There is a reason my day job includes copywriting and copyediting.
I have magical grammatical powers.
I might have loosened up over the years about split infinitives, but I can still spot a dangling modifier or a subject-verb agreement error from a mile away. And don’t get me started on our generation’s inability to use hyphens!
I don’t expect all blog posts to ace a college-level English final, but I do cringe at the most grievous grammatical mistakes. I have even unfollowed blogs for making these 7 grammatical mistakes too often.
I know we’re all in a hurry to create create create MORE MORE MORE, but before you hit publish, do a quick read-through of your blog post to make sure you haven’t made any of the following grammatical mistakes.
1) Your/You’re
Real talk here. I learned the difference between your and you’re in the second grade. I was 7 years old. I can excuse the occasional mistyped tweet, since I too have fallen victim to thinking faster than I can type. But in a blog post? A well-written, carefully-crafted, beautifully-formatted blog post? If you have time to make a “pinnable” image, you have time to double-check your writing, or else you’re just a careless writer.
Your = possessive. Your writing is the writing that belongs to you.
You’re = contraction of “you are.” You’re a careless writer can be rewritten as you are a careless writer.
2) Their/There/They’re
Same deal here. Adults should know their homophones already. There is a problem when they’re still mixing up these words.
Their = possessive. Their homophones belong to them.
There = a place or an indication of something. There is a problem in blogs over there.
They’re = contraction of “they are.” They are still mixing up these words.
3) Its/It’s
This is another common error I see too many bloggers make. It’s really annoying. When a blog post has too many mistakes, its message can be lost.
Its = possessive. You hurt grammar’s feelings when you mess up its rules.
It’s = contraction of “it is.” It is common to mix up “its” and “it’s.”
4) Lose/Loose
I asked Dan what errors he sees consistently, and this was one of his responses. When you’re loose with your grammar, I lose my mind.
Lose = opposite of find. You lose your blogging credibility when you make this mistake.
Loose = opposite of tight. Stop playing fast and loose with the rules of grammar.
5) Using an apostrophe to make a word plural
Seriously, this is possibly the easiest thing to do correctly in your writing. To make most nouns plural, add an -s. Sometimes, add an -es. Do NOT, for the love of GOD, add an -‘s. I read lots of blogs, not lots of blog’s. I love a blog’s good grammar!
‘s = possessive. A blogger’s credibility is connected to her grammar.
s/es = plural. Bloggers throw great bashes.
6) Punctuation outside of quotation marks
“When you’re quoting someone, punctuation goes INSIDE the quotation marks,” my English teacher said. Fellow bloggers, do you understand her words, “punctuation goes INSIDE the quotation marks”? The exception is when the punctuation relates to the whole sentence, but is not specific to the quoted text. When in doubt, just keep the punctuation inside the quotation marks.
7) Affect/Effect
This one is a bit trickier, and it doesn’t bother me too much to see it. But it’s another grammatical mistake that Dan mentioned among his pet peeves, so I have to include it! Your blog affects me. These 7 grammatical mistakes have a negative effect on me.
Affect = verb. Grammatical mistakes affect everyone.
Effect = noun. The effect of good grammar is a happy readership.
I hope everyone learned a little something in today’s grammar lesson! What grammatical mistakes annoy you the most? Let me know in the comments!
Ha, I guess I’m fairly forgiving when it comes to basic grammatical errors because I think a lot of the time when you know a basic rule your brain actually reads it correctly, and skips over the mistake altogether when proofreading. Which is why reading aloud or backwards is recommend to help prevent that. As long as there aren’t an egregious number of errors, I’m willing to turn a blind eye.
But I am a huge believer in the Oxford/serial comma so there is that.
YES! Me too!
Thank you! Drives me crazy!
It’s like the visual equivalent of nails on a chalkboard for me. I was actually generous with this list. I didn’t list the other errors that grate on my nerves that I think are understandable, like who/whom and principle/principal. And I understand if it’s just a single error in a blog post… but it’s almost never a single error. Usually there are multiple mistakes. 🙁
Whenever possible, I have Dan proofread my blog posts, not just for grammar, but for tone. I know I’m opinionated, and I don’t want to come off as judgmental when sharing those opinions.
