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I
See You and I.
iconic
Overused word.
ideas of or ideas about?
...
I hear what you are saying
Do you? Good. Can we please stop using the overused and (often) meaningless phrase?
ill advised or ill-advised?
ill advised: See [well] at W.
ill or sick?
depends: In Britain, the act of vomiting is also called 'being sick' or as in 'I'm going to be sick'. 'Sick' in America, Australia and New Zealand means what the British refer to as being 'ill'. If you have a cold in Britain, you are ill; if you throw up then you are sick. Curiously, news reports often claim people put in hospital after a violent assault, a serious car accident or even gunshot wounds to be 'seriously ill in hospital'. To non-Brits, this way of using ill seems bizarre. Both Brits and Americans use the expression 'sick of' when they can no longer bear or tolerate something.
impact
The story made a big impact on ticket sales. The word is a noun that careful writers avoid using as a verb. That said, many dictionaries list it as a verb because a lot of people use as such, especially in relation to writing about climate change. The time will when impact as a verb is no longer frowned upon. That day, however, has not yet arrived.
imply or infer?
If you infer something, you are making an informed conclusion. If you imply something, you are hinting at it.
I'm trying to be funny or anything
Can we please stop using the overused and (often) meaningless phrase?
Inc. or Inc?
Inc: The British approach to punctuating acronyms and abbreviations is to almost always exclude and punctuation marks.
in colour
Sometimes we don't realise that we double up our words for no reason. Describing something as 'green in colour' is two words too many. If you want yellow wallpaper, you don't need to say: 'I'm looking for wallpaper yellow in colour.'
incorporate into or incorporate in?
The proper term is incorporate into.
Indy or indie?
Indieis a type of music/film etc and Indy is the action-hero archaeologist, as well as the colloquial name for the Independent newspaper.
infinitive, split?
depends*: Please don't get me started on this one.
* there is nothing ungrammatical about the linguistic construction labelled "a split infinitive". There is, however, a lot of wrongly held prejuduce against it – and those who dare use it. Use at your own risk.
informed of or informed about?
If you are informed about something, then you already know what needs knowing. If you would like to be informed about something then you do not yet know what it is you would like to be knowledgeable about. To be informed of something, someone will let you know about something ("your parents arrived") rather than explain anything.
in order to
All you need is to. It means the same exactly the same thing, I promise.
inquiry or enquiry?
A favourite phrase heard in the British media, is the call for a "full public inquiry". This is of the examination sort. An enquiry, on the other hand, is what you go to an information stand for.
inside of or inside?
In US English, inside of is common enough to be considered standard. In British English, however, the only correct standard is to use plain old inside when expressing location of position. The word inside automatically means inside ("of") something so there is no need to include "of". But, see all of.
Also, there is an informal expression in the UK used for expressing time: 'inside of' an hour. In print, it is better to use within an hour.
instant, instantaneous, or instantly?
Write instant coffee, instant reaction and instant desire. Use instantaneous to describe how something happened, as in death was instantaneous and the reaction was instantaneous. The subtle difference between instantaneously and instantly is that the former means "a split second later" and the latter usually means "straightaway". Compare There was instantaneous laughter with I want you to go, instantly.
instill or instil?
The spelling instill is used in US and Canadian English. In Britain, the usual spelling is instil. Both forms of English write instilled. Contrary to popular belief, it is instill that is the older spelling, not the other way round. Samuel Johnson used instill in his dictionary.
instilled with or instilled in?
There is a popular idea that instilled with is always wrong and instilled in is the only correct option. However, this is not the case. First, instilled in is used in US English, e.g. These are the values that we want instilled in children. In British English the usage is the same but alongside the equally valid instilled into (e.g children). Second, instilled with is reserved (both in the US and in the UK) for passive sentences typically describing human feelings/emotion, such as instilled with fear/lust/ambition.
insure or ensure?
Insure is what you pay to do, and ensure means to make sure or certain.
intend on or intend to?
You might plan on or plan to doing something, but you can only be intent on doing something. If you are less enthusiastic then you might only intend to do it, once you have time. Don't write 'intend on'.
internal flight or domestic flight?
domestic flight: No matter how many advertisements you see advertising them, don't be tempted to try an internal flight, it might hurt. But seriously, the proper term is 'domestic flight'. Or should we also start using internal terminal and international terminal?
interned or interred?
Apart from the word intern, a longer-term form of work experience, to be interned means to be imprisoned or trapped. To be interred is to be buried.
-ise or -ize?
If you are a user of US English it is very simple: use -ize spellings.
If you consider yourself a user of British English, then it's not simple enough to be summarised here (note that I used -s-). Instead, see XXXXXX (coming soon). If you are unsure, you can play it safe and use use -ise spelling.
issue
Careful writers don't use issue as a synonym for 'problem'.
iterate or reiterate?
If I say something once, I state it. If I say the same thing again, I iterate it. If I say it yet once more, I reiterate it. Unfortunately a lot of people use reiterate to say they repeat something, when all they have to say is iterate. Shall I iterate?