Mixing up words

· Affect vs. effect (verb): ‘Affect’ is the more common and means in general to have an impact.  ‘Effect’ is less common and refers specifically to producing an outcome.
· Affect vs. effect (noun): As a noun (or adjective ‘affective’), ‘affect’ is roughly synonymous with mood.  ‘Effect’ (or adjective effective) is an outcome, an impact, a change.
· It’s vs. its: ‘It’s’ is the contraction for ‘it is.’  ‘Its’ is the possessive form.
· Then vs. than: ‘Then’ refers to the point in time.  ‘Than’ is used when making comparisons.
· Their vs. there vs. they’re: ‘Their” is the possessive.  “There’ refers to a place.  ‘They’re’ is the contraction for ‘they are.’
· Where vs. were: ‘Where’ refers to place.  ‘Were’ is the verb, the past tense of ‘are.’
· Conscience vs. conscious: ‘Conscience’ refers to our capacity for moral judgment.  ‘Conscious’ refers to being awake, aware.
· Criteria vs. criterion and Datum vs. data and Stimulus vs. stimuli: ‘Criterion,’ ‘datum’ and ‘stimulus’ are singular forms, for which the plurals are ‘criteria,’ ‘data’ and stimuli.
· Whether vs. weather: Whether’ involves the question of if something will happen.  ‘Weather’ refers to atmospheric conditions (sunny, rainy, etc.).
· To vs. too vs. two:‘To” is the preposition: give it ‘to’ me.  ‘Too’ is synonymous with ‘also.’  ‘Two’ is the number ‘2’.
· Maybe vs. may be:  ‘Maybe’ is an adverb used with a verb: ‘maybe’ he will come.  ‘May be’ is part of a verb form: he ‘may be’ coming.
· Fewer vs. less: ‘Fewer’ modifies multiples, while ‘less’ modifies singulars. ‘ I have less clothing (singular) and fewer clothes (plural);’ ‘the day has less sunshine (singular) and fewer hours (plural) of daylight.’
· Accept vs. except: ‘Accept’ means to receive, while ‘except’ refers to an exception

Misuse of words

· However: ‘However’ cannot be used to link two sentences together as though it were the word ‘but.’  CORRECT would be ‘I am tired but I will do it anyway’; INCORRECT would be “I am tired, however I will do it anyway.’  It would be CORRECT to use ‘however’ after a period or a semicolon.  ‘I am tired.  However, I will do it anyway’ or ‘I am tired; however, I will do it anyway.’
· While/Although: While’ and ‘although’ are conjunctions and must be linked to another idea; they cannot be used in a clause standing by itself.  CORRECT would be ‘I am tired although/while I haven’t done much (or inverted: ‘Although/while I haven’t done much, I am tired’, but it would be INCORRECT to just say ‘Although/while I haven’t done much.’
· Whereas: ‘Whereas’ (which is all one word, not ‘where as’) must link two ideas together in a sentence; a clause with ‘whereas’ cannot stand by itself (see “although/while’ above).

Misspellings

· Alot  should be ‘a lot’
· Can not should be ‘cannot’
· Dependant and independant should be ‘dependent’ and ‘independent’
· Enviornment should be ‘environment’
 

Grammatical mistakes

· Adverb form: adjectives modify nouns, but adverbs must be used to modify verbs and adjectives.  INCORRECT would be ‘He came quick;’ CORRECT would be ‘He came quickly.’  INCORRECT would be ‘Real good;’ CORRECT would be ‘Really good.’
· Failure to use connecting words to link clauses: when a single sentence has two or more clauses, the clauses must be linked with a conjunction (and, but, because, so, etc.).  INCORRECT would be ‘The subjects arrived, they waited for the experimenter.’ CORRECT would be ‘The subjects arrived, and they waited for the experimenter.’
· Dangling participle: certain phrases with participles (the ‘ing’ form of verbs) must be closely connected to what they modify; when they don’t, they are said to be dangling.  INCORRECT would be ‘Running out of the house, the policeman shot the burglar.’  In this instance, we can’t be sure who was running because we would assume it was the burglar but the participle is closest to the policeman. CORRECT would be “Running out of the house, the burglar was shot by the policeman.’
· Maintaining consistency of singular vs. plural usage: in any one sentence (and usually in any one paragraph), the subjects, pronouns and verb forms must be consistently singular or plural when they refer to each other.  INCORRECT would be ‘A patient (singular) is helped to express their (plural) feelings,’ or “When a subject (singular) arrived, they (plural) were (plural) told to sit down.’  CORRECT would be ‘A patient is helped to express his feelings’ and ‘When a subject arrived, he was told to sit down.’  To avoid what some people regard as sexist language, use all plural forms: ‘Patients are helped to express their feelings,’ and ‘When subjects arrived, they were told to sit down’).  Such words as ‘everyone,’ ‘everybody’ and ‘someone’ are singular and must be used with singular verb forms and pronouns: ‘Everyone took his seat’ (or, to avoid sexist language, ‘All the subjects took their seats).
· Maintaining consistency of verb tense: when a series of actions is being described, all the verbs in the series must be consistent for tense.  It is incorrect to switch back and forth between present and past tenses.  INCORRECT would be ‘When the subjects arrived (past tense) for the experiment, they are (present tense) told to wait.’  CORRECT would be either ‘When the subjects arrived (past tense) for the experiment, they were (past tense) told to wait,’ or ‘When the subjects arrive (present tense) for the experiment, they are (present tense) told to wait.’
· Use of apostrophe: the apostrophe is used to create possessive and contraction forms of words, but not to create plural forms.  For possessives, the usual rule is ‘s for a singular noun or plural noun with no final s, and s’ for a plural that has the s.  CORRECT would be ‘The observer’s (singular) rating was positive’ and ‘The observers’ (plural) ratings were positive.’  INCORRECT would be ‘The observers’ compared ratings’ because observers is simply a plural, not a possessive.
· Use of commas: the rules for commas are fairly complex, but in general, commas are used to separate items in a series, clauses in a compound sentence, and subordinate clauses from the rest of the sentence. The rule of thumb is to use a comma the same way you would use a pause if you were speaking, and to use (or not use) a comma to avoid misunderstanding
· Who vs. whom, he vs. him, I vs. me: ‘Who,’ ‘he’ (‘she,’ ‘we,’ etc.) and ‘I’ are used for the subjects of a sentence, while ‘whom,’ ‘him’ (‘her,’ ‘us,’ etc.), and ‘me’ are used as objects of verbs or prepositions.  INCORRECT would be ‘It was a secret between he and I.’  CORRECT would be ‘It was a secret between him and me.’

Copyright ©1998 Beverly J. Volicer and Steven F. Tello, UMass Lowell.  You may freely edit these pages for use in a non-profit, educational setting.  Please include this copyright notice on all pages.