Brita,
I loved this ‘Grammatical Mistakes’ post! I make the occasional mistake myself, but if I find it, I make sure to re-edit the post/status/etc. in order to correct it. I’ve unfollowed blogs and unfriended on Facebook because of basic grammatical errors!
Also, I couldn’t help but notice that you classify yourself as a feminist as well! I would love your opinions on my newest post involving feminism…I think you could bring some great points to the table(:
http://www.abbigaylerashae.com/2015/02/feminist-issues-what-is-feminism.html
Found you through the Firework People blog post linkup!
Rashae
http://www.abbigaylerashae.com
I definitely go back and edit posts if I notice an error. I found a typo in a blog post of mine about four months old that I just edited yesterday.
So glad to find a fellow feminist blogger!
Hello from #fireworkpeople! Great and relevant post. I think that it’s easy to make these grammatical mistakes as a blogger, especially when you have tons of ideas in your head and you can’t type them out fast enough.
I definitely trip over my words while I type… Which is why I always edit my posts before I publish them. Thanks for commenting!
Don’t even get me started on spelling errors! Most blog hosts have spell check, so if you’re missing simple mistakes, something is wrong! Thank you for posting this. I agree, I totally will unfollow blogs for this reason. #fireworkpeople
I’m glad I’m not the only one bothered by too many mistakes. Thanks for commenting!
Love this! I know I see these errors all the time throughout blogs and social media platforms. As a part-time editor myself, I understand the frustrations that you feel when you see things like this.
I just feel like a business or writer is less professional when a website or blog has too many mistakes. Soooo frustrating!
Dan’s 8th grammatical mistake specifically for car blogs:
Brake/Break
Your car will probably break if you don’t brake when you need to.
Brake (noun): Something that slows something down.
Brake (verb): The act of slowing down.
Break (verb): An action that causes damage to something.
Haha, sometimes I stop following blogs for these mistakes. . .and then months after publishing a post, I realize I made one of them! That’s what I get for writing at 3am. I’d love it if people left comments about my typos 🙂 As for my pet peeves, I hate when I see “a part” instead of “apart.” Or “payed” instead of “paid.”
I haven’t noticed any major errors in your blogs, so either I’ve somehow not read those posts, or you’ve fixed them before I read them. But I also think there’s a difference between making the occasional mistake (which we all do), and making multiple mistakes in every blog post.
I wish I was good at grammar, but as a dyslexic I struggle so much! My mom calls me all the time about mistakes I make but I just can’t see them. Comments about grammar on my blog never bother me when done kindly, because I literally didn’t know! Grammar has always been a very large mystery to me. I can learn it and study it but it never sticks.
Oh, sweetie, you have an excuse. I know dyslexia makes reading and writing more difficult. If you ever need something proofread, shoot me an email. I’d be happy to help!
Ha! Thanks for these tips. I have grammar post it notes all over my desk. As a blogger/writer, I try my best but I don’t think I’ve ever truly known the difference between affect and effect. I will add that on my wall grammar collage!! LoL. 🙂
Happy to help!
Greengrocer’s apostrophe drives me mad! I see it all over the place!
Raising hand, definitely guilty of #5 and probably more if I were to come clean 🙂
It’s not too late to improve! Like another commentator suggested, edit your writing backwards!
OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU. My husband will have to read this, too. He doesn’t understand my blog-life because he doesn’t understand how I can get past all of the writing errors — grammatical *and* spelling. (Now I’m totally self-conscious about even commenting, btw.) Anyway, yes. I love you.
xotawni
#fireworkpeople
Side note: I’m taking copyediting courses this fall!
The writing errors are DEFINITELY a struggle (not defiantly a struggle, definitely). Yes, that error drives me crazy as well, but I tried to stick with the most obvious of mistakes for my list.
I’m super-jealous you get to take copyediting classes. I don’t know any of the formal styles; I just retained everything I learned in my high school English courses.
I love you for two reasons: this post and your WordPress theme. Check out my blog. Great minds think alike!
So cool! I haven’t seen anyone else with it. I’d love to buy a really good one eventually, but for now, I think this is an excellent free theme.
Totally agree with all of these! Proofreading is so important!
Haha, some of these definitely make me cringe when reading blogs. I definitely give grace when needed, though, because mistakes are easy to make every once in a while. 🙂 I’m usually a crazy your/you’re rule follower (and I just finished teaching contractions to my class!) and just the other day I used your incorrectly in an email. Oops! So now I’ve decided to not be so harsh. But yes, a lot of these drive me crazy when I see it!
