One thing blogging and good copywriting share is a conversational style, and that means it’s fine to fracture the occasional rule of proper grammar in order to communicate effectively. Both bloggers and copywriters routinely end sentences with prepositions, dangle a modifier in a purely technical sense, or make liberal use of the ellipsis when an EM dash is the correct choice—all in order to write in the way people actually speak.
But there are other mistakes that can detract from your credibility. While we all hope what we have to say is more important than some silly grammatical error, the truth is some people will not subscribe or link to your blog if you make dumb mistakes when you write, and buying from you will be out of the question.
Here are five mistakes to avoid when blogging and writing web copy.
1. Your vs. You’re
This one drives me insane, and it’s become extremely common among bloggers. All it takes to avoid this error is to take a second and think about what you’re trying to say.
“Your” is a possessive pronoun, as in “your car” or “your blog.” “You’re” is a contraction for “you are,” as in “you’re screwing up your writing by using your when you really mean you are.”
2. It’s vs. Its
This is another common mistake. It’s also easily avoided by thinking through what you’re trying to say.
“It’s” is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” “Its” is a possessive pronoun, as in “this blog has lost its mojo.” Here’s an easy rule of thumb—repeat your sentence out loud using “it is” instead. If that sounds goofy, “its” is likely the correct choice.
3. There vs. Their
This one seems to trip up everyone occasionally, often as a pure typo. Make sure to watch for it when you proofread.
“There” is used many ways, including as a reference to a place (“let’s go there”) or as a pronoun (“there is no hope”). “Their” is a plural possessive pronoun, as in “their bags” or “their opinions.” Always do the “that’s ours!” test—are you talking about more than one person and something that they possess? If so, “their” will get you there.
4. Affect vs. Effect
To this day I have to pause and mentally sort this one out in order to get it right. As with any of the other common mistakes people make when writing, it’s taking that moment to get it right that makes the difference.
“Affect” is a verb, as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income immensely.” “Effect” is a noun, as in “The effect of a parent’s low income on a child’s future is well documented.” By thinking in terms of “the effect,” you can usually sort out which is which, because you can’t stick a “the” in front of a verb. While some people do use “effect” as a verb (“a strategy to effect a settlement”), they are usually lawyers, and you should therefore ignore them if you want to write like a human.
5. The Dangling Participle
The dangling participle may be the most egregious of the most common writing mistakes. Not only will this error damage the flow of your writing, it can also make it impossible for someone to understand what you’re trying to say.
Check out these two examples from Tom Sant’s book Persuasive Business Proposals
After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some oranges.
Uhh… keep your decomposing brother away from me!
Featuring plug-in circuit boards, we can strongly endorse this server’s flexibility and growth potential.
Hmmm… robotic copy written by people embedded with circuit boards. Makes sense.
The problem with both of the above is that the participial phrase that begins the sentence is not intended to modify what follows next in the sentence. However, readers mentally expect it to work that way, so your opening phrase should always modify what immediately follows. If it doesn’t, you’ve left the participle dangling, as well as your readers.
P.S. You may find it amusing to know that I, like David Ogilvy, have never learned the formal rules of grammar. I learned to write by reading obsessively at an early age, but when it came time to learn the “rules,” I tuned out. If you show me an incorrect sentence, I can fix it, but if I need to know the technical reason why it was wrong in the first place, I go ask my wife.
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Errors 1-4 are homophone problems. The conversational nature of blogs and email causes some writers to type what they hear in their heads with less attention to correctness of meaning.
Erin, that’s exactly right. And it’s exactly these types of errors that reflect poorly on writers of any stripe.
Here’s one I wanted to include–people who write “loose” when they mean “lose.” It’s not even a homophone! I don’t understand what drives so many people to make that mistake.
What if we just abandon the use of “you’re” and “your” in blogs and replace it with “ur”? That term seems to manage to pass for real grammar in some circles which shall remain unnamed (read: MySpace).
The apostrophe and its misuse is one of my biggest pet peeves. I travel around my town letting people know that “Orange’s $1.50″ is just plain wrong.
I think you’re barking up the wrong tree with this post.
Its really not you’re problem when your writing a blog to get the affect you want.
In fact you can effect you’re readers quite affectively without worrying at all about gramma. And speling.
There fantastic experience on you’re blog will not be hampered by pore writing.
Will it?
And yes Brian there are too many ‘homophones’ on blogs too!!!
This is the best basic intro to grammar I have seen in a long time, and will definitely be recommending this to quite a few bloggers! If they take this to heart, it might not be so painful to read them!
