Whether you like it or not, people will judge your blog by the quality of your writing. The first thing you should do is to avoid the most common spelling mistakes, as they can turn off first-time visitors to your site. Below you’ll find 10 such mistakes to get you started.
1. accept / except
INCORRECT: Please except this gift.
CORRECT: Please accept this gift.
Except, as a verb, means to exclude or leave out. As a preposition it means “with the exception of.” Accept means “to receive willingly.” For example: We visited every landmark except the Eiffel Tower. The school is accepting only those students who have had their shots; all others are excepted.
2. advice / advise
INCORRECT: He refused to take my advise.
CORRECT: He refused to take my advice.
Advise is a verb. The s has the sound of “z.” Advice is a noun. The c has the sound of “s.”
3. all right / alright
INCORRECT: He’s alright after his fall.
CORRECT: He’s all right after his fall.
Although arguments are advanced for the acceptance of the spelling, alright is still widely regarded as nonstandard. Careful writers avoid it.
4. effect / affect
INCORRECT: His death really effected me.
CORRECT: His death really affected me.
The most common use of effect is as a noun meaning “something produced by a cause.” The most common use of affect is as a transitive verb meaning “to act upon.” For example: The disease had a lasting effect on the child. The family’s lack of money affected his plans.
5. every day / everyday
INCORRECT: Dan walks the dog everyday at six p.m.
CORRECT: Dan walks the dog every day at six p.m.
Everyday is an adjective that means “daily.” Every day is a phrase that combines the adjective every with the noun day. For example: Walking the dog is an everyday occurrence. I practice the flute every day.
6. its / it’s
INCORRECT: Put the saw back in it’s place.
CORRECT: Put the saw back in its place.
It’s is a contraction that represents two words: it is. Its is a one-word third-person singular possessive adjective, like his. For example: The man lost his hat. The dog wagged its tail.
7. passed / past
INCORRECT: The car past the train.
CORRECT: The car passed the train.
Past is used as an adverb of place, or as a preposition. Passed is the past tense of the verb to pass. For example: The past few days have been hectic. The deadline has passed. He passed her the biscuits. The boys ran past the gate. As we stood in the doorway, the cat ran past.
8. quiet / quite
INCORRECT: We spent a quite evening reading.
CORRECT: We spent a quiet evening reading.
Quiet is an adjective meaning “marked by little or no activity.” Quite is an adverb meaning “to a considerable extent.” For example: The children are quite amiable today. Quiet can also be used as a noun. For example: We enjoyed the quiet by the lake. (The suffix “ness” should never be added to the abstract nouns quiet and calm.)
9. then / than
INCORRECT: I have more eggs then you.
CORRECT: I have more eggs than you.
Then is an adverb that indicates time. It can go anywhere in a sentence. For example: The man paused by the door and then entered. Then the noise started. As conjunction or preposition, than will always be followed by a noun or a pronoun. For example: I like Melville better than Hawthorne.
10. who’s / whose
INCORRECT: I don’t know who’s dog you’re talking about.
CORRECT: I don’t know whose dog you’re talking about.
Who’s is the contracted form of “who is.” Whose is the possessive adjective form of who. For example: Who’s your daddy? Whose car are we going in?
Maeve Maddox holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Arkansas, and she is the editor of DailyWritingTips.com. The mistakes mentioned in this post come from her latest book, 100 Writing Mistakes to Avoid.
Hey Maeve,
I’m guilty of making spelling mistakes. Now, that we are aware of the most common misspelled words. Can’t make that mistakes!
Have a great weekend…
Josh
I make those errors alot (um, I mean “a lot”).
These are great. Feel happy that I knew almost all of these. Still not sure regarding “in to” vs “into”.
Hmm…maybe the internets will know. :)
Yes, These are just very common spelling mistakes, I use ms-word processor to reduce my spelling mistakes, It is a very good tool for bloggers.
Great article Darren and thank you – this sort of advice is sorely needed around the web.
It doesn’t hurt to delay pressing “publish / post” on your article for a little while to read it over a second, even third time to ensure it’s as correct as it should be.
There’s a certain sense of professionalism in consistently well written copy in blogs.
Lose / Loose!
I can’t stand this one and it’s gotten so bad that it’s affecting my ability to read these words correctly! I fear for the future of the world.
Also helps to read the author’s bio at the end of the article! Posted by Darren, written by Mauve Maddox – Thanks Mauve!
