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7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb
work.lifegoesstrong.com ^ | August 5, 2011 | Leslie Ayres

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Education; Reference
KEYWORDS: education; grammar; grammarerrors; grammererrors; orthography; spellcheck; spelling; spellingerrors
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More Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb

Here are more audience-choice mistakes that seem to drive a lot of people crazy.

I regretted not including this in the first blog, as it really is one of my biggest pet peeves. We want to hire someone who is great at grammar, and we will buy books that we can use for reference. Use the word "who" when you are talking about people, and "that" when you're talking about objects.

This one got a lot of enthusiastic complaints about people using the word "myself" in sentences like "You will have a meeting with Bob and myself." Myself is a reflexive pronoun, and it's a bit confusing, so I will turn to my favorite source, Grammar Girl, who gives a great explanation about when to use I, me or myself, and when myself can be used to add emphasis, as in "I painted it myself." But the short answer? Please, never say "You'll be meeting with Bob and myself."

I think the problem here is that the words "should have" and "could have" were contracted in spoken English to "should've" and "could've" and some people now think that means "should of" and "could of." The correct expression is "should have," "could have," or "would have" and that is how you write it out.

The way we make words plural in the English language is usually by adding the letter 's'  to the word. So egg becomes eggs and CEO becomes CEOs. Apostrophes are not used to pluralize words. Ever.

Fewer is used when you're talking about something you can count, and less is used for things you can't specifically quantify. So if you want to weigh less, you will want to eat fewer candy bars.

This pair got a lot of mention in the other article's comments section. If you're confused on this one, "then" refers to the passing of time, and "than" indicates a comparison. First you need to be better than she is, and then you can win.

This one is kind of tricky. Traditionally, "lend" is a verb and "loan" is a noun. In American English, you go to the bank and ask for a loan, and they lend you money. Or they loan you money, and then you can tell people that they lent you money. Or loaned you money. And now you have a loan to pay off. I told you it was tricky. Our faithful source Grammar Girl has a tip to remember: "loan" and "noun" both have an "o" in them, and "lend" and "verb" both have an "e."

I didn't include this because I rarely see it in cover letters, resumes or business correspondence. But apparently others see it a lot, so here you go. "To" means in the direction of, as in They went to the movies. "Too" means in addition to, as in Our daughter came along, too, or to an excessive degree, as in, We left early because it was too hot in the theater. Of course, none of these are the same as the number two. Duh.

By the way, a simple grammar check caught most of the mistakes here. When in doubt, let your software tell you when you've got it wrong.

1 posted on 09/28/2011 1:00:57 PM PDT by iowamark
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To: iowamark
There was a guy in my St. Paul office who loved apostrophes. Virtually any word with an “s” or “es” ending would get one.
2 posted on 09/28/2011 1:03:28 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: iowamark
I notice you don't get into the use of "which" and "that".

I'm not sure that anybody except Mr. Fowler really understood that one. I write for a living, and I mess it up all the time.

3 posted on 09/28/2011 1:04:58 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of ye Chasse, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: iowamark

Another that seems to tick off the grammar police is Hung/Hanged/Hang.


4 posted on 09/28/2011 1:07:17 PM PDT by Malsua
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To: Malsua
The worst HAS to be: "That's where I am at"

I cringed just writing it.

5 posted on 09/28/2011 1:09:31 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: Malsua

And the oh-so-cute “prolly” and “praps”.


6 posted on 09/28/2011 1:11:37 PM PDT by Magic Fingers
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To: iowamark

I mess up the lose/loose thing a lot.


7 posted on 09/28/2011 1:11:38 PM PDT by Marie (Cain 9s Have Teeth)
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To: iowamark

I’ve got or you’ve got. Those two drive me batty - especially in marketing verbiage.


8 posted on 09/28/2011 1:12:04 PM PDT by numberonepal (Palin/Cain 2012)
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To: iowamark

Starting a sentence or a title with a numeral is no longer taboo, I guess.


9 posted on 09/28/2011 1:12:08 PM PDT by Jack of all Trades (Hold your face to the light, even though for the moment you do not see.)
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To: iowamark

10 posted on 09/28/2011 1:12:55 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: iowamark

By all means, let’s reign in the spelling and grammar errors.


11 posted on 09/28/2011 1:14:38 PM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
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To: iowamark

How about pronouncing “corps” as ‘corpse’?

Boy that would really make you look dumb


12 posted on 09/28/2011 1:14:47 PM PDT by kidd (Perry is a "conserbatib" - voting "conservative" while holding your nose)
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To: iowamark
Seems like many of my northern friends end up saying “Him and me did_____________.”

Or the variation, “Him and I did ______________.”

13 posted on 09/28/2011 1:15:04 PM PDT by PeaRidge
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To: Malsua

Don’t forget Bring/Brang/Brung.

On FR, it’s to instead of too that gets misused a lot.


14 posted on 09/28/2011 1:15:17 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("Deport all Muslims. Nuke Mecca now. Death to Islam means freedom for all mankind.")
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To: Jack of all Trades
Tee hee;)

Seven errors which cause embarrassment

15 posted on 09/28/2011 1:16:37 PM PDT by sodpoodle (God is ignoring me - but He is watching you.)
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To: iowamark
Using the word whatnot as a verbal crutch. Which 99% of the time is used incorrectly.
16 posted on 09/28/2011 1:18:12 PM PDT by xenob
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To: iowamark
My fourth grade English Teacher taught us the difference between

EFFECT:To produce as a result.

and

AFFECT!"Control over the thinking, actions, and emotions of another: "

Reagan was an Effective Leader.

Obama is an Affecting Leader!

17 posted on 09/28/2011 1:18:13 PM PDT by Young Werther (Julius Caesar said "Quae cum ita sunt. Since these things are so.".)
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To: iowamark

.


18 posted on 09/28/2011 1:19:09 PM PDT by unkus (Silence Is Consent)
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To: Puppage
Reminds me of the story of the man visiting a famous liberal university. He stopped a passing pony-tailed professor and asked “Can you tell me where the cafeteria is at?”

The professor sneered. “This is a prestigious academic institution. We do not finish our sentences with a preposition.”

The visitor nodded. “Okay,” he continued “can you tell me where the cafeteria is at, asshole?”

19 posted on 09/28/2011 1:19:13 PM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: iowamark

Here is one that I get into some serious dispute about; is ‘alright’ all right?


20 posted on 09/28/2011 1:19:51 PM PDT by SES1066 (1776 to 2011, 235 years and counting in the GRAND EXPERIMENT!)
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