1. POSSESSIVES, PLURALS, AND SPELLING – OH MY! Common Grammatical Errors and How to Avoid Them

2. ENGLISH  It is often said that English is among the most difficult languages to learn. There are so many rules and exceptions to those rules that it is easy to understand why people become frustrated.  The rules we will address now do not fall into this category; there are no exceptions!  Spend some time learning and mastering these common errors and you’ll be able to spend more time figuring out why the plural form of “moose” isn’t “mooses”

3. COMMON ERRORS  It’s vs. Its  Their vs. There  You’re vs. Your  Lose vs. Loose

4. IT’S VS. ITS It’sIts  Just like “doesn’t” means “does not,” “it’s” means “it is/has”  It’s a contraction!  If you could say “It is” then use “It’s”!  There’s an “s” so it must be plural.  Nope. It’s possessive!  But there isn’t an apostrophe, it can’t be possessive!  Sorry, it’s still possessive!

5. IT’S/ITS A DOG. Test:

6. IT’S – YOU COULD USE “IT IS” INSTEAD Answer:

7. THE DOG IS ON IT’S/ITS BED. Test:

8. ITS – USING “IT IS” WOULD SOUND GOOFY Answer:

9. THERE VS. THEIR ThereTheir  Can be a place (put the pen there)  Can be a pronoun (there are no more pens)  Plural possessive pronoun  Are you referring to more than one person and something they possess? (that’s their pen)  In this example more than one person owns the pen.

10. THEIR/THERE CAR IS PARKED OVER THEIR/THERE. Test:

11. THEIR CAR IS PARKED OVER THERE. Answer:

12. YOUR VS. YOU’RE YourYou’re  Possessive pronoun  “Your essay”  Like “it’s”, “you’re” is a contraction of “you are”  “You’re going to lose marks on your essay if you confuse ‘your’ and ‘you’re’”

13. YOUR/YOU’RE MISSING YOUR/YOU’RE TRAIN. Test

14. YOU’RE MISSING YOUR TRAIN. Answer

15. LOSE VS. LOOSE LoseLoose  Lose is a verb meaning to suffer the loss of, or to miss  “You’ll lose your keys if you leave them there.”  Loose is an adjective, and is the opposite of contained or tight.  “There’s a dog running loose on the street!”

16. MY LACES ARE TOO LOSE/LOOSE; I MIGHT LOSE/LOOSE MY SHOE. Test:

17. MY LACES ARE TOO LOOSE; I MIGHT LOSE MY SHOE. Answer:

18. REMEMBER: PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! FOR MORE WRITING HELP, CONTACT LINDSEYV@NIPISSINGU.CA