Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Grammarly Blog

5 of the Most Common Grammar Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
by Kimberly Joki

*If your friends jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you do it, too? Parents often pose this question to demonstrate the futility of following the crowd. Here are four everyday phrases that many people say incorrectly. Will you stand out as different or give in to peer pressure?

“Intensive purposes”
This commonly confused phrase most likely arose from the fact that it’s easy to mis-hear “intents and purposes.” It may also be that for someone not familiar with the legal term, “intensive purposes” makes more sense. For the record, however, it should be ” for all intents and purposes” and it means: “For every functional purpose; in every practical sense; in every important respect; practically speaking.”

“Ying-yang”
Perhaps an affinity for slant rhymes leads to the mispronunciation of a certain Chinese symbol. However, the black and white symbol that represents opposing forces is called a yin yang. Save the half rhyming for your next poem!

“I could care less”
So, you do care! Be careful! By omitting the negative contraction, you could break hearts! To illustrate, compare these substitutions: “I could eat less. I couldn’t eat less.” One indicates that you could eat a smaller amount of food; the other indicates that you could not eat less than you already do. Apply the principle to the phrase in question, and voila! Make your lack of interest clear, unless you couldn’t care less about good communication!

“Towards”
Whether you say toward or towards depends on your nation of origin. If you are British, the correct word is towards. Americans omit the s. In writing, consider the audience. In terms of jumping off of grammar bridges, this is a small one.

“Passerbys”
Speaking of bridges, what do you call the people who stroll past them? In the English language, nouns are made plural by adding an s. Is by a noun? No! Therefore, the s is added to the noun passer. This rule applies to other compound words like runners-up, sisters-in-law, and chiefs of staff.
What should you do if your friends misuse these phrases? Tell us what you think in the comments or join the conversation on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Now that you know the correct way to say them, do not be afraid to pronounce them correctly. Set a good example. Perhaps your friends will follow.

*http://www.grammarly.com/blog/2015/five-of-the-most-common-grammar-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/?lf&utm_campaign=Blog_Augment_1&utm_source=Facebook_org&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_post