Tag: grammar mistakes

There is a reason why your English teacher at school used to stress so much on getting the grammar in an essay or even a sentence right. Grammar mistakes can spoil a reader’s experience in seconds, even if the content is interesting and highly informative. And no matter how careful you are about grammar, there are certain mistakes that tend to occur time and again. So, we have decided to make life simple for you with this post. You will find out about the 8 common grammar errors even the best English language experts make and will be able to avoid confusion and embarrassment in future. Whether you are writing a novel, content for your website, an article or product descriptions for your ecommerce store, here are some top mistakes to avoid. 1. Who or Whom? Even experienced writers end up confusing between ‘who’ and ‘whom’. So, for starters, remember that ‘who’ is used for the subject in a sentence while ‘whom’ is used for an object in a sentence. So, when to use which? To keep things simple, if you can replace the word with any noun or he or she, then use ‘who’. And if you can replace the word with him or her, use ‘whom’. Some examples will make it clearer. Does this sound right to you – The maestro, for who the audience applauded, was an elderly man. So, did the audience applaud ‘him’ or ‘he’? Obviously, they applauded ‘him’. This means, the sentence should include the word ‘whom’ and not ‘who’. The correct sentence should be – The maestro, for whom the audience applauded, was an elderly man. Take another example to see the other side of the coin. Does this sound right to you – David shouted at Jay, whom seemed to be cowering. In this case, ‘whom’ can be substituted with ‘he’ rather than ‘him’. So, the sentence should include the word ‘who’ and not ‘whom’. The correct sentence should be – David shouted at Jay, who seemed to be cowering. 2. Who or That Though this is a common and confusing grammatical error, it is easier to avoid than the confusion between ‘who’ and ‘whom’. All you have to do is remember that ‘who’ is used in case of a person and ‘that’ is applicable for an object or anything inanimate. Example of ‘who’ – Tina is the one who will sing at the event or He is the one who knows how to throw a ball. Example of ‘that’ – That is the book she wants to buy or Here is the pen that left a mark on his shirt. 3. That or Which If I was paid for every time I noticed someone use ‘that’ and ‘which’ interchangeably, I would be very rich by now! However, such a practice is wrong. For starters, though ‘that’ and ‘which’ are both clauses, ‘that’ is restrictive and ‘which’ is not. Now, let’s take a closer look at what it means. Restrictive clause – This refers to a part of a sentence that cannot be removed as it restricts another portion of the same sentence. Non-restrictive clause – It is just opposite of a restrictive clause. The following example will make the concept clear: Sentence 1 – The hospital, which has those famous doctors, is based out of London. Sentence 2 – The hospital that has those famous doctors is based out of London. In the first sentence, the readers know which hospital is being talked about. In other words, if you take out ‘which has those famous doctors’; the sentence’s meaning will not change. This phrase simply offers more information to the readers, but they anyway know that the hospital is based out of London. Also Read: 12 Grammar Tips for Content Writers Who Pursue Perfection   However, in the second sentence, if you take out ‘that has those famous doctors’ the readers won’t know which hospital you are talking about. ‘That’ creates a restriction in this case. So, if you don’t know whether to use ‘that’ or ‘which’, first find out if the meaning of the sentence will change if you remove the concerned part of the sentence. 4. Less or Fewer To keep this famous grammatical error at bay, just remember that ‘fewer’ can be used when you are talking about something that can be counted. And when any object seems uncountable, use ‘less’. These examples will make it clear as to when you can use ‘fewer’: There are fewer apples on this table than yesterday. This summer, fewer children will go for camping. In both examples, the nouns (apples and children) are countable and can be assigned numbers. Hence, using ‘fewer’ is correct. Now, look at these examples for ‘less’: A little less anger could have prevented this damage. Arnold takes less sugar in his tea than Mary. Since neither anger nor sugar can be counted, using ‘less’ is correct. 5. Me or I The thing about pronouns is that they can take different forms to indicate the various roles they have in a sentence. For instance, ‘I’ and ‘me’ are the subject and object forms of the pronoun. And many writers often end up using the wrong form. So, how do you know when to use ‘I’ and when to use ‘me’? Consider this example – My husband and me will go to the opera together. It doesn’t sound right, right? That’s because, if you take away ‘husband’ from the sentence, then ‘me will go to the opera’ sounds strange. After all, ‘me’ is the object form of the pronoun and needs to be replaced with a subject form like ‘I’. So, the correct sentence is – My husband and I will go to the opera together. Here’s another example to help you understand where ‘me’ is needed. Consider this example – The football coach helped my brother and I when we couldn’t get the moves right. What’s wrong with it? Well, if you take out ‘my brother’, the