Common Writing Mistakes

The thing about writing is this: You end up paying for every single error.

Remember back in school when the teacher would mark up your paper with that hated red pen or marker? People who read your work take mental note of every error. And, make no mistake, they're adding them up. Consider each error a red mark against your work, your business, your reputation. 

The good news is, nobody's perfect. I spent over 20 years as a newspaper journalist, and I can tell you that even reporters and columnists, who are PAID to write, are not perfect in their writing. 

Let's hit a few of the most common mistakes people make.

THERE, THEIR, and THEY'RE

These three little words cause so much confusion, even in professional writers, that I sometimes feel they should be banned from the English language. They sound exactly the same, but have different meanings! THERE is an adverb that, in this case, is being used to indicate a place or location. ("She's over there, by the tree." "Put the desk there in the corner." "Drop the book there.") 

THEIR, by contrast, is a plural possessive pronoun. Traditionally, it indicates possession or ownership of an object, location, concept or other item by more than one person. ("their car," "their home.") However, given that some in the LGBTQ community have given up on traditional pronouns, you might find yourself referring to a single individual as a "they," rather than as a "he" or "she." In that case, the plural form of "they," "their," would be the correct usage.

THEY'RE is, quite simply, a shortened form, or contraction, of "they are." That's why it has the apostrophe where the "a" would normally be.

YOUR, YOU'RE, YORE ( and YOURS vs. YOUR'S)

Well, here we go again! These words sound the same, but have different meanings. 

YOUR is the possessive of YOU. Example: If you own a comic book, then it is your comic book.

YOU'RE, however, is another contraction. In this case, it is YOU ARE, with the apostrophe replacing the "a" in the word.

As for YORE ... unless you like stuff like "Game of Thrones," you likely will never use this. It indicates a time or event that occurred a very long time ago ("in the days of yore...").

YOURS simply means something that belongs to you. In other words: If you own a comic book, then it is your comic book. The comic book is yours.

The battle on whether to use YOURS or YOUR'S is simple: YOUR'S isn't a word. Don't use it.

IT'S vs. ITS

Two more words that sound the same, but have different meanings. Still, people get them confused all the time.

 IT'S is another contraction, or shortened form of a phrase. The apostrophe indicates the missing letter in IT IS.

ITS, by contrast, is the possessive form of IT. "The dragon has fangs. Its fangs are very sharp."

ABUSING THE APOSTROPHE

As you've seen from the its/it's problem, another common error is putting an apostrophe where it has no business being. I see this a LOT on business signs.  

The apostrophe is used for only two things: to indicate possession, or to indicate a space where a letter or number has been omitted ("Class of '19," "can't"). PLEASE do NOT use an apostrophe to indicate a plural. In the image above, the shop owner is using an apostrophe to indicate that, on each Monday, the store is closed. The sign should read, CLOSED MONDAYS. No apostrophe. 

If referring to a family, only use the apostrophe if you're referring to a possession. 

The Starks are good people. --- indicates the collective family

Welcome to the Starks'. --- indicates possession, typically their home

That car is Stark's. --- indicates possession by one person named Stark.

In short, there are a lot more types of common mistakes that people make. If you’re not certain as to whether you’ve hit one? Don’t be afraid to ask!