To Separate Independent ClausesĪn independent clause is a sentence that can stand on its own, so when in doubt whether a comma needs to be in the sentence, take the second part of the sentence and ask yourself if it would make a full sentence on its own. It's called an "Oxford comma," but whether you use it depends on your own internal style guide. That last comma, by the way, is optional. I went to the shop to buy apples, carrots, bread, and milk.Īhhh, much better. That sounds insane, right? That's because each element in the series should be separated by a comma. I went to the shop to buy apples carrots bread and milk. There are many uses of the comma, but for simplicity, I'm only going to cover the most frequent errors I spot. A simple way to remember the right one to use is to ask if the word can be separated into two words - "it is" or "it has." If it can, use an apostrophe. And then the sentence just doesn't make sense anyway.Ī common point of confusion for both of these apostrophe use cases is the word "it's." The possessive form of "it" can cause all kinds of confusion, as it doesn't conform to the above rule.įor example, "The elephant is known for its memory" is a correct use of the word "its" - even though one might think there should be an apostrophe after the "t" since the elephant "possesses" the memory. Without using the apostrophe in this case, you are pluralizing John, meaning there's more than one John in your sentence. For example, "That is John's car." The car belongs to John. The second most common use of the apostrophe is to indicate possession. For example, "I can't figure this out." The apostrophe here is used to omit the word "not" so that "cannot" becomes "can't." The same can be used for "don't" (do not), "they're" (they are), etc. The apostrophe is often used as a contraction. The two most common misuses of the apostrophe are: Contractions But I'm taking a pretty liberal definition of "grammar" in this post - including spelling, usage, punctuation, and the like. Note: I know, I know, not all of these are "grammar" mistakes. Just in case you want to nerd out a bit more. So, I decided to write this post with the hope of calling attention to those common errors.Īnd if these grammatical faux pas aren't enough - there's actually another post by my colleague Ginny Soskey that details several other common mistakes. I've become the go-to person for proofreading other people's content before it goes live, and as a result, I have started to notice a few of the same mistakes cropping up time and time again. or incredibly stressful to anyone who has to communicate with me non-verbally. The more time I've spent in this role, the more I notice little errors in things like text messages, IMs, and birthday cards. This could either be seen as a good thing. Especially used in social situations and contexts.Okay, so I'm no English major, but I am a content marketer - attention to grammatical detail is something very near and dear to my heart.1906, Chesterton, Charles Dickens, chapter 2 A saint after repentance will forgive himself for a sin a man about town will never forgive himself for a faux pas.Now my dear Lady Teazle if you but once make a trifling Faux Pas you can't conceive how cautious you would grow, and how ready to humour and agree with your Husband. 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.iii:. Synonyms: misstep, mistake, blunder see also Thesaurus: error
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