Grammar Tips Archives - Barbara McNichol Editorial Services

Common Grammar Miscues that Undermine Good Writing

July 6, 2020 by Barbara McNichol

Avoid these common grammar mistakes in your writing.

by Barbara McNichol

Did you know that bad grammar can ruin a good message?

You could be missing opportunities to get your point across because your readers have to wade through awkward sentences that set their teeth on edge.

Common grammar mistakes can be avoided if you take the time to learn the rules and then apply them. Pay special attention to the eight that follow.

The 8 most common grammar miscues

Here’s a list of the eight most common grammar mistakes and ways to spot and fix them.

1. Me versus I: subject pronoun (plural subjects)

Incorrect:
“Me and Janet completed the quarterly sales report.”

Correct:
“Janet and I completed the quarterly sales report.”

Rule: When the subject is more than one, you need a subject pronoun (I, she, he, we, they, who).

Clue: Say the sentence without ‘Janet’. “I finished the quarterly sales report.” Now it’s easy to tell which pronoun is correct, right?

2. Me versus I: object pronoun (verb)

Incorrect:
“Katherine hired Dave and I to draft the sales proposal.”

Correct:
“Katherine hired Dave and me to draft the sales proposal.” is correct.

Rule: “Dave and me” is the object of the verb “draft” and therefore requires an object pronoun (me, her, him, us, them, whom).

Clue: Say the sentence without Dave. “Katherine hired me to draft the sales proposal.” It’s obvious now, isn’t it?

3. Me versus I: object pronoun (preposition)

Incorrect:
“Between you and I, we got the job done.”

Correct:
“Between you and me, we got the job done.”

Rule: In this sentence, “me” is the object of the preposition “between” and therefore requires an object pronoun (me, her, him, us, them, whom).

Clue: “I” is the subject of a sentence and will be followed by a verb “ran, went, jumped, cried.” “Me” is the object of a sentence and is preceded by a preposition “with, to, between, before.”

4. Self

Incorrect:
“Irene, Lloyd and myself finished the blueprints.”

Correct:
“Irene, Lloyd, and I finished the blueprints.”

Rule: You can’t use a “-self” pronoun (myself, yourself, himself, herself, themselves, ourselves) unless it refers to another noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence.

Clue: Look for the referral word that precedes the pronoun and say the sentence without “Irene, Lloyd.” “I finished the blueprints.”

How many times have you read this incorrect sentence?

“Please feel free to contact myself if you need further information.”

“Please feel free to contact me if you need further information.” is correct.

5. To versus too

Incorrect:
“Roger was to swamped and couldn’t complete the report on time.”

Correct:
“Roger was too swamped and couldn’t complete the report on time.”

This might seem like an obvious mistake. It happens most often when you’re in a hurry – but that’s no excuse. Your reader will notice the gaff.

6. Lay versus lie

“Nigel was feeling light-headed, so his manager suggested he lay down in the infirmary.” is incorrect.

“Nigel was feeling light-headed, so his manager suggested he lie down in the infirmary.” is correct.

Rule: You lie down on a bed and lay down an object.

Clue: To lay is to place something down in a resting position. A chicken lays eggs, it doesn’t lie eggs.

7. There versus their versus they’re

Incorrect:
“It was there turn to present sales projections.”

Correct:
“It was their turn to present sales projections.”

“Their looking forward to presenting this quarter’s sales projections.” is incorrect.

“They’re looking forward to presenting this quarter’s sales projections.” is correct.

Rule: There is a place, their is a possessive pronoun, they’re is a contraction of “they are.” This grammar gaff is rarely due to not knowing the difference; rather, it slips through spellcheck.

Clue: This common grammar mistake can easily be avoided by proofreading your communications carefully before pressing “send”.

8. They/their versus he/his or she/her

As you probably know, the convention for the use of “they” has changed. It is now acceptable to use “they” to identify an individual and allows for gender neutrality.

“They asked that their report be presented last” can refer to a single person.

Rule: In the appropriate context, “they/their” is a plural pronoun while he/his and she/her are singular. So, if you’re writing about someone who is previously identified as one male or female, “they” is no longer grammatically correct.

Clue: Are you referring to one person who identifies as either male or female? Or are you talking about a group of people or someone who wishes to remain gender-neutral? Attention to context is important with this grammar rule.

Why good grammar matters.

In the age of Twitter shorthand and texting shortcuts, good grammar and spelling are taking a beating. But according to experts in business communications, they’re still relevant.

If you take time to edit your writing – whether it’s an email to a peer or superior, a sales pitch to a potential client, or a summary of work you’ve completed – your message holds more weight when your grammar and spelling are accurate.

I always encourage my fellow writers to “make friends with good writing.”

Enjoyed this article? Here are three more to help you communicate effectively:

Whack Wordiness: How to Stop Rambling
Do You Use These Common Phrases Correctly?
Why Make a Big Deal Out of Correct Spelling and Grammar?

What grammar miscues trip you up? Please share them here.

Headline Grammar Errors NOT to Copy

April 10, 2018 by Barbara McNichol Leave a Comment

By Kathleen Watson

grammar headlines Headlines provide never-ending examples of incorrect grammar, whether in word choice, word order or punctuation.

