness after a prey. This is my first book of the brilliant author and I have to admit I loved every page!

I am proud to have seen that I am familiar with most of the words and their meanings but it was great to brush up my vocabulary and linguistic knowledge. The Grammar Girl series is composed of several books that offer tips and tricks for the correct language usage in an entertaining way.

The Quick and Dirty Tips section works like a charm helping you remember the differences between most common homophone words that are mistaken with each other. The author uses real-life sentences from my favorite TV shows such as House, How I Met Your Mother, Friends, The Office, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Voila! The words are now burned into my memory! Great job Mignon Fogarty! I cannot wait to read the rest of her books.

[Stephanie ((Strazzybooks)) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

This was helpful - particularly for my ESL students.

There were a few things I would change - like some of the words included “winch/wench”, could have been exchanged with more common words “everyday/every day”, which were relegated to the a list in the back of the book.

[Lorraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine small guide which explains the correct way to use often ‘misused’ words. Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl’s 101 Misused Words You’ll Never Confuse Again contains words that are often used incorrectly. She even had a couple of my bugaboos in her guide: lie & lay and bad & badly! The author also provides ‘little tricks’ to help one remember when to use each word. A very handy item! 4 stars.

[Trish Bachman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining and handy reference!

[Naomi Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer first: I was moved to pre-order the book because Mignon was offering an incentive -- a personalized video -- for those who did so. I received that gift, but I paid the regular Amazon price for the book, and I made no agreement to review the book. It's a good thing I didn't because I've taken so long to finish that a review is now probably so late it's not very useful. But go out and get this book, for yourself or for that friend whose not-quite-right word choices are driving you around the bend.

The structure is simple; each entry features a pair or triple set of commonly confused words. For each, Fogarty gives the correct usage, a memorable quotation (often from popular movies and TV), and usually a mnemonic device to keep you using the right word in the future. Some of these are a stretch, but they will indeed work. The pages are decorated with the whimsical figures of Squiggly (a snail) and Aardvark (an aardvark, yes!). These sketches occasionally illustrate a point, but more often are like medieval illuminations, just adding a little delight to the page.

Now, you might not think you need this book. You might be one of those people who goes around correcting other people concerning their word choices. First of all, I'm willing to bet you WILL discover a word you've been misusing without realizing it. Once you get over the shock, you'll notice that you can help your friends by using Fogarty's little tips and tricks to correct THEIR common errors.

This book would make a good gift, because the tone is friendly and direct, not at all insulting to the reader.

[OLT · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I were rich enough to hand this out to all my students every semester. Unfortunately, even if I could give this away to all of them, what are the chances they'd read it? That's the problem. This is actually for those people who really do give a darn how they use words. And, hey, maybe forget about the students. I think this should be handed out to all those wannabe authors who put out those cheapie e-books that I have been gullible enough to order for my Kindle.

This book is not all-inclusive. How can it be when it's only 101 misused words? But it does have some of my really big peeves: lie v. lay/ loose v. lose/ peak, peek, and pique/ affect v. effect/ complement v. compliment/ compose v. comprise, and more. One missing pair that really needed to be included but is not is "discrete v. discreet", but you can't have everything, I suppose.

And it's fun to read, written with a sense of humor and with clear explanations. Oh, if only this could get more people to care that you lay down the law but you lie down on your bed.

[Brentman99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think that this is an excellent little book. A 119 pages, it is full of information with small hints and tricks to remember which word is which.

I think that the pop culture TV and movie quotes are a great idea. Here is a quick example that, as a big fan of "The Office" I really enjoyed to differentiate between the words raise and raze:

Dwight Schrute: Through concentration I can raise and lower my cholesterol at will.
Pam Beesly: Why would you want to raise your cholesterol?
Dwight Schrute: So I can lower it.

I think it is books like this, that are fun but allow you to learn while you laugh, that help people learn small lessons and tricks that will help them with their own writing. Not my normal bathroom reader, but it was just as entertaining at times.

This book was well worth the time spent reading and I recommend it to others.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, like all of Grammar Girl's prior books (and podcasts), is well written with easy-to-understand examples. Like most people, there are words and word pairs that confuse and befuddle me. Grammar Girl clears up a lot of the uncertainty around these words, and provides background information on word orgins in an interesting and fun manner. I now know that when I shuffle cards, I'm actually riffling, and after reading this book, I finally understand why my wife was mad at me when I brought home 14 carrots for our anniversary rather that 14 karats (of gold)! I'm waiting with bated breath for Grammar Girl's next book!

[Noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Mignon Fogarty does not fail to deliver in the next instalment of her 'Grammar Girl' series. This time, she tackles 101 words/phrases that are misused, often providing additional information regarding the etymology or just additional fun facts that make the nuanced differences stand out.

My favourite was learning the difference between carrot, carat, karat and caret (*mind blown*). Never again shall I misuse the verb quote as a noun or use the verb impact when I actually mean affect; admittedly, a lot of the examples cited are fairly elementary. Nonetheless, the background information that is given makes for a fun and easy read.

[MrsDuffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good and succinct

Great for those composing written docs often. A quick read and time saver. Examples are provided for ease of use.

[Yara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned that segue "a smooth transition" is not spelled segway unless it is the two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle. And it is disappointing to learn that "snuck" will eventually be acceptable by all. Really? Sorry, Mr. Hess (my beloved 7th grade English teacher and grammar stickler extraordinaire).

[Nina Pantelic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for people who make those tiny, awkward mistakes (think ¨for all intensive purposes!¨). In all fairness, I have to admit I don´t think I´ve made any of the mistakes listed, but it IS good to know the difference between carat and karat, remember that it´s skittish, not skiddish, and that the correct term is ¨trouper.¨

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book. Helps to clear up whatever word confusion you have. Not only does it tell you the meaning of the word and how to use it, it also gives you some interesting history on the word and itd it's origin.

[aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this. While most words I knew the difference between, there were some she addressed that I wasn't aware of and appreciated learning the correct usage for. Handy little guide to the English language.

[Saurabh Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quick but a fun read. I liked how each page was short and crisp. I also loved the quotes on each page from popular sources. lastly, the call outs at the end of most pages, on how to remember the difference in usage was a nice touch by the author.

[Kim Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big grammar girl fan. This book is lighthearted and not dull.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not tell you all the ways I love this book! I use it daily in my classroom!

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mignon “Grammar Girl” Fogarty has been running her popular writing blog seemingly as long as I’ve been writing online. This pocket-sized guide provides “quick and dirty tips” to avoid misusing commonly swapped words. While about half of the 101 examples are known to most educated people, the surprising subtle lessons (like the difference between “purposely” and “purposefully”, or the controversial idea that “supposably” is a real, defined word separate from “supposedly” accepted in America but not British English) are worth the couple of bucks for this grammar pamphlet.

[Dorothy Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting little book more likely to be read by people who don't need it than people who do. Some of her word choices were surprising. The kind of people who use the word segue aren't likely to confuse it with Segway. She omits other problem pairs like flout/flaunt. Her explanations are very good and I enjoyed the movie quotations, but her Quick and Dirty Tips aren't so wonderful. The exception is her him-lick maneuver for who/whom, but it's still a good idea to rewrite any sentence that would require whom.

[JaNel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmmm. Do we need a book like this when we have the internet? Probably not, but it was a fun quick read. Kind of like an interesting article on this nerdy subject.

I was very annoyed that she did not explain or define the word in the same order that she listed them in their specific “chapter” title. Why would she not do this most elementary editing to-do. Is she testing us? Pushing our nerdy editorial buttons? I tried not to be baited, but it is very annoying.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for quick reference. The only entry I take issue with is an argument against the singular "they" (which has been in use for hundreds of years, source: https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-h...). If I still taught high school English, this would be a great reference book to keep on the shelf.

[Erica Trobaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fogarty is informative and concise yet entertaining. Being a grammar nerd myself, I knew most of these already. But there were a few that I found extremely helpful, and I'll definitely keep this as a reference guide if I run into any tricky situations.

[Kimberly Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly written and helpful.

[Veronica Villalpando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy, enjoyable read. Learned a few things...

[Laurian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I strangely learned much more than I thought I would.

[Marie-Sharrane]

It is nice to have a listing of words that are used incorrectly, but is ot too much to ask for clear definitions?

[Devon D]

Without further *ado*

[Amanda Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does exactly what it says on the cover in a way that is clear and fun.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

well done (minus the cheesy cartoons)