When the errors are occasional, I just cringe and move on. However, I have read SO many blog posts that cannot manage a single correct usage of your/you’re, or will have all of these errors at the same time. At that point, the grammatical mistakes are so bad that I can’t focus on the writing.
I think you should teach contractions to the blogosphere! A lot of bloggers could use the reminder.
Grammar slips. Sometimes you’re into the story that you forget the spelling. So it’s so important to proof read.
These get me, too, Brita. Thanks for sharing this post that makes understanding these common mistakes clear.
You’ve hit 7 of my least favorite grammatical mistakes. I wish more people paid attention to these simple rules. Thanks for sharing at the This Is How We Roll Link Party at Organized 31.
HILARIOUS and so on point! I can always spot errors in other writers work but can never find them in my own. It’s a real sin. Thanks for sharing this with the Ladies Collective Linkup! We would love to have you come back and linkup again this Wednesday. Your posts always make me laugh, think, and then laugh again!
Stephanie @ http://www.mommyzoid.ca
Amen to all of these. Lose/loose really drives me nuts. Thanks for sharing at the Get Your Shine On link party at Wife. Mom. Geek. We hope you’ll join us again tomorrow night!
i have a lot of these same pet peeves! especially the your/you’re thing! it’s not that hard! 🙂 i am probably guilty of the last 2 though! *hides*
I think “c/o” should be added, because most bloggers put it AFTER they name the brand/shop that gave them an item. “Courtesy of” should go BEFORE the name of the brand/shop. It bothers me so much! Haha.
This is an excellent point, not just from a grammatical standpoint. Not everyone knows that “c/o” refers to “courtesy of,” which means that bloggers are not complying with FTC guidelines regarding disclosures. That’s a whole other blog post, though!
Yesssss, that’s very true! I think most readers have caught on that these are affiliate items, buuuuuuuut “caught on” doesn’t meat the requirements. It just bothers me that the people using it don’t even know what it stands for.
Most of these rules I am familiar with. I proof read at least about four or five times, and every time find something I missed. I tend to read what should have been there. So I try to slow down and read word for word aloud. I try my best not to have grammatical errors, but since I don’t have my own personal proof reader, I do the best I can. I love blogging and want to post quality articles. Have a blessed day!
I’m pretty sure that the only mistake that I’m guilty of making is #7. I always questions whether I’m using the effect or affect correctly because sometimes it feels like either can be correct. Of course, if I use “there” wrong, feel free to let me know. Thank you for linking up with Turn it Up Tuesday.
I can see how #7 can be confusing, which is why it doesn’t bother me too much. I usually have to pause and think twice before choosing the correct effect/affect myself! But I can’t ask my husband for his opinions on grammatical pet peeves and then NOT include them. 🙂
I never used to proofread my blog posts, and it shows when I go back and reread some of my older posts. You know things are bad when you’re reading something you wrote and can’t figure out what you were trying to say! But the worse part is, even when I find these old mistakes I rarely take the time to go back and fix it… definitely something I need to work on! At least though I normally proofread my posts now, so that’s one step in the right direction!
Thank you for posting these! It drives me INSANE when I see fellow bloggers making these mistakes. I’m certainly not perfect, but I do try to proofread to catch as many mistakes as possible before posting. 🙂 #retrorepinparty
Great post. I saw a shirt once that said, “I am the grammarian about whom your mother warned you” that I contemplated buying.
Folks sometimes get lazy thinking spell check will fix everything. 1 through 4 aren’t something the spell check would flag.
Exception to #7: One *effects* change; it’s a verb in this context. Also, I don’t understand the qualification for #6: “The exception is when the punctuation relates to the whole sentence, but is not specific to the quoted text.” That would seem to require that periods–which more often than not relate to the whole sentence, not the quote–come after the closing quotation mark. But there is one pretty clear exception to this rule: the semicolon definitely stays outside the quotation marks.
When she says the punctuation “is not specific to the quoted text”, this is the kind of situation she’s talking about. Note the comma after the word “text”, which is outside the quotation marks because it’s not part of what I’m quoting.
“Could of” and “would of” are also bothersome.
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