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To which, I shall add:

Their vs their

And also sometimes, this extends to: Their vs there vs vs they're.

And, not forgetting another horror that also sets my teeth on edge:

Lose vs loose. (No, they are not the same).
Awhile ago, I was texting with someone who didn't know the difference between "their," "there," and "they're." It was astonishing given that they're a native English speaker.

And don't even get me started on "lose" vs "loose." I see the wrong one being used ALL THE TIME!
 
Awhile ago, I was texting with someone who didn't know the difference between "their," "there," and "they're." It was astonishing given that they're a native English speaker.
Infuriating.

And I sympathise.
And don't even get me started on "lose" vs "loose." I see the wrong one being used ALL THE TIME!
As do I, which is why I drew attention to it.

And yes, it really irks me.
 
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"Take" vs "Bring." There IS a difference! I will "take" something to someone else's home or a place. I will "bring" something into my own home. It's all about the direction in which the item is going.....When one is moving something towards a destination it is appropriate to use "bring." When moving an item away from a destination one needs to use the word "take."

"I am bringing groceries home from the store." "A neighbor called and asked if I will be home, as she will be bringing a misdelivered package to me." "I am taking these library books back to the library, and on the way I'm taking this surprise gift to my sister at her home."
 
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Well some of these (lend vs. borrow is a good one) can be confusing for non-English speakers, so some tolerance and gentle correction is called for. Sometimes one's mother tongue can be "contaminated" if living immersed in a foreign language.

As a native English speaker, even I get confused by certain expressions. Does "deceptively small" mean the thing is smaller than it looks or looks smaller than it is?
 
As a native English speaker, even I get confused by certain expressions. Does "deceptively small" mean the thing is smaller than it looks or looks smaller than it is?
And expressions like four times as small or smaller. Please let us have: A quarter the size? Or: A fourth the volume? Or something like that. "Times" immediately seems to imply the size is multiplied - and not by a number less than one.
 
^Good questions! I would love to know if "bi-weekly" means "twice a week" or "once every two weeks". Based on what I've read it can be either and you just have to use context, but that makes it somewhat useless as a descriptor. Some grammar guides actually recommend just saying "twice a week" or "once every two weeks" and avoiding "bi-weekly" altogether.
 
^Good questions! I would love to know if "bi-weekly" means "twice a week" or "once every two weeks". Based on what I've read it can be either and you just have to use context, but that makes it somewhat useless as a descriptor. Some grammar guides actually recommend just saying "twice a week" or "once every two weeks" and avoiding "bi-weekly" altogether.
I thought “bi-weekly” once every two weeks. While “semi-weekly” means once every ½ a week or twice a week.
 
Once we've sorted those out, we can discuss "biannual" and simple things like when "next Thursday" is, when it's currently Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday.
And whether biennial has the same meaning as biannual.

A lot seems to depend whether you are thinking about the frequency or the period. But the person reading/hearing doesn't necessarily interpret the same way as you are thinking.
 
I thought “biannual” is for an event of something that occurs every 2 years, so it is a repeating occurrence. Painting my house every 2 years is a biannual occurrence.

“Biennial” is an event with respect to when something is 2 years old, so it occurs only. A two year olds birthday is a biennial.
 
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Did we get "breath" vs. "breathe" yet?

I'm constantly amazed by the amount of people who write things like "I couldn't breath". It's so common than using "breathe" correctly almost seems to be the exception.

Then there's baited breath instead of the proper bated breath (from (a)bated).
Baited breath makes me think somebody hasn't cleaned their teeth for a couple of weeks.

In engineering, I have found it frustrating when “precision” is confused with “accuracy”

In high school science we got taught that every scientific instrument had three, separate, independent properties --
  • Precision
  • Accuracy
  • Repeatability
Each property had to be separately calibrated.
 
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