T, down to a

It is down to a T, not down to a tee/tea.

Tackle

This is an overused verb with little meaning. Good writers avoid this word because they realise that to 'tackle' something doesn't describe the action being taken, which is why good politicians use this word frequently. A promise to tackle crime, global warming or social problems is non-commital.

talk to or talk with?

There is growing influence from the informal US use of speak with and talk with. The correct forms is all forms of English remains speak to and talk with in examples like "I spoke to your neighbour yesterday".

Although many Americans will insist that speak with and talk with are perfectly acceptable, such constructions should still be compared with correct forms like speak with a lisp / speak with confidence as well as talk with an accent / talk with a whisper.

tax evasion and tax avoidance

To avoid paying tax is legal, yet to evade taxes is illegal. (Tax avoidance and tax evasion.)

the fact that

The fact that... what? Avoid this phrase because, well, the fact that the sun is bright, the fact that the World Wide Web was invented in 1989. If It is a fact, there is no need to explicitly state that it is.

the whole Nine Yards

Unless you are in the US, avoid this term.

thinking outside the box

Very few of us spend much time inside any boxes, so can we please stop using the overused and (often) meaningless phrase?

thinktank

Don’t spell it with two words.

third world or developing countries?

Use developing countries. Where did this even come from and what did it mean? The west used to be called the first world, the Soviet Union the second world, and the third world were the rest.

titbit or tidbit?

The British spelling is titbit and the American spelling is tidbit.

time scale or timescale?

timescale: .

tip of the iceberg

Although this is a very useful expression, care should be used not to abuse the beauty of its function as a metaphor. It is perfectly fine to say, What we have uncovered tonight could turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg, an example of bad usage is, The 500 people who lost their jobs today is only the tip of the iceberg. What would be better in the second example is ...only the beginning.

to or with?

There is growing influence from the informal US use of speak with and talk with. The correct forms is all forms of English remains speak to and talk with in examples like "I spoke to your neighbour yesterday".

Although many Americans will insist that speak with and talk with are perfectly acceptable, such constructions should still be compared with correct forms like speak with a lisp / speak with confidence as well as talk with an accent / talk with a whisper.

to be perfectly honest

An overused and (often) meaningless phrase.

tomatoes or tomatos?

One tomato, two tomatoes.

tortuous or torturous?

The one you probably want to use is torturous, which implies suffering. Tortuous means winding, not straight.

touch base

Jargon. Can we please stop using the overused and (often) meaningless term?

traceable or tracable?

The British and US spelling is traceable.

tradeable or tradable?

The British spelling is tradeable and the US spelling is tradable.

tranquillise or tranquilize?

The British spelling is tranquillise/tranquillizeJargon. (-ll-) and the US spelling is tranquilize (-l-).

trash or rubbish?

Rubbish is what is commonly used in the UK, whereas trash is a chiefly US term.

travelling or traveling?

The Britsh spelling is travelling, the US spelling is traveling. The same is true of traveller and traveler.

try and or try to?

Try to.

tuneable or tunable?

tuneable: It is still not too old-fashioned to cling to tuneable, though sentiment is moving towards the Americanised variant. But by choosing tunable you need to be consistent, which ultimately means adopting aging instead of ageing. Scaleable does not become as clearly readable as scalable -- which is why the British prefers to keep the -e- in its rightful place. Americans only have the choice of tunable, luckily British English retains the -e-. The US variant looks much too "fishy" if you ask me.

This page last updated: 15 November 2014

Jesse Karjalainen is the author of The Joy of English: 100 conversations about the English Language, Cannibal – the language and history of the discovery of the New World, and Roanoke – the language and history of Early Colonial America.