grammatical errors

In the grammar world, there are mistakes, and then there are MISTAKES. You know what I’m talking about: The little errors are evidence you’re human… … While the BIG errors will cost you time, money, customers, etc., if they appear in your marketing. Usually, we can let the small ones slide. It would actually lead to more wasted time if we gave them our attention. Meanwhile, the Big Ones can hurt us, so avoiding them IS worth our time. This is exemplified in the 10% vs. 10x rule (which I discussed with CoSchedule’s CEO in an episode of The Write Podcast). The stuff that’s worth your precious resources is going to 10x your business growth. The remainder may or may not help you grow. These types of actions offer 10% growth, at best. Instead of leaping to the next level, you’ll inch your way there along the 10% path. Framing your marketing this way will help you decide where to invest your time. Take, for example, a small error like a typo in an email sent to your subscribers. Will it matter in the long-run? Do you need to rush to fix it and send out an apology? Not so fast! As Grammar-Nazi-snobbish as I am, it’s probably not hurting your sales that you accidentally spelled content “contant” in paragraph two. Although good gosh, it rubs me so wrong to see that in typing. But what about the big, glaring errors? What if you have a major typo on your hands? Those could erode your reputation as a credible source of information. I still remember the day Joe Pulizzi called me out about a stat we published in an infographic. The number was off by a million. 🙁 Now that was a typo, and to be called out by Pulizzi was so crazy for me! I quickly acknowledged it, and my team and I fixed the statistic and republished same-day. So, the ones that could really put a dent in your rep are the ones we want to talk about today. The “10x” mistakes. Read today’s blog to stay accurate, free of errors, and continue to establish yourself as a trustworthy authority online. [bctt tweet=”Let’s talk about 10x typos – the ones you never want to make online (versus the ones no one cares about). @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] 5 Easily-Missed Grammar and Spelling Errors That Hurt Your Content Marketing (And What to Do About Them) These errors are easy to miss if you don’t know the grammar rules that govern them. However, once you have the rules down, you’re not likely to make these mistakes ever again. 1. Misusing “There’s” and “Here’s” Here’s a question not many people ask themselves while writing: “Are my subjects and verbs in agreement?” The answer can make a big difference to the clarity of your sentences. Subject-verb disagreement looks like this: “Here’s lots of tricks to make your life better.” The subject of the sentence, “lots of tricks,” is plural (there is more than one trick). The problem? The verb, “here’s” (a contraction of “here is”), doesn’t match up. It’s singular. Instead, we need the plural form of the verb so everything matches up, i.e., “Here are lots of tricks to make your life better.” For an example of subject-verb agreement (what we want), let’s return to the first sentence in this section: “Here’s a question not many people ask themselves while writing.” Subject of the sentence: “a question” (singular – it’s one question) Verb: “Here’s” (singular – “here is”) Expletive Constructions If the above is too confusing to remember, it’s actually better to avoid these kinds of sentences in your writing. That’s because phrases like “here is,” “there is,” “here are,” and “there are” are all examples of expletive constructions. According to Grammar Revolution, “In the world of grammar, expletives aren’t swear words. They are words that serve a function but don’t have any meaning.” For instance, the word “there” is unnecessary in the expletive construction “there is”: You can often write sentences without using expletive constructions – they won’t lose their meaning. (Screenshot via Grammar Revolution) Why it matters: If your subjects and verbs don’t agree, or if you use too many expletive constructions, your writing will be less clear. Your sentences will sound ungainly and a little strange, even if the person reading it isn’t aware of the grammar rule you broke. [bctt tweet=”Avoid expletive constructions in your online content. No, they’re not swear words: they’re words without a meaning. @JuliaEMcCoy” username=”ExpWriters”] 2. Using the Wrong Word in the Right Place Consider these sentences: “Content marketing is better for building trust then traditional marketing.” “I don’t want to loose my favorite pen.” “The affect the movie had on me was incredible.” “Their at the bookstore looking at science fiction.” Clearly, the writer has the right intentions. If you read these out loud, they sound correct. The problem: They used the wrong words in the right places. This is a common error. The English language has a long list of words that sound exactly the same, but have different meanings/functions in a sentence. They’re called homophones: Then/than Here/hear Loose/lose Affect/effect They’re/their/there Your/you’re A. Then vs. Than The sentence: “Content marketing is better for building trust then traditional marketing.” Why it’s wrong: “Then” connotes a period in time. What to use, instead: “Than” is used for comparing two things, like content marketing and traditional marketing in the sentence above. The Grammar Police on Twitter had to explain this to Nike, sadly: It would be better if @NikeSupport had posted “you have more [than] one” instead. ‘Then’ doesn’t compare; ‘than’ does. — Grammar Police (@_grammar_) June 6, 2015 B. Loose vs. Lose The sentence: “I don’t want to loose my favorite pen.” Why it’s wrong: “Loose” means the opposite of tight. (Memory trick: The two o’s make the word look long and loose.) What to use, instead: “Lose” means to misplace something, be deprived of something, or to fail at a contest or game. (To spell “lose,” you … Read more