Common Grammar Errors

• abbreviations
• among and amongst
• an or a
• BBC or B.B.C.
• BC and AD
• contractions (Mr or Mr.)
• e.g. and i.e.
• plurals (PCs or PC's)
• accept and except
• AD and BC
• adjectives
• an or a
• auntie June or Auntie June
• compound adjectives (e.g. 4-seater aircraft)
• contractions (Mr or Mr.)
• expressions like 3-and-a-quarter million
• extremely-talented actor or extremely talented actor
• hers or her's, ours or our's
• hyphens in adjectives (e.g. 4-seater aircraft)
• its and it's
• Red Lion Lawn or Red Lion lawn
• well-known actor or well known actor
• adoptive and adopted
• adverbial clause
• adverbial phrase
• adverbs
• "At 4 o'clock, she..." or "At 4 o'clock she..."
• extremely-talented actor or extremely talented actor
• well-known actor or well known actor
• adverse and averse
• advice and advise
• affect or effect
• agenda (plural or singular)
• all or all of
• allot, a lot and allot
• allude and elude
• allusion and illusion
• allowed and aloud
• already or all ready
• alright or all right
• altar and alter
• altogether and all together
• amoral and immoral
• amount, quantity and number
• an or a
• an or a (with abbreviations)
• and in a list (with a comma or not)
• "and I" or "and me"
• and joining two sentences (with a comma or not)
• and (starting a sentence)
• appraise and apprise
• apostrophes
• could of, would of, should of
• her's, our's, their's, your's
• its and it's
• possession
• plurals
• temporal expressions (e.g. 3 years' insurance)
• you're and your
• Mother's/Mothers' Day, Father's/Fathers' Day,
  Veteran's/Veterans' Day, Manager's/Managers' Meeting,
  Chief Executive's/Chief Executives' Meeting
• auntie June or Auntie June
• autumn or Autumn

• bare and bear
• BC
• being or been
• beside and besides
• "between you and I"
• brackets for parentheses
• breathe and breath
• bullet points
• but in a list (with a comma or not)
• but joining two sentences (with a comma or not)
• but (starting a sentence)
 

• can and may
• can not
• canvas and canvass
• capital letters
• Auntie June or auntie June
• company or Company
• however or However
• capital letter for important words
• common nouns
• moons, stars and planets
• points of the compass
• proper nouns (names)
• Red Lion Lawn or Red Lion lawn
• seasons
• title case
• censor, censure and sensor
• cite, sight and site
• climactic and climatic
• collective noun (singular or plural)
• coarse and course
• colons
• before a quotation
• used to extend a sentence
• commas
• after an introductory phrase (e.g. On 4 Jul 1984,)
• after an interjection (e.g. Yes,)
• after long subject of a sentence
• after transitional phrases (e.g. As a result,)
• before and (in a list)
• before and (joining two sentences)
• before quotation marks
• for parentheses
• starting a new sentence after a comma
• with adjectives
• with vocative case (e.g. John,)
• which (comma before or not)
• comparatives and superlatives
• most prettiest (errors with adjectives)
• most fastest (errors with adverbs)
• complement and compliment
• compound adjectives
• extremely-talented actor or extremely talented actor
• hyphen in a compound adjective (e.g. two-seater aircraft)
• use of capital letters, italics and quotation marks
• well-known actor or well known actor
• 3-and-a-half million or 3 and a half million
• compound nouns
• forming plurals
• possessive forms of compound nouns (e.g. sister-in-law's)
• with hyphens (e.g. cooking-oil)
• compose and comprise ('comprise of' and 'is comprised of')
• conjunctions
• in a list (with or without a comma)
• joining two sentences (with or without a comma)
• joining two sentences (using a semicolon)
• starting a sentence
• contractions (Mr or Mr.)
• council and counsel
• could of
• criteria (plural or singular)
 

• dangling modifiers
• dash used to extend a sentence
• dashes for parentheses
• data (plural or singular)
• decent, descent and dissent
• definite and definitive
• defuse and diffuse
• dependant and dependent
• desert and dessert
• discreet and discrete
• disinterested and uninterested
• double negative with neither/nor
 

• east or East
• economic and economical
• effect or affect
• e.g and i.e.
• elicit and illicit
• either and neither
• double negative with neither/nor
• plural
• singular
• ellipsis (three or four dots)
• elude and allude
• enquiry and inquiry
• envelop and envelope
• etc or ect
• except and accept
 

• Father's Day or Fathers' Day
• fewer or less
• for free
• forego/forgo, forewent/forwent, foregone/forgone
• forth and fourth
• forty not fourty
 

