Spelling & Grammar "Cheat Sheet"

Its vs. It's  •  Your vs. You're  •  I Before E (or Not)
Their, There or They're  •  Singular vs. Plural  •  Lie and Lay
Affect vs. Effect  •  Whose or Who's  •  Loan and Lend
Punctuation with Quotation Marks: Before or After?

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The "Top 10" Spelling and Grammar Mistakes...
and How to Fix Them

by Barbara Casey

If you suffer from "Spelling Amnesia," the disorder that kills your memory for spelling and grammar rules, here's a quick cure...

(1) Its, It's...

"Its" and "it's" seem to cause the most confusion.

"Its" is the possessive, third person, singular adjective that typically relates to something other than a person. Again, the noun it refers to was probably mentioned just previously, so you know what "it" is. "Its" refers to something "it" possesses: The dog was so agitated, its barks were deafening. I picked a daffodil in the garden; its petals reminded me of the sun.

"It's" is an abbreviation for (1) it is or (2) it has: (1) It's a foregone conclusion. It's raining. (2) It's been proven long ago. Look at the daffodil; it's gone to seed.

(2) Your or You're...

Here's the difference between "your" and "you’re" –

Your is the second person singular adjective that relates to something "you" possess:

· Your clothes

· Your car

· Your outlook on life

You're is a contraction for "you are."

· You're going to be impressed.

· You're on the right road.

· You're going to love this blog post.

(3) There, Their, They're...

For most of us, it has probably been a few years since we had all those grammar and spelling lessons drummed into our heads.

I before E
Except after C.

Believe, perceive, relief, receipt - we remember this spelling rule because of the catchy jingle that comes with it.

In English, of course, there are many exceptions to the rules. You'll have noticed "their" in the subject line doesn't follow the rule at all. That's because there's more to the rule!

I before E
Except after C
Or when sounded as A
As in neighbor and weigh...

(and "their" as it turns out).

A few other exceptions are: foreign, height, leisure, weird, neither. See page 137 of "The Elements of Grammar" for more exceptions to this rule.

"Their" is a possessive, third person, plural adjective relating to "something belonging to them" - as in: their house, their political party, their stupid rules of grammar - and the entities involved have been named earlier, so it's implied that you know who or what
they are. What is being pointed out now is the house, party or rules "owned" by "them." You can just as easily be talking about daffodils, with "their" flowers shimmering in the sun.

"There" has a few meanings. It can mean a physical place: over there, go there - or it can mean a virtual place: stop right there before you say something you'll regret.

Sometimes "there" is used to express satisfaction, sympathy or even defiance: There, it's finished! There, there, you'll soon feel better. There! You do it!

And "there" is frequently used to introduce a sentence or clause: There comes a time...

"Hi there" and "you, there" are sometimes used when we don't remember someone's name right away.

To confuse the issue even more, there's a third usage that sounds the same but is spelled differently - "they're." Here the apostrophe indicates a missing letter. "They're" is an abbreviation for "they are" - as in "they're coming" or "they're not so big."

(4) I Before E Except After C (mostly)

For most of us, it has probably been a few years since we had all those grammar and spelling lessons drummed into our heads.

I before E
Except after C. 

Believe, perceive, relief, receipt - we remember this spelling rule because of the catchy jingle that comes with it.

In English, of course, there are many exceptions to the rules. And sometimes, there's more to the rule!

I before E
Except after C
Or when sounded as A
As in neighbor and weigh...

(and "their" as it turns out).

A few other exceptions are: foreign, height, leisure, weird, neither. You can find more exceptions to the rule in The Elements of Grammar.

(5) Who's, Whose...

"Whose" is an adjective that essentially asks a question about the ownership of something: Whose shoes are they? Whose science project won? I don't know whose idea that was.

"Who's" is simply an abbreviation for "who is" or "who has." For example, "Who's coming with me?" or "Who's the man?" "Who's got the tickets" is a colloquial way to use an abbreviation for "who has." We could have said, "Who has the tickets?" but we just as often say "who's got." Fun, huh?

Hope this mini-tutorial has been useful to you. Writers and business people have more credibility when they choose the right word - and the built-in spellcheckers are no help at all - because spellcheckers don't understand the context in which the word is being used.

Their (oops, they're) useful to a point, but if you know the grammar and spelling rules and conduct a good old-fashioned proofreading of your text, its (oops, it's) a good bet that you'll run rings around your spellchecking program.

(6) Singular vs. Plural

"None is" vs. "None are"

When "none" means "not one" or "no one," we use a singular verb following it.

