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's a fact, there is no need to explicitly state that it is.
faraway or far away?
Something is far away, as in out of reach. The adjective can be used to describe something as a faraway place.
farther or further?
It is a complete myth that farther differs in meaning from further. The myth persists more in American English than British English. Further is the spelling to be preferred in all contexts, including distance and physical position. The same applies to furthest and farthest. Of this pair, only question mark remains: how has farthest survived this long as a legitimate word? See the article farther or further?.
Farther began life in the 1100s as a variant spelling of the Old English word furþur (further) when farrer and ferrer were used as comparatives of far. By the 1600s ferrer and farrer had died off as forms existing only in regional dialects. Farther had muscled in on these two words and ultimately survived, still as a variant spelling of further only, right through Shakespeare's time (he preferred further four-fifths of the time) to the late 1800s. It was at this point that the idea of farther meaning "distance, movement, position" arose. This was wrong.
So what does this mean? It means that you can drop farther from your vocabulary. Further and farther mean the same thing – and further is the standard spelling in both British and American English. Use the variant spelling if you must but the choice is stylistic rather than one of meaning, like the choice between jail and gaol.
fatality or death?
Brits are famous for regarding death to be a taboo subject, with the exception of news coverage. (It's not just the tabloid newspapers who love to revel in the details, the BBC is just as guilty of voyeurism.) In most cases, prefer death over fatality.
Father's Day
Don't forget the apostrophe before the s.
faultline or fault-line?
fault-line:
fazed or phased?
Fazed means "perplexed" and phased describes "stages".
fed up with or fed up of?
It is fed up with, not fed up of.
female or women's ?
depends: It is quite common to see bathroom doors in Britain emblazoned with the words 'Female' or 'Female Toilets'. A British insurance company advertised on television in 2007 to possibility to insure against 'female cancers' (sic). What they actually meant was that they had a specialist policy available to women against certain forms of cancer that afflict women, such as cervical cancer. What the company inadvertently did was give cancer a gender; and, being ceramic, nor do toilets have gender. It should of course be women's toilet.
Ferris wheel or ferris wheel?
Use ferris wheel. No need for a capital F.
fewer or less?
depends: You've got to admit: fewer money sounds odd. Some people feel the same way about less items, less people, less cars, less boyfriends and all sorts of other things. Air, water and time aren't countables, so they less of them is ok. But if we're talking about actual items that you can separate, you will be more well liked if you use fewer instead.
fiance or fiancee?
A fiance is male, and fiancee female. (Divorcee is used for both.)
fill in a form or fill out a form?
In the British English it's fill in a form and in US English it's fill out a form.
fine-tooth comb
Don't forget the hyphen.
firing line
A firing line is a line of marksmen. If you are within their aim, you are not in the firing line, but in the line of fire.
fit for purpose
An over-used phrase. Isn't there a more specific way of saying what you mean?
flammable or inflammable?
Both words actually mean the same thing. Most people would assume that the word inflammable means "not flammable" because of the in- prefix, but it doesn't. The in- here has the same purpose as en-, thus "enflammable" sounds more likely to catch fire. The opposite of inflammable is non-flammable.
flaunt or flout?
To flaunt is to show off, and to flout is disobey the rules.
flounder or founder?
Flounder is to not do well at something, but to founder is to fail at something.
focus on or focus around?
Choosing to use the word focus implies looking at something specific, therefore 'focus around' is a contradiction. Make sure you only use focus on and centre on etc. It is what you mean, after all.
focussed or focused?
Use focused and focusing for both UK and US English.
footie or footy?
Footie is football in the UK (soccer) and footy is football in Australia (not "socca" but Aussie rules football).
forever or for ever?
Forever is constant/continuous, and for ever is always, as in "...for ever, as long as you shall live" and "She is forever pestering me about that promise that I made her". In the US, however, the preference is forever in both cases.
forgo or forego?
To forgo means go before others and forego to do without,
formulas or formulae?
One formula for success, two formulas for success. The word formulae is only used in the scientific sense.
foreseeable future
...
fortuitous
This word, contrary to popular belief, is not related to the word fortune, so has nothing to do with being lucky. Something that is fortuitous is describing something that happens by chance.
forward plan
How else do you plan? Drop the word forward from any text you are writing before anyone sees.
forwards or forward?
depends: British English prefers 'forwards' as an adverb over 'forward' (the form usually used in American English), but that doesn't mean that the latter isn't used in Britain. They look 'forward' to football season, call you 'forward' if you ask too many personal questions or might describe something having a 'forward' motion.
framework, foundations or groundwork?
You build/construct/errect a framework, but lay the groundwork or foundations. You don't 'lay' any framework.
Frankenstein
The important thing about using Frankenstein as an adjective is to remember that Frankenstein was the scientist in Mary Shelley's novel who created the famous monster. That monster is known as Dr Frankenstein's monster.
Therefore, using the term 'Frankenstein foods' to describe genetically modified (GM) foods or crops is 'technically wrong', regardless whether you think that growing such foods is ethically wrong or not. I doubt, though, that the term 'Dr Frankenstein's foods' will ever catch on.
free or for free?
There is no need for the word 'for' to precede free in a sentence such as 'I will give it to you for free'. The reason that many people use 'for free' (which has arguably become standard usage) is that they think of for nothing. Free is an adverb and nothing is a noun, so they get different treatment. If the adverb were cheaply, it would be 'I will give it to you for cheaply', which just sounds wrong.
In the UK, it is common to use the term BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free). If we insisted on 'for free' it would be BOGOFF!
freshman or freshmen?
The plural of freshman is, of course, freshmen. Be aware that using it as an adjective it stays in the singular: freshman college, freshman year, freshman lecture etc
Fuji or Fujiyama?
The 'yama' bit means mountain. In English the famous volcano in Japan is called Mount Fuji or Mt Fuji, not 'Mount Fujiyama' (which would mean Mount Fuji Mountain).
fulfil or fulfill?
The British spelling is fulfil and the US spelling is fulfill. The derivative fulfilled and fulfilling is correct in both forms of English.
fulfilment or fulfillment?
The British spelling is fulfilment and the US spelling is fulfillment.
fulsome
To use this word, it is best to know what it means. It is often used as "fulsome praise", but fulsome means disgusting by excess.
fushia or fuchsia?
The correct spelling is fuchsia.
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