Definition of hypercorrection in English:
hypercorrection
nounhʌɪpəkəˈrɛkʃ(ə)nˌhaɪpərkəˈrɛkʃən
mass nounThe use of an erroneous word form or pronunciation based on a false analogy with a correct or prestigious form, such as the use of I instead of me as a grammatical object (as in he invited my husband and I to lunch).
Example sentencesExamples
- Haeri argues that this is a result of hypercorrection.
- It's interesting that everyone, prescriptivists and anti-prescriptivists alike, seems to think that hypercorrection is wrong, morally as well as logically.
- Committing such a hypercorrection in an anti-elitist discourse subverts the argument.
- Presaging modern spellchecker-generated errors, someone at the Times apparently committed an editorial hypercorrection.
- It's clearly not hypercorrection, since the move is away from a more standard variant.
Derivatives
adjective
And not even Strunk would prefer ‘We the persons’ in this case, where the joke is a hypercorrect application of one of Strunk's little peeves.
Example sentencesExamples
- In cases like terlet, this produces a form which is not only hypercorrect, but also in fact non-existent in the more prestigious form of speech.
Definition of hypercorrection in US English:
hypercorrection
nounˌhaɪpərkəˈrɛkʃənˌhīpərkəˈrekSHən
The erroneous use of a word form or pronunciation based on a false analogy with a correct or prestigious form, such as between you and I for the standard between you and me.
Example sentencesExamples
- It's clearly not hypercorrection, since the move is away from a more standard variant.
- Presaging modern spellchecker-generated errors, someone at the Times apparently committed an editorial hypercorrection.
- Haeri argues that this is a result of hypercorrection.
- It's interesting that everyone, prescriptivists and anti-prescriptivists alike, seems to think that hypercorrection is wrong, morally as well as logically.
- Committing such a hypercorrection in an anti-elitist discourse subverts the argument.