M
maestro
. Reserve this word for the truly great performers.maintain. A loaded word. Prefer said/declared to maintained.
major. Write breakthrough, not major breakthrough.
majority. Prefer most to majority wherever possible.
masterful. Not to be confused with masterly. Masterful means imperious. Masterly means skillful. A masterly player can have a masterful captain.
masterly. See masterful.
maximise. Means to increase as much as possible. See absolutes.
may. In conditional sentences, may is used to suggest possibility. If she sings well, she may come first. Use might to suggest the impossible. If she can go back in time, I might follow her. Also, see can.
might. Past tense of may. Write she said she might come in the past tense. In the present tense, it should read she says she may come. See may.
minimise. Means to make as small as possible. See absolutes.
mob. Prefer crowd to mob unless there is unorganised violence.
modifiers. Beware of misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers. The cook came to boil eggs with her daughter is ambiguous. Write the cook came with her daughter to boil eggs. Also, do not write playing in the rain, a cold was caught by the child. Write playing in the rain, the child caught a cold.
more. Prefer more to over when referring to numbers. Write more than 20 girls not over 20 girls.
moreover. Prefer and/also to moreover.
move. Prefer plan to move wherever possible.
much. See far.
must. You must do it means you have to do it. You should do it means it is desirable for you to do it.
