Using bad grammar in class, at work, in your writing, and in your general life, is the quickest way to make people think you’re stupid. Luckily, grammar can be learned with practice and dedication, even to those for whom it does not come naturally. By recognizing common grammar mistakes, you can make a greater effort to avoid them and to begin writer clearer, more precisely, and more intelligently. Students, here are 5 common grammar mistakes to avoid:
5. Dangling participle.
“After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some oranges.” -Tom Sant, Persuasive Business Proposals
Unless you are interested in rotting brothers, this sentence will make no sense to you. First of all, decomposing people have no business bringing anyone oranges and, secondly, dangling participles are some of the most egregious errors you can make while writing. The dangling participle, also called a dangling modifier, “attaches itself to a word different from the one the writer apparently meant. It may be intended to modify the subject f a sentence, but due to word order seems to modify an object instead.” In plain English, a dangling participle doesn’t modify what it should. If you write, “After having paid for my groceries, the cashier bagged them for me,” what you are actually saying is that the grocery cashier paid for your groceries, because the participle (the clause at the beginning of the sentence) is grammatically modifying “cashier” rather than the intended subject.
4. Double negatives.
Many languages allow for double negatives, but English is one that does not. While to say that you “don’t know nothing” would mean, at literal face value, that you do know something, using it actually reveals that there is, in fact, nothing you know – about grammar, that is! Rather than using a double negative, what you need to use in a negation sentence is a negative adverb or a noun of negation. Negative adverb: I do not know anything. Noun of negation: I know nothing.
3. i.e. versus e.g.
This is a huge pet peeve of mine, because it seems that even successful journalists and other career writers get confused between i.e. and e.g.! E.g. means Exempli gratia, or “example given”. I.e., on the other hand, means id est, or “that is”. Sometimes, however, i.e. and e.g. are actually interchangeable, but only if you are using them in the context of a finite versus non-finite list. So if I were to say, “I love medical shows on television, i.e. House MD, Grey’s Anatomy, and Scrubs,” what I mean is that these are the only medical television shows I love. If I were to say “I love medical shows on television, e.g. House MD, Grey’s Anatomy, and Scrubs,” what I mean is that I truly love medical TV shows and that these are an example of some I like (but by no means a finite list).
2. Split infinitives.
The split infinitive, while technically incorrect in grammar, is always used. “To boldly go where no man has gone before,” the famous opener from Star Trek, is just one example. But in proper grammar usage, the adverb (boldly) ought to go after the verb (go). Proper English would have Star Trek announce “To go boldly where no man has gone before”. Many people see nothing wrong with using the split infinitive, but I had an English teacher in high school whose very reason to get out of bed in the morning was to wage war against it, so I would use at your own peril. Especially in English class.
1. Mistaken apostrophes.
Mistaken apostrophes annoy grammarians more than anything. Though this is something we all should have learned in grade school, it really hasn’t sunk in with everyone. The general rule follows: use the apostrophe and s in singular noun constructions to make the meaning possessive (”Sally’s dog is cute.”). For plural possessives, use the apostrophe after the letter s, unless two s sounds are pronounced (”The twins’ dog is cute, but Carlos’ dog is cuter”). With biblical names, out of tradition, we always use the apostrphe s rule (”Jesus’s birthday is on Christmas”).
