5 of the Most Common Grammar Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Grammar isn’t just the domain of high-minded intellectuals holding court in an ivory
tower, nor is it a sadist creation designed to make you feel frustrated and confused. It’s
a system and structure that’s genuinely in existence to help us communicate more
clearly—to help us better understand each other and derive meaning from the things we
say and write.

That’s why it’s so important to take notice of grammatical mistakes and figure out what
you need to do to correct them. To start you on your way, here’s a snapshot of five of
the most common grammatical errors and some advice about how to make sure you’re
never in the wrong again.

1It’s and its

If there were a grammar mistake hall of fame, it’s/its would have New York Yankees
status. Nearly everyone who’s ever put pen to paper has incorrectly used one of the two
forms, but there’s an easy way to make sure you never make this error ever again.

It’s is a contraction that means ‘it is’ or ‘it has,’ whereas its is a possessive pronoun.
When deciding which form to use, simply try to insert ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ where you were
planning to insert your it’s/its. If the sentence reads correctly, you can use it’s. If it
doesn’t, use its.

Example:

It’s always a beautiful day in Mr. Rogers’s neighborhood.

Donald Trump’s dog loved its new Prada poncho.

2 There, their, and they’re

Similarly, this deadly homophone trinity has plagued writers since before the time of,
well, the Black Plague. As is the case with it’s, they’re is a contraction that means ‘they
are’. On the other hand, their is a possessive pronoun, and there functions as either an
introductory pronoun or as an adverb.

It’s slightly more complicated to decide which form to use, but you can still apply some
basic rules to help you choose. If you can insert ‘they are’ where you would insert
your their/they’re/there, then you can use they’re. If not, try to figure out if
the their/they’re/there is being used to indicate belonging. If this is the case, then their is
appropriate. Alternatively, if you need to introduce the subject of a sentence or denote
place, there is the best option—you can remember this by reminding yourself that there
has ‘here’ inside of it.

Example:
Frank and Joe Hardy couldn’t believe their luck. The missing evidence just materialized
before their eyes, and they were able to solve the case of the missing butter dish.
They’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz.
There was a knock at the door.
Don’t put the crib by the trash can; put it over there, in the corner of the room.

3Subject-verb agreement

Failing to find that perfect, happy, peanut-butter-and-jelly kind of agreement between a

subject and a verb is the kind of error that translates into slow, Medieval-style torture for
copyeditors across the country. To make sure we keep these noble grammarians pain-
free, it’s essential to remember that subjects and verbs must always align in number.
That means that a singular subject goes with a singular verb, and plural subjects go with
plural verbs.

This is easy enough to get right when a subject and a verb are close to each other, but
it can get more complicated when prepositional phrases or complicated clauses create
distance between the two. To avoid a mistake in the latter case, take a moment and
underline your subject or subjects. Then decide whether a singular or plural verb is
appropriate.

Example:

The Silicon Valley techies are super excited for their mixer with the Miss America
contestants.
The use of calculators is prohibited on the math exam.
Mickey, who looked dashing in his giant yellow shoes, and Minnie, who looked equally
fetching in her polka-dot hair bow, were the guests of honor at the cheese gala.

4Comma splices

The comma. This pesky little punctuation mark is linked to a countless number of
grammatical mistakes, but hands down, the most common type of error it’s involved in is
the notorious comma splice. For those unfamiliar with this thorn in the editorial
backside, a comma splice is a term used to describe the linking of two independent
clauses (phrases that have both a subject and a verb) with a comma.

Incorrect examples:

Jay-Z confided in Beyoncé, he told her he wanted to put a ring on it.

He hit the jackpot at Las Vegas, all of the money on the table was his for the taking.
In both cases above, the independent clauses on either side of the commas could stand
alone as complete sentences. Thus, the writer must instead decide whether to use a
period, semicolon, or dash based on context and style. The only time a comma would
be relevant is if the two phrases were linked by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or,
yet, so, nor, for).

To avoid comma splices, simply make sure one of the above conjunctions is present
and accounted for and that it separates two clauses that both have subjects and verbs.

Correct examples:

Jay-Z confided in Beyoncé, and he told her he wanted to put a ring on it.
He hit the jackpot at Las Vegas, so all of the money on the table was his for the taking.

5Apostrophes

Apart from commas, apostrophes seem to cause the most punctuation-related

grammatical confusion. As we’ve pointed out in our Grammarly Handbook, the
incredibly powerful little glyph “can change pronouns to verbs, tell you who owns what,
replace a small handful of letters, and make plurals [of lowercase and uppercase
letters].” Though, before you go out wielding the divisive mark, it’s essential to know
how to use it.