Actually, Andrew - if you keep writing like that at your blog it will give me a headache and I’ll eventually unsubscribe.
Brian - #1 drives me crazy as hell as well. And the thing is it’s so easy to get it right, yet I see the mistake on so many posts.
Another example:
should of / could of / would of
Drives my nuts.
Well put Brian. I will confess that I am guilty of the your and you’re. Normally it doesn’t happen but an occasional mistake does slip through.
Great post. As a former English high school teacher I sometimes wonder if I’m being too pedantic. Then I decide I’m not. It’s about clarity of communication. Some bloggers would have written “to pedantic” which a misuse of the language that drives me batty! That’s one that regularly stops me and that I’d add to your list - too and to.
I can’t go with your insouciance regarding “effect” and “affect”: “it affected the result” has a quite different meaning from “it effected the result” - I use both and I am not a lawyer.
And Brian, “egregious”? I love the word and use it occasionally, although I doubt I’ve ever used it in a blog (ref your para before that about writing like a human).
But top job - I pray it will be read widely and applied!
Great stuff Brian!
The first four are very frustrating and such basic errors.
The fifth I haven’t really noticed much which probably means I’m doing it all the time.
I have been pulled up for bad grammar by readers in the past, and continue to be pulled up about it. Personally, perhaps because I have bad grammar myself, reading bad grammar doesn’t bother me so much with blogs. In my mind it is like going to a party and stopping another guest mid-conversation to pull them up on their speech. I would rather have root canal than sit down and learn all these grammar rules, yuk.
Having said that, anything that can help attract and retain subscribers has to be a good thing.
In the magazine world I would usually submit the best work I could produce knowing there was a person whos job it is to tidy up these kinds of mistakes. Perhaps there is a role for a blog editor
I would agree with Erin, I commit this mistake several times, but luckily Word highlights such erros.
Easiest way to remember the “affect vs. effect” distinction:
“Parental behavior affects children” = If you’re a lax disciplinarian, you’ll raise a brat.
“Parental behavior effects children’ = Sexual intercourse causes pregnancy.
My favourite:
Yourself / Myself instead of You / Me, eg “If anyone has any questions, please address them to myself.”
Hmm. Was that the correct use of a colon?
It’s the incorrect use of apostrophes that spins me up – it’s, its, your, you’re – especially by professionals (like ad copywriters) who 1. ought to know better, and 2. should be using proofreaders.
I learned as you did—through reading (my husband is the technical expert in our house). But that was back in a time when you could count on most of what you read as being grammatically correct.
Great post, excellent points.
Thank you for this; I am former English major and find these mistakes showing themselves all-too-frequently in my daughter’s writing. It appears that the IM vernacular is finding its way into her writing, and that of her teachers’ as well unfortunately. Naturally, I have emailed her this post.
Spot-on post, Brian. You’ve noted most of my pet spelling/grammar ( or is that grammer?) peeves. I’d add “desert” when you mean “dessert” and “to” when you should use “too” … and please don’t get me started on the use of commas!
Excellent list! The one I hear and read most often is, “Between you and I …” That one crops up in business letters, Web sites, press releases, prime time TV–you name it.
Great post… just don’t get me going on the misuse of apostrophes.
When in doubt, check this site:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
You can paint over stoopid, but you can’t hide it. It always show thru. Believe me, I know !
BTW - what’s hormones got to do with grammar ?
Brian;
The effect vs affect one gets me sometimes.
This is why I hire an editor.
She is my sanity and QA step.
Mike
I’ll admit… I’m a sucker for that two dollar word. I like the way it sounds.
Since this is a blog about writing, I let myself break the general one-and-two syllable rule occasionally. If someone has to look a word up, I think I’ve added some value.
And Des, “insouciance”?
Brian, I absolutely love grammar posts. There is even a little test you can take over a Newsroom 101.
Tangentially–ever notice how broadcast journalists emphasize the preposition in their speech?
“The two robbers drove TO the beach, and dumped the loot. Investigators are combing the area FOR the cash.”
Go ahead, watch your local news. I think they’re actually trained TO do this. Also, they are big perpetrators of the me/myself dilemma.
Nice article.
As an Arabic guy who start to learn English language in my 7th grade! I have a lot of grammar mistakes!
Till now I don’t know when to use, “I`ve been” ..etc. And the biggest problem is that I don’t have time(right now) to do a quick revision for English grammar.
Also I don’t know when to use comma, full stop…etc :s
Anyway, anyone of you guys know an easy and free resource to learn English?
