CoachStrategies

Are These 7 Writing Mistakes Ruining Your Credibility?

You don’t need to be a writing genius to get your point across. But there are certain mistakes that instantly get you points off in the mind of your reader and undermine your credibility as an authority. These are simple things that we all know but somehow still mix up occasionally. Here are 7 common mistakes in word-use to be aware of.

1. Their vs. there vs. they’re. Their is a possessive pronoun. It is a way of saying that a group of people possess something. Example:

The Smiths love their new car.

There is a an adverb that specifies a location. Example:

Can you put the bookshelf over there?

They’re is a contraction between they and are. Example:

They’re going to the ball game.

Example of all three:

They’re sitting over there in their seats.

2. Your vs. you’re. Your is another possessive pronoun. It means that something belongs to you. Example:

Your new car.

You’re is a contraction between you and are. Example:

You’re going to love this movie.

3. Quite vs. quiet. The problem is that it is easy for us to type quite when we mean to type quiet and our spell-checker doesn’t catch the error.

4. Loser vs. looser. Loser is the opposite of winner and looser is the opposite of tighter. A spell-checker won’t pick this up so be on the lookout.

5. Message vs. massage. You send an email message and you get a massage to relieve stress. This is another one that is frequently mistyped and not caught by a spell checker.

6. Accept vs. except. Accept is a verb. Example:

I accept your resignation.

Except is a preposition. Example:

I like everything you bought except the shirt.

7. Affect vs. effect. This often causes confusion. Not only are the words close and related, the usage of both words is overloaded, meaning that each word can serve different purposes. Effect is usually a noun and means the result of something. Example:

The treatment had no ill effects.

Affect is usually a verb that means to act physically on. Example:

The loss of heat didn’t affect his performance.

Affect can also mean to put on or pretend. Example:

He affected a limp.

Another example:

His limp is nothing more than an affectation.

These 7 are just the low-hanging fruit. For more, refer to this comprehensive resource: http://www.iolani.honolulu.hi.us/Keables/KeablesGuide/PartThree/Glossary.htm.