14 Common Grammatical Mistakes in English – And How to Avoid

Them

1. Misplaced apostrophes
Apostrophes aren’t difficult to use once you know how, but putting them in the
wrong place is one of the most common grammar mistakes in the English
language. Many people use an apostrophe to form the plural of a word,
particularly if the word in question ends in a vowel, which might make the word
look strange with an S added to make it plural.

The rules:
Apostrophes indicate possession – something belonging to something or
someone else.
To indicate something belonging to one person, the apostrophe goes before the
‘s’. For instance, “The girl’s horse.”
To indicate something belonging to more than one person, put the apostrophe
after the ‘s’. For example, “The girls’ horse.”
Apostrophes are also used to indicate a contracted word. For example, “don’t”
uses an apostrophe to indicate that the word is missing the “o” from “do not”.
Apostrophes are never used to make a word plural, even when a word is in
number form, as in a date.

How not to do it:

The horse’s are in the field
Pen’s for sale
In the 1980’s
Janes horse is over there
The girls dresses are ready for them to collect
How to do it properly:
The horses are in the field
Pens for sale
In the 1980s
We didn’t want to do it
Jane’s horse is over there
The girls’ dresses are ready for them to collect

2. Your/you’re
We covered this one before in our post on homophones, but it’s such a
widespread problem that there’s no harm in covering it again.

The rules:
“Your” indicates possession – something belonging to you.
“You’re” is short for “you are”.

How not to do it:

Your beautiful
Do you know when your coming over?
Can I have one of you’re biscuits?

How to do it properly:
You’re beautiful
Do you know when you’re coming over?
Can I have one of your biscuits?

3. Its/it’s
We said earlier that 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:
“It’s” is only ever used when short for “it is”.
“Its” indicates something belonging to something that isn’t masculine or
feminine (like “his” and “hers”, but used when you’re not talking about a
person).
If it helps, remember that inanimate objects can’t really possess something in
the way a human can.
How not to do it:
Its snowing outside
The sofa looks great with it’s new cover

How to do it properly:
It’s snowing outside
The sofa looks great with its new cover

4. “Could/would/should of”
This common mistake arises because the contracted form of “could have” –
“could’ve” – 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 “should’ve”.
“Should’ve” 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 could’ve gone there today
I would have done it sooner
You should’ve said
5. There/their/they’re
We’ve met this one before, too; it’s 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 isn’t here – “over there”.
We also use “there” to state something – “There are no cakes left.”
“Their” indicates possession – something belonging to them.
“They’re” is short for “they are”.

How not to do it:

Their going to be here soon
We should contact they’re agent
Can we use there boat?
Their is an argument that says

How to do it properly:
They’re going to be here soon
We should contact their agent
Can we use their boat?
There is an argument that says

6. Fewer/less
The fact that many people don’t 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 can’t 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

7. 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 can’t 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
8. To/two/too
It’s time to revisit another common grammar mistake that we also covered in
our homophones post, as no article on grammar gripes would be complete
without it. It’s easy to see why people get this one wrong, but there’s 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:

I’m to hot
It’s time two go
I’m going too town
He bought to cakes

How to do it properly:
I’m too hot
It’s time to go
I’m going to town
He bought two cakes

9. 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 (“we’ll 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
We’ll go to the baker first, then the coffee shop

10. 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. Here’s 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 wouldn’t
say “me is off to the circus” if it was just you; you’d 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 you’ve 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
I’ll deal with it myself I thought to myself

11. Invite/invitation
This mistake is now so common that it’s 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 they’d like to do
something or go somewhere.
“Invitation” is a noun – “an invitation”. It refers to the actual message asking
someone if they’d like to do something or go somewhere.

How not to do it:

I haven’t responded to her invite yet.
She sent me an invite.

How to do it properly:
I haven’t responded to her invitation yet.
She sent me an invitation.
I’m going to invite her to join us.

12. 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

13. Affect/effect
It’s an easy enough mistake to make given how similar these two words look
and sound, but there’s 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 we’ve 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

14. 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 won’t 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 won’t be accepting them.

10