brians.wsu.eduCommon Errors in English Usage and More Washington State

Skip to main content Skip to navigation Common Errors in English Usage and More The Web Site of Professor Paul Brians Paul Brians (1942-) earned his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at Indiana University and joined the Department of English at Washington State University in 1968. He taught literature, interdisciplinary humanities, and world civilizations courses. He retired in 2008 and now lives on Bainbridge Island. This is the new website featuring Brians’ Common Errors in English Usage , photography, and various study guides and other helpful resources. Books by Paul Brians | Paul Brians Vita | “Politics & Me”: 2008 Retirement address | Illustrated History of WSU Student Activism in the 60s | Paul Brians’ Weekly Podcast Paul Brians’ e-mail: paulbrians@gmail.com Common Errors in English Usage What is an error in English? The concept of language errors is a fuzzy one. I’ll leave to linguists the technical definitions. Here we’re concerned only with deviations from the standard use of English as judged by sophisticated users such as professional writers, editors, teachers, and literate executives and personnel officers. The aim of this site is to help you avoid low grades, lost employment opportunities, lost business, and titters of amusement at the way you write or speak. Go to list of errors. Read more about the book on the William, James site. Shipping within the US is free if you order here . Books by Paul Brians Common Errors in English Usage : The Book (3rd Edition, November 2013) Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction 1895-1984 (1987) Reading About the World , Vols. 1 & 2 , 3rd edition (1999) Modern South Asian Literature in English (2003) Four Seasons on Bainbridge Island , 2010 Bawdy Tales from the Courts of Medieval France (1975) Most recent updates Washington State University Search Contact Share Home Common Errors in English Usage List of Common Errors Text-only version of Common Errors Commonly Made Suggestions More Errors (Eggcorns) Non-errors Other Commonly Misspelled Words Common Errors: The Book Common Errors: The Podcast Science Fiction-Related Materials Nuclear War-related Materials Bibliographies & Filmographies Nuke Pop Nuclear Texts and Contexts Study Materials Paul Brians’ Photos Humor & Miscellany The Chernobyl Poems facebook twitter youtube flickr myWSU Access Policies ©...