Glaring errors!

I watch Oprah today. Do you guys know the different between lie and lay?

- I lie down beside him (lie is for people)
- I lay my blanket on my bed (lay is for things)

Okay girls, So, let’s take a look at some more of those types of GLARING errors that you never want to make. I'm just gonna write 5 common mistakes that can diminish the shine and credibility of your writing.

1. Loose vs. Lose
This one drives a lot of people crazy, including me. In fact, it’s so prevalent. “loose” was a proper substitute for “lose” in some other English-speaking countries. Here’s a hint: it’s not.

If your pants are too loose, you might lose your pants.

2. Me, Myself, and I
One of the most common causes of grammatical pain is the choice between “me” and “I.” Too often people use “I” when they should use “me,” because since “I” sounds stilted and proper, it must be right, right? Nope.

The easy way to get this one right is to simply remove the other person from the sentence and then do what sounds correct. You would never say “Give I a call,” so you also wouldn’t say “Give Nad and I a call.” Don’t be afraid of me.


3. Different than vs. Different from
This one slips under the radar a lot, and I’ll bet I’ve screwed it up countless times. It boils down to the fact that things are logically different from one another, and using the word “than” after different is a grammatical blunder.

This vase is different from the one I have, but I think mine is better than this one.

4. Improper Use of the Apostrophe
Basically, you use an apostrophe in two cases:

For contractions (don’t for do not)
To show possession (Ayenaucyuk’s blog means the blog belongs to Ayenaucyuk)
If still in doubt, leave the apostrophe out. It causes more reader confusion to insert an apostrophe where it doesn’t belong than it does to omit one. Plus, you can always plead the typo defense if you leave an apostrophe out, but you look unavoidably dumb when you stick one where it doesn’t belong.


5. i.e. vs. e.g.
Ah, Latin… you’ve just gotta love it. As antiquated as they might seem, these two little Latin abbreviations are pretty handy in modern writing, but only if you use them correctly.

The Latin phrase id est means “that is,” so i.e. is a way of saying “in other words.” It’s designed to make something clearer by providing a definition or saying it in a more common way.

Unair has jumped the shark, i.e., gone downhill in quality, because The Dekan has broken most of his New Year’s resolutions.

The Latin phrase exempli gratia means “for example”, so e.g. is used before giving specific examples that support your assertion.

Unair has jumped the shark because Tha Dekan has broken most of his New Year’s resolutions, e.g., promising not to say “Corruptions,” “linkbait,” or “jumped the shark” on Unair in 2007.

So girls...better stop those Grammar errors. hehe.