Here is a handy guide for all you jerks out there:
GRAMMAR POLICE: 12 MISTAKES NEARLY EVERYONE MAKES
As more and more organizations join the owned media way of marketing, the grammar police seem to be in greater force.
Poor Sam Fiorella. Every time he writes something, he asks three or four of us to make sure he isnt going to be crucified by the grammar police. Its become quite comical and we enjoy giving him a hard time about it.
But hes not alone. Many business leaders stress about writing anything at all, for fear of having incorrect grammar that will be made fun of across the web.
Between not knowing correct grammar and the text lexicon, its no wonder people are fearful of not just writing, but publishing, their work.
While I am certainly no Grammar Girl, I have found there are mistakes nearly everyone makes, particularly when writing for the web.
All Hail the Grammar Police!
1.Affect vs. effect. The easiest way to remember the difference between the two is affect means to influence. So if youre going to influence something, you will have an affect. If its the result of something, its an effect.
2.The Oxford comma. In a series of three or more terms, you should use whats referred to as the Oxford comma. This means you should have a comma before the word and in a list. For instance: The American flag is red, white, and blue. Many people debate this, but Im a believer in it because there are times when you dont have the extra comma and the sentence doesnt make sense. I prefer to err on the side of having the Oxford in there.
3.Commas, in general. And speaking of commas, slow down when youre writing and read your copy out loud. You dont want to make this mistake: Lets eat grandma vs. lets eat, grandma. Poor grandma will be eaten if you forget the comma.
4.Their, theyre, and there. Youd think everyone learned this rule in fourth grade, but its a very common mistake. Use there when referring to a location, their to indication possession, and theyre when you mean to say they are.
5.Care less. The dismissive I could care less you hear all the time is incorrect. If you could care less, that means there is more you could care less about the topic. Most people omit the not in that phrase. It should be, I couldnt care less.
6.Irregardless. This word doesnt exist. It should be regardless.
7.Nauseous. How many times have you said you felt nauseous? This is incorrect. You feel nauseated. Nauseous means something is sickening to contemplate.
8.Your and youre. Another mistake you see in peoples social media profiles and in the content they create is not correctly using your and youre. If youre meaning to say you are, the correct word is youre (like at the beginning of this sentence). Otherwise the word is your.
9.Fewer vs. less. Another common mistake, less refers to quantity and fewer to a number. For instance, Facebook has fewer than 5,000 employees.
10.Quotation marks. Among great debate, people ask all the time whether or not punctuation belongs inside or outside quotation marks. It belongs inside.
11.More than vs. over. Im pretty sure the advertising agency created this grammatical error. Instead of saying, We had more than 50 percent growth in ad copy, over allows for more space. So they say, We had over 50 percent growth. Drives. Me. Crazy.
12.Me vs. I. I was reading something by a big muckety muck the other day and the copy read, This year has brought a big personal development for my wife and I No, no, no! If you were going to say that without the mention of your wife, you wouldnt say, This year has brought a big personal development for I. You would say me. So this year has brought a big personal development for my wife and me.
There are so many grammar mistakes made today, The Elements of Style is on its fourth edition. Also check out the AP Stylebook. While most business writers dont abide by those rules, most PR professionals do.
Having a copy of both (and referring to them) and asking an editor for help (even if its informal like Sam does), youll never have to worry about the grammar police.
- See more at: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/grammar-police-12-mistakes-nearly-everyone-makes#sthash.roCfKJns.dpuf
And lets not bring up the cement concrete issue
Here are two more for your list.
13) Very unique, more unique (unique means one and only)
14) “If I was” instead of “If I were”
In regards to number 3:
And speaking of commas, slow down when youre writing and read your copy out loud.
Lawyer Ad:
Will work on contingency.
No money down.
Should’ve read:
Will work on contingency?
No, money down!
Word of the day: Sprachgefühl.
The grammar rules are there to make communication easier and more accurate.
If you have to stop to consider every its/it’s, there/their/they’re, will/well, than/then, number/amount, that/who, less/fewer, non-possessive ‘s, etc., that’s not efficient and those with sprachgefühl just quit reading.
Thank you.
A class was given this sentence to punctuate:
woman without her man is a savage
The girls in the class punctuated it this way:
"Woman! Without her, man is a savage."
The boys punctuated it this way:
"Woman, without her man, is a savage."
GIBBERISH!!!
The author has not noticed that he has switched from discussing the VERB "to effect" to discussing the NOUN "effect."
You forgot two, to, and too.
My pet peeves:
Imply versus infer. Some people use the word infer when they mean imply. I guess they think it sounds fancier.
Less versus fewer. Fewer is used when you have countable objects, e.g., fewer people, fewer commas.
“With all due respect...” That phrase shows zero respect.