20 Common Grammar Mistakes That (Almost) Everyone Makes
This one opens a big can of worms. âWhoâ is a subjective â or nominative â pronoun, along with âhe,â âshe,â âit,â âwe,â and âthey.â Itâs used when the pronoun acts as the subject of a clause. âWhomâ is an objective pronoun, along with âhim,â âher,â âitâ, âus,â and âthem.â Itâs used when the pronoun acts as the object of a clause. Using âwhoâ or âwhomâ depends on whether youâre referring to the subject or object of a sentence. When in doubt, substitute âwhoâ with the subjective pronouns âheâ or âshe,â e.g., Who loves you? cf., He loves me.Similarly, you can also substitute âwhomâ with the objective pronouns âhimâ or âher.â e.g., I consulted an attorney whom I met in New York. cf., I consulted him.
This is one of the most common mistakes out there, and understandably so. âThatâ is a restrictive pronoun. Itâs vital to the noun to which itâs referring. Â e.g., I donât trust fruits and vegetables that arenât organic. Here, Iâm referring to all non-organic fruits or vegetables. In other words, I only trust fruits and vegetables that are organic. âWhichâ introduces a relative clause. It allows qualifiers that may not be essential. e.g., I recommend you eat only organic fruits and vegetables, which are available in area grocery stores. In this case, you donât have to go to a specific grocery store to obtain organic fruits and vegetables. âWhichâ qualifies, âthatâ restricts. âWhichâ is more ambiguous however, and by virtue of its meaning is flexible enough to be used in many restrictive clauses. e.g., The house, which is burning, is mine. e.g., The house that is burning is mine.
This is the crown jewel of all grammatical errors. âLayâ is a transitive verb. It requires a direct subject and one or more objects. Its present tense is âlayâ (e.g., I lay the pencil on the table) and its past tense is âlaidâ (e.g.,Yesterday I laid the pencil on the table). âLieâ is an intransitive verb. It needs no object. Its present tense is âlieâ (e.g., The Andes mountains lie between Chile and Argentina) and its past tense is âlayâ (e.g., The man lay waiting for an ambulance). The most common mistake occurs when the writer uses the past tense of the transitive âlayâ (e.g., I laid on the bed) when he/she actually means the intransitive past tense of âlie" (e.g., I lay on the bed).
Contrary to common misuse, âmootâ doesnât imply something is superfluous. It means a subject is disputable or open to discussion. e.g., The idea that commercial zoning should be allowed in the residential neighborhood was a moot point for the council.
Theyâre similar, but thereâs a difference. âContinualâ means something thatâs always occurring, with obvious lapses in time. âContinuousâ means something continues without any stops or gaps in between. e.g., The continual music next door made it the worst night of studying ever. e.g., Her continuous talking prevented him from concentrating.
The word âenvyâ implies a longing for someone elseâs good fortunes. âJealousyâ is far more nefarious. Itâs a fear of rivalry, often present in sexual situations. âEnvyâ is when you covet your friendâs good looks. âJealousyâ is what happens when your significant other swoons over your good-looking friend.
âNorâ expresses a negative condition. It literally means âand not.â Youâre obligated to use the ânorâ form if your sentence expresses a negative and follows it with another negative condition. âNeither the men nor the women were drunkâ is a correct sentence because ânorâ expresses that the women held the same negative condition as the men. The old rule is that ânorâ typically follows âneither,â and âorâ follows âeither.â However, if neither âeitherâ nor âneitherâ is used in a sentence, you should use ânorâ to express a second negative, as long as the second negative is a verb. If the second negative is a noun, adjective, or adverb, you would use âor,â because the initial negative transfers to all conditions. e.g., He wonât eat broccoli or asparagus. The negative condition expressing the first noun (broccoli) is also used for the second (asparagus).
âMayâ implies a possibility. âMightâ implies far more uncertainty. âYou may get drunk if you have two shots in ten minutesâ implies a real possibility of drunkenness. âYou might get a ticket if you operate a tug boat while drunkâ implies a possibility that is far more remote. Someone who says âI may have more wineâ could mean he/she doesnât want more wine right now, or that he/she âmightâ not want any at all. Given the speakerâs indecision on the matter, âmightâ would be correct.
Many writers seem to assume that âwhetherâ is interchangeable with âif.â It isnât. âWhetherâ expresses a condition where there are two or more alternatives. âIfâ expresses a condition where there are no alternatives. e.g., I donât know whether Iâll get drunk tonight. e.g., I can get drunk tonight if I have money for booze.
