Common Errors D

DAMP SQUID/DAMP SQUIB

Squid are indeed usually damp in their natural environment; but the
popular British expression describing a less than spectacular explosion
is a "damp squib" (soggy firecracker).

DAMPED/DAMPENED

When the vibration of a wheel is reduced it is damped, but when you
drive through a puddle your tire is dampened. "Dampened" always has to
do with wetting, if only metaphorically: "The announcement that Bob's
parents were staying home after all dampened the spirits of the
party-goers." The parents are being a wet blanket.

DANGLING AND MISPLACED MODIFIERS

Dangling and misplaced modifiers are discussed at length in usage guides
partly because they are very common and partly because there are many
different kinds of them. But it is not necessary to understand the
grammatical details involved to grasp the basic principle: words or
phrases which modify some other word or phrase in a sentence should be
clearly, firmly joined to them and not dangle off forlornly on their
own.

Sometimes the dangling phrase is simply too far removed from the word it
modifies, as in "Sizzling on the grill, Theo smelled the Copper River
salmon." This makes it sound like Theo is being barbecued, because his
name is the nearest noun to "sizzling on the grill." We need to move the
dangling modifier closer to the word it really modifies: "salmon." "Theo
smelled the Copper River salmon sizzling on the grill."

Sometimes it's not clear which of two possible words a modifier
modifies: "Felicia is allergic to raw apples and almonds." Is she
allergic only to raw almonds, or all almonds--even roasted ones? This
could be matter of life and death. Here's a much clearer version:
"Felicia is allergic to almonds and raw apples." "Raw" now clearly
modifies only "apples."

Dangling modifiers involving verbs are especially common and sometimes
difficult to spot. For instance, consider this sentence: "Having bought
the harpsichord, it now needed tuning." There is no one mentioned in the
sentence who did the buying. One way to fix this is to insert the name
of someone and make the two halves of the sentence parallel in form:
"Wei Chi, having bought the harpsichord, now needed to tune it." If you
have a person in mind, it is easy to forget the reader needs to be told
about that person; but he or she can't be just "understood."

Here's another sentence with a dangling modifier, in this case at the
end of a sentence: "The retirement party was a disaster, not having
realized that Arthur had been jailed the previous week." There is nobody
here doing the realizing. One fix: "The retirement party was a disaster
because we had not realized that Arthur had been jailed the previous
week."

Using passive verbs will often trip you up: "In reviewing Gareth's
computer records, hundreds of hours spent playing online games were
identified." This sort of thing looks fine to a lot of people and in
fact is common in professional writing, but technically somebody
specific needs to be mentioned in the sentence as doing the identifying.
Inserting a doer and shifting to the active voice will fix the problem.
While we're at it, let's make clear that Gareth was doing the playing:
"The auditor, in checking Gareth's computer records, identified hundreds
of hours that he had spent playing online games."

Adverbs like "almost," "even," "hardly," "just," "only," and "nearly"
are especially likely to get stuck in the wrong spot in a sentence.
"Romeo almost kissed Juliet as soon as he met her" means he didn't kiss
her--he only held her hand. True, but you might want to say something
quite different: "Romeo kissed Juliet almost as soon as he met her." The
placement of the modifier is crucial.

DARING-DO/DERRING-DO

The expression logically should be "feats of daring-do" because that's
just what it means: deeds of extreme daring. But through a chain of
misunderstandings explained in the Oxford English Dictionary, the
standard form evolved with the unusual spelling "derring-do," and
"daring-do" is an error.

DATA/DATUM

There are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms
ending in A are constantly mistaken for singular ones. See, for
instance, "criteria" and "media." "Datum" is so rare now in English that
people may assume "data" has no singular form. Many American usage
communities, however, use "data" as a singular and some have even gone
so far as to invent "datums" as a new plural. This is a case where you
need to know the patterns of your context. An engineer or scientist used
to writing "the data is" may well find that the editors of a journal or
publishing house insist on changing this phrase to "the data are." Usage
is so evenly split in this case that there is no automatic way of
determining which is right; but writers addressing an international
audience of nonspecialists would probably be safer treating "data" as
plural.

