GSP – Spelling and Vocabulary
Common Mistakes

Advice/ advise
Advice (with a C) is a noun e.g. “The study skills adviser gave me good advice”.
Advise (with an S) is a verb e.g. “They advised me to always read my work carefully for
spelling and grammar errors”.
The same rule applies to:
Practice is a noun e.g. “Are you going to football practice tonight?”
Practise is a verb e.g. “You’ll have to practise more if you want to make the team.”

Both/each
Both does not mean the same as each – “There is a house on both sides of the street”
means that the house somehow reaches across the street, to be on both sides at the
same time. If you mean that there is a house on the left side of the street and another
on the right side, you should write “There is a house on each side of the street”

Effect/affect
effect = noun e.g.
-
Exercise has an effect on health
The effects of smoking are well known.
affect = verb e.g.
-

Exercise affects health
His work was badly affected by his illness.
Fewer/less and number/amount:
Fewer/number applies to plural, countable nouns. So: “I have fewer coins in my pocket
than you” or “I have a smaller number of coins”.
Less/ amount applies to singular, non-countable nouns. So: “I have less money in my
pocket than you” or “I have a smaller amount of money.”
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If in doubt, think about whether you could sensibly talk about one of a thing – you could
say “one coin” but you couldn’t say “one money”. Similarly, you could have less water
(because you wouldn’t say “one water”) but fewer pints (because you would say “one
pint”). In the same way, you would have an amount of water, but a number of pints

Hopefully
If you write: “This essay will hopefully explain how Freud’s theory of the ego can
explain much human behaviour”, you imply that you have no control over what the
essay will do – just as if you said “Hopefully, I will get a new iPhone for my birthday”.
Be positive in your statements of aim i.e. “This essay will explain…”

However
You should not use an adverb, such as however, to join two sentences. So:
“Reflection is central to good practice, however it is only effective if the reflection
results in action.” = WRONG
“Reflection is central to good practice. However, it is only effective if the reflection
results in action.” = RIGHT

Includes/ Comprises
Includes/ including should not be used to describe the complete set referred to. It
implies a sub-set of the whole.
So “Gibbs’ reflective cycle includes four stages: description, feelings, evaluation,
analysis” would be wrong because you have listed all the four stages.
If you wrote “Gibbs’ four-stage reflective cycle includes evaluation and analysis” you
would be correct because you have only listed part of the set.
If you want to describe the whole set, use “comprises” i.e. “Gibbs’ reflective cycle
comprises four stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis.”
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
Invariably/ inevitably means on every occasion, without exception.
So, if you write “Nurses invariably transfer infections between patients”, you are telling
your reader that this happens every time, for every nurse, and every patient.
If you write “Nurses transfer infections between patients”, the statement is not quite so
strong, but there is still an implication that this always happens.
Instead use:
-
“frequently” (if it happens a lot but not all the time)
“occasionally” (if it happens sometimes but not always)
“infrequently/rarely” (if it only happens now and again)
e.g. “Nurses occasionally transfer infections between patients. “
You can also use a conditional “can/could….if…” e.g. “Nurses can transfer infections
between patients if they do not observe proper hygiene protocols.”

Loose/lose
“to loose” means to set free or detach something voluntarily or deliberately e.g. To
loose the dog from his lead means you chose to let the dog run free.
“to lose” means to be deprived of something by accident, negligence, misadventure
etc. e.g. if you say “I lost my wallet at the fair”, you don’t mean that you chose to let the
wallet go; it happened by accident, or someone took it against your will.
So, if you write: “Without respect, individuals will not feel part of the community and
they loose their sense of belonging,” you are suggesting that these people will freely
and deliberately give up their sense of belonging. If you want to make it clear that they
will have it taken away without their consent, you should use “lose”.

Numbers: within a sentence, use words for twenty or fewer and numerals for anything
above twenty:
- There is only one exit from the building
- The journey takes fifteen minutes
- There are 22 members of the group
- There are 153 entries in the catalogue
BUT, if the number is prefixed or affixed with a symbol – for example, £10 or 5% - then
use the numerals.
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
Research (also advice, evidence)
These words are non-countable nouns, like water, air, knowledge and therefore never
take the indefinite article “a”. So, just as we would not write:
“A water is leaking through the ceiling”
“A research has shown that…”
but instead:
“Research has shown that…”
or “A [research project] or [research study] has shown….”
However, words like research can take the definite article “the”, where you are writing
about a specific instance, just as other non-countable nouns, such as water, can. So,
just as we could write:
“The water is leaking through the ceiling…”
“The research has confirmed that…”

Says/writes/states
“Smith (2010) says that ….” – avoid this when referring to sources you have read. The
author is not speaking to anyone, he/she is writing, so: “Smith (2010) writes…”. You
can avoid the problem altogether by using words like “argues”, “describes”, “points out”
etc, which can refer equally well to written or spoken language.
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