LukEASY
07-05-2008, 05:22 PM
There are many mistakes people make in their posts which bother me. I'm making this guide for those who care to not sound totally stupid in their posts. If you don't care, then don't read or post, it's as simple as that. So don't come into this thread and make comments like "ITS THE FKN INTERNET". I tried to make this guide as best as I could, and I know I left a lot of things out. I attempted to cover most of the common mistakes that I see, and I hope I did a good enough job to help people. If someone could sticky this, that'd be cute. :]
Of / Have: I would have done that if I had the opportunity / Of what colour is your house?
The place where people get mixed up is when "have" is contracted into "'ve"; as in "should've", "could've", and "would've". "Have" functions as an auxiliary verb, "of" is not a verb and can't be used in place of "have".
It's / Its: It's a dog, can't you see that? / Its features include feathers and wings; it's obviously a bird.
Its is the possessive form of "it", just like "his" is the possessive form is "he". "It's" is a contraction of "it is".
Semi Colon ";" : I am alone; my wife left me.
The semi colon is only used to express a clause that is related to the first, but seperate.
Whose / Who's: Whose dog is this? / Who's that? I can't tell from here.
"Whose" is the possessive form of "who", whereas "who's" is a contraction of "who is".
Your / You're: You're a good person. / Your shoe is untied.
"You're" is a contraction of "you are" whilst "your" is the possessive form of "you".
Than / Then: I had some coffee and then a bagel. / Red is better than blue.
"Than" is a grammatical participle and preposition used to compare two things. "Then" is an adverb or noun, indicating the time in which a series of events took place
There / They're / Their: The store is over there. / They're good people. / They've lost their minds.
"There" indicates a place, "they're" is a contraction of "they are", and "their" is the possessive form of "they".
Accept / Except: I accept your apology. / All except for the chief were present.
"To accept" is to agree, take in, or receive. "Except" is a preposition which means "apart from", but is also rarely used as a verb, meaning "leave out".
Affect / Effect: The rain affects my sight. / The bomb effects the wall's collapse.
"To affect" is to influence, an "effect" is a result of something.
Aloud / Allowed: He said his name aloud. / You are not allowed to state your name.
"Aloud" means "out loud" and is seldom used. "Allowed", however, means "given permission" and is used often.
Ironic / Sarcastic: It's ironic that you would say a chocolate teapot is useful. / His tone was so overcome with sarcasm that he hurt the child's feelings.
Irony is defined as using words to convey something other than, and especially the opposite of, their literal meanings.
Lay / Lie: I lay the napkin on the table. / I lie in bed.
"To lay" is a transitive verb, which means it must take a direct object. "To lie" is an intransitive verb, which means it cannot take a direct object and it means "to recline". If you're unsure which you should use, replace it with "recline" and see if it would make sense.
The major reason people get confused about these verbs are their conjugations:
To lay: I lay / I laid / I have laid / I am laying.
To lie: I lie / I lay / I have lain / I am lying.
Misspellings:
Congrads / Congradulations: This should be "congrats" / "congratulations".
Alot: "A" and "lot" are two separate words.
Seperate: Should be "separate", with an /a/ after the /p/.
Definately / Definatly etc: Should be "definitely".
Noticable: Should be "noticeable", with an /e/. Otherwise it'd be pronounced "no-ti-ka-bl".
Rediculous: Should be "ridiculous", with an /i/ instead of an /e/ as the second letter.
Additude: Should be "attitude", with two /t/s instead of two /d/s.
Phrases / Expressions
I could care less: This should be "I couldn't care less".
Past Participles
For some reason I keep seeing people mess up simple past participles, saying things like "I had ate", which should be, "I had eaten". There's really no way I can help you with this, but you should probably get to learning these past participles. It's not "I've ran", it's "I've run".
"Ran", in the example above, is the preterite. When you use a verb in conjunction with an auxiliary verb, you use the past participle instead of the preterite, which in this case, would be "run" forming: "I've run".
Of / Have: I would have done that if I had the opportunity / Of what colour is your house?
The place where people get mixed up is when "have" is contracted into "'ve"; as in "should've", "could've", and "would've". "Have" functions as an auxiliary verb, "of" is not a verb and can't be used in place of "have".
It's / Its: It's a dog, can't you see that? / Its features include feathers and wings; it's obviously a bird.
Its is the possessive form of "it", just like "his" is the possessive form is "he". "It's" is a contraction of "it is".
Semi Colon ";" : I am alone; my wife left me.
The semi colon is only used to express a clause that is related to the first, but seperate.
Whose / Who's: Whose dog is this? / Who's that? I can't tell from here.
"Whose" is the possessive form of "who", whereas "who's" is a contraction of "who is".
Your / You're: You're a good person. / Your shoe is untied.
"You're" is a contraction of "you are" whilst "your" is the possessive form of "you".
Than / Then: I had some coffee and then a bagel. / Red is better than blue.
"Than" is a grammatical participle and preposition used to compare two things. "Then" is an adverb or noun, indicating the time in which a series of events took place
There / They're / Their: The store is over there. / They're good people. / They've lost their minds.
"There" indicates a place, "they're" is a contraction of "they are", and "their" is the possessive form of "they".
Accept / Except: I accept your apology. / All except for the chief were present.
"To accept" is to agree, take in, or receive. "Except" is a preposition which means "apart from", but is also rarely used as a verb, meaning "leave out".
Affect / Effect: The rain affects my sight. / The bomb effects the wall's collapse.
"To affect" is to influence, an "effect" is a result of something.
Aloud / Allowed: He said his name aloud. / You are not allowed to state your name.
"Aloud" means "out loud" and is seldom used. "Allowed", however, means "given permission" and is used often.
Ironic / Sarcastic: It's ironic that you would say a chocolate teapot is useful. / His tone was so overcome with sarcasm that he hurt the child's feelings.
Irony is defined as using words to convey something other than, and especially the opposite of, their literal meanings.
Lay / Lie: I lay the napkin on the table. / I lie in bed.
"To lay" is a transitive verb, which means it must take a direct object. "To lie" is an intransitive verb, which means it cannot take a direct object and it means "to recline". If you're unsure which you should use, replace it with "recline" and see if it would make sense.
The major reason people get confused about these verbs are their conjugations:
To lay: I lay / I laid / I have laid / I am laying.
To lie: I lie / I lay / I have lain / I am lying.
Misspellings:
Congrads / Congradulations: This should be "congrats" / "congratulations".
Alot: "A" and "lot" are two separate words.
Seperate: Should be "separate", with an /a/ after the /p/.
Definately / Definatly etc: Should be "definitely".
Noticable: Should be "noticeable", with an /e/. Otherwise it'd be pronounced "no-ti-ka-bl".
Rediculous: Should be "ridiculous", with an /i/ instead of an /e/ as the second letter.
Additude: Should be "attitude", with two /t/s instead of two /d/s.
Phrases / Expressions
I could care less: This should be "I couldn't care less".
Past Participles
For some reason I keep seeing people mess up simple past participles, saying things like "I had ate", which should be, "I had eaten". There's really no way I can help you with this, but you should probably get to learning these past participles. It's not "I've ran", it's "I've run".
"Ran", in the example above, is the preterite. When you use a verb in conjunction with an auxiliary verb, you use the past participle instead of the preterite, which in this case, would be "run" forming: "I've run".