21 - Vocabulary: common mistakes, "faux amis", etc.

The following is an incomplete list of common vocabulary mistakes.

-Achever. Use to complete (not achieve which means to accomplish).

-Actuellement. Use Presently or currently (not actually which means "in fact").

-Au contraire. Use "In contrast" in most cases ("On the contrary,..." is used more after a negative sentence, whose information is confirmed by "On the contrary,..." and a positive sentence reinforcing the argument of the negative sentence. For example: The weather was not bad today. On the contrary, the sun came out at the end of the afternoon and the evening was very pleasant.)

-Dans le cadre d'un projet de recherche. Use Within the framework of a research project...

-Dans un premier temps, ... dans un deuxième temps, etc. Use To begin with... Next / then... Finally...

-D'un côté... de l'autre côté. Use On the one hand... on the other hand, not On the one side...

-Décevoir. Use disappoint. (To deceive = tromper, duper)

-En même temps. Use At the same time,...

-Eventuellement. Use Possibly or maybe (not eventually which means finally, at the end).

-Globalement. Use Generally or On the whole (globally means more literally in the whole world).

-Figure. Use face, if you do not mean image.

-Hypothèse. Remember, there is an important difference between "assumption" (hypothèse de départ) and "hypothesis" (hypothèse à tester).

-Informations. Remember, "information" is uncountable in English and so always singular!

"Anything but" means "tout sauf" but more specifically "n'importe quoi sauf". "Everything but" and "all but" mean "tout sauf". However "everything but" is followed by a (third person) singular verb (Everything but salt is on the table), and "all but" is followed by a (third person) plural verb (All members of the research centre but Sarah are coming to the meeting. She is at a conference in  Marseille.). (For more information on this see: https://jakubmarian.com/all-but-vs-anything-but-vs-everything-but-in-english/)