Words that Students Don't Know

[Myword]

   Qualification...as in how does the author qualify his idea?  What is the qualification? No student ever knew that.
     Precarious, one of my favorite words.
       Specious, not spacious  (apartments with specious rooms,)

     Causal, not casual.
       Framework as a metaphor.

     As students all of us did not know very common words in our native language.
   No shame in that.

[Parasaurolophus]

Suffrage (≠ suffering)

I imagine this one has come up before.

[ergative]

Suffrage (≠ suffering)

I imagine this one has come up before.

There's a whole set of fairly obnoxious youtube videos pranking people for not knowing the difference. Here's the first hit when I searched for 'women's suffrage prank': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceXT8zJE7ys

[apl68]

   Qualification...as in how does the author qualify his idea?  What is the qualification? No student ever knew that.
     Precarious, one of my favorite words.
       Specious, not spacious  (apartments with specious rooms,)

     Causal, not casual.
       Framework as a metaphor.

     As students all of us did not know very common words in our native language.
   No shame in that.

Though I know the difference, I have a terrible time mistaking "causal" for "casual." 

I think I once rented a "specious" apartment.  It proved misleadingly attractive after we had actually moved in.

[little bongo]

I find the phrase "for all intensive purposes" come up in student writing quite a bit, instead of "for all intents and purposes." I guess even if you're using it correctly, it's kind of a cliche clutter phrase, but it's interesting how we hear and misunderstand things, often for many, many years.

[apl68]

I find the phrase "for all intensive purposes" come up in student writing quite a bit, instead of "for all intents and purposes." I guess even if you're using it correctly, it's kind of a cliche clutter phrase, but it's interesting how we hear and misunderstand things, often for many, many years.

Kind of like people who speak of a "doggie-dog world," or having a low "self of steam."  Although it feels like a "doggie-dog" world when I'm walking down certain local streets where there are lots of barkers.  And "self of steam" actually makes sense in light of the New Testament reminder that our life here is "even a vapor, which appears for a little time and then vanishes."

[little bongo]

Right--sometimes the mistakes make a great deal of sense. (And I suppose some purposes really are intensive.)

[mbelvadi]

Right--sometimes the mistakes make a great deal of sense. (And I suppose some purposes really are intensive.)

There's actually a name for these kinds of mistakes that make sense: eggcorns. Named after a similar mistake a lot of people make about acorns because they're somewhat egg-shaped.

And there's an entire database of them. https://eggcorns.lascribe.net/

[little bongo]

Thanks, mbelvadi! Very good to know.

[Parasaurolophus]

'Obtaining'.

Instead, I have two students who think the word is 'pertaining'.

[the_geneticist]

"emergency"

Needing to study for an exam is not an emergency.  I will not excuse you for being absent in this class so you can study for an exam in your OTHER class.
Make better choices!

"sick"
Waking up with a mild headache does not mean you are too sick to go to class.  Sorry for being skeptical, but this only seems to happen to students who have 8:00am classes. 

[marshwiggle]

"belong" , e.g. "hearing (seeing) that made me feel like I don't belong."
"safe", e.g. "hearing (seeing) that made me feel unsafe".

Education is only working if it is making you confront errors and gaps in your knowledge and experience. That will at times, if not usually, be unsettling. That doesn't make you "unsafe", or "not belong", it's the point of the exercise. In fact, if you were never unsettled by anything in your education, that is when you would "not belong" as the experience would be a waste of time.

[apl68]

"emergency"

Needing to study for an exam is not an emergency.  I will not excuse you for being absent in this class so you can study for an exam in your OTHER class.
Make better choices!

"sick"
Waking up with a mild headache does not mean you are too sick to go to class.  Sorry for being skeptical, but this only seems to happen to students who have 8:00am classes.

This reminds me of a temporary worker we once had who got a case of the Monday morning flu on his very first Monday at work.  He nearly ended up being even more temporary than expected.

[marshwiggle]

"emergency"

Needing to study for an exam is not an emergency.  I will not excuse you for being absent in this class so you can study for an exam in your OTHER class.
Make better choices!

"sick"
Waking up with a mild headache does not mean you are too sick to go to class.  Sorry for being skeptical, but this only seems to happen to students who have 8:00am classes.

This reminds me of a temporary worker we once had who got a case of the Monday morning flu on his very first Monday at work.  He nearly ended up being even more temporary than expected.

I read a story a while back about a new employee that showed up for her first day of work late because she was hung over from celebrating getting the job the night before. Needless to say, that was also her last day of work.

[poiuy]

I am seeing an uptick of students who mix up 'substitute X with Y' and 'substitute X for Y'. This flips the meaning.

For example, "Substituted eggs for applesauce" and "Substituted eggs with applesauce".

This is a basic confusion in meaning and I think they just read the word 'substituted' and don't think through the word choice for the rest of the sentence and think that these are all equivalent. 

Irritating and time consuming to read, disentangle what they actually meant, and give feedback.