Well I proofread my articles to minimize errors and embarrassment lol!
Also, these aren’t these more usage mistakes rather than spelling? All of those examples are words and spelled correctly, they’re just often not used correctly.
I often write every day as everyday. Didn’t know it was a mistake.
Great list.
Great list! I would also add that the use of the abbreviations “i.e.” and “e.g.” are commonly misused. “i.e.” means “that is” or “in other words” and “e.g.” means “for example” or “including”.
Oh, but my fave pet peeve in the misspelled/misused department – its/it’s. (I even saw it in some advertising copy recently.)
The first one is the possessive form of the pronoun “it”; the second is the contraction of the pronoun/verb phrase “it is”. Gets confused ALL the time!
Thank you! These are so helpful, def. going to bookmark this. Great list post BTW! Doing this #31DBBB challenge with SITS/Blog Frog and I think you’re pretty amazing:)
Darren,
This list is what, 3rd grade level? I’m an editor, so this stuff should come easy to me, but these seem a little obvious…
-Lenny
Lenny (and others),
the list might be pretty basic for some but perhaps not everyone is at the same level. Some also don’t have the experience of English as their first language (about 30% of our readers) so I like to offer content hear that does reach that demographic from time to time.
However if you’d like to bring your editorial skills into use to help the wider community don’t hesitate to write a more advanced post on the topic and shoot it over to me as I’m sure many will benefit from your experience.
sorry about this but had to highlight Josh’s comment and say that he should have said ‘those mistakes’ instead of ‘this mistakes’. maybe you should write another post about grammer so that all the bases are covered.
Thanks for this! However, I was surprised you didn’t include two that I see all the time, and that drive me absolutely batty: “your” -vs- “you’re” and “lose” -vs- “loose” … But I’m sure your not loosing sleep over that ha ha!
sorry about this but had to highlight Josh’s comment and say that he should have said ‘those mistakes’ instead of ‘that mistakes’. maybe you should write another post about grammer so that all the bases are covered. i made a mistake just then aswell and had to do this twice. Maybe we should just accept the fact that we’re all only human :)
Great common mistakes you mentioned there. I see them sometimes on blogs that I read.
I think one more mistake deserves attention:
Your: Your blog is good.
You’re (You are): You’re much better at blogging than him.
LOOSE / LOSE: only a loser would write looser.
Thank you for pointing these out so efficiently.
I’ve just put a style guide together for writers and these loom large within it.
‘Loose’ when you mean ‘lose’ is also a good one, as is ‘lead’ instead of ‘led’ and my own personal favourites:
Stationary / stationery
• Stationary means at a standstill
• Stationery is paper, envelopes etc
Gorilla / guerrilla
• Gorilla is the animal
• Guerrilla warfare or action
That’s great! I have all of these on my list that I keep on my desk. I went to a Chicago public school where spelling was optional, so I’ve had to teach myself all the little things I should have learned in school.
I still make mistakes, but I’m getting much better. “-)
I’m guilty of several of those. I could be more careful…
But affect/effect and accept/except are my two pet peeves that make me absolutely cringe when I see people misuse them.
I think in general I’m more often guilty of not capatalizing or puncshuating properly. I think I’m a fairly good spellur.
;-)
Im guilty of making many of the spelling mistakes in this post. Ive started having my wife proof read my posts for me before i publish them.
Nice list Darren. I used to teach this stuff in a past life and I still make mistakes sometimes. The problem is that “common use” means that if you see it wrong often enough your brain starts to think it’s right. (At least that’s my explanation).
I do make a conscious effort though to go back and proof read. I hate the fact that correct grammar is a dying art, although I’m sure Maeve Maddox feels even more strongly about it than me!
Great post Darren, I am (like many) guilty of many of these mistakes.
One that I was surprised that didn’t make your top 10 was definately / definitely – this is definitely one of the most common spelling errors on my blog!
TOP TIP – My aunt and uncle really enjoy reading my blog every day and I found them often ringing me informing me of spelling mistakes so when I was over at their house I set up “editor” access to my posts so that they have an “edit” button. I did this about a year ago and they enjoy doing it and feel like they are helping. I think my readers appreciate it too. (maybe I shouldn’t have admitted this lol)
As a word nerd of long standing, I applaud you. Two others that drive me to distraction: fewer / less, none is / none are.
