Comment #3

Tenaj — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 03:11:31 GMT

I seen that.LOL!

Comment #2

Jack-C — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 01:09:19 GMT

I see these all too often here on LP. They left a few out including the "to" and "too". There is a person here on LP that always gets those wrong.

Comment #1

CashWinner$ — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 01:06:22 GMT

Utt ohhh. I got some wrong.. Thanks for the heads-up..

Original Blog Entry: 7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb

truesee — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 13:14:22 GMT

7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb

Don t let these easy-to-fix spelling and grammar mistakes make you look unprofessional.

Leslie Ayres

August 5, 2011

In business, excellence is indeed worth striving for. Make sure all of your communications hold to high standards, because misspellings and bad grammar can hold you back in your career.

Many brilliant people have some communication weak spots. Unfortunately, the reality is that written communication is a big part of business, and how you write reflects on you. Poor spelling and grammar can destroy a professional image in an instant.

Even if your job doesn't require much business writing, you'll still have emails to send and notes to write. And if you're looking for a job, your cover letters and resumes will likely mean the difference between getting the interview or not.

Bad grammar and spelling make a bad impression. Don't let yourself lose an opportunity over a simple spelling or grammar mistake.

Here are seven simple grammatical errors that I see consistently in emails, cover letters and resumes.

Tip: Make yourself a little card cheat sheet and keep it in your wallet for easy reference.

You're / Your

The apostrophe means it's a contraction of two words; you're is the short version of you are (the a is dropped), so if your sentence makes sense if you say you are, then you're good to use you're. Your means it belongs to you, it's yours.

You're = if you mean you are then use the apostrophe Your = belonging to you

You're going to love your new job!

It's / Its

This one is confusing, because generally, in addition to being used in contractions, an apostrophe indicates ownership, as in Dad's new car. But, it's is actually the short version of it is or it has. Its with no apostrophe means belonging to it.

It's = it is Its = belonging to it

It's important to remember to bring your telephone and its extra battery.

They're / Their / There

They're is a contraction of they are. Their means belonging to them. There refers to a place (notice that the word here is part of it, which is also a place so if it says here and there, it's a place). There = a place

They're = they are Their = belonging to them

They're going to miss their teachers when they leave there.

Loose / Lose

These spellings really don't make much sense, so you just have to remember them. Loose is the opposite of tight, and rhymes with goose. Lose is the opposite of win, and rhymes with booze. (To show how unpredictable English is, compare another pair of words, choose and chose, which are spelled the same except the initial sound, but pronounced differently. No wonder so many people get it wrong!)

Loose = it it's not tight, it's loosey goosey Lose= don't lose the hose for the rose is a way to remember the same spelling but a different pronunciation

I never thought I could lose so much weight; now my pants are all loose!

Lead / Led

Another common but glaring error. Lead means you're doing it in the present, and rhymes with deed. Led is the past tense of lead, and rhymes with sled. So you can lead your current organization, but you led the people in your previous job.

Lead = present tense, rhymes with deed Led = past tense, rhymes with sled

My goal is to lead this team to success, just as I led my past teams into winning award after award.

A lot / Alot / Allot

First the bad news: there is no such word as alot. A lot refers to quantity, and allot means to distribute or parcel out.

There is a lot of confusion about this one, so I'm going to allot ten minutes to review these rules of grammar.

Between you and I

This one is widely misused, even by TV news anchors who should know better.

In English, we use a different pronoun depending on whether it's the subject or the object of the sentence: I/me, she/her, he/him, they/them. This becomes second nature for us and we rarely make mistake with the glaring excepion of when we have to choose between you and I or you and me.

Grammar Girl does a far better job of explaining this than I, but suffice to say that between you and I is never correct, and although it is becoming more common, it's kind of like saying him did a great job. It is glaringly incorrect.

The easy rule of thumb is to replace the you and I or you and me with either we or us and you'll quickly see which form is right. If us works, then use you and me and if we works, then use you and I.

Between you and me (us), here are the secrets to how you and I (we) can learn to write better.

Master these common errors and you'll remove some of the mistakes and red flags that make you look like you have no idea how to speak.

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