6. “I before E except after C or when sounded as ‘a’ as in ‘neighbor’ or ‘weigh”’ is basically nonsense
There are dozens if not hundreds of exceptions to this rule, including weird, sovereign, glacier, seize, height, science, heist, leisure, foreign, vein, eight, caffeineâ¦ We could go on and on.
7. The difference between less and fewer is easy to remember – except when it isn’t
“Less” is used for hypothetical quantities or singular mass nouns (less money, less time), while “fewer” is used for items you can actually quantify (fewer dollar bills, fewer hours). However, there are cases where “fewer” is technically correct but would sound jarring, so most authorities accept the use of “less” – like “25 words or less” in a contest or “10 items or less” at the supermarket.
8. Many irregular plurals don’t use an s
For those learning English, there is a long list of irregular plurals to memorize including feet, women, teeth, deer, mice, children, lice, and oxen.
9. The difference between may and might
Although they can sometimes be used interchangeably, “may” and “might” have different connotations. “May” signifies when there is a possibility, or when something could be factual. “Might” implies that something is hypothetical or uncertain.
10. The difference between lay and lie
“Lay” needs an object, as in, “I’m going to lay this book on the table,” while “lie” doesn’t take an object, as in, “I’m going to lie down.” It gets very confusing in past tense however, as the past tense of “lie” is “lay,” as in, “He lay down early last night” – and the past tense of “lay” is “laid,” as in “I don’t remember where I laid the book.”
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