That said, I’ve developed more patience for grammatical gaffes in my middle age, as I realize not everyone is quite as fanatical as I. :-)
At some point last year. I became keen to these problems and systematically fixed them in my writing within a week. I don’t know exactly what that was. All I know is that once that happened, I started noticing grammatical and spelling errors everywhere and started wanting to improve my writing right away.
A good list, and I think I’m guilty of “every day” and “everyday” getting them mixed up a little. That said though, I fully understand the other problems and they rarely arise for me (I think). Definitely, the younger the blogger i.e. grew up chatting online using short-hand notation, the more likely you’ll see the grammar mistakes kick in. But spelling is most easily fixed using Firefox’s inbuilt spell checker or that given in WordPress.
Nice post to remind us to be careful though, since I firmly believe spelling and grammar to be one of the most important factors to the readability of an article.
Cheers!
Paul.
the wordsmith in me is loving this!
another I find popping up in all the wrong places is peak and peek
Great list, Maeve!
What drives me nuts is seeing people who don’t know the difference between ‘lose’ and ‘loose’.
Correct: I will lose subscribers when my articles are full of typos and grammar mistakes.
Incorrect: My pants are too lose and keep falling down!
Karen
Lately, the one that’s been getting to me is “defiantly” for “definitely”.
@Ed: Oh, that’s an excellent idea! I need to find a really picky relative and let them edit my posts. ;-)
As someone who has a blog in 2 languages (english not being my native one) knowing this will help me so much!
Thank you again!
…and here’s to better writing everywhere and in every language!
THANK YOU! These are some of the most aggravating errors that I come across almost daily. As an editor, it can be PAINFUL to read online sometimes! GRAMMAR IS IMPORTANT! Again, thank you for the GREAT post! :-)
their – there – they’re
This is why its so important that you need to make proofreading your post before they go life or have your girlfriend “like me” edit it and making sure it looks good.
I am learning through my mistakes though.
Good reminder! I find myself always typing “form” instead of “from” almost never fails.
I do make a conscious effort though to go back and proof read. I hate the fact that correct grammar is a dying art, although I’m sure Maeve Maddox feels even more strongly about it than me!
Great list Darren.
I’d have to admit, I’m sometimes guilty of #4 effect/affect.
The one I see most often on other blogs is its/it’s… your and you’re is a common one too.
I agree with Karen about using “loose” for “lose.” I see this more and more, even among the (supposedly) college-educated!
Great post, these are helpful reminders indeed.
One note, not to nitpick, but the formatting is not consistent. In some examples, the correct spelling is listed first, ie 3. all right / alright. However, sometimes it’s the other way around, ie 4. effect / affect
Consistency would make this a better reference, at least for me. But thanks for calling attention to these examples!
Didn’t know there was ever disparity but alright is defined as “all right” where I’ve looked and the everyday/every day thing is new to me too but everyday seems to have multiple meanings one of which is essentially “every day”
Haha! This blog is spot on. I see this daily, sometimes even when I read articles on the biggest websites like CNN!
LOL, small errors like that annoy me greatly as well. Hopefully this goes viral. lol.
So I suppose the whole “lay” “lie” thing is no longer an issue, or it’s just not restricted to bloggers?
Haha, you gotta get those words right.
I can’t except the affect if its spelled wrong in the passed tense.
My two biggest pet peeves are:
The use of “alot”.
CORRECT: I do a lot of blogging.
Your vs you’re. So many people use these words incorrectly! You’re is a contraction of the two words “you” and “are”. Also, lately I’ve seen “your’s” being used (should just be “yours”).
You forgot about people who pluralize things with apostrophes. Like, “I write for multiple blog’s.” I don’t know why, but that drives me crazy.
My spelling is a weak point. To help improve I actually have a txt file called spelling tips I review before I publish. My goal with it is to help beat the right usage into my head:
They’re, their, there
They’re = they are.
Their= possessive. Their house, their coat, their deep emotional problems.
There= something in a place. There is a problem with offering a woman solutions when she just needs to vent.
Your, you’re
You’re= you are
Your= possessive. Your house, your coat, your girlfriend, your problem communicating with a girl you’re into.
to = all other uses
too = too means also, (I want that too) or in excess (your playing too loud)
two = two item
so thanks for some of the above tips, they have been added to the file :)
As always said: ‘All is well that ends well’, will now bid farewell to the spelling mistakes! Thank you…..