Posted on 09/28/2011 1:00:49 PM PDT by iowamark
Many brilliant people have some communication weak spots. Unfortunately, the reality is that written communication is a big part of business, and how you write reflects on you. Poor spelling and grammar can destroy a professional image in an instant.
Even if your job doesn't require much business writing, you'll still have emails to send and notes to write. And if you're looking for a job, your cover letters and resumes will likely mean the difference between getting the interview or not.
Bad grammar and spelling make a bad impression. Don't let yourself lose an opportunity over a simple spelling or grammar mistake.
Here are seven simple grammatical errors that I see consistently in emails, cover letters and resumes.
Tip: Make yourself a little card cheat sheet and keep it in your wallet for easy reference.
You're / Your
The apostrophe means it's a contraction of two words; "you're" is the short version of "you are" (the "a" is dropped), so if your sentence makes sense if you say "you are," then you're good to use you're. "Your" means it belongs to you, it's yours.
You're going to love your new job!
It's / Its
This one is confusing, because generally, in addition to being used in contractions, an apostrophe indicates ownership, as in "Dad's new car." But, "it's" is actually the short version of "it is" or "it has." "Its" with no apostrophe means belonging to it.
It's important to remember to bring your telephone and its extra battery.
They're / Their / There
"They're" is a contraction of "they are." "Their" means belonging to them. "There" refers to a place (notice that the word "here" is part of it, which is also a place – so if it says here and there, it's a place). There = a place
They're going to miss their teachers when they leave there.
Loose / Lose
These spellings really don't make much sense, so you just have to remember them. "Loose" is the opposite of tight, and rhymes with goose. "Lose" is the opposite of win, and rhymes with booze. (To show how unpredictable English is, compare another pair of words, "choose" and "chose," which are spelled the same except the initial sound, but pronounced differently. No wonder so many people get it wrong!)
I never thought I could lose so much weight; now my pants are all loose!
Lead / Led
Another common but glaring error. "Lead" means you're doing it in the present, and rhymes with deed. "Led" is the past tense of lead, and rhymes with sled. So you can "lead" your current organization, but you "led" the people in your previous job.
My goal is to lead this team to success, just as I led my past teams into winning award after award.
A lot / Alot / Allot
First the bad news: there is no such word as "alot." "A lot" refers to quantity, and "allot" means to distribute or parcel out.
There is a lot of confusion about this one, so I'm going to allot ten minutes to review these rules of grammar.
Between you and I
This one is widely misused, even by TV news anchors who should know better.
In English, we use a different pronoun depending on whether it's the subject or the object of the sentence: I/me, she/her, he/him, they/them. This becomes second nature for us and we rarely make mistakes with the glaring exception of when we have to choose between "you and I" or "you and me."
Grammar Girl does a far better job of explaining this than I, but suffice to say that "between you and I" is never correct, and although it is becoming more common, it's kind of like saying "him did a great job." It is glaringly incorrect.
The easy rule of thumb is to replace the "you and I" or "you and me" with either "we" or "us" and you'll quickly see which form is right. If "us" works, then use "you and me" and if "we" works, then use "you and I."
Between you and me (us), here are the secrets to how you and I (we) can learn to write better.
Master these common errors and you'll remove some of the mistakes and red flags that make you look like you have no idea how to speak.
“That’s where I am at”
Consider this phrase raspberried. Nails on a chalkboard,
The first comma in your edit is unnecessary.
Though I must admit we’ll all need to watch our spelling on this thread :)
I occasionally find that people make a written mistake involving the words “were” and “where”.
“I don’t know were they are planning to go after work” is wrong. “I don’t know where they are are planning to go after work” is correct.
Bob got one wrong. VCR’s is correct. You use an apostrophe to pluralize abbreviations and single letter according to most style manuals. It’s a necessary evil, as the plural s on its own could change some abbreviations to actual words that confuse the reader.
Same with single letters. I got all A’s is legible. I got all Bs...is...well...nuff said.
You are defiantly correct about your latter point.....
Perhaps someone hear can text to advice me where to attain the best advise on impacting?
“Cheap”, I was learnt ages ago, meant “shoddy”. “Cheapest” meant then “shoddiest”. Use “inexpensive”, and “least expensive”, respectively, to indicate cost, I was beaten into my brain. That was then, this is now. Even such reputable journals like the Wall Street Journal, employ “cheapest” when meaning “least costly”. Grrrrrh!
It reminds me of a joke. This quiet, bashful Southern woman went to a party at Haaavaaaaard University. Some pompous women walked up to the woman and in a condescending way, said hello to her. The Southern belle ask, "Where are you'all from?" The Harvardite said, laughling, "We are from some place where we don't end our sentences in a preposition." The Southern lady spoke up and said, " I am so sorry. Where are you from,....... Bitch?"
I had a argument once. I said that you’re supposed to write “use guys”, while my argumentor insisted on writing “youse guys”, even though “youse” can be found in no dictionary.
I hate it when people say, “Good morning humblegunner.”
When it would be much more accurate to say, “Good morning butthole.”
Oh, another songwriter! One of those who would without a moment hesitation write in a song lyric “she don’t love me”, instead of “she doesn’t love me”!
I am of the firm opinion that misuse of the phrase “that begs the question” is the crime against the language most likely to precipitate an aneurysm.
Using it to mean “suggests a follow-up question” is simply bone-headed.
I’m sorry - I am outraged when I hear so-called journalists use it on both radio and TV!
They never apologize and there is no recourse.
Harrumph!
:)
I am indeed! Or words to that effect.
In fairness to the WSJ, cheap means inexpensive. It’s literally derived from the Old English word for bargain. We’ve informally bastardized it to mean shoddy, but that’s not it’s true meaning.
On the last album I wrote several of them-thar kind-of songs...."Ain't No Nutha Way" and "There Ain't Nothin' to Nothin' Noway". Also included in the collection was "Subprime, Credit Default Blues", "When the Good Laud (Lord) Lets the Hammer Fall", "The Banker"....and 14 others.
P.S. Don't trust songwriters. I was once told by a songwriter, when I was pitching a song to Haggard, that he (Haggard) would not use the song....it was grammatically improper. That, about a man who recorded a song with Gretchen Wilson, entitled, "Politically Uncorrect".
I hear you on this one. Raises the question is the phrase they’re confusing beg the question with. Although, again, in fairness, I can’t think of a single instance of begging the question that doesn’t also raise the question. I can see how the two could become easily confused.
As I age I have noticed I often use the incorrect version of a word which I completely understand the proper usage. After posting, I will see it and wonder why I used it that way.
My late wife was a wiz at grammar, in fact she graduated from a major University with a 3.97 GPA back when you didn’t score higher than 4.0 no matter what.
Despite that, she always had a problem with lie and lay. I would tell her lie was to recline (I am not talking about the falsehood meaning) and lay was to place something. No matter how many times I corrected her she would still get it wrong. She would even ask me the proper way sometimes and next time still get it wrong. Possibly a mental block.
. P.S. It took me but a minute to find this Haggard lyric:
The boys are wantin' me to go out drinking They want me to leave my Julie home I know Julie don't mind my drinking But Julie don't like to be left here at home
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