J. Alexander (ENG 101)
College Composition I

Usage Examination

Students will take an objective exam covering a selection of popularly misused and confused words. The words to be included on the exam are listed below and students can find assistance with the usage rules by clicking on the word-group. The information is provided on the website of Professor Paul Brians of Washington State University (http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors). The few words in boldface are completely incorrect structures and should never be used.

1. accept / except	26. emigrate / immigrate
2. adapt / adopt	27. eminent / imminent
3. advice / advise	28. empathy / sympathy
4. affect / effect	29. envious / jealous
5. already / all ready	30. epigram / epigraph / epitaph / epithet
6. allude / elude	31. faze / phase
7. allusion / illusion	32. good / well
8. alright / all right	33. hanged / hung
9. ambiguous / ambivalent	34. hear / here
10. assure / ensure / insure	35. imply / infer
11. beside / besides	36. interment / internment
12. breath / breathe	37. lay / lie
13. capital / capitol	38. lead / led
14. cite / site / sight	39. lose / loose
15. close / clothes	40. passed / past
16. coarse / course	41. personal / personnel
17. complement / compliment	42. precede / proceed
18. continual / continuous	43. principal / principle
19. could of / could have	44. stationary / stationery
20. council / counsel	45. they’re / their / there
21. desert / dessert	46. though / thought / through
22. device / devise	47. to / too / two
23. drank / drunk	48. use to / used to
24. dyeing / dying	49. weather / whether
25. elicit / illicit	50. were / where