11 grammatical mistakes that instantly reveal people's ignorance

pulse

May 29, 2017 7:55 PM

Don't make these mistakes.

All it takes is a single tweet or text for some people to reveal their poor grasp of the English language.

1. Your vs. Youre

"Your" is a possessive pronoun, while "you're" is a contraction of "you are."

Example 1: You're pretty.

Example 2: Give me some of your whiskey.

2. Its vs. Its

Normally, an apostrophe symbolizes possession, as in, "I took the dog's bone." But because apostrophes also replace omitted letters — as in "don't" — the "it's" vs. "its" decision gets complicated.

Use "its" as the possessive pronoun and "it's" for the shortened version of "it is."

Example 1: The dog chewed on its bone.

Example 2: It's raining.

3. Then vs. Than

"Then" conveys time, while "than" is used for comparison.

Example 1: We left the party and then went home.

Example 2: We would rather go home than stay at the party.

4. There vs. Theyre vs. Their

"There" is a location. "Their" is a possessive pronoun. And "they're" is a contraction of "they are."

Use them wisely.

5. Were vs. Were

6. Affect vs. Effect

7. Two vs. Too vs. To

"Two" is a number.

"To" is a preposition. It's used to express motion, although often not literally, toward a person, place, or thing.

And "too" is a synonym for "also."

8. Into vs. In To

"Into" is a preposition that indicates movement or transformation, while "in to," as two separate words, does not.

Example: We drove the car into the lake.

Example: I turned my test in to the teacher.

In the latter example, if you wrote "into," you're implying you literally changed your test into your teacher.

9. Alot

"Alot" isn't a word. This phrase is always two separate words: a lot.

10. Who vs. Whom

Use who to refer to the subject of a sentence and whom to refer to the object of the verb or preposition. Shortcut: Remember that who does it to whom.

Example: Who ate my sandwich?

Example: Whom should I ask?