Category Archives: Independent Practice

Once more, adapted from Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage (to which he allows no-cost access at his Washington State University web page), here is a worksheet on the use of the noun misnomer. This is a full-page document with a reading of two sentences which define the word misnomer and instruct on its relatively simple use. The document continues with a list of ten obvious misnomers (e.g. “healthful cigarettes”) and calls upon students to build sentences around them.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Adapted from the pages of Paul Brians’ superlative manual Common Errors in English Usage (which, as I like to remind readers of this blog, he allows free and unfettered access to at his Washington State University web page), here is use of the verb mislead and its past tense, misled. This is a full-page document with a four-sentence reading and ten modified cloze exercises. The principal usage problem this worksheet addresses (as you can see, you have both the present tense and the past tense of the verb mislead here) is making sure one is using properly the present tense (mislead), the past tense (misled) and the past participle (also misled).

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

They’re not the most common or high-frequency words in English, but they’re worth knowing (especially mitigate), so here is a on the use of the verbs militate and mitigate. This is a full-page document with a reading of two sentences and ten modified cloze exercises.

This material, as I expect you’re tired of reading, but in the case of Paul Brians’ and his book Common Errors in English Usage (to which, I am always astonished to report, he allows free access at his Washington State University web page), I like to give credit where it is always due. All of the materials under the header above (i.e. Common Errors in English Usage) come from Professor Brians’s book.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.