15 Grammar Goofs

15 5 Grammar Goofs THAT MAKE YOU LOOK SILLY Engaging online writing is informal, conversational, and fun, but certain goofy mistakes just make you look silly . and ot in a good way. 1. YOUR / YOU'RE Your You're "Your" is a possessive pronoun, as in "your car" or "your blog." "You're" is a contraction of "you are," as in: "You're screwing up your writing by using 'your' when you mean 'you are." 2. IT'S / ITS It's Its "It's" is a contraction of "it is" or "it has," "Its" is a possessive pronoun, as in: "This infographic has got its groove on." Say your sentence out loud using "it is" instead. If that apple! sounds goofy, "its" is likely correct. Tl's an Grammar nfo05 3. THERE / THEIR / THEY'RE There / Their They're Always do the "That's ours!" test: Are you talking about more than one person and "They're" is a contraction of "they are," so talk it out to something they possess? If so, "their" will get you be sure. They're there. ... Thats oura! 4. AFFECT / EFFECT Affect Effect "Affect" is a verb, as in: "Your "Effect" is most often a noun, ability to communicate clearly will affect your as in: "The effect of poor grammar on a person's income is well income. " documented." 5. THEN / THAN Then Than The word "then" can have a The word "than" is used to variety of meanings, including "at a point in time" or "in additionm to." As a rule, compare two different things: "This is bigger than that." use the word "than" when comparing and "then" in all other instances. 6. LOOSE / LOSE Please don't mess this up. If your pants are too loose, you might lose your pants. Be careful! 7. ME, MYSELF, AND I Me/I Myself "Myself" is only proper two ways, both used here: Choose between "me" and "I" by removing the other I lovg person from the sentence and using "Many despise asparagus, but I myself tolerate it. I thought to myself, 'Why?" what doesn't sound you, silly. 8. IMPROPER USE OF THE APOSTROPHE possession ("Frank's apostrophe means You need an apostrophe in two cases: For contractions ("don't" for "do not forget the apostrophe") and to show the apostrophe belongs to Frank"). 9. COULD OF, WOULD OF, SHOULD OF "Could've," "would've," and "should've" are legitimate verb contractions, but when spoken, 3 they sound like they end in "of" (wrong) instead Could of... of "have" (correct). "Could of," "would of," and "should of" all make you look silly. Urong! Fool! 10. COMPLEMENT / COMPLIMENT Complement Compliment "Complement" is something that adds to or supplements something else, or the act of doing so. "Compliment" is something nice someone says about you. Thanks! You're pretty. 11. FEWER / LESS Fewer Less If you can count it, use "fewer. If you can't, use "less." > "Robert has written > "Sonia has less fewer poems since he incentive to do got a real job." what I say." 12. HISTORIC/ HISTORICAL Historic Historical Silly alert! "Historic" means an "Historical" means something that happened in the past. important event. 13. PRINCIPAL/ PRINCIPLE Principal Principle As a noun, "principal" means the highest in rank or the main "Principle" is a noun meaning a fundamental participant; as an adjective, it means the most important of a set. truth, law, or standard. "I'm literally dying of shame." Bet not. "Literally" means that exactly what you say is true – no metaphors or analogies. Everything else is figurative. 14. LITERALLY OR! THE DANGLING A dangling participle occurs 15. PARTICIPLE when you order a sentence in a confusing way. For example: Try instead: "After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some oranges." "My brother brought up some oranges that had been rotting in the cellar for weeks." This means your brother is a zombie who delivers fruit. The English language can be tricky with dangling participles and the misuse of "literally." Pay attention to grammar and avoid the 15 common mistakes that may leave you, literally, jobless. Written by: copyblogger Infographic design by: BlueGlass .....