By Kathy & Ross Petras<\/p>
No matter what type of work you do, good grammar<\/a> is relevant for all organizations, and it can make a big difference in your career path.<\/p> As Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit<\/a>, an online repair manual company, wrote in a Harvard Business Review<\/a> article, \u201cif job hopefuls can\u2019t distinguish between \u2018to\u2019 and \u2018too,\u2019 their applications go into the bin.\u201d<\/p> A bit harsh? Sure, but he\u2019s not alone. Again and again, we\u2019ve heard managers complain about employees not knowing how to write a correct English sentence.<\/p> Here\u2019s a look at 11 of the most common grammar mistakes \u2014 the ones we, as word experts and podcast hosts of NPR\u2019s \u201cYou\u2019re Saying it Wrong,\u201d<\/a> have heard about the most:<\/p> This is an example of the all-too-frequent attack of the unnecessary apostrophe. People see an \u201cs\u201d at the end of a word and think: Add an apostrophe!<\/em><\/p> But often they shouldn\u2019t. You use an apostrophe in a contraction (e.g., \u201cthere is\u201d to \u201cthere\u2019s\u201d) or to show possession (e.g., \u201cthe manager\u2019s pet peeve\u201d). You don\u2019t use one if the \u201cs\u201d is there simply to make a word a plural.<\/p> \u201cEveryday\u201d (one word, no space) is an adjective describing something that\u2019s very common, like an everyday occurrence. \u201cEvery day\u201d (with the space) is an adverbial phrase that means each day. <\/p> A quick test to tell which is right: If you can use a day of the week, say Monday, in the sentence, you should use \u201cevery day.\u201d<\/p> The general rule: Use \u201cI\u201d when it\u2019s the subject of a verb (e.g., \u201cI walked to the store\u201d). Use \u201cme\u201d when the pronoun is the object of the verb, or when the verb is doing something to someone or something (e.g., \u201cthe dog followed me to the store\u201d).<\/p> We\u2019ve seen a lot of people write \u201cit\u2019s\u201d when they want to show possession. But that\u2019s the incorrect usage! Problem is, of course, as we mentioned before, we normallydo use the apostrophe to show ownership, as in \u201cthe CEO\u2019s email.\u201d But you don\u2019t when it comes to the word \u201cit.\u201d<\/p> Only do so when you\u2019re writing a contraction of \u201cit is.\u201d That said, it\u2019s sometimes hard to understand English and all of its weird rules and exceptions!<\/p> This doesn\u2019t bother us, but we\u2019ve heard a lot of complaints from managers. So here are the (kind of picky, but technically correct) rules about \u201cless\u201d and \u201cfewer\u201d:<\/p> To \u201clie\u201d is intransitive, which means it doesn\u2019t have an object and doesn\u2019t do anything to anyone or anything else (e.g., \u201cI lie down\u201d). To \u201clay\u201d is transitive, which means it does have an object, as in something or someone the verb is doing something to (e.g., \u201cI lay down my head\u201d).<\/p> To be technical, you can<\/em> say \u201cI lay myself down\u201d \u2014 where \u201cmyself\u201d is put in as the object of the verb. (We\u2019re not lying when we say it can be a little confusing.)<\/p> This is a pair of so-called \u201cconfusables\u201d that have only one letter differentiating them \u2014 that extra \u201co\u201d in loose. That\u2019s probably why so many managers complain about getting emails and reports that talk about things like \u201cloosing\u201d ground in sales.<\/p> Just remember that \u201cloose\u201d is almost always used as an adjective meaning \u201cnot tight,\u201d and \u201close\u201d is a verb meaning to suffer a loss.<\/p> This is a bit nitpicky, but it was mentioned as a pet peeve by many of the managers we\u2019ve spoken with. How to avoid it? Use \u201cthat\u201d when you\u2019re talking about things, and \u201cwho\u201d when you\u2019re talking about people.<\/p> But it can get a little more complicated. A sales team or another group of people could be both a \u201cthat\u201d or a \u201cwho,\u201d since it\u2019s a thing made of people. And animals? Technically, they\u2019re \u201cthat\u201d \u2014 in spite of how we feel about our furry pals.<\/p> This is such an easy mistake to make (and one that autocorrect might not catch). So remember this: You use \u201cthen\u201d when you\u2019re talking about time (e.g., \u201cI\u2019m going to go to the meeting, then to lunch\u201d), and use \u201cthan\u201d when you\u2019re comparing things (e.g., \u201cI\u2019m older than he is\u201d).<\/p> Interestingly, there\u2019s a very good reason these two words look so alike: They were originally the same word in Middle English, used interchangeably with both meanings.<\/p> Three words that sound alike, but with completely different meanings \u2014 and a surprising number of people mixing them up in emails and memos.<\/p> \u201cThere\u201dis a location, as in \u201cnot here. Sometimes it\u2019s also used as an exclamation (e.g. \u201cSo there!\u201d). \u201cThey\u2019re\u201d is a contraction of \u201cthey are.\u201d And \u201ctheir\u201d is a possessive, meaning ownership by more than one person. <\/p> Here\u2019s another one that autocorrect often doesn\u2019t catch because it\u2019s spelled right even if it\u2019s grammatically wrong.<\/p> But be careful! \u201cYou\u2019re\u201d is a contraction, only used to mean \u201cyou are.\u201d \u201cYour\u201d is a possessive of \u201cyou,\u201d used when you want to show possession. Remember this: You\u2019re<\/em> going to be just fine if you watch your<\/em> grammar.<\/p> About the authors: <\/strong>Kathy and Ross Petras<\/a> are the brother-and-sister co-authors of \u201cAwkword Moments,\u201d<\/a> \u201cYou\u2019re Saying It Wrong\u201d<\/a> and \u201cThat Doesn\u2019t Mean What You Think It Means.\u201d<\/a> Their work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Harvard Business Review. Follow them on Twitter @kandrpetras<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Kathy & Ross Petras No matter what type of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":29749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,1337],"tags":[4587],"class_list":["post-29780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-culture","category-primezone","tag-grammar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29791,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29780\/revisions\/29791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}