English Grammar: 100 Tragically Common Mistakes (and How to Correct Them)

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Interior and Cover Designer: Will Mack

Art Producer: Karen Beard

Editor: Justin Hartung

Production Editor: Andrew Yackira

Illustrations: Will Mack

Author Photo © Morgan Black

ISBN: Print 978-1-64152-373-8 | eBook 978-1-64152-374-5

This book is dedicated to those who love the English language, who appreciate its dynamic flexibility, and who understand that its rules are not always set in stone.

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Contents

Introduction

{ CHAPTER ONE }

Grammar Goofs

1.Incomplete Sentences

2.Gone and Went

3.Phrasal Verbs

4.Who/Whom

5.Compound Relative Pronouns

6.Nominative/Objective/Possessive Pronouns

7.To/Too/Two

8.Affect/Effect

9.Ending a Sentence with a Preposition

10.Starting a Sentence with a Conjunction

11.Misplaced Modifiers

12.Dangling Modifiers

13.Possessive Pronouns with Gerunds

14.Dual Possession

15.Double Genitive

16.Subjunctive Mood I: If I Were . . .

17.Subjunctive Mood II: I Demand That . . .

18.May and Might

19.Get, Got, and Gotten

20.Indefinite Pronouns: Each

21.Helping Verbs: To Have

22.Helping Verbs: To Be

23.Helping Verbs: To Do

24.Reflexive Pronouns: Myself

25.Double Negatives

{ CHAPTER TWO }

Punctuation Saves Lives

26.Comma Usage

27.Comma Splice

28.Apostrophes for Pluralization

29.Hyphens

30.Capitalization

31.Quotation Marks

32.Em Dash and En Dash

33.Ellipses

34.Missing Accent Marks

35.Semicolons

36.Possessives with Names Ending in S

37.Ending a Declarative Sentence with a Question Mark

38.Colons

39.The Vocative Comma

40.Pride Capitals

41.Scare Quotes

42.Punctuation for Currency

43.Apostrophes for Holidays

44.Run-On Sentences

45.Double Spaces After a Period

{ CHAPTER THREE }

Word to the Wise

46.Sex vs. Gender

47.Weather vs. Climate

48.Like vs. Such As

49.Irregardless

50.Set vs. Sit

51.Lay vs. Lie

52.Unique

53.Will vs. Shall

54.Than vs. Then

55.Less vs. Fewer

56.Loose vs. Lose

57.Literally

58.Number and Amount

59.Could of/Should of/Would of

60.A Lot vs. Alot

61.Weather vs. Whether vs. Wether

62.Breath vs. Breathe

63.Comprise

64.Everyday vs. Every Day

65.There/They’re/Their

66.Etc. vs. Ext.

67.Historic/Historical

68.Between vs. Among

69.That/Which/Who

70.Its and It’s

71.Whose and Who’s

72.Your and You’re

73.i.e. and e.g.

74.A While and Awhile

{ CHAPTER FOUR }

High Style

75.Order of Adjectives

76.Further vs. Farther

77.Accept vs. Except

78.Redundancies

79.Clichés

80.Jargon

81.Singular They

82.Differences Between American English and British English

83.Contranyms

84.Gendered Professions

85.Religions and Their Adherents

86.Writing Numbers

87.Verbing and Nouning

88.Comparatives

89.Superlatives

90.Feel Good vs. Feel Well

91.Parallel Structure

92.Better Than He/Him

93.Active Voice vs. Passive Voice

94.Number Agreement

95.Orient, Orientate, and Oriental

96.Among/Amongst and While/Whilst

97.Discourse Markers

98.Demonstratives

99.Split Infinitives

100.Indeterminate Personal Pronoun Usage

Parts of Speech Cheat Sheet

Punctuation Cheat Sheet

50 Substitutions for Long-Winded Phrases

Glossary

Resources

About the Author

{ INTRODUCTION }

I once made a mistake in another language that made the national news. I had been living in West Java (a province of Indonesia) to study music, and I went to a music party at the provincial governor’s house. Most people were sitting on the floor, as was the norm. I was leaning against a wall near the musicians so I could study what they were doing; I was also trying to be as inconspicuous as a redheaded white girl could be in Southeast Asia. The governor invited me to sit in a chair, as a foreign guest, but I politely declined, telling him in my allegedly fluent Indonesian that I would rather lean against the wall . . . or so I thought. In fact, I told him and everyone around me that I would prefer to cry out! The two words that I used were separated by a single letter: bersandar vs. bersangar. I can still hear not only their raucous laughter ringing in my ears, but also my mistake repeated over and over. If only there hadn’t been a reporter in the room!

English has so many words that are separated by a single letter. If you have ever struggled with effect and affect, further and farther, or than and then, I can assure you that you are in great company. This book is your secret decoder ring: a quick and easy reference tool that will help you remember everything from whether to double the consonant in the past tense of cancel (spoiler: don’t) to knowing the difference between who and whom.

I wrote this book because I am not just a college professor; I am also a friend, colleague, mom, and person