Grammatical glitches 3.0

This is the latest in an irregular series of posts (Three grating grammatical glitches and Grammatical glitches 2.0) on navigating the maze of English grammar, punctuation, and usage.

Today’s topic: frequently confused words

Even the best writers, journalists, and commentators can confuse common words with lookalike or soundalike cousins. Let’s examine some of the most common sources of confusion.

• Lead, led. Writers sometimes make mistakes like “one thing lead to another” when of course they mean one thing led to another. “Lead” rhymes with “led” only when you’re talking about the metal.
• Reticent, reluctant. Reticent means inclined to be silent. Reluctant means disinclined to do something. One particularly grating mistake is saying somebody was “reticent to talk.” No, the person was reluctant to talk. Or maybe just plain reticent, either in general or only on certain subjects.
• Understated, overstated. Not much problem with definitions here; we just have to be careful not to grab the wrong prefix. In short, if something is really important, one might say it is impossible to overstate its importance, or that its importance should not be understated. Conversely, the importance of something trivial would be hard to understate, and its importance shouldn't be overstated.
• Criteria, criterion. One of the most common mixups, usually when “criteria” is treated as a singular noun. Good usages: “Our only criterion is writing quality” and “What are your judging criteria?”
• Nauseated, nauseous. If you feel—actually or metaphorically—like vomiting, you feel nauseated. The cause of your distress is something nauseous, like paint fumes. However, while “nauseated” always means the state of feeling sick, wide usage allows “nauseous” as an alternative to “nauseated.” Fair enough, but when describing your own queasy condition, do you want to risk overtones suggesting you are a sickening agent?
• Titled, entitled. It’s not strictly wrong to say a book, movie, etc. is “entitled” such-and-such, but “titled” is preferred. And given the current unsavory definition of an “entitled” person, it’s probably not the best adjective to apply to a work you’re promoting. People can also be “titled” in various situations, most commonly when born or made honorary members of the nobility, as in “Sir David” or “Dame Diana.”

If you have questions about any of the words above, please reach out to the University Relations Creative Services team at susanh@umn.edu.