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 = if you mean "you are" then use the apostrophe
- Your = belonging to you
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 = it is
- Its = 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 = they are
- Their = belonging to them
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!)
- Loose = it's not tight, it's loosey goosey
- Lose= "don't lose the hose for the rose" is a way to remember the same spelling but a different pronunciation
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.
- Lead = present tense, rhymes with deed
- Led = past tense, rhymes with sled
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.Content credits / source: http://work.lifegoesstrong.com/7-spelling-and-grammar-errors-make-you-look-dumb