As I`ll not open a book to learn English, the best way is to learn it online.
Thought you might enjoy this post about the use of ‘they’ as a singular pronoun:
http://misterthorne.org/set_in_style/2007/02/23/thay-is-coming/
Also, this one about the origins of ‘women attorneys:’
http://misterthorne.org/set_in_style/2007/02/26/women-v-females-part-i/
Brian,
Thank you for this post. Your examples represent a few of the common errors that all types of writers–not just copywriters–make. You can add the misuse of commas to this list; run-on or disjointed sentences due to faulty use of the comma immediately erode my confidence in an author. This brings me to my point.
I disagree with your terminology and logic regarding the word: mistake. Grammatical rules are tools of the writing trade. If one assumes the position of writer in a professional capacity, he is implying to his audience that he knows how to employ such tools. He is implying that he possesses an acceptable command of the English language. It is no different than when you call an electrician to your house; if he tries to cut a wire with a toilet plunger, you will reach for the Yellow Pages again. The electrician has demonstrated ignorance of his tools.
But ignorance is not what you blogged about today. Rarely do I read the work of someone, assuming the position of writer, who doesn’t “have an ear” or intuition for proper grammar. Such people invariably have had education in this area. When these people write a sentence that is not syntactically correct, or venture onto ground that for them is shaky, they can usually feel it. We all know our shortcomings. That is when the writer, feeling his uneasiness, must reach for The Elements of Style or The Chicago Manual, or just google. But many don’t, and therein lies one problem.
The other is that people don’t re-read and edit their work. If they did, they would catch many problems, such as omitted words or homonyms spell checker let slip—others for your list.
I can accept a mistake without losing confidence in an earnest author, but I can’t trust one that displays laziness or disregard for the rules of his trade. To paraphrase Papa, “You can’t bring a pool cue onto a putting green.” If a writer doesn’t have respect for one aspect of writing, such as proper grammar, how can I trust his advice in another, such as the best way to write a headline? When I see a writer/blogger with multiple errors in his work, I don’t feel he has made grammatical mistakes, but professionally ethical ones: he has shown he doesn’t respect me, the reader, and loses my trust that moment.
P.S. I have an Accounting Degree. I hated English in grade school. I did not read obsessively at a young age. I simply learned the hard way that effective written communication skills are required in the business world, and that the primary obstacle to effective writing is carelessness.
Thank you for this post. It was really helpful. Now I need to go back and look at my posts to see how many I screwed up.
A fellow grammar nazi! I am constantly correcting my friends, they hate it.
Affect vs. Effect is the one that trips me up sometimes, arrgghh!
Great Article…. very helpful indeed.
Good job, your really sorting out the loosers who make there mistakes known to ppl all over the web. Its to annoying to reed mistakes and I would sertenly stop reading a blog if the idiot’s maked similar gramatical and speling mistakes too the ones you listed above.
I know I’ve violated number four, even when I think I’m doing a careful editing job.
And number five, since to this day I don’t understand dangling participles, I probably violate it all the time.
In fact, I once had a former English teacher edit a business plan I wrote for a client and she nailed me on dangling participles (heck, it’s even hard to write the phrase) three times in the executive summary alone.
A pet peeve of mine is people who call “prostate cancer,” “prostrate cancer.” I know it’s sarcastic, but I always tell them, “I’ve never heard of ‘lying down’ cancer.”
Thanks for the list, and you might want to tone down #4 a bit. As some of the folks above have noted, treating “affect” as a verb and “effect” as a noun is generally a good rule of thumb.
As already noted, “effect” can be used as a verb in limited cases (”to effect a change” means to cause it to occur completely).
Likewise “affect” can be used as a noun in certain circumstances: e.g., “He handed me the bill without trace of affect” (that is, without any emotions).
Treating “effect” as a noun and “affect” as a verb will keep you from looking really dumb, but be aware that it isn’t an entirely foolproof rule of thumb.
I learn those little things on my English class. When English is not your native language, I think you are paying more attention when writing than if you were writing in your own language.
its they’re affect your worries about, huh?
also ppl mess up subject verb agreements
“Its to annoying to reed mistakes”
Was that a mistake?
“anyone of you guys know an easy and free resource to learn English?”
Yup… A wife. I agree with Brian.
If it wasn’t for the wife, I’d be lost.
I got math covered,
and she has the English.
