Effective written communication relies on correct grammar and spelling. Avoiding common misspellings and grammatical errors ensures that your writing is clear, precise, and comprehensible. Readers often do not notice good grammar because the text is easily understood and enjoyable to read, but they do notice confusing grammatical errors that force them to re-read text and fumble for the author’s meaning. Punctuation equally affects the readability of a text: a misplaced comma or apostrophe can change the meaning of a sentence, often in confusing ways. Correct grammar and spelling makes a positive impression on readers, which is particularly important in business and academic communications.
Spelling mistakes and typographical errors make written communication difficult to read and understand. Spelling errors in academic and business documents, such as resumes and letters, can make the document appear unprofessional. Using an automated spell-checker will catch many spelling mistakes, but not all. Hand-written texts, such as letters, cards, and some academic exams, must be written without the benefit of automatic spell-check and the writer must be equipped to check his own spelling. Familiarity with the following commonly misspelled words is useful for all writers.
- Weird: Essential spelling rules, including an explanation of the rules governing “weird”. “Weird” is an exception to the rule that “i” generally comes before the “e”, except after a “c” or a long “-a” sound, such as “weigh”.
- Definitely: Spelling rules for adverbs. To form an adverb, add “-ly” to the adjective, but do not drop a final “-e” from the adjective (the exception is “truly”). Definite + -ly = Definitely.
- Acclaim: An explanation of why “acclaim” has a double consonant. “Acclaim” is the addition of a form of the Latin prefix “ad”, meaning “to”, to the root “clamare”, or “to shout”. Forms of “ad-” often result in double consonants.
- Accidentally: Commonly misspelled words, including a way to remember “accidentally”. When adding the suffix “-ly” to an adjective to form an adverb, the final consonant is not dropped, even if it results in a double “ll”.
- Consensus: Commonly misspelled words, including an explanation of how to spell “consensus”. “Consensus” comes from the same root as “consent”—consentire—but a different root from that of “census”, “censere”.
- It's: An explanation of possessives, including “it’s”. “It’s” is the contraction of “it is”, while “its” is a possessive.
- Acceptable: A list of common misspellings and corrections, including “acceptable”. Another example of the “ac-” prefix producing a double consonant.
- Spelling Quiz: A self-checking spelling quiz to improve your spelling of commonly misspelled words.
While automated spell-checkers catch many spelling mistakes, they cannot catch many errors in usage. Many word pairs have different but related meanings that commonly cause confusion. Writing “affect” for “effect” would be incorrect usage, but a spell-checker may miss the error because the word is spelled correctly. Homonyms, words that have the same pronunciation and may have different spellings, often are not caught by spell-checkers because both spellings are correct English words. Homophones, words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings, are likewise not flagged as errors by spell-checkers. When typing quickly, the substitution of “pear” for “pare” may go unnoticed by the writer and not be flagged by the spell-checker. Learning the following common usage errors can help writers avoid mistakes.
- Then, Than: An explanation of the difference in usage between “than” and “then”. “Then” is an adjective that refers to time: “First I ate breakfast and then I went to the store.” “Than” is a conjunction used in comparisons: “He is smarter than Justin”.
- Lose, Loose: Explanations of common usage errors, including “lose” and “loose”. “Lose” is a verb pronounced with a “z” sound. “Lose” means to fail to win, to misplace an item, to fail to use, or to be deprived of something: We do not want to lose the game. “Loose” is used more commonly an adjective meaning unfastened or not attached, free, or not close-fitting: Mice loose in the house makes me nervous. As a verb, “loose” means “to set free” or “to let loose”.
- Their, There, They're: Common grammar and usage mistakes explained, including the difference between “their”, “there”, and “they’re”. “Their” is a possessive pronoun: Their car is blue. “There” is an adverb of location: The car is over there. “They’re” is a contraction of “they are”: They’re going to the movies tonight.
- Your, You're: Common usage errors, including an explanation of “your” and “you’re”. “Your” is a possessive pronoun: Your car is green. “You’re” is a contraction of “you are”: You’re a great swimmer.
