flounder/founder FLOUNDER/FOUNDER As a verb, “founder” means “to fill with water and sink.” It is also used metaphorically of various kinds of equally catastrophic failures. In contrast, to flounder is to thrash about in the water (like a flounder), struggling to stay alive. “Flounder” is also often used metaphorically to indicate various sorts of desperate struggle. If you’re sunk, you’ve foundered. If you’re still struggling, you’re floundering. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/flounder.html03/09/2005 15:38:02 foot/feet FOOT/FEET You can use eight-foot boards to side a house, but “foot” is correct only in this sort of adjectival phrase combined with a number (and usually hyphenated). The boards are eight feet (not foot) long. It’s always X feet per second and X feet away. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/foot.html03/09/2005 15:38:02 footnotes/endnotes FOOTNOTES/ENDNOTES About the time that computers began to make the creation and printing of footnotes extremely simple and cheap, style manuals began to urge a shift away from them to endnotes printed at the ends of chapters or at the end of a book or paper rather than at the foot of the page. I happen to think this was a big mistake; but in any case, if you are using endnotes, don’t call them “footnotes.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/footnotes.html03/09/2005 15:38:03 for/fore/four FOR/FORE/FOUR The most common member of this trio is the preposition “for,” which is not a problem for most people. “Fore” always has to do with the front of something (it’s what you shout to warn someone when you’ve sent a golf ball their way). “Four” is just the number “4.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/for.html03/09/2005 15:38:03 for all intensive purposes FOR ALL INTENSIVE PURPOSES FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES Another example of the oral transformation of language by people who don’t read much. “For all intents and purposes” is an old cliché which won’t thrill anyone, but using the mistaken alternative is likely to elicit guffaws. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/intensive.html03/09/2005 15:38:03 for free FOR FREE Some people object to “for free” because any sentence containing the phrase will read just as well without the “for,” but it is standard English. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/forfree.html03/09/2005 15:38:03 for one FOR ONE FOR ONE THING People often say “for one” when they mean “for one thing”: “I really want to go to the movie. For one, Kevin Spacey is my favorite actor.” (One what?) The only time you should use “for one” by itself to give an example of something is when you have earlier mentioned a class to which the example belongs: “There are a lot of reasons I don’t want your old car. For one, there are squirrels living in the upholstery.” (One reason.) List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/forone.html03/09/2005 15:38:03 for sale/on sale FOR SALE/ON SALE If you’re selling something, it’s for sale; but if you lower the price, it goes on sale. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/forsale.html03/09/2005 15:38:04 forbidding/foreboding/formidable FORBIDDING/FOREBODING/ FORMIDABLE “Foreboding” means “ominous,” as in “The sky was a foreboding shade of gray” (i.e. predictive of a storm). The prefix “fore-” with an E, often indicates futurity, e. g. “forecast,” “foreshadowing” and “foreword” (a prefatory bit of writing at the beginning of a book, often misspelled “forword”). A forbidding person or task is hostile or dangerous: “The trek across the desert to the nearest latte stand was forbidding.” The two are easily confused because some things, like storms, can be both foreboding and forbidding. “Formidable,” which originally meant “fear-inducing” (“Mike Tyson is a formidable opponent”) has come to be used primarily as a compliment meaning “awe-inducing” (“Gary Kasparov’s formidable skills as a chess player were of no avail against Deep Blue”). See also fearful/fearsome. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/forbidding.html03/09/2005 15:38:04 forceful/forcible/forced FORCEFUL/FORCIBLE/FORCED These words sometimes overlap, but generally “forceful” means “powerful” (“He imposed his forceful personality on the lions.” ) while “forcible” must be used instead to describe the use of force (“The burglar made a forcible entry into the apartment.”). “Forced” is often used for the latter purpose, but some prefer to reserve this word to describe something that is done or decided upon as a result of outside causes without necessarily being violent: “a forced landing,” “a forced smile,” “forced labor.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/forceful.html03/09/2005 15:38:04