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Grammar Mistakes: They get the best of us, including even more confusion to be had!

Nothing as simple as the commonly mistaken “to” and “too”. In the sign, the correct spelling should be “too” since it’s meaning it is more so bad, almost like a plural of the word “to”.That aside, there are still more examples and phrases that confuse many of us. Here are five more with descriptions and examples.

To get refreshed on common grammar errors, numbered 1 to 5, go to Part One!

6. They’re, Their, There

• They’re:Meaning the plural form of “theyare”.
  Example: They’re coming to Canada next month to start school in September!

• Their: Used to show possession of something, such as “theirs”. Denotes that something belongs to them.
  Example: Did you know that their cousin swims for the Olympic team?

• There: Showing a place, or an area. Also means in, at, or to a place or position. Can also be used when gesturing to a place.
  Example:I see a bear! Where? Over there!!
  Example: There once was a story about a boy and his dog…

7. Its and It’s

• Its: It can be defined as a “possessive determiner” meaning that it is belonging to or is associated with a thing that is previously mentioned or identified. The common error is between making this word possessive (correct form) and contraction (incorrect form). What gets confusing is that singular nouns take the contraction, such as girl’s, Mom’s etc. But for “its” it shows a possession.
  Example:The sky was so blue, its clouds seemed very far away in the distance.
  Example: For a dolphin, its instinct is to communicate with others like it under water.

• It’s: Used as a contraction of “it is” or “it has”. Do NOT confuse this with contractions on people or things such as Tommy’s or the hamburger’s. It’s is only used to show the form “it is” or “it has”.
  Example: It’s been a long day, I cannot wait to take a nap.
  Example: I’m sorry to say this, but you should know it`s yours nor my fault.

8. Insure and Ensure

• Insure: To show some form of compensation, or financial security. It also means to secure or protect someone against something. Most commonly used as the form “insurance”. To remember not to confuse them, use the reference of financial insurance to remember its usage.
  Example: I can insure your family’s safety with the newest life insurance plan.
  Example: I am will to insure you, you will not loose money.

• Ensure: Used in more general senses. Can be used to make certain that something will occur or something will be the case. It also makes sure that there is something provided. Insure is dealing most with insuring money. Where as ensuring has to do with general protection.
  Example: Mrs. Marshall wanted to ensure that her documents were kept safe.
  Example: To ensure everyone’s safety, we’d like to run the fire drill once more.

9. Would of/Could of and Would Have/Could Have

• Would Of and Would Have: “Would of” is actually a casual and incorrect usage of “would have”. I believe this mistaken error could have been started from “would have” starting to sound like “would of” in speech. When writing remember that “would of” is incorrect and to use “would have” instead.
  Example: I would of thought differently if you hadn’t been so angered and frustrated. Incorrect!
  Example: I would have given up my dessert for you if I knew you wanted to eat it so badly. Correct!

• Could Of and Could Have: Works in the same way as above. Here are some examples to help you keep this rule in mind.
  Example:I could of used a little more help around the kitchen, but things seem to be getting better.
  Example:If you could have understood the math problem, maybe you would have done better on the test

10. Less and Fewer

• Less: The confusion here lies that you should only use “less” when there are uncountable things. It is incorrectly used sometimes when there are things, people, places to be counted. Also means a smaller amount of or not as much. Used to denote mass nouns, mostly numbers, as an expression of time or a measurement of something.
  Example: Less money, or less time.
  Example: Less people or less words.

• Fewer: Used to denote people or countable things. See the differences between this and “less” in the description above.
  Example: Fewer people or fewer books or fewer contestants in the race.

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