So between the two of us,
we have the homework covered!
one more…
“just abandon the use of “you’re” and “your” in blogs and replace it with “ur”? That term seems to manage to pass for real grammar in some circles which shall remain unnamed (read: MySpace).”
You probably can’t handle the baggy pants either, hu.
I text message with the best.
And if it wasn’t for the “new words”
our teens are introducing,
I’d be left in the dust.
The point is “different circles”.
If your marketing to the right “ppl”,
you’d look bad NOT using ’slang’.
Now… my wife is still sleeping.
How many screw ups can you find?
LOL!!
Thanks Brian, for a fun article.
And for reminding us about something
we are all victim to once in a while.
Our own haste!
Brad.
Great article. I enjoyed it. Loved the affect vs. effect. I normally try my hardest to use the best possible grammar that I can. I also type my blog posts out in Word prior to the posts going live lol.
I can’t believe you didn’t mention one of my biggest pet peeves and that’s the “to and too” grammatical error. I think that one makes me the craziest.
Examples:
“I gave that orange to my brother.”
“He said, “Do you want one too?”
I learned my grammatical skills (and am still learning them) from reading as well. Working at a job the last 3 years with proofers really helped to increase my knowledge as well.
You should add a part 6 to discuss Lie versus Lay. This one bugs the hell out of me and I even have a professor who takes 20 points off a writing assignment for all the mistakes you listed and Lie/Lay mix-ups.
I think these are great, but the real sign of ignorance…
- Spelling a lot as one word (alot)
- Spelling lose with two o’s (loose)
These drive me nuts!!!
If you show me an incorrect sentence, I can fix it, but if I need to know the technical reason why it was wrong in the first place, I go ask my wife.
Further evidence that I am not the unique little snowflake my id would have me believe.
Let’s not forget spaces before exclamation and question marks. Drives me nuts as well.
The fact that something is a homophone doesn’t excuse the user. That simply implies that they didn’t _care_ to find out the true spelling, and don’t care if their user has to do the extra work to “translate”. I think it’s as much laziness/lack of education as it is ‘just one of those things’.
You left one out:
There - a place
Their - belongs to them
They’re - they are
Besides the ones you point out, there are 2 more that always seem to annoy me when I read them….
First, it’s better (faster, bigger, etc.) THAN not THEN.
Second, why can no one spell DEFINITELY correctly?
I recently purchased a course from a very successful Adwords marketer.
Throughout the material, he says “more then” instead of “more than.” I even sent him email point out that “more then” for “more than” is never correct. I explained the difference.
He responded, thanking me for my email. He explained that his primary interest was in speaking “one-on-one” to his people so that he could share his expertise as a marketer, not getting the grammar right.
He continues to use “more then” when he should use “more than.”
Never mind the “your” and “you’re” mess — I wager you’ll find far more “more then” when it should be “more than” on most blogs, in ebooks, sales and pre-sales marketing copy, whatever.
I spent 7 years as a newspaper copy editor, more than 30 years writing for publication and editing various publications, and I still make mistakes. But I make an effort to correct them when I find them.
Good post, great discussion. I hope we see more of this on blogs. Can’t hurt.
It’s rarely wrong to end a sentence with a preposition. Have a look at http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/prepositions.html
According to dictionary.com,* “effect” and “affect” are each both verb and noun. To further complicate matters, “affect” has two very different uses:
“His words affected the crowd so deeply they wept.”
“The new students affected a nonchalance they didn’t feel.”
Perhaps this is why lawyers, wanting to affect a skill in writing they don’t actually have, often use “effect” instead of affect.
*Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/affect (accessed: March 05, 2007)
Thank you Brian!
There’s nothing that annoys me more than a simple spelling/grammar mistake that could be easily avoided if the writer took one more minute to go through his article before he posted it.
two common mistakes that bother me to no end are the use of the word “irregardless” (it’s either “regardless” or “irrespective”), and the phrase “I could care less” which makes no sense at all…you could *not* care less….
really drives me nuts…
As a former journalism major, I rely on the Associated Press Style Manual to get me through a lot of the weird stuff.
Affect vs. effect; insure vs ensure, all the “stop and think” nightmares.
One of the most misspelled words on the net seems to be “ridiculous”. Many (seemingly intelligent) people tend to spell it “rediculous” and it drives me insane!
My native language is not english but I stumble upon such mistakes with an increasing frequency… it must be a native speaker only problem. Most non-native post and blogs have other types of mistakes
Brian:
“Erin, that’s exactly right. And it’s exactly these types of errors that reflect poorly on writers of any stripe.”
…AND starting sentences with, “And”.
