6 Common Writing Mistakes to Avoid

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One grammatical error can cause others to question your credibility as a writer. Here is the list of the most common grammar mistakes together with the examples of the correct contextual usage. Check out our guide and never make the embarrassing errors again.

There, They’re and Their

There refers to the particular place, their denotes something that belongs to a group and they’re is a contraction of “they are”. In fact, the difference is clear but just because we might be in a hurry or too concentrated on the meaning of our text, we might accidentally substitute the words.

They’re planning to go there in order to meet their parents.

Your and You’re

Mixing up these words is another common mistake even though it is obvious that your means owning something while you’re is a contraction of “you are”. Always double check and make sure all these words are used in the right context.

You’re responsible for your own feelings and emotions.

Its and It’s

This one is tricky and easily confused even by professional writers. The thing is that ‘s at the end of the word usually means something possessive. However, in this case, its (without the apostrophe) denotes possession while it’s (with the apostrophe) is a contraction of “it is”.

It’s important to understand its structure.

Incomplete comparisons

It does not make sense to say that one object is better than the other without specifying what it is compared with. For example, the sentence “Our product is better” includes an incomplete comparison. It is an uncertain statement, which, nonetheless, can be successfully used in advertising. However, if you want to sound grammatically correct in your writing, try to complete your message by specifying the other item that is being compared to the object of your discussion.

Some health studies show that walking is more effective than running.

Affect and Effect

These two words get mixed up very often even though it is quite simple to remember how to distinguish them. If you want to tell about the change itself, i.e. you want to use the noun, effect is the word to use. However, if you decided to tell your reader about the act of changing, affect needs to be used.

Initially, his words had a great effect on me but his further actions affected me even more.

Me and I

Me and I are both personal pronouns but within the sentence they serve different purposes. Me is used as a receiver of the action while I is a subject of the verb. Check out the difference below:

I need to leave the party early because the teacher asked me to submit my paper tomorrow. As opposed to the incorrect version Me need to leave the party early because the teacher asked I to submit my paper tomorrow. 

So did you know all of the intricacies that we listed above? If yes, congratulations. However, if you did find something new for yourself, make sure to remember your mistakes so that you could avoid them in the future.