Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen more than one “Top Grammar Mistakes” list, one by Microsoft and one, I believe, by a blogger. I didn’t agree with Microsoft’s, but I thought the blogger was on the mark. I don’t remember exactly what the list was, but I thought about it and came up with my ten.
Well, actually, being an overachiever, I came up with more than ten, but I whittled it down to ten for this post. I am sure many of you (and I know I am preaching to the choir with these) will comment with your own additions to the list.
So (drumroll), here is my list of the Top Ten “Grammar” mistakes I see and hear. I put quotation marks around grammar because some may not be exactly grammar, but fall into the broad category of “good writing and speaking.”
- Confusion of I and me. Usually, I goes at the beginning of a sentence, and me goes at the end, but that is a non-grammatical explanation. I is the subject of a sentence; me is some type of object. The mistake generally occurs at the end of a sentence when there is another person mentioned: He told my brother and I. No. Just take out the other person. He told I? Obviously, it is me, with or without my brother.
- Using myself in the wrong places. Ugh! Using myself in the wrong place does not make you sound smart! Myself is reserved for just a couple of occasions, and is usually used when the subject of the sentence is I: I did it myself. I myself did that. Not My friend and myself are going. Or, The book is about my brother and myself.
- The ubiquitous mispronunciation of mischievous! It is not pronounced mis-chee-vious with the accent on the chee! The accent is on the first syllable; the second syllable is pronounced cha, and the last syllable vus.
- Using the wrong past participle verb form. It is not I have went, I have ate, I have wrote, I have saw, etc. It is I have gone, I have eaten, I have written, I have seen, etc.
- Confusing your and you’re. Yes, it is still a common mistake (or a lazy typo?). Easy to correct. All contractions have an apostrophe. You’re means “you are” and is a contraction. It follows the rule. Your or yours is possessive. None of the possessive pronouns has an apostrophe (ours, his, hers, theirs). That follows the rule too.
- Confusing its and it’s. See number 5. Same rule. Same thing.
- Confusing less and fewer. I heard that the distinction is going away, but you know how I feel about that. Less is used for singular nouns and things that cannot be counted. There is less sugar in this cookie than in that one. Fewer is used for plurals. There are fewer tablespoons of sugar in that cookie recipe.
- Confusing number and amount. Similar to number 7. Amount is used for singulars and things that cannot be counted. The amount of salt in my diet is ridiculous! Number is used for plurals: The number of accidents on this road has decreased.
- Flat adverbs. Many adverbs end in -ly, and if you take the -ly off you are left with an adjective. Adverbs describe verbs, and adjectives describe nouns. I drive slowly. Slowly is an adverb describing drive. That is a slow rabbit. Slow is an adjective describing rabbit. If you say, I drive slow, you have used what is called a flat adverb. It isn’t technically wrong, but flat adverbs are not considered good English. They actually used to be more common way back when.
- The singular they. Before you shout at me that it is now okay to use the singular they, just be aware that some of us still don’t like it and would prefer to “write around it,” meaning rewrite to avoid it. The whole purpose of using the singular they is that we don’t have a singular pronoun that is not gender specific: we have he and we have she. What if we don’t know the gender of the person we are talking about? Okay. But what if we do, and we still use they. The girl brought their costume. Huh? Now that is just confusing and sounds as if she brought some other people’s costumes. And maybe she did, but if she brought her own, just use her.
I would love to hear any common grammar mistakes you think I have left off the list!
This is Good article, I Like your write list. Keep blogging broo
Thank you!
I would love to hear any common grammar mistakes you think I have left off the list!
“irregardless”
I think irregardless was on one of the two previous lists. If not, it will be!
I just checked, and you are correct; it was previously discussed.
Ah! I thought it sounded familiar!
In Warren’s ” I lead the discussion at last week’s seminar” , it should be ‘led’, right?
What do you have to say about the usage of ‘anyways ‘ ?
Yes, it should be led, past tense of the verb lead. There is no anyways. It is anyway.
Arlene,
PLEASE educate All on “I’ve got …” Is this the new normal vs. “I’ve gotten …” ?? It’s everywhere – commentators, advertisements, …
Thank you, in advance!
Ugh! I’ve got means I have, except I have is the right way to say it. To have is to own something. To get is to obtain something, and got is the past tense. Present tense is get. Will do a more detailed post on it. Thanks for the comment.
I think someone must have already pointed this out, but the pronouncing of ‘mischievous’ is not a grammar issue, and mis-CHEE-vee-ous isn’t even wrong but regional.
I, and other grammar writers, use “grammar” as a catch-all to mean sentence structure as well as punctuation and usage. And I guess pronunciation as well! I know that this pronunciation is regional, but to me it is incorrect because it puts in an “i” that just isn’t there.
I “have went” is also regional, but that doesn’t make it correct.
Oh, no! What region, may I ask? No, that doesn’t make it right!
Don’t you think all this hair splitting is a bit over the top. One of the beauties of human language is its almost infinite variety. Language is for communication. If the receiver understands the message, task accomplished. So what if an utterance is imperfect.
No, I don’t. As a grammarian it is my job to know the rules and to be able to explain them. And ee prescriptivists enjoy hair splitting. You must be a descriptivist. All grammar books split hairs. It may not count so much in utterance, but it does count in writing.
I was sure I would see this one, at least in the comments. Its use has been increasing over the last few years and I am so annoyed every time I see it.
