I've always been a huge Grammar-Nazi and generally obsessed with the English language (funny how I became an editor with The Odyssey, right?), and I used to get legitimately angry at people for their lack of care for the language they speak and their inability to understand it. Now, maturing a little bit, I kind of understand that most people just don't get the mistakes they make when they write or speak (although grammar in spoken language can't really be monitored or fixed anyway). Anyway, the point is, most people just aren't like me. Most people don't care if they're using the correct form of a word or if their tenses match up or if their pronouns match their antecedents like I do. But if you're interested, from an Editor-in-Chief herself, here are some ridiculously common grammar/language mistakes that I see every day and how you can fix them.
Every day vs. everyday.
Usually, the mistake I see with this is that people try to clump the two very separate words "every day" into one, when really, that's not correct. This is on this list mostly because it annoys me; it's really not a crazy mistake. "Everyday" is a word, yes, but it is an adjective used to describe things, like an everyday occurrence. However, if you're wanting to say that something happens on a daily basis, you are simply using "every" to describe how many days; it happens every day. Basically, if you're unsure, make it two words, and you'll be right more often than not.
Affect vs. effect.
This one is a lot easier than people think, really. It's not too confusing. Affect, with an "A", is an action (which also starts with an A!). Effect, with an "E", is a noun. Basically, you affect something to cause an effect. That's it. You got this.
The word "supposedly."
This is all about pronunciation. Really, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people just don't know what word they're trying to use. It's not "supposably," and it's not "supposingly," or any other variation you think of. Simple stuff.
The imperfect verb tense.
This is a little trickier. The imperfect verb tense in English is really messy. It's when you're describing something in the past, in general, that happened repeatedly; you're not discussing a specific time. This is when you say "I used to" do something. Most people end up saying "I use to," which is close, but not quite.
Lie vs. lay.
With these two words, mostly, people just say "lay" for every situation and go on with their lives. However, that's wrong. It doesn't help that songs like "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol (I love that song, don't get me wrong) confuse things even more by using the two interchangeably. "Lie" is used with a subject: so, the lyrics to Chasing Cars should be "If I lie here, if I just lie here..." On the other hand, "lay" is supposed to be used with objects, i.e. I'm going to lay this pencil on the desk.
To vs. two vs. too.
I really hate that I have to include this on the list. The first form, "to," is a preposition. OK? Easy stuff. I'm going to the store. That's it. The second form, "two," is a number. Also easy stuff. The last form, "too," is usually what people mess up. "Too" is an adverb, and it can be used interchangeably with the words "also" or "an excessive amount." For example: "I ate too much pie. I ate a lot of cake, too." See? So easy! You got this.
There are a million other mistakes I could probably think of, but we'll save that for a later date. Rather than calling me Grammar Nazi, though, here to condemn you for your mistakes, I'd like to think of myself as Grammar Girl, here to save the day and help you out. I like to think positively like that.
