Posts in category Common Grammar Errors

Off course? Of course!

Jul08
2010 2 Comments Written by Renelle George

Ok folks, first I need to apologize – I’ve been moving and the last few weeks have been super busy.  Normal is abnormal these days… it will soon settle, and I promise to have new posts loaded at least twice a week for your viewing pleasure :)

That said, let’s get to it!  Off vs. of, not as difficult as you think.  Let’s deal with off first.

Off has many meanings, one of which indicates removal or separation: to take off your shoes, be kicked off a team, let off steam, be off from work etc. (don’t worry, I got happy for a minute there too – you’re not alone!).  Off is also the opposite of on, so you put on your clothes in the morning (I hope) and then take them off later when you return home.

Of is comprised of two letters that create magic when used correctly.  A little bit of this… a little bit of that (see, you got me singing now!).  It’s a preposition and though I honestly can’t remember all the nitty gritty involved in that word, of has many little meanings (while making a big difference, as you can imagine… check out The Apostrophe Series for more little things that shouldn’t be underestimated ;) ).  A few of them:

  • To describe an individual or its origin (substitute “from”), e.g. Queen of England; of noble means
  • To indicate a reference point, e.g. east of place X
  • To describe components, e.g. part of a whole
  • As a synonym for “about”, e.g. the horrors of domestic abuse

Catch the drift?  Of is a nice little joiner.  Chances are, you need to use of more than off.  And oh, just in case you’re wondering – off course means maligned, not going in the right direction. The term is commonly used to describe situations in which ships and other sea vessels deviate from their intended path (we also borrow the term for pretty much anything – or anyone – not going according to plan).  Of course is the one you’re likely to use more frequently to mean “certainly” or “definitely”.  Of course The Write Foot is here to help steer you in the right direction if you happen to be going off course with respect to grammar and writing ;)

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Let’s converse about “conversate,” shall we?

Jun13
2010 14 Comments Written by Renelle George

It’s very simple.  We have a conversation; we converse.  We cannot conversate.  Absolutely not.  I know we live in a society where hybrids are the in thing, but you really cannot combine converse and conversation to create your own verb.  It just can’t happen.

I heard a song on the radio earlier today where the artist was “conversating” with someone else.  Uhm… you mean to tell me that nobody – not a single person – from composer to producer could tell him that conversate isn’t a word?  You have got to be kidding…

Contrary to what you may think, saying “conversate” doesn’t make you sound intelligent; you appear quite the opposite (cough cough).  Use talk, discuss, speak, dialogue - anything else.  Whatever you do, don’t try to help the word converse by adding “ate” to its rear end – it is not in the least bit necessary!  Converse is a bellyful all on its own; it doesn’t need to eat anything else, remember that :)

Posted in Commonly Misspelled Words - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Get rid of the “of”, it’s would HAVE…

Jun09
2010 3 Comments Written by Renelle George

“Would of ” is incorrect.  I know you “would of” told me if I was wrong, so I’m doing the same.  It’s would have, my friend.

“Would of” is a colloquial expression only (that gets on my nerves even when I hear it in casual conversation).  Of is not a verb, people!

Mini exercise for you:

“Had I known it to be so, I would ____ told you.”

Answer?  Have.

Easy way to remember – remove “would” and see if the sentence makes sense.  Using the example above:

“… I would have told you”

“… I would of told you”

The answer is clear, I hope.  And by the way, the same applies for “should,” ”could,” “might,”  etc.  Shoulda, woulda, coulda are all contractions for “should have,” “would have,” and “could have,” hence the a at the end.  Another memory aid for ya ;)

Hopefully this helps.  I should have posted this a long time ago, but better late than never – right?

It’s very different from “different than…”

Jun03
2010 2 Comments Written by Renelle George

It’s quite simple, really.  Different is followed by from, not than.  One person or thing differs from another and is therefore different from its counterpart.  Do you say, “This shoe differs than that one?”   Well for the love of Pete, don’t say “than” when you add “-ent!”  And then, there are the dual violators who write “different then” (see my post on the use of than vs. then).  Heaven help us.

