The grammar slips writers make most often, from confused word pairs like its and it's or affect and effect to commas, semicolons and subject-verb agreement. Each entry gives the distinction and a worked example. Search it, or switch to Test yourself.
It's (with an apostrophe) is a contraction of 'it is' or 'it has'. Its (no apostrophe) is a possessive pronoun showing something belongs to it.
Example: It's raining in London. / The dog ate from its bowl.
You're is the contraction of 'you are'. Your is the possessive form indicating something belongs to the person being addressed.
Example: You're riding in the front seat. / What's your favorite color?
Use 'that' when referring to things, groups, animals or objects. Use 'who/whom' only when referring to people.
Example: Amy is on the team that won first place. / Who is in charge?
'Which' describes non-essential information; 'that' defines essential information. If the following phrase is vital to the meaning, use 'that'; otherwise use 'which'.
Example: John built that house. / This house, which John built, resembles his house.
'May' expresses something possible or factual; 'might' expresses something hypothetical or less likely, and is also the past tense of 'may'. Both can be used when asking permission.
Example: He may lose his job. / If I win the lottery, I might buy a Ferrari.
'I' is a subject pronoun (used as the subject of a sentence). 'Me' is an object pronoun (used as the object of a verb).
Example: I went to the museum yesterday. / My mom scolded me for being late.
'Let's' is short for 'let us'. 'Lets' is the present-tense verb 'let', meaning allows.
Example: Let's go out this evening. / She lets her children play outside.
'Lay' means to place something in a flat position and requires an object. 'Lie' means to rest in a flat position and takes no object. Conjugations: lay/laid/laid/laying; lie/lay/lain/lying.
Example: Please lay the book on the table. / My dog likes to lie on the bed.
'Affect' (verb) means to impact; 'effect' (noun) is the result of that impact. Less commonly, 'affect' (noun) means feeling and 'effect' (verb) means to bring about a change.
Example: The bushfires affected the people of Sydney. / The effect of the bushfires was devastating.
'Irregardless' is redundant and means the same as 'regardless' (having no regard for someone/something); avoid it as it reads as wordy.
'Literally' means 'exactly, without exaggeration', but is often misused to exaggerate. Avoid using it for emphasis in formal writing.
Example: Misused: When I saw Queen Elizabeth, I literally died.
Example: The seats were allotted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Without the 'd', the phrase implies the person who comes first will serve the others, the opposite of the intended meaning.
'Peace of mind' is a mental state of tranquility. 'Piece of mind' is an incorrect rendering of the idiom 'a piece of my mind', which expresses a strong opinion or anger.
Example: His mum had no peace of mind until he returned. / I'm going to give that mechanic a piece of my mind.
'There' refers to a place; 'their' shows ownership by a group; 'they're' is a contraction of 'they are'.
Example: Your pajamas are over there. / The poodle is their dog. / They're not as tame as they look.
'Lose' means to be deprived of something. 'Loose' means not fixed in place.
Example: He didn't want to lose his cattle to the wolves. / Your belt is loose.
'Into' expresses movement of something toward something else. 'In to' is short for 'in order to'.
Example: Mary moved into the apartment last weekend. / She dropped in to say hello.
'Compliment' means to praise or congratulate someone. 'Complement' means something that improves something else or makes it complete.
Example: That she likes my painting is a major compliment. / Their personalities complement each other.
'Peek' means to look quickly at something. 'Peak' refers to a sharp point. 'Pique' is a feeling of arousal or annoyance.
Example: Open the door and peek inside. / Jane reached the peak of the mountain. / The movie piqued the audience's interest.
'Emigrate' means to leave one's country; 'immigrate' means to arrive in another country to live there. Mnemonic: emigrate is to immigrate as go is to come.
Example: He dropped his plans to emigrate from his country. / She wants to immigrate to Canada.
'Principal' refers to someone or something important. 'Principle' implies a concept, philosophy or fundamental truth.
Example: London is a principal city in the UK. / Putting the customer's interest first is a good business principle.
'Farther' refers to a measurable physical distance. 'Further' describes a quantity, time or metaphorical distance.
Example: Mexico is farther from Canada than the United States. / The officer offered no further information about the case.
Core comma rules: separate items in a series; separate coordinate adjectives; follow a dependent clause that opens a sentence; offset non-essential information; follow introductory phrases; and precede a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet) joining two independent clauses. Avoid run-on sentences and comma splices.
Example: When I went to the park, I saw a peacock. / I went to the store, but I forgot to bring the grocery list.
Semicolons link two independent clauses without a conjunction; separate list items that themselves contain commas; and pair with conjunctive adverbs (however, moreover, nevertheless, therefore, otherwise, consequently). Do not use a conjunction and a semicolon together.
Example: Some people write using Microsoft Word; others prefer to use Google Docs.
Colons, semicolons and dashes go outside quotation marks. In American English, commas and periods go inside the quotation marks (British/Guardian style places them inside only for a complete quoted sentence). Question and exclamation marks go inside if part of the quotation, otherwise outside.
Example: I often misspell "successful." / She asked me, "Can we have roast turkey for dinner?"
Subjects and verbs must agree in number. A singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject a plural verb. Subjects joined by 'and' take a plural verb; those joined by 'or/nor' take a singular verb (or agree with the nearest noun in a mixed compound). Indefinite pronouns like everyone and somebody take a singular verb.
Example: She talks a lot. / They talk a lot. / Everyone wants to participate in the quiz.