DATELINE/DEADLINE

The word "dateline" is used today mainly to label the bit of text at the
top of a printed news story that indicates where and--often, but not
always--when it was written. For instance, after a headline about events
in Kenya, the dateline might read "NAIROBI, Kenya, June 2, 2010."

Probably because this rather obscure word has been popularized by its
use for the name of an NBC television news show, some people confuse it
with "deadline," which is most often the date by which something must be
accomplished. You can miss deadlines, meet deadlines, or have to deal
with short deadlines-- but not datelines.

DAY IN AGE/DAY AND AGE

The expression is "in this day and age; but it's a worn-out expression,
so you'd be better off writing "these days."

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME/DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

The official term is "daylight saving time," not "savings time."

DEBRIEF

"Debrief" has leaked out of the military and national security realms
into the business world, where people seem pretty confused about it.
When you send people out on missions, you brief them--give them
information they'll need. You give them a briefing. When they come back,
you debrief them by asking them what they did and found out. Note that
in both cases it's not the person doing the actual work but the boss or
audience that does the briefing and debriefing. But people commonly use
"debrief" when they mean "report."

The verb "brief" comes originally from law, where someone being given a
legal brief (instructions on handling a case) can be said to have been
briefed. Debriefing has nothing to do with underwear.

DECEPTIVELY

If you say of a soldier that he is "deceptively brave" you might be
understood to mean that although he appears cowardly he is actually
brave, or that although he appears brave he is actually cowardly. This
ambiguity should cause you to be very careful about using "deceptive"
and "deceptively" to make clear which meaning you intend.

DECIMATE/ANNIHILATE, SLAUGHTER, ETC.

This comes under the heading of the truly picky. Despite the fact that
most dictionaries have caved in, some of us still remember that when the
Romans killed one out of every ten (decem) soldiers in a rebellious
group as an example to the others, they decimated them. People sensitive
to the roots of words are uncomfortably reminded of that ten percent
figure when they see the word used instead to mean "annihilate,"
"obliterate," etc. You can usually get away with using "decimate" to
mean "drastically reduce in numbers," but you're taking a bigger risk
when you use it to mean "utterly wipe out."

DEEP-SEEDED/DEEP-SEATED

Those who pine for the oral cultures of Ye Olden Dayes can rejoice as we
enter an era where many people are unfamiliar with common expressions in
print and know them only by hearsay.* The result is mistakes like "deep
seeded." The expression has nothing to do with a feeling being planted
deep within one, but instead refers to its being seated firmly within
one's breast: "My aversion to anchovies is deep-seated." Compounding
their error, most people who misuse this phrase leave the hyphen out.
Tennis players may be seeded, but not feelings.

*The notion that English should be spelled as it is pronounced is
widespread, but history is against the reformers in most cases.
Pronunciation is often a poor guide to spelling. The veneration of
certain political movements for the teaching of reading through phonics
is nicely caricatured by a t-shirt slogan I've seen: "Hukt awn fonix."

DEFENCE/DEFENSE

If you are writing for a British publication, use "defence," but the
American "defense" has the advantages of greater antiquity, similarity
to the words from which it was derived, and consistency with words like
"defensible."

DEFINATE/DEFINITE

Any vowel in an unstressed position can sometimes have the sound
linguists call a "schwa:" "uh." The result is that many people tend to
guess when they hear this sound, but "definite" is definitely the right
spelling. Also common are various misspellings of "definitely,"
including the bizarre "defiantly."

DEFAMATION/DEFORMATION

Someone who defames you, seeking to destroy your reputation (making you
ill-famed), is engaging in defamation of character. Only if someone
succeeded in actually making you a worse person could you claim that
they had deformed your character.

DEFUSE/DIFFUSE

You defuse a dangerous situation by treating it like a bomb and removing
its fuse; to diffuse, in contrast, is to spread something out: "Bob's
cheap cologne diffused throughout the room, wrecking the wine-tasting."

