can. Can means able to. May means permitted to.

capsize. Only a ship can capsize. A truck overturns.

cater. Cater for means provide for. Cater to means pander to. Use with care.

charge. See accuse.

christened. Only people are christened. Objects are named.

circumstances. Write in, not under, the circumstances. But both are right. Prefer because to this phrase wherever possible.

claim. A loaded word. Prefer said/declared to claimed.

cliches. Stock phrases worn out by repetition but used by journalists who have little time to think. Avoid.

collide. Only moving objects collide. If one of them is stationary, use hit.

commence. Prefer begin to commence.

comparisons. First, compare like with like. Pele’s skills were greater than Maradona is wrong. Pele’s skills cannot be compared with Maradona but with Maradona’s. Second, compare to draws attention to similarities and compare with to contrasts. So Pele may be compared with/to Maradona.

comprise. Means consists of. Write the team comprises boys and girls.

condition. Use rule wherever possible. Write the rules were relaxed but his condition worsened.

consist. Consists of means composed of and consists in means equivalent to. Democracy consists in the existence of a free Press. The country consists of many States. See comprise.

continual. If it rains very frequently, the rain is continual. If it rains uninterruptedly, the rain is continuous.

continuous. See continual.

convince. Do not confuse convince with persuade. People cannot be convinced to act. They can only be convinced of a fact but may be persuaded to act. See also absolutes.

correlatives. These are conjunctions in pairs: although...yet, both...and, either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also, whether...or, etc. Correlatives must be positioned to introduce like terms. Do not write John neither is good nor bad but John is neither good nor bad.

credence. Not to be confused with credibility or credulity. Use credence to mean belief/trust. Credulity means readiness to believe; and credibility means the quality of being believable.

crescendo. Use climax wherever possible. A climax can be reached but a crescendo cannot.

crisis. Prefer trouble/problem to crisis unless the event is decisive or a turning point. Problems may be perennial but crises are not.

currently. Usually redundant unless the present is compared with the past. Otherwise use at present.