The, “And” in your second sentence is typed as though it’s continuing the prior sentence, yet that first sentence has ended due to the period. Either connect the two sentences or remove the, “And”.
“It’s exactly these types of errors that reflect poorly on writers of any stripe.”
I routinely break this one on purpose, just about in every post. It’s a very conversational element.
Perhaps it goes to show what we already know — every writer needs an editor!
I have one problem with this list.
There vs. Their
I actively disobey this rule because it is a stupid rule. There is no reason to have both There and Their. The difference is not relevant because the words are not, NEVER were, and never will be defined by spelling. They are defined by CONTEXT.
This is easily proven. Try speaking the words improperly. You can not do it. They are always defined by context. ONE should be selected and the other deleted since context and only context defines them. They are phonetically identical and contextually defined. The difference is spelling is technical and semantic with no logical relevance. You can NOT mis read a sentence because one over the other is used. The CONTEXT defines them not the spelling.
I purposely misuse these words as an act of defiance against there separated existence.
Pick one There or Their not both. Its a stupid rule and a stupid difference.
In high school, my English teacher referred to me as the ‘grammar guru’. I would have preferred that she refer to me as the ‘grammar erection’. Because that’s usually what I had when I was thinking about grammar.
Thank you. These constantly drive me insane. Hopefully more people will understand how uneducated these common mistakes make them look.
Great—albeit short—-list.
During the recent execution of a notorious Iraqi dictator, a lot of writers seemed to be confused about the difference between hung and hanged.
I have to object to your rule about the usage of “effect” versus the usage of “affect.” Even though sticking to your rule will prevent all occurances of incorrect usage, it also prevents some correct usages of “effect” as a verb and “affect” as a noun. When used as a verb, “effect” simply means “to bring about,” and has a meaning akin to “effect” when used as a noun. As far as I’m aware, “effect” is always a transitory verb, and its object is always the thing that the subject has brought about. The object of “affect” is the thing that the subject has influenced.
On the other hand, “affect” when used as a noun has a meaning quite distant from its usage as a verb- it typically means a roughly an emotion or an outward expression of feeling.
when do you use “specially” versu “especially” in a sentence.. Is there a diffrence in its use.
Thanks
let’s not forget than & then…that one kills me!
The mistakes I hate aren’t grammatical. My pet peeves are malapropisms.
“flush” vs. “flesh” as in, “This needs more detail. Let’s get together to flush this out.”
Irregardless vs. irrespective or regardless. ’nuff said.
What about over-zealous punctuation???
Exclamation marks especially!!!
I once worked with a guy who had the task of writing a four line blog post on the company site! The post consisted of four sentences, three of which had exclamation marks! Of course the last sentence had multiple exclamation marks!!!
Yes, this person had a college degree!
I love the title. I saw it in my Live Bookmarks and had to read it, because I certainly don’t want to look dumb.
may I suggest adding this to the daily reading (listening) list:
http://grammar.qdnow.com/
“it’s it is when it’s it’s and it’s its when it’s not”
-unknown
Thanks for the interesting article.
You omitted (as opposed to “left out”) my pet peeve: The misusage of the adjective this (This hat is mine.) as a demonstrative pronoun. (This is my hat.). Without regard to its strictly grammatical propriety, it can be confusing and is unappealing as a matter of style. Better alternatives are available.
This adjective is also misused for as a substitute for indefinite articles, for the purpose placing greater emphasis on the subject. (You need to evaluate the motives of this person who gave the advice.) This usage is inappropriate but not as egregious an error as its misusage as a pronoun.
Ending a sentence with a preposition may not be a grammatical error, speaking strictly, but good style requires alternatives be found in most cases.
The usage of correct grammar and good style is the hallmark of an educated mind and disciplined thought. As such it should recognized and encouraged. Its absence should serve as a warning to readers and listeners of a concomitant lack of rigor in development of any underlying premise.
Thanks for you’re post, its very informative. Bloggers should pay serious attention to grammar and how it negatively effects there message.
I don’t get too riled up over spelling and grammar mistakes unless they affect my ability to actually comprehend what the person is trying to say. In IMs or quick e-mails I will often type “you’re” in place of “your” or make some other homophone-related error. It’s just a subconscious thing.
One thing that bothers me just a little is when people say “different than” instead of “different from” (but only in articles that were supposed to have been proof-read).
One thing that bothers me greatly is when people say “literally” when they are being figurative. For example: “Man, I ate so much I literally exploded.”
Nobody likes a language maven.