Most Common Grammatical

Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

(Part I)
The English Language is a difficult beast to tie down. Even
those rules which we consider mandatory may actually
change very quickly, especially with words moving into ever
more fleeting media. However, there are a few mistakes which
for now at least can make you look very silly

Most Common Grammatical

Mistakes And How To Avoid
Them (Part I)

1. Its/its
Apostrophes should be used to indicate possession, but there
is one exception to this rule, and that is the word it.
Unsurprisingly, this exception gets lots of people confused.
The rules:

Its is only ever used when short for it is.

Its indicates something belonging to something that
isnt masculine or feminine (like his and hers, but used
when youre not talking about a person).

If it helps, remember that inanimate objects cant really

possess something in the way a human can.
How not to do it:

Its snowing outside

The sofa looks great with its new cover
How to do it properly:

Its snowing outside

The sofa looks great with its new cover

2. Could/would/should of
This common mistake arises because the contracted form of
could have couldve sounds a bit like could of when
you say it out loud. This mistake is made frequently across all
three of these words.
The rules:

When people write should of, what they really mean is

should have.

Written down, the shortened version of should have is

shouldve.

Shouldve and Should have are both correct; the

latter is more formal.
How not to do it:

We could of gone there today

I would of done it sooner
You should of said
How to do it properly:

We couldve gone there today

I would have done it sooner
You shouldve said

3. There/their/theyre
Weve met this one before, too; its another example of those
pesky homophones words that sound the same but have
different meanings.
The rules:

Use there to refer to a place that isnt here over

there.

We also use there to state something There are no

cakes left.

Their indicates possession something belonging to

them.

Theyre is short for they are.

How not to do it:

Their going to be here soon

We should contact theyre agent
Can we use there boat?
Their is an argument that says
How to do it properly:
Theyre going to be here soon
We should contact their agent
Can we use their boat?
There is an argument that says

4. Fewer/less
The fact that many people dont know the difference between
fewer and less is reflected in the number of supermarket
checkout aisles designated for 10 items or less. The mistake
most people make is using less when they actually mean
fewer, rather than the other way round.
The rules:

Fewer refers to items you can count individually.

Less refers to a commodity, such as sand or water,
that you cant count individually.
How not to do it:

There are less cakes now

Ten items or less
How to do it properly:

There are fewer cakes now

Ten items or fewer
Less sand
Fewer grains of sand

5. Amount/number
These two work in the same way as less and fewer,
referring respectively to commodities and individual items.
The rules:

Amount refers to a commodity, which cant be counted

(for instance water).

Number refers to individual things that can be counted

(for example birds).
How not to do it:

A greater amount of people are eating more healthily

How to do it properly:

A greater number of people are eating more healthily

The rain dumped a larger amount of water on the
country than is average for the month

6. To/two/too
Its easy to see why people get this one wrong, but theres no
reason why you should.
The rules:

To is used in the infinitive form of a verb to talk.

To is also used to mean towards.
Too means also or as well.
Two refers to the number 2.
How not to do it:

Im to hot
Its time two go
Im going too town
He bought to cakes
How to do it properly:

Im too hot
Its time to go
Im going to town
He bought two cakes

7. Then/than
Confusion between then and than probably arises because
the two look and sound similar.
The rules:

Than is used in comparisons.

Then is used to indicate something following

something else in time, as in step-by-step instructions, or
planning a schedule (well go there then there).
How not to do it:

She was better at it then him

It was more then enough
How to do it properly:

She was better at it than him

It was more than enough
Well go to the baker first, then the coffee shop

8. Me/myself/I
The matter of how to refer to oneself causes all manner of
conundrums, particularly when referring to another person in
the same sentence. Heres how to remember whether to use
me, myself or I.
The rules:

When referring to yourself and someone else, put their

name first in the sentence.

Choose me or I by removing their name and seeing

which sounds right.

For example, with the sentence John and I are off to the
circus, you wouldnt say me is off to the circus if it was just
you; youd say I am off to the circus. Therefore when talking
about going with someone else, you say John and I.

You only use myself if youve already used I, making

you the subject of the sentence.
How not to do it:

Me and John are off to the circus

Myself and John are going into town
Give it to John and I to look after
How to do it properly:
John and I are off to the circus
John and I are going into town
Give it to John and me to look after
Ill deal with it myself
I thought to myself

9. Invite/invitation
This mistake is now so common that its almost accepted as
an alternative, but if you really want to speak English
properly, you should avoid it.
The rules:

Invite is a verb to invite. It refers to asking

someone if theyd like to do something or go somewhere.

Invitation is a noun an invitation. It refers to the

actual message asking someone if theyd like to do something
or go somewhere.
How not to do it:

I havent responded to her invite yet.

She sent me an invite.
How to do it properly:
I havent responded to her invitation yet.
She sent me an invitation.
Im going to invite her to join us.

10. Who/whom
Another conundrum arising from confusion over how to refer
to people. There are lots in the English language!
The rules:

Who refers to the subject of a sentence; whom refers

to the object.

Who and whom work in the same way as he or

him. You can work out which you should use by asking
yourself the following:

Who did this? He did so who is correct. Whom

should I invite? Invite him so whom is correct.

That is often used incorrectly in place of who or

whom. When referring to a person, you should not use the
word that.
How not to do it:

Who shall I invite?

Whom is responsible?
He was the only person that wanted to come

How to do it properly:

Whom shall I invite?

Who is responsible?
He was the only person who wanted to come

11. Affect/effect
Its an easy enough mistake to make given how similar these
two words look and sound, but theres a simple explanation to
help you remember the difference.
The rules:

Affect is a verb to affect meaning to influence or

have an impact on something.

Effect is the noun a positive effect referring to the

result of being affected by something.

There is also a verb to effect, meaning to bring

something about to effect a change. However, this is not
very commonly used, so weve left it out of the examples
below to avoid confusion.
How not to do it:

He waited for the medicine to have an affect

They were directly effected by the flooding
How to do it properly:

He waited for the medicine to have an effect

They were directly affected by the flooding

12. I.e. and e.g.

These two abbreviations are commonly confused, and many
people use them interchangeably. However, their uses are
very different.
The rules:

i.e. means that is or in other words. It comes from

the Latin words id est.

E.g. means for example. It comes from the Latin words

exempli gratia.

Only use i.e. and e.g. when writing informally. In

formal documents, such as essays, it is better to write out the
meanings (for example or that is).
How not to do it:

He liked many different cheeses, i.e. cheddar,

camembert and brie.

He objects to the changes e.g. he wont be accepting

them.
How to do it properly:

He liked many different cheeses, e.g. cheddar,

camembert and brie.

He objects to the changes i.e. he wont be accepting

them.