Grammar Smart 3rd Edition - Princeton Review 2014

Part 6. 7 Easy Ways To Look Bad

We did a highly scientific study to determine which grammar mistakes cause the most distress to the listener or reader. In other words, we asked around to find to which grammar mistakes drive people crazy when someone else makes them. Here are the results, in order of degree of irritation caused.

To Versus Too; Your Versus You’re; It’s Versus Its

Is it sloppiness, or is it ignorance? To is a preposition that indicates direction: I went to the dentist. Your and its are ownership pronouns; use them to indicate possession or ownership: Your slip is showing. You’re and it’s are contractions, shortened version of your are and it is. To say You’re slip is showing would be to say You are slip is showing, which would be to sound very silly.

Between You And I

This is quite common and quite irritating. Remember the trick for dealing with subject and object pronouns: do them one at a time. Between you. Correct. Between I. Incorrect. Since you would say between me, say between you and me. Me is the object of the preposition. The reason this error causes listeners such distress is that saying I instead of me is a sorry attempt to sound stately, or official, or erudite. It is none of these things.

Lie Versus Lay

This error drives some people crazy, but isn’t hard to explain. Lie never takes an object; lie means to rest or recline: I need to lie down. The books are lying on the floor. The principal parts for lie are: lie, lay, lying, lain. Lay always takes an object, and means to put down, to place: He laid the books on the floor. He will lay himself on a bed of nails. Ask yourself, “Lay what?” In the sentences above, the answer would be the book and himself. If there is no answer, use lie. Strategy number two: if you can substitute put, use lay. Otherwise use lie. The principal parts for lay are: lay, laid, laying, laid.

Bring Or Take?

Use bring to indicate movement toward the speaker: Bring that book to me. Use take to indicate movement away from the speaker: Take that book with you when go. Not: I’ll bring it with me when I go.

Their Instead Of There

If you make this mistake because you have trouble spelling, you’re off the hook. Maybe. Again, is it sloppiness, spelling trouble, or ignorance? You do not want these questions asked about your writing. There can be an adverb, a noun, an adjective, or an expletive; there indicates location. Their is an ownership pronoun: their pants means the pants that belong to them.

Infer Or Imply?

When you infer something, you are drawing a conclusion or making a deduction: I infer from your expression that you are upset. When you imply something, you hint—you don’t state directly: By standing by the door, I implied that it was time for him to leave. You can draw an inference from someone else’s implication, not vice versa.

Mispronounciations

This isn’t exactly grammar. But some mispronunciations can make you sound like an oaf. Don’t say heighth for height, nucular for nuclear, and strenth for strength, lenth for length, spaded for spayed, revelant for relevant. When in doubt, look up the pronunciation in the dictionary. Great romances have ended because of repeated violations.