For example, "None of the presidential candidates is worth voting for." The singular verb "is" relates back to the singular pronoun "none" rather than to the plural noun "candidates."

But if "none" refers to more than one person or thing, you use a plural verb. For example: "None are so ridiculous as those who always think they are right."

Other words that give us pause – and create an abundance of grammar mistakes are: each, either, everyone, neither, nobody and someone. The verb following these words should be singular.

For example:

· Each of us is wealthy.
(NOT "are wealthy")

· Neither Harry nor Sally is coming with us.
(NOT "are coming with us")

· Everyone has his own opinion.
(NOT "has their")

Speaking of "his opinion" -

Political Correctness vs. Grammatical Correctness with Gender

It may be that using the masculine "his" is less politically correct when referring to both genders, but using "his" is still more grammatically correct than trying to pluralize a singular adjective to avoid a gender issue. "Everyone has their own opinion" is grammatically incorrect, in other words, because "their" is a plural adjective trying to relate back to "everyone," a singular pronoun and "has," a singular verb.

The horrific "his/her" is not a terribly good alternative, either, because it breaks the tempo of the writing and makes the text harder to understand. Equally awkward is mixing the genders willy-nilly -- alternating he, him, his and she, her, hers throughout the text.

If you can construct sentences that are gender-neutral, without diminishing your writing style - or distracting people from your content - that's terrific. But if the sentences feel forced and are unnatural-sounding, you might want to try the "everyman" approach and stick with the "universal" masculine pronouns.

If you're willing to be a rule-stretcher, by all means use the universal feminine (she, her, hers)... just be consistent one way or the other.

(7)  Lie vs. Lay

LIE:

One usage of the verb "lie" means "to recline" - I am going to lie down on the sofa for awhile.

However... the past tense of "lie" is "lay" - I only lay in bed for half an hour.

And... the past participle is "lain" - I have lain in bed longer than I should have.

LAY:

A common usage of the verb "lay" means "to put or set down" - I am planning to lay my purse on that table.

Past tense is "laid" - I laid my purse on that table just ten minutes ago.

Past participle is also "laid" - I have laid my purse on that table every day for a month.

Of course "lie" also means to fib, but that's not the one we confuse with "lay." And we could "lay a bet" or "lay a plan" or "lay the table for dinner," but these are not confused with "lie."

Bottom line: You don't "lay down" in bed, nor would you have "laid in bed for a nap."

You LIE down but you LAY something else down, when speaking in the present tense, which is where most of the mistakes come from with the lie-lay situation.

(8) Affect vs. Effect

When to use "affect" or "effect" confuses many people - for good reason. Since the 1400s, these words have been somewhat interchangeable, with meanings passing back and forth between them. In current English usage, here's how it stands:

Affect is mostly used as a verb that means "to influence" or "to change."

· The state of the economy will affect people's buying habits.

· In many circles, your clothing affects how you are perceived.

However... "affect" as a noun describes a feeling or emotion and is a term used most often in psychology.

Effect is most often used as a noun meaning "result."

· The effect of his naval training was a well-run ship.

· Every cause has an effect.

However... "effect" is sometimes used as a verb meaning "to accomplish" or "to bring about."

· He effected a studious demeanor, thinking it would impress his teachers.

· They hope to effect a settlement of the dispute before the weekend.

(9) "Loan" vs. "Lend"

"Loan" is a noun: I asked the bank for a loan.

"Lend" is a verb: Will you lend me some money?

Incorrect: The bank will loan me $1000.00.
Correct:   The bank will lend me $1000.00.
or The loan from the bank is for $1000.00.

Incorrect: I loaned her my best sweater.
Correct:   I lent her my best sweater.

(10) Punctuation: Before or After Quotation Marks?

There are many different ways to use quotation marks and here we'll look at sentence punctuation in relationship to quotations. In other words, does the comma, period, question mark or exclamation point come before or after the quotation marks?

(1) With commas and periods, the quotation marks go after the comma or period:

"I love you," said Mary.
John replied, "I would follow you to the moon."

(2) If you're using a semicolon or colon, you place the quotation marks before the semicolon or colon:

I asked you the "question of the year": do you love me?
Malcolm was "fit to be tied"; he had just missed the last bus home.

(3) With a question or exclamatory sentence, place the quotation marks after the question mark or exclamation point:

"Do you love me?" asked Mary.
"You do love me!" Mary gushed.

However... if you’re using a question mark or an exclamation point around a specific word, rather than enclosing a sentence, the quotation marks go before.

Do you even know the meaning of the word "love"?
It's a girl - and her name is "Mary"!
 

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Spelling & Grammar PDF "Cheat Sheet" - Just 99¢

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