TheWritersBag.com

You’ve probably figured out by now that I have a passion for pointing out common writing mistakes. This no doubt springs from the guilt I feel for making those same blunders so often during my professional writing career. All I can say is, “I’m deeply sorry, clients and editors, but not enough to issue refunds.”

Now for the all-too-common gaffe of the day. Let’s start with a quiz. Which of the following sentences are correct?

1. We had over 200 accidents just last month.
2. When we get over 50 inches of snow, we’ll start the ski lifts.
3. Over 50 percent of the fighter pilots in the squadron never came home.
4. I have written over 350 articles for national magazines.
5. The salaries of firefighters jumped over $5,000 per year.

Which do you think are correct? If you say “none of them” you get the gold star. Granted, not one of these sentences would make you sound like an idiot, and the reason for that is simple: almost everyone makes the same mistake. But just because it’s so common doesn’t mean it’s right.

You can set each of the sentences right by replacing “over” with “more than.” The rule involved here is surprisingly simple when you consider how often it is abused:

RULE: “Over” generally refers to spatial relationships, while “more than” is used with numbers.

The easy way to remember this next time you want to write or say “over” is to change it to “more than” if you’re referring to numbers or things that can be counted.

That’s not to say, of course, that the phrase “more than” must always refer to numbers. “It’s more than I can take,” and “The book delivered more than I expected, given its author,” are examples. The point is that when you use “over” with numbered items, watch out. It will usually be wrong.

PS. Please don’t forget to sign up for the free weekly e-mail updates. Go to the the top left of this page.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS