4.11 Frequently Confused Words, Noun Agreement, and Logical Comparison

Three Skills, One Underlying Demand

Three of the eight Conventions of Usage sub-skills share a common demand: choosing words that are individually correct and sensible in combination.

Frequently confused words: ...instances in which a word or phrase is confused with another (e.g., accept/except, allusion/illusion).

Noun agreement: ...lack of agreement between nouns.

Logical comparison: ...cases in which unlike terms are compared.

Conventional expression: ...cases in which a given expression is inconsistent with Standard Written English.

Part One: Frequently Confused Words

These survive spell-checking because both words are real. The College Board names two pairs explicitly; the working inventory is larger.

Two Worth Extra Attention

Affect / effect. The default is affect = verb, effect = noun:

The delay affected morale. The effect was immediate.

But effect is also a verb meaning "bring about" (to effect change), and affect is a noun in psychology (flat affect). The default covers the great majority of test items.

Fewer / less. Fewer for things you can count; less for quantities you cannot:

✓ fewer applicants, less funding, fewer errors, less delay

Part Two: Noun Agreement

A less familiar skill: nouns that refer to the same entities must match in number.

✗ Several students in the cohort intend to become an engineer. ✓ Several students in the cohort intend to become engineers.

Multiple students become multiple engineers. The singular is a logical mismatch, not a verb error.

✗ Both candidates served as chair of the finance committee. ✓ Both candidates served as chairs of the finance committee.

A genuine exception exists when the role is inherently singular and shared over time — both candidates served as chair can be defensible if they held the same single office successively. On the test, the plural is expected unless the passage clearly establishes a single shared position.

Part Three: Conventional Expression

Idiom, not logic, governs these — which is why they resist reasoning and simply have to be known. Most involve prepositions:

Could of, should of, and would of arise from mishearing the contractions could've, should've, would've. They are never correct.

Part Four: Logical Comparison

The most consequential of the four, because these errors make sentences state something false.

Comparing Unlike Terms

✗ The tuition at private colleges is higher than public universities.

This compares a cost to institutions. Repairs:

✓ The tuition at private colleges is higher than that at public universities. ✓ The tuition at private colleges is higher than public universities' tuition.

The repair devices, worth memorizing:

• that of / that at — singular
• those of / those at — plural
• possessive form — than public universities'

✗ Unlike the 1994 flood, the 2011 event had minimal structural damage. — compares a flood to an event's damage. ✓ Unlike the 1994 flood, the 2011 event caused minimal structural damage.

The Other and Else Requirement

When comparing one member of a group to the rest of that group, you must exclude it from itself:

✗ Denver receives more annual sunshine than any city in the region.

Denver is in the region, so this claims Denver exceeds itself. Repair:

✓ ...more annual sunshine than any other city in the region.

Same with people:

✗ She has published more than anyone on the faculty. (she is on the faculty) ✓ She has published more than anyone else on the faculty.

No other is needed when the subject is genuinely outside the comparison group:

✓ Denver receives more sunshine than any city on the East Coast. ✓

Incomplete Comparisons

✗ The new filtration system is more efficient. — More efficient than what? ✓ The new filtration system is more efficient than the unit it replaced.

A comparative adjective — more, -er, better, greater — requires a stated second term.

Scanning Habit

Whenever you encounter than, as, like, unlike, or compared with, stop and name both things being compared. If they are not the same kind of thing, the sentence needs a that of, a those of, or a possessive. If one member belongs to the group it is measured against, it needs other or else.