DEGRADE/DENIGRATE/DOWNGRADE

Many people use "downgrade" instead of "denigrate" to mean "defame,
slander." "Downgrade" is entirely different in meaning. When something
is downgraded, it is lowered in grade (usually made worse), not just
considered worse. "When the president of the company fled to Rio with
fifteen million dollars, its bonds were downgraded to junk bond status."
"Degrade" is much more flexible in meaning. It can mean to lower in
status or rank (like "downgrade") or to corrupt or make contemptible;
but it always has to do with actual reduction in value rather than mere
insult, like "denigrate." Most of the time when people use "downgrade"
they would be better off instead using "insult," "belittle," or "sneer
at."

DEGREE TITLES

When you are writing phrases like "bachelor's degree," "master of arts
degree" and "doctor of philosophy degree" use all lower-case spelling.
Less formally, these are often abbreviated to "bachelor's," "master's,"
and "doctorate": "I earned my master's at Washington State University."

The only time to capitalize the spelled-out forms of degree names is
when you are specifying a particular degree's name: "Master of English
Composition." However the abbreviations BA, MA, and PhD are all
capitalized. In modern usage periods are not usually added.

Be careful not to omit the apostrophes where needed. Some schools have
adopted a spelling of "Masters" without an apostrophe, and if you work
for one of them you may have to adopt this non-standard form for
institutional work; but usage guides uniformly recommend the apostrophe.


DEJA VU

In French "deja vu" means literally "already seen" and usually refers to
something excessively familiar. However the phrase, sans accent marks,
was introduced into English mainly as a psychological term indicating
the sensation one experiences when feeling that something has been
experienced before when this is in fact not the case. If you feel
strongly that you have been previously in a place where you know for a
fact you have never before been, you are experiencing a sensation of
deja vu. English usage is rapidly sliding back toward the French
meaning, confusing listeners who expect the phrase to refer to a false
sensation rather than a factual familiarity, as in "Congress is in
session and talking about campaign finance reform, creating a sense of
deja vu." In this relatively new sense, the phrase has the same
associations as the colloquial "same old, same old" (increasingly often
misspelled "sameo, sameo" by illiterates).

"It seems like it's deja vu all over again," is a redundantly mangled
saying usually attributed to baseball player Yogi Berra. Over the
ensuing decades clever writers would allude to this blunder in their
prose by repeating the phrase "deja vu all over again," assuming that
their readers would catch the allusion and share a chuckle with them.
Unfortunately, recently the phrase has been worn to a frazzle and become
all but substituted for the original, so that not only has it become a
very tired joke indeed--a whole generation has grown up thinking that
Berra's malapropism is the correct form of the expression. Give it a
rest, folks!

DEMOCRAT PARTY/DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Certain Republican members of Congress have played the childish game in
recent years of referring to the opposition as the "Democrat Party,"
hoping to imply that Democrats are not truly democratic. They succeed
only in making themselves sound ignorant, and so will you if you imitate
them. The name is "Democratic Party."

DENIED OF/DENIED

If you are deprived of your rights you are denied them; but that's no
reason to confuse these two expressions with each other. You can't be
"denied of" anything.

DEPENDS/DEPENDS ON

In casual speech, we say "it depends who plays the best defense"; but in
writing follow "depends" with "on."

DEPRECIATE/DEPRECATE

To depreciate something is to actually make it worse, whereas to
deprecate something is simply to speak or think of it in a manner that
demonstrates your low opinion of it. People who make unflattering jokes
or comments about themselves are self-deprecating.

DERISORY/DERISIVE

Although "derisory" and "derisive" can both mean "laughable," there are
sometimes subtle distinctions made between them. "Derisory" is most
often used to mean "worthy of being laughed at": "Ethan" made a derisory
effort to clean the cat box while talking on his cell phone." Sneering
laughter is usually described as "derisive."

You might more unusually speak of an effort as "derisive," but most
people would think it odd to use "derisory" to describe the tone of
someone's laughter.

DESERT/DESSERT

Perhaps these two words are confused partly because "dessert" is one of
the few words in English with a double "S" pronounced like "Z"
("brassiere" is another). That impoverished stretch of sand called a
desert can only afford one "S." In contrast, that rich gooey extra thing
at the end of the meal called a dessert indulges in two of them. The
word in the phrase "he got his just deserts" is confusingly pronounced
just like "desserts."