- Affect, Effect: A guide to the usage of “affect” and “effect”. “Affect” is a verb meaning to “alter or change”: Adding salt affects the taste of the soup. “Effect” is a noun meaning “a result, outcome, or consequence” of an action: Drowsiness is a common effect of listening to boring speeches.
- Accept, Except: A list of commonly confused word pairs and explanations for correct usage, including “accept” and “except”. “Accept” is a verb that means “to receive, agree, assent to, or acknowledge”: I accept your offer. “Except” is a preposition that means “to exclude, leave out, take out, or omit”: Everyone except Carol is going to the movies.
- Capital, Capitol: Definitions and practice sentences with “capital” and “capitol”. “Capital” as a noun means the seat of government, property or assets owned by a person or business, or an uppercase letter: The capital of New Jersey is Trenton. “Capitol” is the building in which a legislature meets: The capitol in Trenton was constructed in the late 18th century.
- Principle, Principal: Definitions of “principle” and “principal” and an explanation of their usage. “Principle” is a noun meaning a law, doctrine, assumption, or underlying faculty: The principles of liberty and justice are fundamental to our country. “Principal” may be a noun or an adjective. As a noun, it means “the most important”: The principal ingredient in bread is flour. As an adjective, it refers to the headmaster or mistress of a school or to the capital sum of money that earns interest or forms a debt: The principal left on the mortgage is $215,000.
- Weather, Whether: An explanation of “weather” and “whether” and their usage. “Weather” is a noun that refers to atmospheric conditions: The weather today is sunny and warm. “Whether” is a conjunction that introduces an indirect question, usually related to a choice or possibility: He wondered whether to stay or go.
- To, Too, Two: A printable explanation of the homophones “to”, “too”, and “two”. “To” is a preposition used to indicate movement toward a person, place, or thing, an addition to something, or to indicate direction: Let’s go to the store. “Too” means “excessively” or “more than enough”: That necklace was too expensive for me. “Two” refers to the number: Jane has two dogs but I only have one.
- Lay, Lie: An explanation of “lay” versus “lie”. “Lie” is an intransitive verb that means “to assume a horizontal position” or “to recline”: I want to lie down now. “Lay” is a transitive verb that means “to set something down”: Lay your jacket on the bed.
- Could have, would have, should have: Explanation of “could”, “would”, and “should” and how to use them properly. “Could”, “would”, and “should” are the past tense forms of the auxiliary verbs “will”, “shall”, and “can”. It is correct to say “I should have eaten breakfast this morning”, not “I should of eaten breakfast”. Never use the phrases "could of", "would of," "should of".
- A lot: The correct spelling of “a lot”, which is not “alot”. “A lot”, meaning “many” or “a large amount or number”, is an informal expression that should be written as two words.
A properly formed sentence is the basic building block of effective, clear writing. Sentences must have a subject and a predicate. The subject is a noun or pronoun that performs an action. To identify the subject of a sentence, identify who did the action. In the sentence “Andrea buys three oranges”, “Andrea” is the subject. The predicate is introduced by a verb. The verb indicates action, occurrence, or existence. In the previous example, “buys” is the verb. The subject and the verb must agree in number. The sentence “Andrea buy three oranges” is incorrect because the subject is the third person singular but the verb is not. In addition to sentence fragments, writers should avoid run-on sentences. Run-ons contain more than one sentence without proper punctuation. The example “Andrea is a great teacher, she buys three oranges” is incorrect because the writer uses commas to join two complete and unrelated sentences instead of separating them with a period.
- Writing Complete Sentences: A brief guide to writing grammatically correct sentences.
- Commas: A guide to the grammatically appropriate use of commas.
- Sentence Fragments: How to recognize and correct sentence fragments.
- Run-on Sentences: How to recognize and avoid run-on sentences.
- Apostrophes: The function and usage of apostrophes.
- Sentences and Coordinating Conjunctions: Rules for the use of conjunctions, such as “and” and “but”, and for their use within sentences.
