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Pearson Education Limited Edinburgh Gate, Harlow Bssex CM20 2JB, England and Associated Companies throughout the world wwwlongman-elt.com ‘This edition © Pearson Education Limited 2002 ‘The right of Timothy Fitikides to be identified as author of this work has been asserted on his behalf in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the express permission of the Copyright holders, First published 1936 Second edition 1937 Third edition 1939 Fourth edition 1947 Fifth edition 1963 Sixth edition 2002 Printed in Malaysia ISBN 0 582 34458 1 Formatted by CiB Editorial Plus Preface Preface to the first edition This book as hse designed 1 mest the elements Tete whose moter tongue 's not Eos 1 nap ible. fen learne o Els ae a Te etd adopt thrghout this work uniform, AE aac eat wth are singled ou, for thoy have to De Hike etrate- deat en correct forms coynived before they ean be corrected then corre TReriscptes may become firmly fixed in the students Le difficult tackled. Nears representative of the rit Seadn ty foreign students of English, being the result of Doservations made aver a long period of time. : ch sors bee en tothe preparation of th dex, witeh itm hoped will make the book a useful work ¢ eat ‘sult real, and the 7 acknowledgments ae de to MeW.H.G, Porpestone who bas read-my manuseript-and made many valuable Tak August 1930 Common Mistakes in English with Exercises by T. J. Fitikides, B.A., FLL. Senior English Master The Pancyprian Gymnasium, Nicosia Author of Key Words for Easy Spelling Lessons in Greek-English Translation Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow: He who would search for pearls must dive below: John Dryden dt PP anny Preface to the Sixth Edition It is now more than 60 years since this bole was first published. It has gone through many revisions, and additions have been made at different times in its history. With the niillennium approaching it was decided that there were some Points of usage which are no longer relevant and 50 this new edition has been prepared. The content has been completely reviewed in the light of modern English usage, and the type faces and design up-dated for clarity. And yet the original concept and, indeed, most of the original mistakes listed, are still pertinent to students of English even in the year 2000. This little book has sold several hundred thousand copies all over the wor seems likely to go on doing so and ‘The author's note on how the book should be used is on page vii, with an addition for this edition. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Pari 4 Part § Contents Using the wrong preposition Misuse of the infinitive Use of the wrong tense Miscellaneous examples Un-English expressions Incorrect omissions Omission of prepositions Miscellaneous examples Unnecessary words Unnecessary propositions Unnecessary articles Use of the infinitive ‘Miscellaneous examples Misplaced words ‘Wrong position of adverbs Miscellaneous examples Confused words Prepositions often confused Verbs often confused Adverbs often confused Adjectives often confused Nouns often confused Confusion of number Confusion of parts of speech Exercises Index B 18 28 40 46 49 61 63 69 70 83 89 107 109 116 122 129 137 182

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