Five Common Grammar Mistakes That Turn Off Readers

Don't get me wrong - I'm all for using a personal and casual style where it is appropriate, like in blogs and ads. However, there is a difference between copy that engages the reader and copy that is written carelessly. Certain glaring mistakes are liable to hurt your credibility and even turn away potential customers.

Based on my own experience in the multi-lingual Israeli high tech community, here are five big time grammatical errors that I continue to see all too often – despite the valiant efforts of the English grammar police.

1. It's vs. Its

This is no doubt one of the most frequent grammatical mistakes made by native English speakers. "It's" is used instead of "It is" or "It has" (e.g., It's a marvelous night for a moondance). "Its" is only used to show possession (e.g., Music today has lost its soul). Here's a hint: try replacing "it's" with "it is" or "it has". If it makes sense leave the apostrophe.

Wrong: Its been fun writing this blog.

Correct: It's been fun writing this blog.

2. Latin 101 – i.e. or e.g.?

It's hard to remember when I've written a piece of copy without using one of these very handy terms. Id est in Latin means "that is" or more loosely "in other words." It is used to add clarity to the phrase or term that precedes it.

Wrong: This song was written by my favorite artist (e.g., Van Morisson).

Correct: This song was written by my favorite artist (i.e., Van Morisson).

The omnipresent exempli gratia means “for example” and should only be used before giving specific examples to support a statement.

Wrong: You should try to avoid grammatical errors, i.e., punctuation, spelling, etc.

Correct: You should try to avoid grammatical errors, e.g., punctuation, spelling, etc.

Note that both "i.e." and "e.g." should always be immediately followed by a comma.

3. Present Progressive vs. Present Simple

Since there is no distinction between Present Progressive (e.g., I am walking my dog right now) and Present Simple (e.g., I walk my dog every evening) in Hebrew, this is a very common mistake in both written and spoken English among Israelis. Present Progressive is used to indicate an action that is occurring this very moment. Present Simple is used to describe an action that takes place regularly or to describe a state or condition (e.g., It rains frequently in London). If it's not happening right now, use Present Simple.

Wrong: The application is updating the database on a regular basis.

Correct: The application updates the database on a regular basis.

4. Improper Use of Apostrophes

Here's the deal. The apostrophe is used to form contractions (e.g., That's a beautiful building) and to indicate possession (e.g., John's shirt is red), but never to form plurals. When used to indicate possession with single or plural nouns that end in "s," the apostrophe should appear at the end of the word without an additional "s" (e.g., the girls' uniforms were burgundy and gold).

Wrong: The technician's will come by tomorrow.

Correct: The technicians will come by tomorrow.

5. Plural Noun Pairs

This issue results from the extensive use in Hebrew of the construct state (smichut). The rule here is simple: do not juxtapose a pair of plural nouns (e.g., if you're talking about the preferences of your readers, say "reader preferences"). It is understood that "reader" in this instance represents all your readers. The first word in the pair should be singular, and the latter should be plural.

Wrong: I have a long list of features options that requires review.

Correct: I have a long list of feature options that requires review.


Do you have more suggestions? Help me put together a post on the next five.

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