Mar 12 2010
7 Grammatical Mistakes That Will Make You Lose Web Cred
I before E except after C.
We can all recall this simple rule as we were learning proper grammar at a young age. While most of us are far removed from the elementary school classroom, we still grapple with some common grammatical conundrums in communicating with clients.
In business, grammar is important to how you communicate both orally and in writing. A blog, Web content, or even a tweet that is riddled with grammatical errors will only harm your professional reputation.
An occasional error is understandable and forgivable, but enough of them could drive potential clients away. After all, if you’re that careless with your own work, it could be indicative of the work you’ll produce for your clients.
The next time you post that tweet, update your Facebook status, or write that blog posting, avoid these seven common grammatical errors.
1. Your vs. You’re
Your is the possessive. It belongs to you. You’re is the contraction of “you are.” That goes for all of the ‘re words, like “they’re” and “we’re.” Mentally replace the apostrophe with an “a” and you’ll always remember this rule.
- Incorrect: Your on target to meet you’re year-end goals.
- Correct: You’re on target to meet your year-end goals.
2. Then vs. Than
Then can be used as an adverb, adjective, or noun, but no matter the context, it always indicates time. Than is used to make a comparison.
- Incorrect: Our proposal for redesigning your Web site is better then the competition.
- Correct: Our proposal for redesigning your Web site is better than the competition.
3. Compliment vs. Complement
Compliment is a flattering remark or an accolade. Complement has several meanings associated with matching. It’s a common mistake because they are homophones, words pronounced alike but have different spellings and meanings.
- Incorrect: Your blog will compliment your outreach and marketing initiatives.
- Correct: Your blog will complement your outreach and marketing initiatives.
4. Loose vs. Lose
This is one common mistake that frustrates me. I see it frequently in blogs when people mean to say lose, but use loose instead. I suppose we can attribute it to carelessness. Loose means not tight. Lose is the opposite of win.
- Incorrect: If you keep making the same mistakes, you will loose the account.
- Correct: If you keep making the same mistakes, you will lose the account.
5. Affect vs. Effect
Affect is a verb meaning to change or influence. Effect is a noun meaning result or consequence.
- Incorrect: The bad press can effect our company’s image.
- Correct: The bad press can affect our company’s image.
6. Semicolon vs. Colon
This is a common mistake I’ve seen many clients make. A semicolon (;) connects two independent clauses where the second one reinforces the first. A colon (:) introduces an element or series of elements that illustrates what comes before the colon.
- Incorrect: The new committee will include the following people; the marketing director, PR director, social media manager, and the vice president of communications.
- Correct: The new committee will include the following people: the marketing director, PR director, social media manager, and the vice president of communications.
7. Parallel Structure
Always use parallel structure in your copy. Parallel structure is a balance of two or more similar words, phrases, or clauses.
- Incorrect: Kate enjoys to meet with clients, brainstorming ideas, and resolve issues.
- Correct: Kate enjoys meeting with clients, brainstorming ideas, and resolving issues.
So tell us, what are some other common grammatical errors you’ve seen?
Daniel Casciato is a full-time freelance writer. He writes health, legal, real estate, and technology-related articles for trade magazines and online publications and has his own copywriting business. For more information, visit www.danielcasciato.com, follow him on Twitter, or friend him on Facebook.
7 Responses to “7 Grammatical Mistakes That Will Make You Lose Web Cred”
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Great list. I’d also include the trouble makers ensure, assure, and insure.
I think we all have our own typo demons… One problem I always have it getting my little finger to reach over for the ‘. Instead, I end up with ; every time! I don;t know why, it just always happens…
)
And lately… I’ve developed this habit of misspelling, or rather mistyping, several words. “Know” is one of them. Unless I really concentrate, I always end up with “knwo”. Somehow my fingers go on some type of auto-pilot and screw it up. But I guess that’s more about typing then spelling.
What about placement of the punctuation inside or outside of quotes? Add that to the list too!
Reminds me of a quote that goes something like this… “Better to stay silent and let someone think you a fool, rather than open your mouth and confirm his suspicions…”
Thanks for the list of reminders.
Misuse of the apostrophe seems common. The contraction “it’s” (it is) is often wrongly used instead of the possessive pronoun its, as in “The kitten licked its paws.”
Also, there’s no need to insert an apostrophe when referring to a set of numbers indicating a decade, like “the 60s”.
@Don: Yes, that’s another set of words that give people fits!
As I prowl message boards, I often see the word ridiculous misspelled as rediculous. In fact, I bet for every 10 times I see this word, it’s misspelled half the time. Browsers like Firefox now have a spelling correction application that will pick up common mistakes like this.
Reading “alot” (intended to mean “often”) makes me wince—a lot.
Dan, your seven deadly sins, and Don’s, Michael’s, and Anni’s suggestions, are a good start. But the list of small pitfalls is endless. If a single broad rule can save any of us from grief, it’s this: When you’re too tired to communicate, SHUT UP. For example:
One morning this week, after a long evening of correcting someone else’s typos, mangled idioms, and misspellings, I met the client at her downtown office. Her first words were, “Did you find a lot?” “No,” I said groggily, “I just pulled into the garage across the street.”
They’re their and there – one of our reps for our legal research has no idea how to these 3 in addition to all of the above. She also says irregardless in emails all the time.