Aggravate means to increase, to make heavier, e.g. The pain was aggravated instead of alleviated.
The use of aggravate (= to annoy or tease) is purely conversational (informal).
Due to. There is no such compound preposition. "The music festival was postponed due to the heavy rains". This is not good English; the idiomatic construction should be: "owing to." "Due to" is correctly used in: "Her failure to achieve a matriculation exemption was purely due to negligence." And in, "Her failure, due to negligence, was inexcusable."
Unique does not mean 'wonderful'. It does mean 'without parallel.' Nothing can be rather, or very or comparatively unique.
Quite should, strictly, be used only in the sense of 'perfectly,' 'completely,' e.g.: "He is quite innocent." Colloquially (conversationally, informal) quite is used as an adjective or as an equivalent to 'rather,' e.g.: "Quite a crowd collected." "The pudding was quite nice."
Mutual. Anything that is mutual can exist between two. There is a mutual friendship between Chelsea and Oliver when each has a friendly feeling for the other; Chelsea and Oliver cannot have a mutual friend in Cooper. Cooper is a friend who is common to Chelsea and Oliver.
Effect. "The cold weather has an effect on her previously broken leg"
Affect. To produce an effect, e.g. "The cold weather affected the crops." To act on or to move, move the feeling of, "The music affected him deeply."
Transpire means 'to leak out,' e.g. Budget secrets must not be allowed to transpire. Transpireis often wrongly used in the sense of 'happen.'
Literally should be used with its original meaning of 'true to the letter.' We can say: "She interpreted the order literally" or "this is literally true"; but it is ridiculous to say: "His clever acting literally brought down the house."
Chronic does not mean bad. It does mean lasting (of sickness), We speak of heart failure as a chronic condition.
Individual was originally an adjective, and when used as a noun should mean one as contrasted with a number, e.g. He was one individual in the crowd. The word is sometimes wrongly used in a sneering sense, as "that individual with the big nose". Rather say "man."
To criticize means to judge, not merely to find fault. Image credit
Accept. To accept an apology or an invitation. Accept means to agree on something.
Except. "She would travel more, except for a lack of money" or "Everybody agreed to have a meeting on said date, except Iain."
How many words can you add to the list?
Source: J Rooz; Review Center: Published on Jun 27, 2014
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