Vocabulary Building
1. Floor
ground ▪ land ▪ earth
These are all words for the surface that you walk on.
EX:
She was sitting on the floor watching TV.
ground (often the ground) the solid surface of the earth that you walk on:
EX:
I found her lying on the ground.
The rocket crashed a few seconds after it left the ground.
land the surface of the earth that is not sea:
It was good to be back on dry land again.
They fought both at sea and on land.
earth (often the earth) the solid surface of the world that is made of rock,
soil, sand, etc:
You could feel the earth shake as the truck came closer.
ground, land or earth?
Ground is the normal word for the solid surface that you walk on when you are not
in a building or vehicle. You can use earth if you want to draw attention to the
rock, soil etc. that the ground is made of. Land is only used when you want to
contrast it with the sea.
on/under the floor/ground/earth
bare floor/ground/earth
to drop/fall to the floor/the ground/(the) earth
to reach the floor/the ground/land
2. Mistake
error ▪ inaccuracy ▪ slip ▪ howler ▪ misprint
These are all words for a word, figure or fact that is not said, written down or typed
correctly.
mistake a word or figure that is not said or written down correctly:
It’s a common mistake among learners of English.
spelling mistakes
error (rather formal) a word, figure, etc. that is not said or written down
correctly:
There are too many errors in your work.
Error is a more formal way of saying mistake.
inaccuracy (rather formal) a piece of information that is not exactly correct:
The article is full of inaccuracies.
slip a small mistake, usually made by being careless or not paying attention
howler (informal, especially British English) a stupid mistake, especially in
what somebody says or writes:
The report is full of howlers.
A howler is usually an embarrassing mistake that shows that the person who
made it does not know something that they really should know.
misprint a small mistake in a printed text
Patterns
a(n) mistake/error/inaccuracy/slip/howler/misprint in something
to make a(n) mistake/error/slip/howler
to contain/be full of mistakes/errors/inaccuracies/howlers/misprints