1. Due to, owing to
owning to means ‘because of; due to means ’caused by’ and is always Effect after it follows a form of the verb ‘to be’: Her grey hairs were due to worry, but Owing to the snow, the train was canceled.
A clear rule is to use ‘due to’ after the verb ‘to be’ and either form else-here. But to repeat: He was late owing to traffic is correct; his lateness was due to traffic is correct, but the common He was late due to traffic is wrong even though it sounds right (substitute ’caused by’ here for ‘due to’ and you’ll get the point).
2. Farther, further
In a narrow sense, farther refers to additional distance, and further to additional time, amount, or abstract matters. But further is now often used for both time and distance. Farther, however, can only be used for distance, so you could say Is it much further, father?, or Is it much farther, father? The simplest solution is to use only further.
3. Flaunt, flout
Try to avoid mixing these up: flaunting is showing off, whereas flouting is defying convention. We do not flaunt authority but flout or defy it; you flout decision, but flaunt your wealth, as if in contempt of others.
4. Hanged, hung
You hang a picture and hang a prisoner, but if you did it yesterday you hung is picture and hanged a person. Hanged is used for executions, therefore, but hung for all other meanings.
5. Have, of
Be careful that you use have after ‘helping’ or auxiliary verbs. The ones to watch out for are could, should, may and might Make sure that you write could have, should have, would have, may have and might have. The following are always wrong:
could of, should of, would of, may of, might of.
6. Imply, Infer
This is another pair of words that are sometimes muddled in essays. Imply means ‘suggest’; infer means ‘conclude’ or ‘deduce’ something from something: infer from your actions that you are guilty; you imply that I am lying. A writer or speaker or text, then, implies something, but readers’ infer what is meant. Only people can infer; a text might imply something, but I cannot infer.
7. In, into
In indicates location or condition: she was in the house. Into indicates movement or a change of condition: she went into the garage. Here into is one word because it is followed by a noun, garage. When a verb comes next the to is part of the verb and so into is two words, info. Thus, she went in to find a saw.
A similar pair is on and onto: on is used as an adverb (let’s move on to the next subject), whereas onto is used as a compound preposition (she jumped onto the horse). The simple rule is that on to are always two words when it is impossible to use just on alone: pass this on to the next person.