Why is it that whenever we say something incorrectly, it catches on and we just cannot say it right however hard we try? It’s because we develop a habit of mispronouncing these words and phrases. Here’s a list of 5 common phrases in English that everyone uses incorrectly. Read on to check how many of these you get right!
- Incorrect: “Mute Point”
Correct: “Moot Point”
To be mute is to be devoid of speech due to an impairment. So, calling a point mute does not make any sense at all, right? Hence it is not mute point but moot point which means an issue open to debate or of little or no practical value.
- Incorrect: “You’ve got another thing coming”
Correct: “You’ve got another think coming”
To understand why the second one is correct, we need to take the entire phrase into consideration. The original phrase is: “If that’s what you think, you have got another think coming.” This means that you need to think again because what you said first is wrong.
- Incorrect: “I could care less.”
Correct: “I couldn’t care less.”
Let’s analyse both the statements. The first statement- “I could care less” means that there is still some potential left, where as the second one makes it clear that you’ve reached the limit- you could not care less.
- Incorrect: “Irregardless”
Correct: “Regardless”
The prefix ‘ir’ negates the phrase after it. With ‘less’ already performing that function, it becomes unnecessary to add a prefix.
- Incorrect: “For all intensive purposes”
Correct: “For all intents and purposes”
Intensive comes from the word intense which means rigorous and a rigorous purpose does not make any sense at all. On the other hand, for all intents and purposes means in every practical sense and makes all the sense in the world!
Hope this blog cleared any misconceptions that existed in your mind. For more such terms, read our blog on