If you're a writer looking to ease the irritation of your copy editor or are simply wanting to improve and to be more conscious of common mistakes, bless you. This blog's for you.
Some of the most common mistakes that I found in my copy editing career were as follows:
The your/you're mistake.
- Your is a possesive, meaning "belonging to you." Ex. Your baseball glove is over there.
- You're is a contraction, meaning "you are." Ex. You're going to be late.
The their/there/they're mistake.
- Their is a possesive, meaning "belonging to them." Ex. They lost their mittens.
- There is commonly used as a pronoun, meaning "that place." Ex. I went there.
- They're is a contraction, meaning "they are." Ex. They're going to the movie.
The its/it's mistake.
- Its is a possesive, meaning "belonging to it." Ex. The bird spread its wings.
- It's is a contraction, meaning "it is." Ex. It's okay to bring your friends.
Commonly misspelled words:
- Definitely. Most common misspelling is: "definately."
- Grammar. Most common misspelling is: "grammer."
- Harass. Most common misspelling is: "harrass."
- Apparent. Most common misspelling is: "apparant."
- Publicly. Most common misspelling is: "publically."
Common "words" that are not actually words:
- Alot. It's actually "a lot."
- Snuck. The proper past-tense form of "sneak" is actually "sneaked."
- Layed. The correct past-tense form of lay is "laid."
- Lied (used as the past-tense form of lie [as in "to lie down"]). The correct past-tense form of lie is "lay."
If you have trouble with any of the above, write these tips down on a notecard and keep them close to your working space for reference. The more conscious you are of your mistakes, the less likely you'll be to make them in the future. Good luck and keep writing!
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