Commonly confused words

biannual or biennial who or whom that or which me or I continual or continuous

stationery or stationary less or fewer take off or take from affect or effect altogether or all together

Biannual or biennial?

BiEnnial means once every two years, just as centennial means once every hundred years.

BiAnnual means twice a year.

Who or whom?

Use ‘who’ in front of a verb — an action word.

Examples

• Who ran for President?
• Who went with you to the movies?
• Can I ask who wants one of our brochures?

Use ‘whom’ after a preposition — a connecting or linking word.

Examples

• With whom did you go to the movies?
• My father is the man from whom I learned everything.
• You want me to give the book to whom?
• To whom it may concern…

 

Back to top

 

 

That or which?

Use 'that' to introduce essential information. You cannot change a 'that' statement without changing the essential meaning of the sentence. 'That' statements do not go inside commas.

Example 

The book that you need is unavailable. 

Use 'which' to introduce non-essential information. You can delete a 'which' statement and not alter the essential meaning of the sentence. 'Which' statements go inside commas.

Example 

Hamilton, which is built on the banks of the Waikato River, has cold, foggy winters. 

Back to top

Me or I?

Which of the following would you use?

• He gave the report to Paul, Sarah and I / me.
• Me and John went to the movies / John and I went to the movies.

 
To check you got it right, cross out the other names in the group.
 
Therefore, the correct answers are:

• He gave the report to Paul, Sarah and me.
• John and I went to the movies.

 

Back to top

 

Continual or continuous?

Use continuAL to refer to events that occur frequently but with intervALs in between. 

Example

The field was a sea of mud because of the continual bad weather. 

Use continUOUS to refer to anything that happens all of the time without a break. 

Example

The new cylinder provided continuous hot water to all residents day and night. 

These words are often confused, so it might be best to use a synonym instead.

• For continual, try recurrent or even intermittent. 
• For continuous, try unbroken or uninterrupted.

Stationary or stationery?

Here's an easy way to remember:

• StationEry: E is for Envelope. 
• The cAr is stationAry (stopped).

Less or fewer?

'Less' means 'not as much'. If you can’t count them, use ‘less’.

'Fewer' means 'not as many'. If you can count them, use ‘fewer’.

Example

She earns less money because she sells fewer products.

Back to top

Take off or take from?

When you take something ‘off’ a person, you take it from the surface of their body.

Example

Susie took the spider off Amy’s shoulder.
 
When you take something ‘from’ a person, you take it from their possession.

Example

Andrew took the cricket bat from Tom.
 
This rule works in the same way for things.

Example

Kate took the broom from the cupboard. Next she took the flowers off the table.
 
An exception to this rule is when ‘take’ means ‘derive’. Then ‘off’ is the correct word.

Example

He took measurements off the drawings.

 

Back to top

 

Affect or effect?

'Affect' is a verb (to influence). Remember ‘A is for Action’.

'Effect' is a noun (a result). Remember ‘ThE Effect’.

An exception is that ‘effect’ can occasionally be a verb (to accomplish). For example: ‘We’d like to effect this change’.

Altogether or all together?

It's easy to get these mixed up, but in fact they have completely different meanings. 'Altogether' means entirely. 

Example

I’m not altogether convinced. 

'All together' refers to groups of people or things. 

Example

Make sure the visitors arrive all together.

Try Write's Grammar course if these words confuse you
StyleWriter software helps you spot these kinds of mistakes
Back to top