4 Grammar: problems and confusions
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Grammar, syntax, usage, style — the terms are often confused. One person’s grammatical howler is a simple matter of style for somebody else. This chapter covers common problems and confusions under the heading of ‘grammar’ — but not all the entries feature ‘mistakes’.
A and an
Words with a silent ‘h’ such as ‘honest’ take ‘an’ instead of ‘a’:
an honest man
Unless your style book insists, don’t use ‘an’ before such words as ‘hotel’, ‘historian’ and ‘horrific’, as in:
It was an horrific example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. (feature)
Absolute adjectives
Don’t misuse absolute adjectives such as:
absolute ideal basic impossible complete obvious ...
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