Example: “I lead the discussion at last week’s seminar.” Do you see the error?
I just compiled a quiz today for a talk next week in which I use the lead/led question. The past tense of lead is lead. The only lead that sounds like a short e is the kind in your pencil.
Well, regarding ‘swum’, how about this tongue twister?
Swan swam over the pond,
Swim swan swim!
Swan swam back again –
Well swum swan!
I managed to do it! Good one!
Thanks for this article! My biggest pet peeve is when people say “I could care less” or “I could have cared less” which means i do care or I did care at least a little. Of course they mean “I couldn’t care less” or “I couldn’t have cared less” which means I don’t or didn’t care at all, not one bit. Also, “irregardless” is a totally unnecessary word. It’s “regardless,” people! Thanks for reading!
Thanks for those. I agree with you! If you could care less, you care, and you wouldn’t bother to say it at all! Thanks!
Dangling participles drive me crazy. For example, “Driving down the road, the deer jumped in front of my car.” How did the deer get a license?
I agree with you! And they sneak in there. How about “While still in diapers my mother remarried.” My favorite!
Just heard a blooper from a BBC newscaster in which he stated the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sat MOMENTS away from the families of the victims of the attack on Westminster Bridge. ‘Moment’ is a measurement of time – how can you sit a ‘time’ away when you are present in the same building? Inches, feet etc are distances and you can sit a ‘distance away. Is there any hope when the BBC get it wrong?
That is a blooper, all right! I think it’s a slip of the tongue that someone might let slip by, but I would bet the BBC wouldn’t write it! However, it is kind of sad to hear how many mistakes the people who get paid get talk on media make!
Many educated people answer a question today starting with “So…” Not sure if we call this a grammar mistake, but it is not correct!
The other mistake which I hear a lot is: “You should OF gone” (you should HAVE gone).
Yes, many people are beginning sentences with conjunctions like SO, which is acceptable. However, there does seem to be a vast overuse of SO, especially by young people.
Too bad COULD OF is still around….boy, that is an old mistake. That one will always be wrong.
SO at the beginning of a sentence which is the opening statement from a speaker or an answer to someone’s question is not only irrelevant, but is a misuse of the word. For example:
Interviewer: How did your early lab work lead to this discovery?
Interviewee: So, I was working on demonstrating . . .
or
Speaker: So I’m here today to speak to you about the need to close down zoos and stop
caging wild animals.
You’re absolutely correct. So implies a result to what was previously said, so it really has no place at the beginning of a sentence.
I might have expanded on less and fewer to include more and over.
Ah! I didn’t think of that one. Thanks….and also number and amount, and many and much!
Some of your points confuse grammar with usage: mispronouncing “mischievous,” overuse of “myself,” and the distinction between lie and lay, for example. Grammar is about the structure of a sentence, and it covers relatively few writing issues. Most mistakes fall under the heading of English usage.
I lump all those things under grammar, whether technically grammar or not, just for ease. I think if you look in most grammar books, you would see punctuation and word usage included.
This may not fall strictly into the category of “grammar,” but whom can we credit with popularizing the non-word its’ — with, for reasons known only to a misguided few, an apostrophe after the word its.
As an editor, on the few occasions I’ve run across this non-word, I’ve wanted to…to…well, you can probably guess what I’ve wanted to do. Linda Jay
Oh, I think we can call that one grammar too! I don’t see it that often (with a silent T please), but I have seen it. Maybe the writer doesn’t know if there is an apostrophe or not or where it goes, so takes a bad guess!
May I just comment that in BE we pronounce mischievous exactly as you indicate as being wrong!
Thanks for the comment. What about the fact that it isn’t spelled that way at all. The last syllable is not -vious. There is no i, so I don’t get the justification for that pronunciation.
I find it so annoying when people mix single verbs with plural objects, for example, “Here’s the keys.” Of course, it should be “Here are the keys.”
Thank you, Sarah. That is a good one — and a really common one!
I love starting my morning with a grammar lesson. Seriously, it’s better than a thought for the day. Good stuff. Thanks.
Thanks, Belinda! Appreciate the comment!
I think, as far as I can remember, you have been discussed this in your Confusing Words sometime in the past. But this time your Top-Ten article is more interesting. Anyhow, thanks for reading this.
Yes, I have discussed all of these before separately.. Same old mistakes! Thanks for the comment!
#2 is my all-time biggest annoyance. Arlene and I discussed a gross use of this at a recent meeting.
#8 comes in as a close 2nd for me
That “myself” thing has to be right up there with me right now! Or should I say “with myself”???????? Thanks, Val, for the comment!
My vote for the most obnoxious common error is addition of apostrophes in plurals, especially with last names, or the incorrect placement of an apostrophe for possessiveness. The Joneses all went to Disneyland together. That is the Joneses’ house. They are drinking Bloody Marys, not Bloody Mary’s.
How could I forget that one! Thank you! I see it everywhere, especially on menus and grocery store signs for some reason!
When are you going to have courage enough to tackle : lie, lay, lain; and lay, lay, lay? I know folks who don’t believe “lain” is a word.
Steve- I have had the courage! I am sure I have written about it more than once. I know people who don’t believe either lain or swum is a word, but they are! Although I must confess I don’t think I have ever used lain in conversation! However, I would be more than happy to do another blog post on the lay, lie situation! Thanks for the comment!