• getaway and get away
• grisly and grizzly

• he/she and his/her (accepted convention)
• her's
• historic and historical
• however or However
• hyphens
• after prefixes (e.g. ex-President)
• compound adjectives (e.g. two-seater aircraft)
• compound nouns (e.g. cooking-oil)
• extremely-talented actor or extremely talented actor
• well-known actor or well known actor
 

• i.e. and e.g.
• if or whether
• illicit and elicit
• illusion and allusion
• immoral and amoral
• imply and infer
• incidence and incidents
• incite and insight
• inquiry and enquiry
• instance and instants
• interjections
• in official writing
• punctuation
• into, onto and up to
• its and it's
 

K

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• law and lore
• lay and lie
• lead and led
• less or fewer
• licence or license
• lists including semicolons
• lists, parallel lists with bullet points
• loath and loathe
• loose and lose

• may and can
• may be and maybe
• me and myself
• Mother's Day or Mothers' Day
• more lovelier
• most fastest
• "my husband/wife and I" or "...and me"
 

• no-one or no one
• none is or none are
• north or North
• notable and noticeable
• number, amount and quantity
• numbers
• expressions like 3-and-a-quarter million
• forty
• starting sentences with figures
• writing numbers in full
 

• onto, into and up to
• or in a list (with a comma or not)
• or joining two sentences (with a comma or not)
• our's 
 

• Parallel lists with bullet points
• parenthesis
• commas for parenthesis
• end a parenthesis
• parentheses (brackets, commas or dashes)
• past or passed
• plain and plane
• plurals
• agenda, data, criteria (plural or singular)
• forming plurals
• forming plurals of compound nouns
• lion's instead of lions
• none (plural or singular)
• plural of abbreviations (PCs or PC's)
• spoonsful or spoonfuls
• pore, pour and poor
• possession
• cat's dinner or cats' dinner 
• possessive forms of compound nouns (e.g. sister-in-law's)
• Evans' report or Evans's report
• John and Bill's report or John's and Bill's report
• men's room or mens' room
• practice or practise
• prepositions
• ending a sentence
• following a preposition (who or whom)
• with verbs (preposition required or not)
• prepositional phrases (e.g. box of tapes) singular or plural
• pray and prey
• principal and principle
• precede and proceed
• precedence and precedent
• prophecy and prophesy
• proscribe and prescribe
• provided or providing
 

• quantity, amount and number
• question mark inside or outside of quotation
• quotation marks
• colon before a quotation
• comma before a quotation
• punctuation before the quotation or not
• punctuation inside or outside the quotation
• singular quotation marks within doubles
• tautology (e.g. so-called "clean" hands)
 

• raise, rise and raze
• role and roll

• semicolon
• before transitional phrases (e.g. ...in the end; as a result,)
• before and (joining two sentences)
• for introduction (misuse)
• mistakenly using a colon in place of a semicolon
• separating list items
• too many semicolons
• used to extend a sentence
• to introduce lists
• sensor, censor and censure
• sentences
• capital letters (including quotations)
• ending a sentence in a preposition
• extending a sentence with a colon
• extending a sentence with a dash
• extending a sentence with a semicolon
• extending a sentence with three dots
• starting a new sentence after a comma
• starting a sentence with which or who
• starting sentences with figures
• should of
• sight, site and cite
• so (comma after)
• south or South
• speech marks
• colon before a quotation
• comma before a quotation
• punctuation before the quotation or not
• punctuation inside or outside the quotation
• singular speech marks within doubles
• tautology (e.g. so-called "clean" hands)
• split infinitive (e.g. to really try)
• spoonsful or spoonfuls
• spring or Spring
• stationary and stationery
• storey and story
• subject (long) grouped with a comma
• summer or Summer
• superlatives and comparatives
• most fastest (errors with adverbs)
• most prettiest (errors with adjectives)
 

• temporal expressions (e.g. 3 years' insurance)
• that, which and who (overview)
• that, which and who (comma before or not)
• their's
• these kind of
• then and than
• they're, their or there
• three dots used to extend a sentence
• too or to
 

• up to, into and onto
• uninterested and disinterested
• uncle Joe or Uncle Joe
 

• vain, vein and vane
• Veteran's Day or Veterans' Day
• verbs
• dangling modifiers
• preposition required or not
• re-word to avoid a dangling modifier
• vocative case (e.g. John,)
 

• waist and waste
• weather, whether and wether
• well-known actor or well known actor
• west or West
• whether or if
• which, who and that (overview)
• which, who and that (comma before or not)
• who or whom
• following a preposition (who or whom)
• who (comma before or not)
• who's and whose
• winter or Winter
• would of
 

• you and I or you and me
• you and yourself
• you're and your
• your's