USI Identity Standards

Tips & Techniques

Action Words to Improve Writing                                                                

Word Usage

Ability - present power to do
Capacity - potential power to learn

Accept - to receive 
Except - aside from

Access - admittance
Excess - greater amounts

Adapt - to fit, adjust, or make suitable
Adopt - to accept as one’s own

Addicted to - devoted to persistently as a habit or indulgence
Subject to - liable to or conditional upon

Adverse - unfavorable
Averse - having a dislike for

Advice - counsel, warning, recommendation (noun)
Advise - to give counsel, warning, recommendation
Inform - to acquaint, tell, communicate, or impart

Affect - to influence (verb only)
Effect - the result; bring about

Already - by now
All ready - everybody prepared

All-round - general
Round - circular
Around - on all sides

Altogether - entirely, wholly
All together- everybody in one unit

Allusion - a hint or reference
Illusion - false or misleading concept

Delusion - false belief, fixed misconception from self-depiction
Mirage - an optical illusion

Amount - refers to volume or bulk
Number - refers to individual things

Ante - before
Anti – against

Apt - capable, fast-learning
Liable - subject to ill results
Likely – usual

Assume - to take into service, suppose, pretend
Presume - to take for granted, venture, dare

At - for smaller places
In - for larger places

Bad - (as opposed to) good (adj. and adv.)
Badly - (as opposed to) well (adv.)

Balance - a bank balance
Remainder - what is left

Rest - what is left
Beside - by the side of
Besides - in addition to, also

Between - refers to two
Among - refers to three or more

Biannual - twice a year
Biennial - once every two years

Can - (as compared with) could (stresses ability)
May - (as compared with) might (stresses possibility)

Canvas - a coarse cloth
Canvass - to solicit

Capital - seat of government, sum of money, large sized letter, chief, foremost 
Capitol - a government building

Cession - a yielding of 
Session - meeting of a court or other group

Case - illustrates existence of something
Credible - deserving belief
Instance – an occurrence of something; serve as an example

Coarse - rough, common
Course - a direction, action, way, part of a meal

Common - shared alike by two or more people
Mutual - reciprocal, given and received

Complacent - self-satisfied
Complaisant - pleasing, obliging, affable

Complement - to complete
Compliment - to praise

Conscience - sense of right and wrong
Conscious - aware, awake, sensible

Contemptible - worthy of being despised
Contemptuous - showing scorn

Continual - with interruption
Continuous - without stopping

Council - an assemble
Counsel - legal advice
Consul - foreign representative

Creditable - praiseworthy
Credulous – gullible

Currently - in the present time
Presently - in the future, soon

Damage - loss to property only
Injury - impairment to beauty or utility

Decease – die
Cease – stop something; stop happening
Desist – stop doing something

Depositary - receiver of a deposit, a storehouse
Depository - a place of safekeeping

Deprecate - to disapprove
Depreciate - to decrease in value

Device - contrivance (noun)
Devise - contrive (verb)

Disinterested - impartial
Uninterested – bored

Distinct - clear
Distinctive - different, unique

Emigrate - to move away from, leave
Immigrate - to move into, enter
Migrate - to move, trek

Eminent - prominent
Imminent - impending, threatening
Immanent - inherent, within

Ensure – make something certain 
Insure – cover something with insurance
Assure – make someone confident; convince someone

Ethical - moral principles
Religious - dogma or creed

Euphemism - a mild expression for something disagreeable
Euphuism - an affectation of elegance in writing

Evidence - proof
Testimony – affirmation

Explicit - easily understood
Implicit – unquestioning

Extent - measure
Extant - still existing

Famous - favorably known, noted
Notorious - unfavorable known

Farther - refers to a physical distance
Further - more advanced in time, quantity, or degree; to promote

Flaunt - a display with showiness
Flout - to treat with contempt

Foreword - a preface
Forward – advance

Forgo - to relinquish; to let pass
Forego - to go before

Fortuitous – accidental
Fortunate – lucky

Formally - in a formal manner
Formerly – before

Got - (preferred form) Gotten

Ignorant - not informed

Illiterate - uneducated; unlettered
Illicit – unlawful
Elicit - to draw out by some inducement

