10
flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid
Employment News April 9th, 2007
10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make your resume and you
look stupid
These days, we tend to communicate
via the keyboard as much as we do verbally. Often, we’re in a hurry, quickly
dashing off emails with typos, grammatical shortcuts (I’m being kind here), and
that breezy, e.e. cummings, no-caps look. It’s expected. It’s no big deal. But
other times, we try to invest a little care, avoiding mistakes so that there’s
no confusion about what we’re saying and so that we look professional and
reasonably bright.
In general, we can slip up in a
verbal conversation and get away with it. A colleague may be thinking, “Did she
just say ‘irregardless’?”, but the words flow on, and our worst transgressions
are carried away and with luck, forgotten.
That’s not the case with written
communications. When we commit a grammatical crime in emails, discussion posts,
reports, memos, and other professional documents, there’s no going back. We’ve
just officially gone on record as being careless or clueless. And here’s the
worst thing. It’s not necessary to be an editor or a language whiz or a
spelling bee triathlete to spot such mistakes. They have a way of doing a
little wiggle dance on the screen and then reaching out to grab the reader by
the throat.
So here we are in the era of Word’s
red-underline “wrong spelling, dumb ass” feature and Outlook’s Always Check
Spelling Before Sending option, and still the mistakes proliferate. Catching
typos is easy (although not everyone does it). It’s the other stuff — correctly
spelled but incorrectly wielded — that sneaks through and makes us look stupid.
Here’s a quick review of some of the big ones.
#1: Loose for lose
No: I always loose the product key.
Yes: I always lose the product key.
#2: It’s for its (or god forbid,
its’)
No: Download the HTA, along with it’s readme file.
Yes: Download the HTA, along with
its readme file.
No: The laptop is
overheating and its making that funny noise again.
Yes: The laptop is overheating and
it’s making that funny noise again.
#3: They’re for their for there
No: The managers are in they’re weekly planning meeting.
Yes: The managers are in their
weekly planning meeting.
No: The techs have to check there
cell phones at the door, and their not happy about it.
Yes: The techs have to check their
cell phones at the door, and they’re not happy about it.
#4: i.e. for e.g.
No: Use an anti-spyware program
(i.e., Ad-Aware).
Yes: Use an anti-spyware program
(e.g., Ad-Aware).
Note: The term i.e. means “that is”;
e.g. means “for example”. And a comma follows both of them.
#5: Effect for affect
No: The outage shouldn’t effect any users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn’t affect any
users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn’t have any
effect on users.
Yes: We will effect several changes
during the downtime.
Note: Impact is not a verb. Purists,
at least, beg you to use affect instead:
No: The outage shouldn’t impact any
users during work hours.
Yes: The outage shouldn’t affect any
users during work hours.
Yes: The outage should have no
impact on users during work hours.
#6: You’re for your
No: Remember to defrag you’re machine on a regular basis.
Yes: Remember to defrag your
machine on a regular basis.
No: Your right about the changes.
Yes: You’re right about the changes.
#7: Different than for different
from
No: This setup is different than the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is different from
the one at the main office.
Yes: This setup is better than the
one at the main office.
#8 Lay for lie
No: I got dizzy and had to lay down.
Yes: I got dizzy and had to lie
down.
Yes: Just lay those books over
there.
#9: Then for than
No: The accounting department had more problems then we did.
Yes: The accounting department had
more problems than we did.
Note: Here’s a sub-peeve. When a
sentence construction begins with If, you don’t need a then. Then is implicit,
so it’s superfluous and wordy:
No: If you can’t get Windows to
boot, then you’ll need to call Ted.
Yes: If you can’t get Windows to
boot, you’ll need to call Ted.
#10: Could of, would of for could
have, would have
No: I could of installed that app by mistake.
Yes: I could have installed that app
by mistake.
No: I would of sent you a meeting
notice, but you were out of town.
Yes: I would have sent you a meeting
notice, but you were out of town.