Reminder: I define grammar as the words we choose, how we string them together, and how we use punctuation to give them meaning.

News stories and their headlines should be examples of excellent writing. They also should conform to Standard English, defined as the way educated people write and speak. Writing in haste is no excuse for careless headline grammar errors.

1) How To Act When Someone Around You Loses Their Job

In 2017, the Associated Press proclaimed that nouns and pronouns no longer have to match in cases of gender sensitivity. I strongly oppose the change. In this headline, the indefinite pronoun someone is singular, but their is a plural possessive.

Rather than using the awkward someone loses his/her job, the headline could easily have conformed to standard usage if it had been phrased this way:

How To Act When Someone Around You Loses A Job

2) Look At Aaron Rogers Amazing House

Green Bay Packer quarterback Aaron Rogers no doubt earns enough money to have an amazing house, but this headline lacks the apostrophe that shows the house belongs to him. When a name ends in s, show possession by adding an apostrophe:

Look At Aaron Rogers’ Amazing House

3) Students Walkout Across Country to Support Florida School-Shooting Survivors

To walk out is a phrasal verb; a walkout is a noun.

An earlier post, One Word or Two: Use Care With Your Shortcuts, has a list of other word combinations called phrasal verbs — a verb and a preposition that, when joined, often form a noun: set up/setup | break down/breakdown | start up/startup | cut back/cutback … and more. The headline should read:

Students Walk Out Across Country to Support Florida School-Shooting Survivors

4) Parkland Survivor Criticizes Laura Ingraham For Only Apologizing After Advertisers Fled

As so often is the case, the modifier only is misplaced. When only precedes apologizing, it implies that apologizing was not enough. Should she have done more than apologize?

The criticism underlying the report was aimed at the timing of her apology. Some thought Ms. Ingraham should have apologized immediately, rather than waiting until some advertisers withdrew their support of her program. A clearer headline would have been:

Parkland Survivor Criticizes Laura Ingraham For Apologizing Only After Advertisers Fled

5) What Does It Feel Like to Be Wrong? Our strong need to be right and it’s impact on our lives

The first line works, but the subhead is punctuated to read:

Our strong need to be right and it is impact on our lives

People continue to confuse it’s, the contraction for it is, and its, the possessive form of the pronoun it. Here’s how the line should read:

Our strong need to be right and its impact on our lives

I hear from plenty of people who lament the apparent lack of grammar knowledge in some media representatives who are considered professional communicators: print, electronic, and television journalists and commentators.

We’re all judged by the way we write and speak. Don’t let careless grammar or lack of grammar mastery detract from your credibility.

Kathleen Watson has a love/hate relationship with grammar; she loves words and the punctuation that helps them make sense, yet she hates those pesky rules. Knowing others do, too, she wrote an easy-to-use grammar book called Grammar for People Who Hate Rules to help people write with authority and confidence.

Share examples of headline grammar errors you find.

When “Start to” and “Decide to” Creep into Your Writing

October 2, 2017 by Barbara McNichol Leave a Comment

by Barbara McNichol

Do you habitually start a sentence with the phrase “start to” or “begin to”? In a 5,000-word document I recently edited, those phrases appeared 14 times, while only five were deemed necessary to the meaning. That’s a lot of extra words!

To be more direct in your writing, skip the “start/begin” part and employ the phrase Nike made famous: Just do it!

These examples show how you can write a stronger statement by going straight to the action verb rather than “beginning” to go for it.

Example 1: Slowly begin to approach your teammate with your idea.

Better: Slowly approach your teammate with your idea.

Example 2: Start to make an agenda for the meeting.

Better: Make an agenda for the meeting.

Whenever you write “start to” or “begin to,” question it. Ask: Is “start” or “begin” essential to the meaning of the sentence? Chances are you can glide straight to the action verb without it!

Similarly, watch out for “decide to” in your writing. Which verb carries more weight in this example sentence, “decide” or “launch”?

Example: The president decided to launch the company’s implementation strategy next month.

Better: The president will launch the company’s implementation strategy next month.

Do you see how “decide” doesn’t add meaning while “launch” is vital to the message? When you catch yourself writing “decide,” ask: Is it needed?

Your goal is clearer, stronger writing so your readers clearly understand what you mean. Pay attention to these phrases and streamline them. It will make a big difference.

What similar verb phrases belong in this category? List them here. I will discuss them in future posts.

Barbara McNichol has created a Word Trippers Tips resource so you can quickly find the right word when it matters most. You’ll improve your writing through excellent weekly resources in your inbox including Word Trippers of the Week. Details at www.WordTrippers.com

Subconscious vs. Unconscious: What’s the Difference?

August 29, 2016 by Barbara McNichol Leave a Comment

by Kathleen Watson (used with permission)

A reader asked me to discuss subconscious and unconscious, clarifying the implications of prefixes sub and un.

First of all, conscious means to be awake, aware, and responding to one’s surroundings.

A prefix is a letter or a group of letters that appears at the beginning of a word and changes its original meaning.

