Take a look at these five commonly misused words. I come across the "continuously vs. "continually" one the most. The latter is almost never what the client actually means.
Others that I get a lot:
- "impact" vs. "impact on": This generally comes down to the use of "impact" as a verb or noun. The action of something impacts something else. It doesn't impact ON something else. "On" is only included when "impact" is used as a noun. VERB: "Unfavorable market conditions negatively impacted XYZ Corporation's business." NOUN: "Unfavorable macroeconomic conditions had a negative impact on XYZ Corporation's business." I probably make this change at least once or twice a week. Easy fix, but still.
- "leverage" vs. "leverage on": Basically the same thing, though I can think of even less practical use for the "on".
- "selected" vs. "select": These are just completely different words. "Selected" = "picked". "Select" = "first-rate", "cream of the crop", etc. If you're introducing a product only in your very best stores, you want to use "select" to define those stores. Often something is selected because it is select, but let's not give ourselves brain freeze here.
- "As of" vs. "As at": This is a peculiarity of financial writing that I had to learn. "As of" = "from [date]". "As at" = "up to and including [date]".