You can’t figure out why your blog is a dud. People love the content; you spent days writing it. Spell check can’t find a single word to highlight in red. You proofread it five times. What’s wrong?
Maybe your grammar is closer to the Three Stooges than Shakespeare. Bad grammar will sink any ship.
Put these ten grammar tips to work for you. Your readers will love you.
- When is it proper to use ‘You and I’ or ‘You and me”?
Here’s an easy tool that’s also easy to remember that gives you the perfect answer, every time
It works like this:When you find yourself writing either you and I, or you and me, write out the sentence the way it feels most comfortable to write. Now, just simply extract the word ‘you’ from your sentence, read it aloud and see if it makes sense.
- “You and I are going to be famous.”
- Same sentence, minus ‘you’ = “I going to be famous.”
- Or, “For some reason, you and me always get George Carlin’s jokes.”
- Same sentence, minus ‘you’ = “For some reason, me always gets George Carlin’s jokes.”
- Apostrophes
Apostrophes, 99% of the time, are a breeze. They just show something belongs to someone or something, as in:
Santa’s reindeer – (to create a singular possession: add apostrophe s)
The reindeer’s stable (to create a plural possession: add at the end of the word: apostrophe s)
Sometimes apostrophes are awkward, as in words that in in the letter S, such as Kansas.
“Kansas’s climate is temperate.” The s’s looks clunky. But it’s proper. But so is this:
“Kansas’ climate is temperate.” It’s much easier to read. And proper as well. Use this one.
In an instance where you want to indicate two people own the same thing, use an apostrophe only on the last name:
“Matilda and Grace’s Ice Cream Parlor”
Then there are words everyone gets mixed up regarding apostrophes. You just have to commit them to memory. People get these wrong because 99% of the time you can’t go wrong using an apostrophe to indicate ownership, or possession. Except for:
- Ours or Our’s?
As in, “Those tomatoes are our’s”. Never use ‘our’s’ – just ‘ours’, as in: “Those tomatoes are ours.”
- Hers or Her’s
As in, “Is that mink coat her’s?” Never use her’s – just ‘hers’, as in:
“That mink coat is hers.”
- Its or It’s?
In this case, Its and It’s are two different words. It’s is a contraction of it is:
“It’s a shame about Ray.”
But never use an apostrophe to show possession on the word its, as in:
“The car lost it’s wheel.” Always go with, “The car lost its wheel.”
- Yours or Your’s?
Just like it’s/it, yours and you’re are two different words. You’re is a contraction of you are, as in:
“You’re the pits!”
Yours is the possessive of the word your. Never try to make a possessive by adding a contraction, as in:
“Pardon me, is this poodle your’s?” Always go with, “Pardon me, is this poodle yours?”
- Theirs or Their’s?
This is another exception to the 99% of the time you make a word possessive by sticking an apostrophe at the end. This is another example of a word where apostrophes don’t work.
Never do this: “I can’t find my Twisted Sister CD, but their’s is in the kitchen.”
Instead, always stick with: “I can’t find my Twisted Sister CD, but theirs is in the kitchen.”
- Ours or Our’s?
No apostrophes allowed to make a possessive!
Never: “Is this top hat yours or our’s?” Always go with, “Is this top hat yours or ours?”
- Clearing the clutter behind Their – There — They’re
Separating these three is simple, the key is memorizing the different spellings of what sounds like phonetically the same word and then it becomes simple to remember where you use each one.
- Their
Their indicates the possession(s) of a group of people, as in:
“Their wisdom revealed itself when they erected a statue of Harpo Marx.”
- There
Basically, there is what you use without thinking about it when you write sentences. It’s an autopilot word.
- It can be used as an adverb, as in:
- “Stop right there!”
- Or a pronoun, as in:
- “Is there a restroom in this place?”
- Or a noun, as in:
- “You can’t force me to go in there!”
- They’re
There is a contraction of they are, as in:
“They’re a surly bunch.”
- When to use Who’s and when to use Whose
We’ll examine these two the same way we analyzed their/there/they’re.
- Who’s is a contraction of who is, as in
“Who’s that guy in the gorilla suit?”
- Whose is a word you use everywhere Who’s doesn’t work, which aren’t that many instances. But here are some examples:
“Whose rotten banana is this?”
“Whose kids are ripping up my dandelions?”
- Is it Who or Whom?
Knowing when to use either word in this combo is a little tricky, mostly because you sound like an English butler when you use the word whom, as in:
“Whom shall I say is calling?”
In other words, it is becoming archaic.
Grammar Girl, a great online grammar steward (feedback@quickanddirtytips.com) came up with this somewhat complicated device of knowing when to use who or whom:
Think of it this way – Write using your natural choice for who or whom in a sentence. To find out which is right, substitute the word ‘he’ for ‘who’. Conversely, substitute the word ‘him’ for ‘whom’. I know, it takes a while to wrap your mind around it. Let’s apply the formula to these two variations on Hemingway’s book title:
- “For Who the Bell Tolls.”
- “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”
Now, in A., let’s substitute He for Who. Now it reads, “For He the Bells Toll.”
On B., let’s substitute Him for Whom. Now it is, “For Him the Bell Tolls.” Sounds awkward, but it’s proper usage.
You already know Hemingway had it right, but the formula works in defining the right use of who or whom.
- Ending a sentence using a preposition
English teachers always drill this mantra into you: Never end a sentence on a preposition. But usage over the years has moderated because so many people have ignored the rule so now grammar style guides are saying this is perfectly fine.
- Here’s an example of a sentence that ends on a preposition:
- “Clementine told the risqué joke she was known for.”
- To rephrase it without ending on a preposition, the sentence might be:
- “Tonight, Clementine told the risqué joke that made her famous.”
Even if the Chicago Manual of Style might let you slip by with ending on a preposition, it still is weak writing; flabby if not sloppy writing. It just takes a moments of thought to rephrase the sentence into something much more substantial and solid.
Throw some spices into Ramen Noodles and it will be better; use the spice of your punctuation mastery and be superb!
CONCLUSION:
It may seem like these grammar insights might be more nuances than revelations, because you don’t see them addressed as often as the distinction between effect and affect. This doesn’t mean they’re any less important. In fact, they’re more important, because they’ve slipped by under the radar, only to be picked up and disapproved of by the people you want to reach most- your readers. Mastering them will only bolster your readership.
