Category Archives: Words

Pleonasm, Tautology, and Solecism

I understand these three words as I am reading; I just refuse to ever use them. The first two refer to stating something with additional, unnecessary words. The last means to violate idiom, as in pleonasms and tautologies. Strunk & … Continue reading

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I Temptations

There are amble temptations to use I, but these are spiritual temptations. Here, I refer to the temptation to incorrectly spell words by replacing an e with an i. It’s liquefy and liquefaction, rarefy and rarefaction, and stupefy and stupefaction, … Continue reading

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Some Common Errors

Just the Sahara, not the Sahara Desert, since Sahara means “desert.” Saccharin is the sweetener, but saccharine is the word for “sugary” and can be applied to someone’s nature or speech as easily as to a food. Sacrilegious doe not … Continue reading

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