The most important question to ask yourself when inserting an apostrophe is, “am I
making a contraction or making a noun possessive?” If the answer is yes, then you can
use the apostrophe. Keep in mind, an apostrophe is NOT used to make something
plural ninety-nine percent of the time. The only exception to this rule is, as mentioned
above, when you need to use an apostrophe to make a letter plural.

Example:

I removed the banana’s peel to get to the good bit.

I can’t believe global warming’s effect on the average summer temperature.
Mind your p’s and q’s when speaking to the Queen of England.

Is there a mistake you make all the time that you need help with? Let us know in
the comment section below or via our Facebook or Twitter feeds, and we’ll try to explain
it in a blog post.

Author Bio: Stephanie Katz is a San Francisco–based freelance writer who, contrary to
the way it may seem, won’t correct your grammar over beers, coffees, or any other
normal life interaction. She tells stories about health, history, travel, and more, and can
be contacted via email at stekatz@gmail.com.
 Common
Correct spelling Spelling advice
misspelling
accomodate,
accommodate, accommodation two cs, two ms
accomodation
achieve i before e acheive
across one c accross
agressive,
aggressive, aggression two gs
agression
apparently -ent not -ant apparantly
appearance ends with -ance appearence
argument no e after the u arguement
assassination two double s’s assasination
basically ends with -ally basicly
beginning double n before the -ing begining
believe i before e beleive, belive
bizarre one z, double -r bizzare
business begins with busi- Business
calendar -ar not -er Calendar
Caribbean one r, two bs Carribean
cemetery ends with -ery Cemetery
chauffeur ends with -eur Chauffer
colleague -ea- in the middle Collegue
coming one m commingtr
double m, double t,
committee commitee
double e
completely ends with -ely completly
conscious -sc- in the middle concious
curiosity -os- in the middle curiousity
definitely -ite- not –ate- definately
dilemma -mm- not -mn- dilemna
disappear one s, two ps dissapear
disappoint one s, two ps dissapoint
ecstasy ends with –sy ecstacy
embarrass two rs, two s’s embarass
environment n before the m enviroment
existence ends with -ence existance
Fahrenheit begins with Fahr- Farenheit
familiar ends with -iar familar
finally two ls finaly
fluorescent begins with fluor- florescent
foreign e before i foriegn
foreseeable begins with fore- forseeable
forty begins with for- fourty
forward begins with for- foward
friend i before e freind
further begins with fur- futher
gist begins with g- jist
glamorous -mor- in the middle glamourous
government n before the m goverment
guard begins with gua- gaurd
happened ends with -ened happend
harrass,
harass, harassment one r, two s’s
harrassment
honorary -nor- in the middle honourary
humorous -mor- in the middle humourous
idiosyncrasy ends with -asy idiosyncracy
immediately ends with -ely immediatly
incidentally ends with -ally incidently
independent ends with -ent independant
interrupt two rs interupt
irresistible ends with -ible irresistable
knowledge remember the d knowlege
remember the
liaise, liaison liase, liason
second i: liais-
lollipop i in the middle lollypop
millennium, millennia double l, double n millenium, millenia
Neanderthal ends with -thal Neandertal
necessary one c, two s’s neccessary
noticeable remember the middle e noticable
occasion two cs, one s ocassion, occassion
occurred, occurring two cs, two rs occured, occuring
two cs, two rs, -ence not - occurance,
occurrence
ance occurence
pavilion one l pavillion
persistent ends with -ent persistant
pharaoh ends with -aoh pharoah
piece i before e peice
politician ends with -cian politican
Portuguese ends with –guese Portugese
two s’s in the middle and
possession posession
two at the end
preferred, preferring two rs prefered, prefering
propaganda begins with propa- propoganda
publicly ends with –cly publically
really two ls realy
receive e before i recieve
referred, referring two rs refered, refering
religious ends with -gious religous
remember -mem- in the middle rember, remeber
resistance ends with -ance resistence
sense ends with -se sence
separate -par- in the middle seperate
siege i before e seige
successful two cs, two s’s succesful
supersede ends with -sede supercede
surprise begins with sur- suprise
tattoo two ts, two os tatoo
tendency ends with -ency tendancy
therefore ends with -fore therefor
threshold one h in the middle threshhold
tommorow,
tomorrow one m, two rs
tommorrow
begins with ton-, ends
tongue tounge
with -gue
truly no e truely
unforeseen remember the eafter the r unforseen
unfortunately ends with -ely unfortunatly
until one l at the end untill
weird e before i wierd
wherever one e in the middle whereever
which begins with wh- wich