Language Activator – Wrong

Wrong / Incorrect / Misleading / Inaccurate / Bad / be off

Wrong

adjective : not correct

. For every answer that is wrong, you lose five points

get something wrong

. You must have got my email address wrong

wrong number/address/name etc

. I tried to phone him, but it was the wrong number

wrong/wrongly (adverb) : You’ve spelled my name wrong — there should be an ‘e’ at the end

Incorrect

adjective : facts, figures, answers etc that are incorrect are wrong because the are not the same as the correct ones

. The information about current prices was incorrect

it is incorrect to do/say something

. It’s simply incorrect to say that tobacco advertising does not influence young people

incorrectly (adverb): If a player answers incorrectly, the question is given to the other team

Misleading

adjective : a statement or piece of information that is misleading makes people believe something that is not true, especially because it does not give all the facts

. The article was deliberately misleading, and the newspaper has apologized

give a misleading impression/statement etc

. Agents often gave a false or misleading description of the houses they were selling

Inaccurate

adjective : information, numbers etc that are inaccurate are not exactly right or contain some mistakes

. TV ratings figures are often inaccurate

totally/wildly inaccurate : very inaccurate

. Figures quoted in the article are wildly inaccurate

Bad

adjective

bad grammar/English/Italian etc : not spoken or written correctly

. You will lose marks for bad grammar in the exam

be out / be off

intransitive phrasal verb : if a measurement, result, figure etc is out, it is wrong because the numbers have not been calculated correctly

.These sales figures must be out. We certainly haven’t made that much money this year

be way off (verb phrase) : if someone’s guess, opinion etc is way off the mark, their idea about a situation is completely wrong

.No, you’re way off the mark — he was born in 1736

Practice

: Fill in the blanks with appropriate words

N1. Robert ordered two beers in very ————– Spanish

N2. He admitted he had given the committee ————–, incomplete and unreliable information

N3. ———— statistics

————–  N4. The Advertising Review Board says the adverts are deliberately

N5. ————– spelling

N6. They discovered later that the doctor had made an ————– diagnosis

N7. My last bank statement was ————– by $60

N8. Masanori is the worst student in the class ————– his spelling’s and his grammar’s terrible

: Answers

Bad / inaccurate / Misleading / misleading / incorrect / incorrect / off / bad