My job has taught me that a lot of people struggle with grammar and spelling. My first sentence brought to mind one of the most common spelling errors. Many of my students type “a lot” as one word, which is incorrect. There is no such word as “alot”. If spelling is not hard enough, grammar is just as tricky because some things that are correct, do not sound correct. I know I tend to say things incorrectly just to sound like everyone else. For example, people might look at you funny if you correctly stated, “that is she” instead of incorrectly stated “that is her”.
Here are some of the most common mistakes I run into when grading papers:
• It is not correct to state: in regards; it should be: in regard
• It is not correct to state: between you and I; it should be: between you and me
• It is not correct to state: me and Bob went; it should be: Bob and I went
• It is not correct to state: please contact myself; it should be: please contact me
• It is not correct to state: it has been a good year for Bob and I; it should be: it has been a good year for Bob and me.
We are all guilty of making grammatically incorrect statements. I often find things that I have written where I have made mistakes. One mistake I recently noticed was that I incorrectly referred to CEO as an acronym. That is incorrect. It is an abbreviation. It is only an acronym if the letters may be used as a word as in the example of RADAR.
I was always taught never to end sentences with a preposition. I have seen several debates regarding rules like this one. Some incorrectly written things become so common that they change the rules.
With all of the confusion, where can you find help with grammar? Even the most educated people make mistakes. I believe a good editor can help. I am a fan of Edit911.com. I am also a big fan of the Grammar Girl website. Another website that may be particularly helpful is Grammarly. There are also some wonderful books, which include:
• The Bugaboo Review: A Lighthearted Guide to Exterminating Confusion about Words, Spelling and Grammar by Sue Sommer.
• Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English by James Cochrane.
• Eats, Shoots, & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss.
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• APA and Writing Help Page