DEVIANT/DEVIATE

The technical term used by professionals to label someone whose behavior
deviates from the norm is "deviate," but if you want to tease a perv
friend you may as well call him a "deviant"--that's what almost
everybody else says. In your sociology class, however, you might want to
stick with "deviate."

DEVICE/DEVISE

"Device" is a noun. A can-opener is a device. "Devise" is a verb. You
can devise a plan for opening a can with a sharp rock instead. Only in
law is "devise" properly used as a noun, meaning something deeded in a
will.

DEW/DO/DOO/DUE

The original pronunciation of "dew" and "due" rhymed with "pew", but
American pronunciation has shifted toward sounding all of these words
alike, and the result is much confusion in standard phrases. On a damp
morning there is dew on the grass. Doo on the grass is the result of
failing to pick up after your dog. The most common confusion is
substituting "do" for "due" (owing) in phrases like "credit is due,"
"due to circumstances," and "bill is due."

"Do" is normally a verb, but it can be a noun with meanings like
"party," "hairdo," and "dos and don'ts." Note that in the last phrase it
is not necessary to insert an apostrophe before the "S," and that if you
choose to do so you'll wind up with two apostrophes awkwardly close
together: "don't's."

DIALOGUE/DISCUSS

"Dialogue" as a verb in sentences like "the Math Department will
dialogue with the Dean about funding" is commonly used jargon in
business and education settings, but abhorred by traditionalists. Say
"have a dialogue" or "discuss" instead.

DIETIES/DEITIES

This one is always good for a laugh. The gods are deities, after the
Latin "deus," meaning "god."

DIFFERENT THAN/DIFFERENT FROM/TO

Americans say "Scuba-diving is different from snorkeling," the British
often say "different to" (though most UK style guides disapprove), and
those who don't know any better say "different than." However, though
conservatives object, you can usually get away with "different than" if
a full clause follows: "Your pashmina shawl looks different than it used
to since the cat slept on it."

DIFFER/VARY

"Vary" can mean "differ," but saying "our opinions vary" makes it sound
as if they were changing all the time when what you really mean is "our
opinions differ." Pay attention to context when choosing one of these
words.

DILEMMA/DIFFICULTY

A dilemma is a difficult choice, not just any difficulty or problem.
Whether to invite your son's mother to his high school graduation when
your current wife hates her is a dilemma. Cleaning up after a hurricane
is just a problem, though a difficult one.

"Dilemna" is a common misspelling of "dilemma."

DIRE STRAIGHTS/DIRE STRAITS

When you are threading your way through troubles as if you were
traversing a dangerously narrow passage you are in "dire straits." The
expression and the band by that name are often transformed by those who
don't understand the word "strait" into "dire straights."

See also "straightjacket/straitjacket."

DISBURSE/DISPERSE

You disburse money by taking it out of your purse (French "bourse") and
distributing it. If you refuse to hand out any money, the eager mob of
beggars before you may disperse (scatter).

DISC/DISK

"Compact disc" is spelled with a "C" because that's how its inventors
decided it should be rendered; but a computer hard disk is spelled with
a "K" (unless it's a CD-ROM, of course). In modern technological
contexts, "disks" usually reproduce data magnetically, while "discs"
(CD-ROMs, DVDs, etc.) reproduce it "optically," with lasers.

DISCONCERNING/CONCERNING, DISCERNING

This odd word looks like it might be an error for "disconcerting," but
people who use it seem mostly to mean something like "discerning"
(perceiving) or "concerning" (in the sense "of concern," itself widely
considered an error).

DISCREET/DISCRETE

The more common word is "discreet," meaning "prudent, circumspect":
"When arranging the party for Agnes, be sure to be discreet; we want her
to be surprised." "Discrete" means "separate, distinct": "He arranged
the guest list into two discrete groups: meat-eaters and vegetarians."
Note how the T separates the two Es in "discrete."