Imply - hint or suggest
Infer - draw conclusion

Inflammable - not easily set on fire
Flammable - easily set on fire

Ingenious - clever, skillful
Ingenuous - frank, untrusting

Invaluable – priceless, very useful, important
Valuable – useful, held dear, capable of being assigned a value

In regard to - concerning
In regards to - (do not use)

Inter - between 
Intra – within

Irrelevant - not bearing upon the case
Irreverent – disrespectful

Its - belonging to it
It’s - contraction for it is

Last - final one
Latest - most recent
Latter - refers to second of two things mentioned

Laudable - worthy of praise
Laudatory - giving praise

Lay, laid - transitive and direct object
Lie, lay, lain – intransitive

Less - refers to amount or bulk
Fewer - refers to individual things

Lessee -a tenant
Lesser - smaller
Lessor - one who gives a lease

Let - permit
Leave - to go away

Like - in the manner of (preposition)
As - in the form of (conjunction)

Loan - to give temporarily (noun)
Lend - to give temporarily (verb)

Linear - refers to lines, measurement
Lineal - refers to lines, usually to line of ancestry or descendants

Loath - reluctant
Loathe - regard with hatred and disgust

Located - found
Situated – placed

Loose - not tight
Lose - to fail to keep or sustain

Majority - more than half
Plurality - more than the next highest

Most - nearly all; greatest
Almost - nearly (always an adverb)

Moral - man’s conception of right and wrong
Morale - mental state

Oral - spoken
Verbal - using words, written or oral (spoken)

Parties - number of persons united for a particular purpose
Persons - a number of individuals
People - a group

Partly - in part
Partially - to some degree

Personal - individual and his private affairs
Personnel - a body of people employed in work or service

Plausible - having the appearance of truth
Feasible - capable of being done

Populace - the common people
Populous - densely settled

Practical - useful in actual practice
Practicable - feasible
Possible - capable of happening

Precede - to go before in time, place, or importance
Proceed - to go on, continue

Principal - leader; main
Principle - rule of conduct

Prodigy – somebody with exceptional talent; something marvelous
Progeny – offspring

Prophecy - what is foretold (noun)
Prophesy - to foretell or predict (verb)

Proved - (preferred form) proven

Provided - on condition that
Providing – supplying

Quiet - silent
Quite - completely, wholly

Raise - lift up
Rise - ascend
Raze - to level to the ground

Real - true, genuine
Really – actually

Remuneration - paying for service rendered
Compensation - whatever makes good any lack or loss
Honorarium - honorary fee paid to a professional as a courtesy

Respectively - relating to each of several things or persons
Respectfully - showing esteem

Rout - total defeat and flight
Route - a way to travel; direct

Savable - capable of being saved
Salvageable - can be saved or rescued from loss

Same - identical
Said - already referred to 
Such - of that, or the like, kind

Sanitarium - establishment for care of certain diseases
Sanatorium - usually for mental ailments

Sight - vision
Cite - to summon; to use as an illustration
Site - position or location

Soluble - can be dissolved, loosened; or can be solved or explained, as a problem
Solvable - can be solved or explained

Sometime - once, formerly (adverb - rarely an adjective)
Some time - at a stated time
Sometimes - now and then, occasionally (adverb)

Special (ly)  – special (adjective)
Especial (ly) – especially (adverb)

Stationary - fixed
Stationery - writing paper

Statue - sculptured figure
Stature - normal height
Statute - ordinance of law

Suite - group of rooms, furniture, music
Suit - act of seeking favor or justice; clothing

Tenets - laws
Tenants - ones who rent property from another; occupants

Their - belonging to them
There - in that place
They’re - they are

Therefore - on this account
There for - in return for this and that

Toward  - (preferred form) towards

Undo - to make null and void
Undue - not due yet

Unquestioned - not questioned
Unquestionable - not to be disputed

Who’s - who is 
Whose – possessive

You’re - you are
Your – belonging to the person being spoken to