Grammar Time

I can't put my finger on it, but something isn't right here...

Today a few folks gave presentations in my psychology class and I was astounded by the amount of simple grammatical errors that were present within the presentations of highly educated individuals. I absolutely understand misspellings and mistakes, but there were some errors that were just too frequent to be accidental. Lacking grammatical skills is definitely not related to intelligence though. I think the problem is that many people just never learned. I hope this clears things up.

Easy Grammar Solutions

1. Your vs. You’re -
“Your” is the possessive form ["ex. Your hair is looking scrappy"]. “You’re” is a contraction, meaning two words combined [you + are].  Try replacing “you’re” with “you are” in a sentence for an easy differentiation.

2. No one -
NOT “noone” or “no-one”

3. Its vs. It’s -
“Its” is possessive [ex. "Its favorite time to feed was around noon"]. “It’s” is a contraction, a combination of [it + is]. try replacing “it’s” with “it is” for an easy differentiation.

4. Effect vs. Affect -
This one is tricky. “Affect” often means influence, while “effect” often means outcome or result. Trying replacing the word with one of those alternatives to figure it out. [ex. "The effects of zombie killing" = "The results of zombie killing"] [ex. "The child was affected by zombies" = "The child was influenced by zombies"] See?

5. Nor -
This is used in place of “and not”. If used incorrectly, it can result in a deadly double negative. [ex. "Either that or this, neither this nor that"].

6. Who, Whom, Whose, Who’s -
“Who” is subjective, meaning it can be used in place of [he, she we, it, they]. “Whom” is objective, meaning it can be used in place of [him, her, it, us]. [ex. "Who did it?" ="He did it."] [ex. He is my son, of whom I am well pleased." = "He is my son, I am pleased with him."] Whose” is possessive, like “its”, while “who’s” is a contraction used in place of [who + is] [ex. Whose dog is that?"]

7. Their, They’re, There -
“Their” is possessive [ex. Their grandmother is nuts!"]. “They’re” is a contraction used in place of [they + are]. There refers to a place or a statement ex. “There are thirty-seven cats in her house” or “Just look over there”].

8. Then vs. Than -
“Then” refers to a transitioning of time [ex. It was then that the irony of the situation occurred to me."] “Than” is relative, as in comparative [ex. "I would rather die than be a part of this madness."]

9. Into vs. In to -
“Into” is a preposition that refers to location, just like [over, under, beside]  [ex. "I went into the cave"]. “In to” is used when the two word end up sitting together by coincidence. This can be easily differentiated by chopping up the sentence [ex. "I walked in to find Batman having tea with Morgan Freeman" = "I walked in. I found Batman having tea with Morgan Freeman"].

10. Me, myself, and I -
An easy way to figure out how to use the phrase, “you and I’ is to pretend the “you” is missing [ex. "You and I should go for a magic carpet ride" = "I should go for a magic carpet ride"].

11. Good vs. Well -
I think this is probably to most common mistake among spoken language and it takes some getting used to. “Well” describes a state of being [Think illness vs. wellness or poorness vs. wellness] [ex. "I am doing well", "He did very well", "All is well", "She swims well"]. “Good” often refers to performance [ex. "That looks really good on you", "He did a good job", "It has been a good day", "She is a good swimmer"]. To be honest, I just feel my way about it. Eventually, if you are mindful, you will get the hang of it.

That’s all I have for now. Grammar time!

p.s. Check this out. Hilarious and makes you feel good about your own poor spelling and grammar tendancies! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujzfv5Mg47c

-Jordan