A pronoun must agree in number with the word it refers to: a plural antecedent takes a plural pronoun and a singular antecedent a singular pronoun.
Example: The teacher began her lesson. / All students should submit their projects before Friday.
A dangling modifier is a modifier whose intended subject is unclear or missing. Fix it by placing the modifier next to the term it refers to.
Example: Wrong: Looking out the window, a tornado was forming. Right: Looking out the window, I saw a tornado forming.
An infinitive is 'to' plus a verb. Placing an adverb between 'to' and the verb splits the infinitive; avoid this in formal writing.
Example: Awkward: Try to whenever possible avoid splitting infinitives. Better: Try to avoid splitting infinitives when possible. (Famous split: "To boldly go...")
A hyphen (-) joins compound words, prefixes and suffixes, groups numbers, and marks word breaks at a line wrap. An en dash (–) shows ranges in dates and numbers and pairs directions or scores. An em dash (—) adds emphasis or explanation and can replace commas, parentheses or a colon.
Example: user-friendly / pages 10–20 / The three of them—Peter, Joy and John—went to a party.
Passive voice occurs when the object of a sentence becomes the subject; it masks the true subject and can make writing wordy. Prefer active voice.
Example: Passive: The ball was kicked by Jack. Active: Jack kicked the ball.
Additional mistake to avoid: using double negatives.
Additional mistake to avoid: excessively employing prepositional phrases.
Additional mistake to avoid: ending sentences with prepositions.
Additional mistake to avoid: adding apostrophes to possessive nouns incorrectly.
Punctuation changes the meaning of a sentence.
Example: A woman, without her man, is nothing. (a woman is nothing without a man) / A woman: without her, man is nothing. (a man is nothing without a woman)
If the apostrophe comes before the S there is one girl (singular possessive); if it comes after the S there are many girls (plural possessive).
Example: The girl's cake implies one girl owns the cake. / The girls' cake implies several girls own the cake.
Fewer refers to people or things in the plural; less refers to things that can't be counted.
Example: I wrote fewer posts this week than last week. / I write less often when I'm tired.
To be nauseous means to have the ability to make others feel sick; to be nauseated is to be made to feel sick by something.
Example: The green steak is nauseous. / I was nauseated by the steak meat.
Some common words are simply misspellings and should be replaced with their correct forms.
Avoid okay, nevermind, irregardless, alright, alot. Use OK, never mind, regardless, all right, a lot.
"Then" means one event preceded another; "than" is used for comparison.
Example: I went to the garage. Then, I went to the shop. / I have less money than you.
"Emigrate" means to move away from a place; "immigrate" means to move to a place.
Example: Carissa emigrated from France to the United States. / Carissa immigrated to the United States from France.
Use "from" with emigrate and "to" with immigrate. To emigrate is to exit a country.
"Wet" means to be damp with liquid (or, as a verb, to dampen); "whet" means to sharpen or stimulate.
Example: The grass was wet with dew in the morning. / I encourage students to read books to whet their creativity.
To "do" means to accomplish something; when something is "due" it is owed.
Example: We will have to make do with the food we have in the fridge until the grocery store opens. / The library books were due Monday.
Per say and persay are both incorrect spellings of the phrase "per se," from a Latin phrase meaning "in itself" or "intrinsically."
Avoid per say, persay. Use per se.
Example: I didn't dislike the dessert, per se, but I didn't enjoy it either.
"Reign" refers to the rule of a king or queen. "Free reign" is incorrect; the idiom comes from the reins used to control horses, so it should be "free rein."
Example: The toddlers were given free rein to create art with the washable supplies.
"Mute" means to be silent, so "mute point" means a point that says nothing. The correct word is "moot," which means debatable or doubtful.
Example: Suggesting an alternative was moot after the team had made their choice.
"Peek" means a quick look at something; "peak" refers to the top of a mountain. "Sneak peak" is therefore incorrect.
Example: The client got a sneak peek at the finished designs before they went to the printer.
A comma splice occurs when you join two sentences and forget the comma and connector (conjunction); also called a run-on sentence. If two phrases could stand alone as separate sentences, they require a comma and connector to join.
Example: Cecile chose the blue candy, and she ate it in one bite. (correct) / Cecile chose the blue candy and she ate it in one bite. (incorrect)
Take out the conjunction. If the two phrases stand alone, you're forming a compound sentence that requires a comma.
Modifiers are phrases that act as adjectives and adverbs to describe another word; they should be placed directly beside the word they modify, or the reading becomes confusing.
Example: The mother handed sandwiches in cute little baggies to all of the kids. (correct) / The mother handed sandwiches to all of the kids in cute little baggies. (incorrect — sounds like the kids are in baggies)
The word, phrase or clause a pronoun replaces is called an antecedent. Pronouns and their antecedents must be clear and match in gender and number.
Example: The grandpa was happy when he gave his grandson a new toy. (clear) / Each student gave his or her choice for the student council. (correct, because "student" is singular)
Really is an adverb meaning "in actual fact" and describes verbs, adjectives and other adverbs; real is an adjective meaning "not fake" or "genuine" and describes nouns.
Example: The couple had a really nice time on their honeymoon. (correct) / The couple had a real nice time on their honeymoon. (incorrect)
"Could of" is an improper spelling of the contraction "could've," short for "could have." The same is true of "would of" and "should of."
Avoid could of, would of, should of. Use could have (could've), would have (would've), should have (should've).
Example: I could have gone to the concert, but I was too tired. (correct) / I could of gone to the concert, but I was too tired. (incorrect)
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