The prefixes sub and un have distinctly different meanings:

sub: under or below
substandard, subcommittee
Substandard living conditions contribute to poor health.
The subcommittee will investigate the cost of the proposal.

un: the opposite or reverse of
unlike, unwearable
She is so unlike her twin sister in temperament.
The soaked jacket was unwearable.

Your subconscious (noun) is the part of your mind just below awareness; a subconscious (adjective) thought is one of which you are not fully aware but that might influence your feelings or actions:

Trevor has a subconscious fear that his girlfriend, Jenna, will break up with him if he goes fishing this weekend.
At a subconscious level, Jenna hopes her boyfriend, Trevor, will go fishing this weekend so she can use it as an excuse to break up with him.

To be unconscious means to lose consciousness.

When Trevor fell in the fishing boat and hit his head, the jolt left him unconscious for a few seconds.
When Jenna learned that Trevor’s fall had left him temporarily unconscious, she couldn’t be mad at him for going fishing — or use it as an excuse to break up with him.

grammar book Our language is full of prefixes: anti (antidepressant), bi (bilateral), dis (disassemble), extra (extracurricular), infra (infrared), inter (interoffice), multi (multicolored), non (nonfiction), out (outperform), over (overpay), para (parasailing), post (postgraduate), pre (precondition), re (reintroduce), under (underestimate).

Note that none of these words created with a prefix requires a hyphen.

My new book Grammar for People Who Hate Rules has a list of words with these and other common prefixes, most of which don’t require a hyphen.

Kathy has a love/hate relationship with grammar; she loves words and the punctuation that helps them make sense, yet she hates those pesky rules. Be sure to check out her new book Grammar for People Who Hate Rules (great title) at Amazon.com now!

Writing Tip: A Couple of Usage Questions to Ponder

July 28, 2014 by Barbara McNichol Leave a Comment

by Barbara McNichol

This came from a conscientious author:

Question: I was taught to say a couple of weeks, but I’m hearing and reading the term a couple weeks a lot lately. To me (and other people I’ve asked) that sounds odd. Are both statements acceptable? – Sue

More than a couple of pens and pencils

In answer to your question, Sue, my research offered a variety of opinions. Here’s what I concluded from what I read:

In formal writing, it’s better to say “a couple of” (e.g., a couple of weeks passed). While saying “a couple” isn’t wrong, it’s not readily accepted except in dialogue and highly informal writing. Context rules.

Also there’s disagreement if “couple” always refers to two. Can it be used to mean something less specific? I like the comment below found in a language blog that posed the same question.

Dictionaries define the meaning of a word not necessarily its usage. I speak British English and will happily use a phrase such as “a couple of miles” to imply “not only that the distance is short but that its exact measure is unimportant.” If I go into a pub for “a couple of drinks” I have not limited myself to two (unfortunately). It is a flexible concept. As in all things, context rules.

Yes, I agree that this phrase can be used to indicate vagueness and not necessarily mean two. However, I contend that writing be as specific as possible, so I’d favor stating numbers instead of a “wobbly” reference such as “couple” or “couple of.” Again, context rules.

What are your thoughts? Should “a couple of” be the standard as I suggest? Does the phrase have to mean “two” in your book?

Nonfiction Authors: Think Like an Editor

May 20, 2011 by Barbara McNichol Leave a Comment

Barbara McNichol

Writers take their observations of the world, draw a few conclusions, and translate them into messages on paper (or computer screens). When you write something to market your products or services, you don a writer’s hat to express your message in words. But don’t stop there. You then need to put on your editor’s glasses and focus on fine-tuning those words to make sure they communicate with your intended audience. That requires you to read your piece as if you have never seen it before and think like an editor.

A skilled editor examines every phrase and asks:

Is it NECESSARY?
Is it CLEAR?
Is it CONCISE?

When you review your own writing, you likely won’t answer “yes” to all these questions. So take off your writer’s hat and look through your editor’s glasses, then make changes based on these five common writing problems.

1. Use the active voice. (WHO does WHAT to WHOM.)

Passive: It was decided that everyone would take the class.
Active: The principal decided everyone would take the class.

2. Make subjects and verbs agree. (No mixing singular and plural.)
Incorrect: A group of writers were in town. (“Group” is singular while “were” is plural.)
Correct: A group of writers was in town. (“Group” is the subject here, not “writers.”)

3. Use parallel construction. (Give your writing rhythm.)
Weak: We’ve learned to read, write, and we’re making sure information is shared.
Stronger: We’ve learned to read, write, and share information.

4. Make the subject obvious. (Don’t let your participles dangle!)
Yucky: Driving down the highway, the new stadium came into view. (Who was driving down the highway? The stadium?)

Better: We could see the progress on the new stadium as we drove by it on the highway.

5. Use specific, vivid verbs and nouns. (Don’t overuse adverbs and adjectives.)

Dull: I saw some really pretty yellow daffodils.

Interesting: I reveled in a riot of daffodils.

When you wear your editor’s glasses, make sure every word counts. What are your favorite writing/editing tips that will enhance someone’s writing? Please share them here.