DISCRETION IS THE BETTER PART OF VALOR

In Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part I" when Prince Hal finds the cowardly
Falstaff pretending to be dead on the battlefield, the prince assumes he
has been killed. After the prince leaves the stage, Falstaff
rationalizes "The better part of Valour, is Discretion; in the which
better part, I haue saued my life" (spelling and punctuation from the
"First Folio," Act 5, Scene 3, lines 3085-3086).

Falstaff is saying that the best part of courage is caution, which we
are to take as a joke. Truly courageous people may be cautious, but
caution is not the most important characteristic of courage.

This passage is loosely alluded to in the saying "discretion is the
better part of valor," which is usually taken to mean that caution is
better than rash courage or that discretion is the best kind of courage.
Only Shakespeare scholars are likely to be annoyed by this usage.

However, those who take "discretion" in this context to mean the quality
of being discreet--cautiously quiet--are more likely to annoy their
readers.

Much more of a problem are misspellings like "descretion,"
"disgression," "digression," and "desecration." Unless you are
deliberately punning, stick with "discretion."

DISCUSSED/DISGUST

"Discussed" is the past tense of the verb "discuss." Don't substitute
for it the noun "disgust" in such sentences as "The couple's wedding
plans were thoroughly discussed."

DISEASE NAMES

The medical profession has urged since the 1970s the dropping of the
possessive S at the end of disease names which were originally named
after their discoverers ("eponymous disease names"). The possessive is
thought to confuse people by implying that the persons named actually
had the disease. Thus "Meniere's syndrome" became "Meniere syndrome,"
Bright's disease" became "Bright disease" and "Asperger's syndrome"
became "Asperger syndrome."

But the public has not always followed this rule. "Alzheimer disease" is
still widely called "Alzheimer's disease" or just "Alzheimer's." Only
among professionals is this really considered a mistake.

"Down syndrome," named after John Langdon Down--originally written
"Down's syndrome"--has been so often mistakenly written without its
apostrophe as "Downs syndrome" that many people conclude that the
syndrome's discoverer must have been named "Downs."

Although some professionals write "Huntington disease"--originally
"Huntington's chorea"--many still write "Huntington's." But another
popular name for this illness is "Woody Guthrie's disease" because the
folksinger actually had it, though one also occasionally sees "Woody
Guthrie disease."

Lou Gehrig's disease, named after its most famous sufferer, always bears
an apostrophe-S because professionals prefer the rather more cumbersome
but nonpossessive "amyotrophic lateral sclerosis" (ALS).

The best practice is to follow the pattern prevalent in your social
context. If you are a medical professional, you'll probably want to
avoid the possessive forms.

"Legionnaires' disease" has its apostrophe at the end of the first word
because it was first recognized among a group of American Legion members
celebrating the American Bicentennial. Specialists consider it a severe
form of Legionellosis, caused by the bacterium Legionella pneumophila.

Lyme disease should never be written "Lyme's disease" because it is not
named after a person at all, but after the village of Lyme, Connecticut.

DISGRESSION/DISCRETION

Discretion has to do with being discreet or with making choices. A lot
of people hear it and get influenced by the quite different word
"digression" which is used to label instances of people wandering off
the point. The result is the nonword "disgression." The expression is
"you can do it at your own discretion."

DISINTERESTED/UNINTERESTED

A bored person is uninterested. Do not confuse this word with the much
rarer "disinterested," which means "objective, neutral".

DISRESPECT

The hip-hop subculture has revived the use of "disrespect" as a verb. In
the meaning to have or show disrespect, this usage has been long
established, if unusual. However, the new street meaning of the term,
ordinarily abbreviated to "dis," is slightly but significantly
different: to act disrespectfully, or--more frequently--insultingly
toward someone. In some neighborhoods "dissing" is defined as merely
failing to show sufficient terror in the face of intimidation. In those
neighborhoods, it is wise to know how the term is used; but an applicant
for a job who complains about having been "disrespected" elsewhere is
likely to incur further disrespect . . . and no job. Street slang has
its uses, but this is one instance that has not become generally
accepted.

DISSEMBLE/DISASSEMBLE

People who dissemble are being dishonest, trying to hide what they are
really up to. This is an uncommon word, often misused when "disassemble"
is meant. People who disassemble something take it apart--they are doing
the opposite of assembling it.

