English grammar

Common errors in English grammar are as plentiful as teen girls at a K-Pop concert. Actually, maybe even more plentiful. With schools loosening up on spelling and diction requirements, more people are wandering the content wilderness bereft of the basic knowledge they need to craft impactful content. Here’s what I mean. If you’re trying to write compelling content that makes your target audience see you as the Holy Grale (see what I did there?) of information, using incorrect grammar or producing a document filled with misspelled words isn’t going to cut it. In fact, it’s going to undermine your authority and turn people away from your content. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “No problem, I have spell-check — BAM.” While I applaud your use of technology to check your content with a fine-toothed comb, spell-check won’t save you from incorrect homophones, misplaced modifiers, or other grammar bugbears. For that, you’ll need our handy primer, below, and a good set of eyeballs. If you’re really motivated, you might consider adding eyeballs in the form of an editor or two to make sure you catch all the errors. [bctt tweet=”If you’re trying to write compelling content that makes your target audience see you as the Holy Grale (see what I did there?) of information, incorrect grammar isn’t going to cut it. Avoid these Top 10 #grammar mistakes ” username=”ExpWriters”] The Top 10 Countdown of Common Errors in English Grammar (Plus Other Commonly Missed Errors Just for Fun) If you’re guilty of grammar, punctuation, or typographical errors, you’re not alone. Plenty of us (including me!) have made our fair share of mistakes when it comes to writing. Instead of worrying over the past, let’s all pull up our big-girl panties (or tighty-whities) and learn how to protect our precious content from these sneaky credibility underminers in the future. Ready? [bctt tweet=”If you’re guilty of grammar, punctuation, or typographical errors, you’re not alone. Plenty of us (including me!) have made our fair share of mistakes when it comes to writing. – @JuliaEMcCoy on the top 10 English grammar errors” username=”ExpWriters”] 1. Horrid Homophones We might as well start with the most common of all grammar issues — homophones. Topping the charts of confusing homophones are our favorites: They’re/there/their     and        Your/You’re Let’s sort these out logically by dealing with contractions first. Both “they’re” and “you’re” are contractions because they have an apostrophe inside the word. That little hook-like accent hitches two words together, like the cars of a locomotive train.  In this case, those words are: You are (You’re) and They are (They’re) Now that that’s sorted, let’s look at the possessives: Their and Your Each of these means something that’s in possession of them or you. That is their website. Is that your content? Finally, our little leftover — there — signifies a place. The best content is over there at Express Writers’ website. While there are plenty of homophones to stumble over, these two take the prize for the most often misused. 2. Problematic Punctuation: Commas and Quotes Punctuation is a source of contention among many grammar-minded editors and writers. While some are a matter of style (we’re talking about you, Oxford comma), some rules are simply not meant to be broken. Comma Concerns A misplaced comma can alter the meaning of your sentence, and not always for the better. You’ve probably seen this example on a T-shirt or mug at your local café. It’s an oldie, but it drives home the importance of using commas properly. Let’s eat Grandma. Let’s eat, Grandma. Big, bad wolves aside, adding a comma to this sentence makes it a lot more, well, palatable. Commas are also necessary to separate two independent clauses, like so: Express Writers produced outstanding content for me, and my website has shot to the top of page rankings. I centered this sentence on the page not just because it followed our format for this post, but because it outlines each independent clause. An independent clause is one that can stand on its own as a sentence. So, the sentence above could easily be read as two sentences: Express Writers produced outstanding content for me. AND My website has shot to the top of page rankings. Got a sentence made up of two shorter sentences (independent clauses)? Then you need a comma! [bctt tweet=”‘Let’s eat Grandma.’ or ‘Let’s eat, Grandma.’? Know how important commas are! Read the top 10 common errors in English grammar” username=”ExpWriters”] Quirky Quotations Many content writers love inserting quotations here, there, and everywhere. But, when you’re using quotes to emphasize a word that’s not part of a spoken sentence, you might be coming across as sarcastic. Check it out: Express Writers did a “great job” on the landing page. Is your gut feeling that we blew that job out of the water or that we simply blew it? If you think we failed on this order (remember this is just an example, folks, we never fail!) based on the quotation marks, you’d be correct. Using quotation marks in this way normally conveys sarcasm. Don’t want to come across as sarcastic? Don’t use them this way unless you’re setting a word apart from other words in sentence, like we do in Little Latin Slip-Ups, below. 3. Brand Entity Errors Content writers often refer to brands in the course of writing content for blogs, white papers, and websites. While many of us see brands as a nice, big group of friendly faces all standing under one company umbrella, a brand is a single entity. So, no more: Express Writers is changing their logo to reflect a new vision for the future. Instead, write: Express Writers is changing its logo to reflect a new vision for the future. We all like to personalize the companies we work with.  But, the fact is that a business is an entity, and an entity is referred to as “it.” 4. Hold Your Horses — WHOA! Today’s content is often peppered with … Read more