I would share one of my traditional mnemonic devices to help you remember that different should be followed by “from” instead of “than,” but the problem appears to have less to do with memory than the fact that people just don’t know they’re making a (big) boo-boo when they say “different than.”  Willing to be corrected if I’m wrong though…

Make my day by not making this mistake, will you?  I know it’s a toughie, but try, just for me :)

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Ummm, you might want to remove the ‘s at the end of that verb…

May25
2010 1 Comment Written by Renelle George
This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series The Apostrophe Series

I thought this was a given, but clearly I was wrong.  Verbs don’t need an ‘s tacked on to their rear end.  He knows, NOT know’s.  He doesn’t know’s a damn thing.  (And clearly you don’t either if you wrote it!).  I know, you know, he/she/it knows.  No magic, no math.  Just an ‘s’ people, just an ‘s’.  The apostrophe is not invited to this party.  And guess what?  He doesn’t want to be there either!

The apostrophe indicates ownership.  Jack’s car – the car Jack owns, or the car belonging to Jack.  Verbs can’t own things…

Apostrophes are also used for contractions (not the kind women have during childbirth, but if that helps you remember, go for it!).  Therefore, can’t is the contracted form of cannot.  See the lil apostrophe in there?  Expand the contraction.

Check  out the other posts in The Apostrophe Series – who knows, you might get to know a wee bit more about our friend, the apostrophe!

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Oh dear, they’re mixing up “there” and “their…”

May23
2010 3 Comments Written by Renelle George

There isn’t much similarity between there and their beyond pronunciation – they sound the same, but that’s about it.  As you shall see, their meanings are vastly different…

There refers to a place/location.  Over there.  Where?  There.

There is also used to describe the existence of something.  Therefore, there is a really neat website about grammar that you should check out.  (It’s called The Write Foot, btw ;) )

On the contrary, their indicates ownership/possession.  They lost everything when their home was gutted by fire.

Easy enough, isn’t it?  Remember: their can NEVER be followed by a verb, so you should replace with there instead.  Their is always used before things that can be owned.  It follows the same rules as his/her, our, your, etc.

And so my friends, there you have it!

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To Whom It May Concern…

May19
2010 3 Comments Written by Shivana Mohammed

Today you weed your garden, so that tomorrow your garden will feed you!  There are days when our subjects are objects and others when our objects are subjects.  However, who is always subject and whom is always an object – some things simply are  not susceptible to change.

Who is an interrogative pronoun used in the place of the subject of the sentence.  Who told you it was acceptable to answer the phone, “Who am I speaking with?”  I am sure most of us are guilty of this crime against the subject.  As uppity as it may sound, “To whom am I speaking?” is more accurate.

Who can also be used as the subject of a clause.  For example, Bob is taking the names of all persons who want to go to the mall on Saturday. (I don’t know Bob, but hope you find him if you want to go to the mall!)

The real trouble begins with the use of whom… whom is always used when one is trying to figure out the object of the verb. If I am speaking, I would like to know to whom I’m speaking. Take this scenario for instance: “The ball went over the wall and hit someone, but I wasn’t sure whom it hit!”  The subject (the ball) is the agent that carried out the verb (hit); however, there is speculation as to whom (object) was hit.  Had I said, “I wasn’t sure who it hit,” I would basically be stating that the ball hit itself (and we can’t have that, now can we?  Unfortunately, objects in grammar do not have magic powers :) )

If you still aren’t clear on the use of who and whom, a handy hint for you: pronouns ending in ‘m’ are generally objects of the sentence e.g. whom, him(her) and them.  So if you find yourself unsure about the use of whom, try re-writing your sentence and replacing whom with him or them.

Examples:

  • This is the boy for ______ the package was delivered.  (The package was delivered for him, so fill in the blank with whom.)
  • _______ is she referring to?  She is referring to them, so fill in the blank with whom.)

I know the use of the word whom  sounds unnatural, but then again, having two left feet is also unnatural. So to those who are feeding their gardens and only getting weeds – get on the write foot!

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It’d be great if you’d save ‘grate’ for cheese and coconuts…

May17
2010 2 Comments Written by Renelle George

Dear reader of The Write Foot,

Please accept my sincerest apologies for not publishing any posts yesterday.  As you know, I am allergic to bad grammar, and an excessive intake this weekend triggered a severe allergic reaction.  Per doctor’s orders, I remained in bed all day.  Today, however, I begin a round of therapy guaranteed to provide relief – a post starring one of the allergens!

