{"id":193,"date":"2008-11-03T23:13:38","date_gmt":"2008-11-03T23:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/supaproofread.com\/blog\/?p=193"},"modified":"2023-10-17T14:29:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T14:29:35","slug":"common-mistakes-revisited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/common-mistakes-revisited\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Mistakes Revisited"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve written about common writing mistakes<\/a> before, in several posts. But the more I read different writings posted all over the internet, the more I feel the need to point out the errors. It\u2019s like the internet has devoured our ability to write.<\/p>\n

Now, communication is not a problem. Anyone who has been talking in forums, chat rooms, or sending instant messages for any significant amount of time will be able to decipher the following conversation:<\/p>\n

Girl #1: Btw, r u n T gtg gf<\/p>\n

Girl #2: DEGT<\/p>\n

Girl #1: ?<\/p>\n

Girl #2: ihnc<\/p>\n

Girl #1: brb<\/p>\n

Girl #2: hb<\/p>\n

Girl #1: muah<\/p>\n

OK, that might be a little exaggerated. But, that is how bad it gets. Anyone coming in on that conversation who is not familiar with the language is lost unless they have the pocket-size internet slang handbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But see, that\u2019s the thing. Communication is not in jeopardy. As humans, we will always know how to communicate. But, writing is different. Writing has rules and internet slang is starting to impose itself onto the written word.
\n
\nSo, I thought I would revisit the topic and make a few things clear. These are common mistakes so don\u2019t feel alone. But, they are so common that they need highlighted\u2026more than once\u2026all over the place.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s and Its<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is actually a confusing rule that I don\u2019t blame anyone for getting wrong. It\u2019s the reverse of what you would think. So to make it easier for you to remember, just make a note to yourself that this is the rule opposite to all others.<\/p>\n

When \u201cIt\u201d owns something, the word to use is \u201cIts.\u201d There is no apostrophe even though there is ownership. In anything else, an apostrophe \u201cs\u201d would belong in an expression of ownership. While Bob\u2019s ownership is proper with an apostrophe \u201cs,\u201d its ownership is not.<\/p>\n

The contraction of \u201cit\u201d and \u201cis\u201d is written with an apostrophe \u201cs.\u201d That\u2019s why this rule is so weird. But, ownership and contractions both have an apostrophe \u201cs\u201d when it comes to anything else like \u201cthat\u2019s interesting\u201d and \u201cwhat\u2019s the problem.\u201d It would be very confusing if \u201cit\u201d and \u201cis\u201d were written the same as if \u201cit\u201d owned something. So, it\u2019s easier this way.<\/p>\n

Know and No<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is so common that it makes a person\u2019s head spin. Sometimes people use \u201cno\u201d in place of \u201cknow\u201d just to simplify things. That\u2019s ok online in informal communication situations. But, this is one of those errors that bleed over into homework and work papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnow\u201d is having the knowledge of something. I know you know that.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u201d is the negative. There is no way the two should ever be confused again.<\/p>\n

To, Two and Too<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

These three homonyms are often switched. It mainly comes from the substitution of \u201c2\u201d for any of these three words. I\u2019d like it 2 stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo\u201d is actually a preposition that begins a prepositional phrase. So if you\u2019ve heard the rule, you can\u2019t end a sentence with a preposition. That\u2019s because if it\u2019s supposed to begin a phrase, how can it do that at the end of a sentence? Therefore, \u201cto\u201d is basically a connector from one part of a sentence to another that adds more meaning.<\/p>\n

Remember the cloud analogy? A preposition is anything you can do to a cloud. You can go \u201cunder\u201d a cloud, \u201cover\u201d a cloud, \u201caround\u201d a cloud and \u201cthrough\u201d a cloud. Technically, you can also go \u201cto\u201d a cloud. So, these words give you a general understanding of the purpose of a preposition. There are other prepositions like the word \u201cof,\u201d but you can\u2019t \u201cof\u201d a cloud. So, our cloud analogy only gives you a general rule that helps you learn the basics. It\u2019s a starting point and you build from it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably easier to understand the word \u201cto\u201d if you learn the other two. \u201cTwo\u201d is the spelling of the number. We\u2019re going over three homonyms, but we\u2019ve only covered \u201ctwo\u201d so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo\u201d is an adjective. It comes before a noun or an adverb. I\u2019ve written way too much about these three homonyms.<\/p>\n

Once you start to see how your informal communication practices are bleeding into your actual work, you\u2019ll look at your papers a little closer. Supa proofreaders already know these common errors<\/a> and many others. We\u2019re geared to pick them up instantly.<\/p>\n

But, it\u2019s not hard to catch them yourself if you put your work up for a few days and then come back to it just before the due date. You\u2019ll see your errors much clearer and I\u2019ve said that over and over. I think I\u2019ll keep saying it just to keep reminding you guys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve written about common writing mistakes before, in several posts. But the more I read different writings posted all over the internet, the more I feel the need to point out the errors. It\u2019s like the internet has devoured our ability to write. Now, communication is not a problem. Anyone who has been talking in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,12],"tags":[20,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-common-mistakes","7":"category-top-tips-in-writing","8":"tag-student-writing","9":"tag-writing","10":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supaproofread.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}