The Friday Five: Lessons in Grammar
As someone who spends a good majority of her time writing, I am not ashamed to call myself a grammar snob. Although I still have a long way to go before I can really consider myself fluent in all things English, I believe it is important to learn as much as you can about the language you speak. Therefore, the English minor in me would like to share with you some of my grammatical/writing pet peeves and teach you a little bit of what I learned in editing seminars.
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The Friday Five: Lessons in Grammar
1. Know the difference between contractions and possessives.
For example, if you tell me “your dumb,” I will only be inclined to ask “my dumb what?” In this case, your is in the possessive, which implies that you own something. “You’re” is short for “you are,” so if you make the mistake of “you’re dog” to describe someone’s pet, you are actually saying “you are dog.”
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2. “Due” should only be used to refer to deadlines and babies.
Exhibit A happens because of Exhibit B, not due to Exhibit B. My Literature assignment is due.
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3. You and Me or You and I?
Harry baked cookies for Julie and me, because if you take out “Julie,” you get “Harry baked cookies for me.” You wouldn’t say “Harry baked cookies for I.” However, “Harry and I are going to the store,” not “Harry and me are going to the store.” When in doubt, just drop the other name and see what grammatically fits.
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4. Literally does not always mean literally.
People tend to misuse the word “literally” a lot in order to hyperbolize, but if you go by the dictionary definition of “literal,” you get true to fact; not exaggerated. Therefore, if you say “he was literally as big as a house,” you are saying that this person was truly that size. Be very careful with your usage of that word; unless you are making an attempt at humor, you might want to steer clear.
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5. Since does not replace because.
Since describes time, as in “ever since I got married.” Because describes reasons, such as “I can’t go out because I have homework.” You would not say “I can’t go out since I have homework.”
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What are some of your grammar pet peeves?
Another good article! I did not know that it was incorrect to say that something occured due to something else…
Thank you! I went to a journalism convention in New York a few years ago and one of the workshops had stuff like that… it was fun to learn!
Thank you so much for writing this article! I really hope lots of people read this one. I absolutely hate when people use “your” instead of “you’re” or vice versa.
One of my pet peeves is when people use “too” instead of “to” as in, “I am going too the store.”
Another is when people overuse apostrophes, which I have seen a LOT of lately! I’ve seen people write sentences like: “My friend’s are coming over.” “The cup’s are in the cabinet.” “She want’s to see a movie tonight.” Ugh! I get sick of reading sentences like that.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I definitely agree with you on both of those. I see them a lot! I hate when people add random punctuation into their sentences, like those apostrophes or “I am going, to the store.”
Thank you for your comment 🙂
Very nice post..
Learn a lot here..
Thank you for commenting! I’m glad you enjoyed 🙂
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