Even though we’re texting and emailing more than handwriting, there’s still a need for clarity in our writing and good grammar!
In my small business, I often catch myself – not always at first glance – leaving out letters in common words like the “r” in “your,” or changing “out” to “our”. We make these mistakes when we type too fast and we miss them in proofreading when our minds see what we know should be there.
There are a slew of other grammar mistakes that people make that aren’t necessarily typing or proofreading mistakes. They’re part of the quirkiness of our tricky English language.
Here are some examples.
Common grammar mistakes that people often make.
Your vs. you’re: “Your” is possessive (your car), while “you’re” is a contraction of “you are” (you’re running). To remember which to use, I sound out the contraction. If it makes sense, it’s right.
Its vs. it’s: “Its” is possessive (The pot lost its cover.) while “it’s” is a contraction of “it is” (It’s boiling.).
There vs. their vs. they’re: “There” refers to a place, “their” is possessive, and “they’re” is a contraction of “they are”.
Affect vs. effect: This one is tricky. “Affect” is usually a verb meaning to influence. (Hugs can affect a person positively.) “Effect” is a noun meaning the result. (The rain will effect the growth of the garden.)
Then vs. than: “Then” refers to time, while “than” is used for comparisons.
Loose vs. lose: “Loose” means not tight, while “lose” means to misplace or not win.
Me vs. I: I test myself on this one often. Use “I” as the subject of a sentence and “me” as the object (John and I went to the store. vs. He gave the book to John and me.). If you remove “John” in the first sentence, the sentence makes sense, for example, “I went to the store.” You would never say “Me went to the store.” Likewise, in the second sentence, you would never say, “He gave the book to I.”
Fewer vs. less: This is one of my favourite. Use “fewer” for countable items and “less” for uncountable quantities (fewer apples vs. less water).
I’ve been working on a project that challenges proper spelling, along with identifying proper grammar and English quirks.
These are common grammar word errors that are easy to fix. What words do you struggle with?
Writing for you. 