We’ve all made at least one of these five common grammar mistakes, and we can’t seem to shake them. There's that mental debate we have with ourselves, ‘should I use who or whom’ here? The trick of reading it out loud doesn’t seem to help, and asking a friend or co-worker could jumble up your thoughts even more. There's nothing worse than publishing something, or submitting work with these grammar errors because you know you are fully capable of distinguishing the two. You constantly need to Google, Wiki, or Dictionary.com each word to ensure that you are using the right one.
To help fight those contradicting voices in your head, here are 5 common grammar mistakes, and tips to help determine which to use. At the end of this article, you will be able to spell check your own work and score even higher on AtomicWriter!
1. Affect vs. Effect:
Affect (verb): To influence something or to produce a change in.
Effect (noun): A change that occurred.
A way to understand these two words would be to put them in a simple sentence, that way you can become comfortable using them. -The effects of the cold affected his mood to go to school.
2. Lay vs. Lie
Lay (verb): To put down gently or carefully.
Lie (verb): To recline or be resting in a horizontal position.
Putting them to use: You need to lay down fresh sheets for guests to lie in when they come to visit.
Even with practice, another tip would be getting someone else to proofread, like a second-eye.
3. Then vs. Than
Than (conjunction or preposition): Is used when you are making a comparison.
Then (adverb): Describes a point of transition in time.
This common grammar mistake is one of the easier to differentiate because they are completely distinct from each other. -By then, her balloon had blown up so much bigger than her brothers, that it almost lifted her off the ground.
4. Who vs. Whom
Who (pronoun): What or which person or people.
Whom (pronoun): The object of a verb or preposition.
When do you use whom or who? A neat trick is to replace your he/she with who, and your him/her with whom. Seeing this in action -Who is going to the party tonight? & With whom are you going to the party?
5. Wear vs. Ware
Wear (verb): Putting on or donning clothing
Ware (noun): Is used when describing specialty pottery
Using the word wear is definitely more popular, as it is a word that describes a daily action, whereas ware is less common and often associated with items or goods like kitchenware, silverware, or dinnerware.
Let's put them into context: She had to wear her company's uniform, while selling wares made by her family.
They don't say practice, practice, practice for nothing, but still very true especially when you're writing. Asking for help from other's may or may not help. I've tried this method and it ended up becoming even more confusing. We suggest that if you are going to ask for help, ask someone who might be a more seasoned writer. Become a seasoned writer yourself the more you practice, ask for feedback, and soon you'll keep scoring higher on AtomicWriter.