Grammar Mistakes you Should Never Make Again

Grammar mistakes happen; this is a fact of life, even for the most seasoned writers.

One of the easiest ways to avoid making grammar mistakes – of all kinds – is to leverage the availability of proofreading services, where a proofreading service involves asking a trained specialist to correct any spelling, grammar, and typographical errors in your writing before publication.

However, even if you’re sending your next piece of writing to your favorite proofreader, there is no reason why it should be written badly and contain needless grammatical errors – not, at least, if you can avoid doing so?

In fact, the outcomes of a proofreading service are much more likely to be positive if you submit a better-quality piece of writing to the proofreader (i.e., the final draft of your document), rather than if you submit a haphazard piece of work. If your written text still requires a lot of development, revision, and restructuring, you should always contact an editor rather than a proofreader!

With the above in mind, this article sets out several grammar mistakes that, after seeing once, should stick with you for a very long time, if not forever.

 

1. Too many Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs. They typically end in -ly (e.g., really, beautifully, quickly, and so on). In most cases, the use of adverbs is acceptable. However, overuse of adverbs can strip the dynamism from your writing.

For example, consider the following two sentences:

1.    The cat jumped really fast up the tree.

2.    The cat bounded up the tree.

In the first sentence, the use of the adverbial phrase really fast is weak. It doesn’t sound descriptive or impactful, and – most importantly – if a proofreader spotted this, they would not make a correction because there is nothing grammatically “wrong”; only an editor would change this.

By contrast, the use of the verb bounded in the second sentence adds substantial dynamism – as well as descriptive power – to the writing.

 

2. Confusing who and that

Consider the following two sentences:

1.    James is the one that asked for a seat.

2.    Here is the milk carton who Jack was referring to!

Both sentences are grammatically incorrect. The reason – according to the APA Style Guide – is because the word who should be used to refer to people and animals with names, whereas that should be used for inanimate objects and animals without names.

Corrections for the two above sentences are:

1.    James is the one who asked for a seat.

2.    Here is the milk carton that Jack was referring to!

 

3. Confusing fewer and less

Can you count the object? If so, use fewer; if not, use less. For example:

1.    There are fewer grains of sand on this beach than that beach

2.    There is less coffee in this cup than that cup

3.    I would like less water and fewer ice cubes