DO RESPECT/DUE RESPECT

When you preface your critical comments by telling people "with all due
respect" you are claiming to give them the respect they are due--that
which is owed them. Many folks misunderstand this phrase and misspell it
"all do respect" or even "all-do respect." You shouldn't use this
expression unless you really do intend to be as polite as possible; all
too often it's used merely to preface a deliberate insult.

DOCTORIAL/DOCTORAL

"Doctoral" is occasionally misspelled--and often mispronounced--
"doctorial."

DOESN'T SUPPOSED TO/ISN'T SUPPOSED TO

You aren't supposed to say "doesn't supposed to." The expression is
"isn't supposed to."

DOLLY/HANDCART

A dolly is a flat platform with wheels on it, often used to make heavy
objects mobile, or by an auto mechanic lying on one under a car body.
Many people mistakenly use this word to designate the vertically
oriented two-wheeled device with upright handles and horizontal lip.
This latter device is more properly called a "handcart" or "hand truck."

DOMINATE/DOMINANT

The verb is "dominate"; the adjective is "dominant." The dominant
chimpanzee tends to dominate the others.

DONE/DID

The past participle of "do" is "done," so it's not "they have did what
they promised not to do" but "they have done. . . ." But without a
helping verb, the word is "did." Nonstandard: "I done good on the test."
Standard: "I did well on the test."

DO'S AND DON'TS/DOS AND DON'TS

One unusual use of apostrophes is to mark plurals of words when they are
being treated as words, as in "pro's and con's," although plain old
"pros and cons" without apostrophes is fine. But "don't" already has one
apostrophe in it, and adding another looks awkward in the phrase "do's
and don't's," so people wind up being inconsistent and writing "do's and
don'ts." This makes no logical sense. You can also skip the extra
apostrophes and write "dos and don'ts," unless you're afraid that "dos"
will remind your readers of MS-DOS (but that unlamented operating system
is fast becoming a distant memory).

DOUBLE NEGATIVES

It is not true, as some assert, that double negatives are always wrong;
but the pattern in formal speech and writing is that two negatives equal
a mild positive: "he is a not untalented guitarist" means he has some
talent. In informal speech, however, double negatives are intended as
negatives: "he ain't got no talent" means he is a lousy musician. People
are rarely confused about the meaning of either pattern, but you do need
to take your audience into account when deciding which pattern to
follow.

One of the funniest uses of the literary double negative is Douglas
Adams' description of a machine dispensing "a substance almost, but not
quite, entirely unlike tea."

DOUBT THAT/DOUBT WHETHER/DOUBT IF

If you really doubt that something is true (suspect that it's false),
use "doubt that": "I doubt that Fred has really lost 25 pounds." If you
want to express genuine uncertainty, use "whether": "I doubt whether
we'll see the comet if the clouds don't clear soon." "Doubt if" can be
substituted for "doubt whether," though it's considered somewhat more
casual, but don't use it when you mean "doubt that."

DOUBTLESSLY/DOUBTLESS

Leave off the unnecessary "-ly" in "doubtless."

DOVE/DIVED

Although "dove" is a common form of the past tense of "dive," a few
authorities consider "dived" preferable in formal writing.

DOWNFALL/DRAWBACK

A downfall is something that causes a person's destruction, either
literal or figurative: "expensive cars were Fred's downfall: he spent
his entire inheritance on them and went bankrupt." A drawback is not
nearly so drastic, just a flaw or problem of some kind, and is normally
applied to plans and activities, not to people: "Gloria's plan to camp
on Mosquito Island had just one drawback: she had forgotten to bring her
insect repellent." Also, "downfall" should not be used when the more
moderate "decline" is meant; reserve it for ruin, not to designate
simple deterioration.

DOWNLOAD/UPLOAD

Most people do far more downloading (transferring files to their
computers) than uploading (transferring files from their computers), so
it's not surprising that they often use the first word for the second
word's meaning. You don't download the video of your birthday party to
YouTube--you upload it.

