Common grammar mistakes

Brie
As we switch gears back into the learning mode, Cool Lifestyle is happy to walk that road with you. In our first educational piece for this year we look at some of the common mistakes students make in the English language.Some of the credit goes to carelessness and social media. Check out the list

Discuss about
The definition of discuss according to an online dictionary (Thank God for technology) is “To speak with another or others about”.

Therefore, there is no need to add “about” when using discuss.

Rise up
Again by definition, “rise” involves an upward movement. A person cannot rise down. They just rise. Get it?

Added bonus
A bonus is already something additional so there is no need for “added”.

Actual Fact
“In actual fact” is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying “actually”. We get that some do this to like sound “brainiacs” but really?

Ain’t
Attention to all “wanna be black Americans”
“Ain’t” has a long and vital history as a substitute for “isn’t,”

“Aren’t”
It was originally formed from a contraction of “am not” and is still commonly used in that sense. Even though it has been condemned universally as the classic “mistake” please use it correctly.

Able to
Only people are able to do things and things are not able to be done.

For example, you should not say, “The budget shortfall was able to be solved by selling cakes on the side”. It should read, “They were able to solve the budget shortfall by selling cakes on the side.”

Attain or Obtain
“Attain” means “reach” and “obtain” means “get”.

“Attain” usually implies a required amount of labour or difficulty; nothing is necessarily implied about the difficulty of obtaining, some things you obtain can also be attained. If you want to emphasise how hard you worked in college, you might say you attained your degree; but if you want to emphasise that you have a valid degree that qualifies you for a certain job, you might say you obtained it.

If you just bought it from a diploma mill for fifty bucks, you definitely only obtained it.

End Result
The last time we checked, results come at the end.