âLessâ is reserved for hypothetical quantities. âFewâ and âfewerâ are for things you can quantify. e.g., The firm has fewer than ten employees. e.g., The firm is less successful now that we have only ten employees.
The word âfartherâ implies a measurable distance. âFurtherâ should be reserved for abstract lengths you canât always measure. e.g., I threw the ball ten feet farther than Bill. e.g., The financial crisis caused further implications.
âSinceâ refers to time. âBecauseâ refers to causation. e.g., Since I quit drinking Iâve married and had two children. e.g., Because I quit drinking I no longer wake up in my own vomit.
Disinterested and Uninterested
Contrary to popular usage, these words arenât synonymous. A âdisinterestedâ person is someone whoâs impartial. For example, a hedge fund manager might take interest in a headline regarding the performance of a popular stock, even if heâs never invested in it. Heâs âdisinterested,â i.e., he doesnât seek to gain financially from the transaction heâs witnessed. Judges and referees are supposed to be "disinterested.â If the sentence youâre using implies someone who couldnât care less, chances are youâll want to use âuninterested.â
Unless youâre frightened of them, you shouldnât say youâre âanxious to see your friends.â Youâre actually âeager,â or âexcited.â To be âanxiousâ implies a looming fear, dread or anxiety. It doesnât mean youâre looking forward to something.
Different Than and Different From
This is a tough one. Words like âratherâ and âfasterâ are comparative adjectives, and are used to show comparison with the preposition âthan,â (e.g., greater than, less than, faster than, rather than). The adjective âdifferentâ is used to draw distinction. So, when âdifferentâ is followed by a  preposition, it should be âfrom,â similar to âseparate from,â âdistinct from,â or âaway from.â e.g., My living situation in New York was different from home. There are rare cases where âdifferent thanâ is appropriate, if âthanâ operates as a conjunction. e.g.,Development is different in New York than in Los Angeles. When in doubt, use âdifferent from.â
In order to employ proper usage of âbringâ or âtake,â the writer must know whether the object is being moved toward or away from the subject. If it is toward, use âbring.â If it is away, use âtake.â Your spouse may tell you to âtake your clothes to the cleaners.â The owner of the dry cleaners would say âbring your clothes to the cleaners.â
It isnât a word. âImpactâ can be used as a noun (e.g., The impact of the crash was severe) or a transitive verb (e.g., The crash impacted my ability to walk or hold a job). âImpactfulâ is a made-up buzzword, colligated by the modern marketing industry in their endless attempts to decode the innumerable nuances of human behavior into a string of mindless metrics. Seriously, stop saying this.
Hereâs a trick to help you remember: âAffectâ is almost always a verb (e.g., Facebook affects peopleâs attention spans), and âeffectâ is almost always a noun (e.g., Facebookâs effects can also be positive). âAffectâ means to influence or produce an impression â to cause hence, an effect. âEffectâ is the thing produced by the affecting agent; it describes the result or outcome. There are some exceptions. âEffectâ may be used as a transitive verb, which means to bring about or make happen. e.g., My new computer effected a much-needed transition from magazines to Web porn. There are similarly rare examples where âaffectâ can be a noun. e.g., His lack of affect made him seem like a shallow person.
Too many people claim something is the former when they actually mean the latter. For example, itâs not âironicâ that âBarbara moved from California to New York, where she ended up meeting and falling in love with a fellow Californian.â The fact that theyâre both from California is a âcoincidence.â âIronyâ is the incongruity in a series of events between the expected results and the actual results. âCoincidenceâ is a series of events that appear planned when theyâre actually accidental. So, it would be âironicâ if âBarbara moved from California to New York to escape California men, but the first man she ended up meeting and falling in love with was a fellow Californian.â
Undoubtedly the most common mistake I encounter. Contrary to almost ubiquitous misuse, to be ânauseousâ doesnât mean youâve been sickened: it actually means you possess the ability to produce nausea in others. e.g., That week-old hot dog is nauseous. When you find yourself disgusted or made ill by a nauseating agent, you are actually ânauseated.â e.g., I was nauseated after falling into that dumpster behind the Planned Parenthood. Stop embarrassing yourself.
If youâre looking for a practical, quick guide to proper grammar, I suggest the tried-and-true classic The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White. A few of these examples are listed in the book, and there are plenty more. Good luck!
