Common Writing Errors
If you don’t know these, you shouldn’t graduate from college!
1. If you can’t state the differences in the use of their, they’re, and there, then don’t use contractions! This means you should write they are when you need they’re or we are when you mean we’re or you are when you mean you’re . Their and your are only used as possessive pronouns, as in their dog, their ideas and your turn or your clothes. It is NEVER acceptable to write when your going when you mean when you are going. The apostrophe means a letter is missing in a contraction.
2. You need to learn the differences between to, too and two. Two is 2. Too is about excess, as in too much coffee or too many people or it can mean also : Take me, too or He wants one, too . “To” is a part of a verb’s infinitive form, as in “to go” “to have” “to see”. It is also a preposition, used in conjunction with another word to indicate direction: to school or to the doctor’s.
3. Speaking of much and many and fewer and less: If you can count the things, there are many or fewer, as in “fewer (or many) people were in the room”, or “there were so many (or so few) snowflakes falling” The same applies to fewer: "fewer (many) students read books" or "we had fewer (many) opportunities" .
If you can’t COUNT the amount (as in liquids), you use much or less: “ there was much snow falling”or “there was so much water in the tub” or “there was much ado about nothing”. This goes for less, too: "we had less rain this year (fewer inches, but less volume)" or "there was less beer in each glass (fewer ounces but less volume)". Get these straight!
4. Weather is sunshine, rain, snow. Whether or not you use it depends on whether your topic has to do with climate.
5. A witch is a person who practices wicca, which is a modern version of a pagan religion.
6. You may accept the honors given to you, except when you don’t deserve them.
7. There is NO apostrophe in a simple plural: six dogs, 2 parents, a hundred shoes.
8. I think this needs repeating: YOU DO NOT NEED AN APOSTROPHE TO MAKE A SIMPLE PLURAL!
There IS an apostrophe when it is a simple possessive: it is my dog’s collar and I broke my shoe’s heel (only ONE shoe’s heel). When there is a plural noun of possession, the apostrophe goes after the ‘s’: it is my parents’ car and my shoes’ style . If you don’t know the difference, go the long way around to avoid the possessive: it is the car of my parents or that was the style of my shoes .
8. A sentence has a verb in it. A verb is an action word. If you have thing words in a line, and they don’t DO anything, it isn’t a sentence.
9. Affect / Effect: Affect is usually a verb: Something I did affects other people. Effect is most often the noun you are seeking: When you treat someone kindly, it has an effect on them. It gets tricky when you want to talk about actively effecting (causing) change, but only use it this way when you are sure what you are saying.
10. If you lose something and want to tell someone as it is happening, you say you are losing your mind. If you are untying the stays of your corset so you can breathe, then you are loosing the stays. In the first case the s is pronounced like a z, in the second, the s is soft. When you make a choice, however, you are choosing. English is funny that way.
11. When you breathe, you are taking a breath. The first one is a verb, the second one is a noun.
12. If you tell me a secret, it is between you and me, never between you and I. The "me" is the object of the preposition "between".
13. When you are addressing more than one person, and need to use a possessive, it is NEVER correct to say "You guys's food will be here soon." You should correctly use the simple possessive "Your (food)". It's all you need, whether it's one, two, or ten people! Isn't that nice? No arithmetic needed!
14. If you are wishing someone well as they leave your establishment, please do not go through the unnecessary and incorrect verbal contortion of trying to say, "Have a nice rest of your day/night!" It will suffice to avoid calculating the amount of time left in the day, and simply say "Have a nice day!" We know what you mean.
If you have never seen a saying in a written form, you would probably be safer NOT using it! I have frequently had to repeat out loud what you have written to get a clue as to what you mean:
“right off the back” turned out to mean “right off the bat”
“ We should not place athletes on a peddle stool” was actually a “pedestal”
“Now and days” doesn’t make any sense “nowadays”.
While I read Vogue magazine and shop for designer clothes, I don’t remember taking the “pledge of elegance”. However, as an American, I have frequently recited the “Pledge of Allegiance”.
Although it is true many Mexicans do hard physical work in American, we do not call it “manuel labor”, but rather “manual labor”. Manual means “by hand” .