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Chapter 7 - “There,” “Their,” “They’re”

“Their mixing up they’re theres.” I included this chapter at the request of my son. He says that everyone in his company confuses these three words. So I wrote the chapter and emailed it to him, and he forwarded it to colleagues. Problem solved...

Chart Showing Various Uses

Learn the various ways the word there can act in our language. Word Function Example there pronoun taking the place of ensuing noun There is a policy covering this matter. There’s a policy covering this matter. There are policies covering thi...

So the title to this chapter should read…

The chapter title read: “Their mixing up they’re theres.”Do you see the problems? They are mixing up their theres.So it should read: “They’re mixing up their theres.” Previous: Chart Showing Various UsesNext: Chapter 8 - “Affect”...

Chapter 8 - “Affect” vs. “Effect”

“Bad habits will effect your writing.”There are huge differences between the words affect and effect. Good writers know these differences and use the words correctly. Now you can, too.Affect vs. Effect: An OverviewWriters often confuse these two ...

“Impact” as a Verb

Some writers try to solve the problem by refraining from using affect as a verb. Instead, they use the verb impact. Dictionaries do recognize the verb impact as meaning “to influence.” Thus: The policy impacted the economy. Many people use impact...

Our chapter title should read…

So our chapter title read like this: “Bad habits will effect your writing.”But now you know: When “effect” acts as a verb, it means “produce” or “result in.” Here, the title should read:Bad habits will affect your writing. Previo...

Chapter 9 - “It’s” vs. “Its”

“Should you take out it’s apostrophe?”Hardly a day goes by without my seeing the use of its when the writer means it’s. Or it’s when the writer means its. The two expressions differ dramatically, and careful writers get it right.It’s vs. ...

So to fix the title of this chapter…

Our chaper read: “Should you take out it’s apostrophe?”But now you know that “it’s” is a contraction of “it is.” And you know that “its” is the possessive case of the pronoun “it.” Thus, our chapter title should read:You shoul...

Chapter 10 - “Lead” vs. “Led”

“Yesterday, they lead us astray.”Here’s a quickie. Read on to learn that led is the correct word.Lead vs. Led: An OverviewMany writers think that the word lead is pronounced to rhyme with red and is used as the past tense or past participle of ...

Let’s fix the title of the chapter …

So our chapter title incorrectly read: “Yesterday, they lead us astray.”But now you know that “led” is the past tense (and the past participle) of “lead.” So our chapter title should read:Yesterday, they led us astray. Previous: Chap...

Chapter 11 - “Principle” vs. “Principal”

“Here’s the principle reason he flunked the course.”Many writers use the “my principal is my pal” trick to help distinguish between principal and principle. But that trick fails to cover the many different meanings of principal. When you fi...

The Word “Principle”

A Part-of-Speech ApproachInstead, let’s take a simple parts-of-speech approach to understanding the differences. The word principle will always appear as a noun form, never as an adjective. It is thus incorrect to say: This was the principle (meani...

The Word “Principal”

A Part-of-Speech ApproachThe word principal, on the other hand, has a variety of meanings as an adjective and as a noun.Principal as an AdjectiveLet’s look first at its single adjectival meaning. As an adjective, principal means “chief” or “m...

“Principle” vs. “Principal” - A Summary

In sum, the word principle is always a noun. Essentially it means “rule.” It will never appear as an adjective. Its only possible adjectival form is principled.The word principal is an adjective or a noun. As an adjective, it essentially means ju...

Our chapter title should thus read…

The title of the chapter read: “Here’s the principle reason he flunked the course.”But now you know that “principle” primarily means “rule.” So we fix it like this:“Here’s the principal reason he flunked the course.”We mean, after...

Chapter 12 - “Bring” vs. “Take"

“Bring along this advice when you go to work.”I wish the writers of the Seinfeld series paid attention to the differences between bring and take. For hundreds of episodes, they routinely used bring when they meant take. Those kinds of mistakes, o...

I hope you’ve learned to fix the chapter title…

Our chapter read: “Bring along this advice when you go to work.”But now you know that “bring” and “go” don’t comfortably fit in the same sentence. So we’ll fix it like this:“Take along this advice when you go to work.” Previ...

Chapter 13 - The “Like” Word

“Like, I’mlike gonna learn how to like talk.”If you have a “like” habit, the time has come: Break it. Many people cannot make it through a single sentence without scores of “I’m like” and “She was like” and “She’s all . . ....

Introducing Quotations with the “Like” Word

I'm like ...Usually, people use tobelike to introduce quoted sources. In that form, it doesn’t harm the language too much or totally prevent thought from taking place. We can hear entire conversations, peppered with the verb tobelike and gobs of li...

“Like” - A Ubiquitous Word

It’s like everywhere …Sadly, the verb tobelike and other variations of the like word do more than introduce quotations. They pervade young people’s speech. They threaten the language—and therefore thought itself. Tobelike and like often requi...

Parents - Take Note

Bribe Your ChildrenParents, you might try an exercise out on your children. Bribe them. Put a $10 bill on the breakfast table and challenge them to make it through a second helping of waffles without using the tobelike verb and without misusing the l...

The Word “Like” Serves as 7 Parts of Speech

A Grammatical Analysis for ChildrenThe word like serves as seven of the parts of speech. The only function it doesn’t serve?  It isn’t a pronoun. But it does cover the other seven.Like as a VerbIf your children ask about the correct meaning of l...

Overusing “Like” Threatens Your Career

Consider the Views of the Experts.New Fowler By the mid-20c., however, [the use of like] as an incoherent and prevalent filler had reached the proportions of an epidemic, and it is now scorned by standard speakers as a vulgarism of the first order. N...

Perhaps from now on you’ll say…

Our chapter title looked like this: “Like, I’mlike gonna learn how to like talk.”Ouch. From now on, perhaps you’ll say …“I’m going to learn how to talk.”Please Note: We feel so strongly about the threat the like word poses to our lang...

Conclusion to the Section on Grammatical Mistakes

We hope you have enjoyed, and profited from, this discussion on common grammatical mistakes. If you have, we hope you’ll tell your friends about Grammar.com.You can download this entire discussion as the eBook Common Grammatical Mistakes.We hope yo...