To offer some grammar tips to anyone who might want them?

[UnaCorda]

I sincerely hope this doesn't come across as either rude or patronising - it genuinely isn't meant to. It's also not intended as a pedants' thread.

I just thought it might be useful to list a few common mistakes, with an explanation, so that anyone who isn't very confident with their written English might be able to correct errors which, for example, could perhaps count against them in a job application or when used in a professional context.

I'll start with three:

1. "Your" shows that what you're referring to (probably a person or object) belongs to whoever "you" is in the sentence; for example, "Your brother showed me your book". If you mean "you are" you need to write "you're".

2. "Non" is not a word on its own - it is negating something, such as in "non-stick" or "non-committal". ("None-stick" would be incorrect, as would "non of them".) "None" means there aren't any. "How many cakes are left?" "Sorry - none." Or, "How many of the children finished the test?" "None of them."

3. "Alot" is not a word and the same goes for "abit", "infront", "incase" and "inbetween". Instead use "a lot", etc., just like "a little".

Hope I haven't made any mistakes myself...

@Puffalicious

Morningside accent? I wonder if you live near me OP? I love that book.

I love Edinburgh (am missing the Festival this year), but don't live there, unfortunately. My favourite cake shop in the world (Lovecrumbs) is in Edinburgh.

@FredaFrogspawn

I was always taught that you say ‘shall’ only for the first person (singular or plural). So ‘I shall’ or ‘we shall’ is fine, but not ‘you shall’ or ‘they shall.’

Not sure if that’s correct!

What about, "You shall go to the ball!"?

Actually LovingLola both are acceptable: girls' and girls's. Girls's was the traditional way and girls' was brought in as many thought it looked clumsy.

Don’t think you’re right.

@PigletJohn

I think a good tip here is to think of yourself as a sexual adviser.

When people want your f*ing advice, they'll ask for it.

No. I think it's one of those 'How did I not know I needed this?' kind of advice.

@Crongle

Is it

If I were you

or
If I was you
?

Both are considered correct now. I'm 45, when I was at school we were taught only If I were you was correct. When i was teaching TEFL (until 5 years ago) all the books said that both were correct.

‘Till’, when used to abbreviate ‘until’. NO! A till is a cash register. ‘Til is the correct abbreviation for ‘until’. I’m not a stickler for grammar, spelling and punctuation per se, but this really grinds my gears!

@theveryhungrybutterfly

Also if everyone could learn how to use a semi colon before using one that would be great. Not using one at all is fine, but using one incorrectly is really annoying.

Use to separate two clauses that are related but could also stand alone as sentences (semi colon could be replaced by a full stop). Alternatively, semi colon can be used to separate parts of a list if commas are also used in the list.

Agreed. Comma splices are annoying and obfuscate the sense.

Nope OP look it up. I use girls' but many like to learn it/ use girls's as it follows the same rule as the singular i.e. whatever is being referred to use an apostrophe plus an s.

Re. 'shall,' my very old-fashioned darling grandfather used to recite the grammar-book story about two men who fell into a river.

'I will drown, and nobody will save me!' one cried in panic, and onlookers threw him a rope and hauled him to safety.

'I shall drown, and nobody shall save me!' cried the other. And he drowned.

@Puffalicious

Actually LovingLola both are acceptable: girls' and girls's. Girls's was the traditional way and girls' was brought in as many thought it looked clumsy.

Really??! Gosh.

@PuffinShop

If an error is undetectable in speech, it's generally a spelling or punctuation error, not really a grammatical error.

Grammar is to do with the actual structure of a language, not just how to write it down correctly.

That's an example of a commonly misused word (though not a common grammatical error as a completely nonsensical sentence may still be grammatical).

Was just coming on to say the same thing. These are all spelling mistakes, not grammatical errors.

While you can probably call me pedantic, I do think it matters, and it's a shame that many people don't seem to notice that the two things are different...

@Puffalicious

Nope OP look it up. I use girls' but many like to learn it/ use girls's as it follows the same rule as the singular i.e. whatever is being referred to use an apostrophe plus an s.

But it's wrong! Doesn't matter who likes to use it!

@Puffalicious

Nope OP look it up. I use girls' but many like to learn it/ use girls's as it follows the same rule as the singular i.e. whatever is being referred to use an apostrophe plus an s.

Willing to concede your superior knowledge, but I've never, ever seen that.

This made me chuckle.

Either or
Neither nor

I’m ok at grammar but the one I can never remember is affect or effect. Except that you effect change I get that.

I think it’s:

That affected me.
The effect of the storm.

Is that right?

Plus whilst I’m not bad at writing / grammar my 10 yo is much better at telling me what things are, adverbs etc the whole array. I think we skipped a lot of that in school.

Girls’s that looks as if it would sound off

English is my third language, but I can think of one trick that I found helpful when differentiating between Me/I when used in a sentence with multiple subjects;

1. They invited Jane and me/I
2. Jane and me/I were invited

Just mentally get rid of the other subject and you'll get the correct answer

1. They invited me
2. I was invited

Really hope this makes sense

It's not wrong Nanny it's the way I was taught and still acceptable.

@catfeets

This made me chuckle.

If a plural noun doesn't end in "s," add an apostrophe + "s" to create the possessive form so for example
The children's rooms

Girls (plural of girl) does end in “s” so you don’t add another “s” after the apostrophe to create the possessive form. So it’s “girls’ rooms”

Yes Lola, the form I prefer to use, but still acceptable is apostrophe plus s for all words. It does look clumsy but still acceptable even if rarely used these days.

My bugbear is people who post and ask for 'advise'.
'Advise' is a verb - people can advise you.
'Advice' is a noun - advice is what you're looking for.
Really grinds my gears.

Effect and affect are confusing because there are highly unusual, but perfectly correct, instances where you can use them the opposite way around. If you read too many old novels you can get confusing.

Eg., usually you refer to 'the effect' (noun), but there is also the noun 'affect,' which refers to the emotions. Usually you'd say a person or thing was affected by something else, but you could say something was 'effected' in the sense of being caused or brought into being (eg., 'It was effected by statute').

I love this thread. This is me in real life all the time.

My favourite I found out last week; segue and Segway... sound the same, but to argue means to naturally lead in to something else, Segway is the motorised scooter thing. Who knew!