Grammarly Spotlight: Eliminating Eggcorns

Have you ever seen someone write “take for granite” when they meant “take for granted”? What about a “hair’s breath” instead of a “hair’s breadth”? Or how about “for all intensive purposes” instead of “intents and purposes”?

Your writing, at its best.

Be the best writer in the office.

Get Grammarly

There’s a name for mix-ups like these: eggcorns. The name comes from a post on the linguistics blog Language Log, describing a speaker who used the term “egg corn” to refer to an acorn. Simply put, an eggcorn is a misheard word or phrase that someone substitutes for a more common expression. When spoken aloud, an eggcorn usually sounds very similar (or even identical) to the original version. Try saying “a scapegoat” and “escape goat” out loud and you’ll see what we mean.

The interesting thing about eggcorns is that they often sort of make sense. If you take something for granted, it means you fail to appreciate it because you expect it to always be around. Granite is known for being durable and long lasting. It’s not hard to see how someone could make the leap from “take for granted” to “take for granite.”

When you’re writing something important, though, eggcorns (and the unintentional humor that sometimes accompanies them) are something you’ll want to avoid. Grammarly catches a range of spelling mistakes and commonly confused words, including eggcorns.

The thief’s alibi turned out to be a boldface lie.

The thief’s alibi turned out to be a bald-faced lie.

If we get started early, we can finish all three assignments in one foul swoop.

If we get started early, we can finish all three assignments in one fell swoop.

Her humor is always a bit tongue and cheek.

Her humor is always a bit tongue in cheek.

More from Grammarly Spotlight:

Why We’re Great on LinkedIn

Learning From Your Mistakes

How To Preserve Formatting in the Grammarly Editor

How To Add New Words to Your Personal Dictionary

How To Learn New Words While Writing

How Do Grammarly’s Products Work?

Why Concise Writing Gets More Readers

Why Hedging Language Undermines Your Writing

How to Select Your English Dialect

Splitting Paragraphs for Easier Reading

How We Use AI to Enhance Your Writing

The post Grammarly Spotlight: Eliminating Eggcorns appeared first on Grammarly Blog.

from Grammarly Blog
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/eliminating-eggcorns/