Perhaps one of the chief sources of error is that people get confused between what they have said and what they have merely thought. They use a word that refers to some vague unexpressed idea at the back of their minds but not to any word in the sentence. This is not a deadly sin in the rapid shift and turn of conversation, but in writing, standards are higher.
Other: "My other brother and I went swimming," you hear a boy say. "Which brother?" you ask in surprise, for you know of only one, called Oliver. "Why Oliver, of course," he replies equally surprised. He thinks of himself as one boy and Oliver as another, and wrongly applies"other" to "brother."
What was the colour of the little boy who said, "Me and the other children?" Be careful about the use of "other."
It, them, etc.: One often finds the muddleheaded using pronouns like "it" and "them" with no word nearby for them to refer to, so that they hang awkwardly in the air, uncertain of their office. What they refer to is still in the back of the speaker's mind. "Unemployment," say, such people, "is a great evil, but is no use pitying them; we must help them too." Here "them" obviously refers to the unspoken words "the unemployed." Say "it is no use pitying the unemployed."
"I like reading aloud to others," they say, "but I hate it myself." The sentence as it stands contradicts itself: by "it" the speaker must mean "being read aloud to." "They attempted to reach the South Magnetic Pole," they say, "but it was fruitless." or, "but in vain."
And which (who): "She spoke in a voice of great harshness, which cracked from time to time." This is correct, don't be tempted to say "and which." "He sent his brother to see me, a young man with a distinguished record, who talked with ease and vivacity." "And" before "who" would be not only unnecessary but incorrect. It is a common mistake to use a construction with an adjective phrase, then add an adjective clause, and forgetting that the phrase contained no "which" or "who," begin the clause with "and which" or "and who," but it is a mistake easily avoided.
Nine times out of ten speakers who have this habit of confusing the spoken (or written) word with the unspoken (or unwritten will be understood as long as they confine themselves to simple matters. But they will find themselves unable to communicate an intricate line of argument or to give complicated instructions or explanations.
Merely verbal slips occur because of this habit, and while they offend against idiom rather than sense an so don't really belong to this chapter at all, it may be well to put a warning against them here instead of finding another place for it. Say: "He is as good as you, or better" (not "He is as good or better than you, or better" (not "He is as good or better than you," because "as good than" won't do).
Say "He is neither dependent on his parents, nor quite independent of them," (not "neither dependant nor quite independent of them," because the same preposition won't do for both words).
It is better though not more correct to say "He navigated those waters and made a chart of them" than "He navigated and made a chart of those waters"
Source: English Grammar: EBH Joubert
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