Hear ye, hear ye…  Great is an expression to describe goodness… NOT grate.  You grate cheese, carrots, coconuts – food.  A sound grates your ear.  That’s pretty much it right there for grate.  Grate is a verb – an action – not something you say as a compliment.  Nobody ever looks grate… and if they do, that’s a bit insulting, isn’t it?

Thankful = grateful… “greatful” is wrong!!!  It’s one of those things you just have to know.  The only endings which can be added to great are -er and -est, as in greater and greatest.  You can add an ‘r’ to grate to give you the object used to perform the grating/shredding action – our trusted friend, the grater.

Examples:

  • He is the greatest performer I have ever seen.
  • Greater than, less than, or equal to (remember those symbols?)
  • Did you use the grater yesterday?

Get it?  Answer the following questions to help you:

  • Are you shredding food, like cheese, coconuts, or carrots?  Then use grate.
  • Are you describing an irritating sound?  Grate again.
  • Are you trying to describe how good something is?  Then for heaven’s sake, it’s great!

There’s no greater medicine than pen to paper – I feel much better already :)

Posted in Commonly Misspelled Words - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

It’s not too much to add or remove the extra ‘o’, is it?

May14
2010 8 Comments Written by Renelle George

Although too and to sound the same, they are very different words with very different meanings.  And it’s kinda wrong to misuse them, you know?  It’s too easy to figure out which is correct – The Write Foot to the rescue!

Too has two major meanings:

  1. also / as well / in addition
  2. excess / very much (of something)

Examples:

  • You too. (as well/also)
  • He was late too. (as well/also)
  • It’s too hot in here. (excess)

The really neat thing about too (my humble opinion), is that its placement in a sentence can alter its meaning.  Restructuring examples 2 and 3 above:

  • He was too late. (excess)
  • It’s hot in here too. (as well/also)

Isn’t that cool?  I know you are finding it hard to contain your excitement right now – no worries, I’ll give you a moment.  Take a few deep breaths, the adrenalin rush will be over soon.  And if you really aren’t absolutely in awe and completely stoked by how cool the word too is, it’s ok – we can still be friends :)

Now to its counterpart to.  It’s easy because once you know when to use too, you just use to everywhere else!  No rocket science there.  But to avoid being too biased, I’ll discuss some of the main uses of to here as well.  The thing to remember is that to cannot stand on its own two feet – it needs help!  So it’s always to plan, to hope, to love, etc.  Always to do something.

Similarly, to is used with places: to work, to school, to that other place you shouldn’t have been visiting anyway *cough cough*

It shouldn’t be too much of a stretch to see that to is also used with people: to him, to you, to anybody else you’d like.  Get it?

I think people get a little bit confused when to appears after a verb.  No need to be thrown for a loop – you can definitely go to, aim to, plan to and anything else you feel to!  Verbs cannot be followed directly by too - so it’s always hope so too, feel that way too, etc.

Cardinal rule: If it doesn’t past the too test, don’t hesitate to use to instead!  You’re too smart to be consistently making this mistake – remember that!

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Your welcome, as opposed to mine?

May08
2010 4 Comments Written by Renelle George
This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series The Apostrophe Series

I see this one so frequently that it is worth its own post (see earlier post on the use of your vs. you’re).  I think people just don’t get it, so I’m here to set them straight… or as I like to say, put them on “the write foot.”

It’s you’re welcome, NOT your welcome.  Your eyes, ears, head, big toe – anything else.  But the response to “thank you” is you’re welcome.  As in, you are welcome.  Remember, expand the contraction.

The words that follow your are objects (nouns) indicating ownership.  Do you own welcome?  Highly unlikely, though one can’t be too certain these days.  You may have the distinct honor of delivering a welcome speech or address at an event, in which case, the use of your is entirely appropriate: your welcome address, your welcome speech.  You see, the welcome address/speech is the thing that you “own” because you’ve written and delivered it.  It’s not unlike your rendition, performance, recital, etc.

I think you should be straight on this one, but if you still can’t remember, use “Don’t mention it” or “No problem” as a substitute.  Even “De nada” is better – your audience will be impressed by your knowledge of another language (even if it’s a mere two words).  Save yourself the stress and embarrassment of using the wrong form.  And save me from fighting a losing battle to contain myself when you don’t get it right :)

Don’t forget to check out the other posts in The Apostrophe Series!

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