DOZEN OF/DOZEN

Why isnÕt it Òa dozen of eggsÓ when itÕs standard to say Òa couple of
eggsÓ? The answer is that ÒdozenÓ is a precise number word, like ÒtwoÓ
or ÒhundredÓ; we say Òtwo eggs,Ó Òa hundred eggs,Ó and Òa dozen eggs.Ó

ÒCoupleÓ is often used less precisely, to mean Òa few,Ó so it isnÕt
treated grammatically as an exact number. ÒA couple eggsÓ is less
standard than Òa couple of eggs.Ó

ÒDozens of eggsÓ is standard because youÕre not specifying how many
dozens youÕre talking about.

DRANK/DRUNK

Many common verbs in English change form when their past tense is
preceded by an auxiliary ("helping") verb: "I ran, I have run." The same
is true of "drink." Don't say "I've drank the beer" unless you want
people to think you are drunk. An even more common error is "I drunk all
the milk." it's "I've drunk the beer" and "I drank all the milk."

DRASTIC

"Drastic" means "severe" and generally has negative or frightening
associations. Drastic measures are not just extreme, they are likely to
have harmful side-effects. Don't use this word or "drastically" in a
positive or neutral sense. A drastic rise in temperature should be seen
as downright dangerous, not just surprisingly large. Often when people
use phrases like "drastic improvement," they mean "dramatic" instead.

DREDGE/DRUDGE/TRUDGE

You use machinery to scoop stuff up from underwater--called a dredge--to
dredge up gunk or debris from the bottom of a river or lake.
Metaphorically, you also dredge up old memories, the past, or objects
buried in the mess in your room.

To drudge is to do hard, annoying work; and a person who does such work
can also be called a "drudge." If you find yourself saying "drudge up"
about anything you're trying to uncover you almost certainly should be
using "dredge up" instead.

When you slog laboriously up a hill, you trudge up it. Trudging may be
drudgery; but the act of walking a difficult path is not drudging, but
trudging.

And you cooks wondering whether dredging a chicken breast with flour has
anything to do with river-bottom dredging will be relieved to know it
does not. The two words have completely different origins ("sprinkling"
vs. "scooping").

DRIER/DRYER

A clothes dryer makes the clothes drier.

DRIBBLE/DRIVEL

"Dribble" and "drivel" originally meant the same thing: drool. But the
two words have become differentiated. When you mean to criticize someone
else's speech as stupid or pointless, the word you want is "drivel."

DRIPS AND DRABS/DRIBS AND DRABS

Something doled out in miserly amounts is provided in "dribs and drabs."
A drib is a smaller relative of a dribble. Nobody seems to be sure what
a drab is in this sense, except that it's a tiny bit larger than a drib.

Since the origin of the phrase is obscure, people try to substitute a
more familiar word for the unusual word "drib" by writing "drips and
drabs." But that's not the traditional formula.

DRIVE/DISK

A hard drive and a hard disk are much the same thing; but when it comes
to removable computer media, the drive is the machinery that turns and
reads the disk. Be sure not to ask for a drive when all you need is a
disk.

DRUG/DRAGGED

"Well, look what the cat drug in!" Unless you are trying to render
dialectical speech to convey a sense of down-home rusticity, use
"dragged" as the past tense of "drag."

DUAL/DUEL

"Dual" is an adjective describing the two-ness of something--dual
carburetors, for instance. A "duel" is a formal battle intended to
settle a dispute.

DUCK TAPE/DUCT TAPE

A commercial firm has named its product "Duck Tape," harking back to
the original name for this adhesive tape (which was green), developed by
Johnson & Johnson during World War II to waterproof ammunition cases. It
is now usually called "duct tape," for its common use in connecting
ventilation and other ducts (which match its current silver color). Note
that modern building codes consider duct tape unsafe for sealing ducts,
particularly those that convey hot air.

DUE TO THE FACT THAT/BECAUSE

Although "due to" is now a generally acceptable synonym for "because,"
"due to the fact that" is a clumsy and wordy substitute that should be
avoided in formal writing. "Due to" is often misspelled "do to."

DYEING/DYING

If you are using dye to change your favorite t-shirt from white to blue
you are dyeing it; but if you don't breathe for so long that your face
turns blue, you may be dying.