Making a mistake is not pleasant, but it is natural. One well-known saying begins, “To err is human…” In other words, making mistakes is part of being a person.
But what about those who suffer because of someone else's mistake?
A saying answers this question, too. It says, “…to forgive (is) divine.”
That means that excusing others for their faults makes us a little better than just being human. The act is god-like.
But the noun form of “err” - error - appears in many American English expressions.
For example, human error is often the reason police give for a preventable – but unplanned – accident.
When you are nice to people who have treated you badly in the past, they may re-think their bad behavior. They may see the error of their ways.
Scientists are very careful people, but scientific research is full of errors. Scientists know this. So, they sometimes say that their findings have a margin of error. That margin, or amount, shows how accurate they think their answer really is.
Another scientific term that we use in any part of our lives is trial and error. Trial and error means you find the best way to do something by trying many ways and getting rid of the ways that failed.
