I know I'm not alone. Misplaced apostrophes distract me, misspelled or misused words irritate my eye. I can't help it - when I see an otherwise well-reasoned and compelling diary that contains spelling and grammar errors, I have to struggle to overlook them in order to credit the writer with the intelligence he or she so clearly has. Yes, I'm old-school, but it seems to me that being correct is still worth the effort. We don't want to join the Morans of the world, do we?
If you can stand it, follow me over the squiggle for corrections to a few of the more common mistakes I see here every day.
Its v. it's v. its'
This one is pervasive. Since it's a pronoun, the word "it" does not use an apostrophe to show possessive tense. What does this mean? If you want to say that something belonged to a dog - say, a bone - then you say it was "the dog's bone." That apostrophe-s combination shows possession. However, "it" does not use this style. To the contrary, when showing that "it" possesses something, simply write "its" - no extra marks at all. Therefore, you would write "its color" to mean "the color of it."
(Note that this is normal for pronouns - those little words that stand in for nouns. Think "hers" not "her's", "theirs" not "their's." There aren't too many of these, but the rule holds.)
"It's" always means "it is." Always. No exceptions. So "It's blue" or "it's sad" or "it's annoying" - but "its irritating qualities had nothing to do with its sorrow or its hue."
Finally, the pretender: there is NO SUCH WORD as its'. Gah! I get it, people are confused, and I suspect that the ones who write this are helplessly placing an apostrophe at the end of the word because they are sure there should be one somewhere. But when you write its' you are just showing off your confusion.
To recap:
Its = belonging to it
It's = it is
Its' = confused writer randomly adding apostrophes just in case
Then v. Than
Another common point of confusion. The words sound the same in some accents, but do not mean the same thing. One indicates sequence, and the other comparison. Very different concepts.
"Then" is used to show a sequence of events. "This happened, then that happened."
"Than" shows comparison between two or more things. "Your eyes are bluer than the sky."
An easy way to remember the difference is to think of these meanings in relation to the words as you want to use them. For "then" think "next" - both have that E in the middle. For "than" think "compare" and remember the A.
Insure v. Ensure
There is only one meaning for the word "Insure" - To underwrite. That is, to guarantee a person or property against loss or damage.
"Ensure" means to make certain of.
Now, our forefathers did use "insure" about domestic tranquility in the Constitution. But that was a couple centuries ago, when spelling was a lot less standardized.
Which brings me to Less v. Few
Briefly: Use "less" when what you are quantifying cannot be counted, and "few" or "fewer" when it can.
For example: "there is less sand in my shoes than there was the last time I went to the beach." But, "There are fewer grains of sand." Likewise, "there is less sense in the Republican party these days" but "there are fewer sensible Republicans."
There v. Their v. They're
I do this one myself, when I'm typing too fast. But these are three very distinct words.
"There" is a place: "Over there."
"Their" belongs to them: "It's their house." Or: "That house is theirs." Remember, no apostrophe to show possession for pronouns.
"They're" means "they are." Simple contraction of two words into one, dropping the "a" in "are" and replacing it with an apostrophe.
I v. Me v. Myself
Most people who get this wrong seem to think it's an ego thing. Possibly a remnant of someone telling them in formative years that it was wrong to say "Me and Sally" and that they should instead say "Sally and I." All very well, as far as it goes, but if it goes too far, we end up using a subject where an object is correct.
For this one to be truly understood, a simple grammar rule is necessary: the difference between the subject and the object of a sentence.
The subject can be thought of as the actor, while the object is the receiver of action.
The rule is: "I" is always used as the subject, while "me" is always an object, and "myself" is the object only when "I" is the subject.
Thus in the sentence "I saw Sally," "I" is the subject and "Sally" is the object. It is the
object of the action (in this case, the verb "saw").
Now let's turn it around: "Sally saw me." Simple, right? Nobody gets that wrong: "me" is the object. Similarly, if you add a third person to the subject of the sentence you get "John and I saw Sally," which is just peachy, and which most people, following that rule they were taught as kids, get right.
However, if you add another person to the object end of the sentence - "Sally saw John and me" - it's the same rule in effect, but way too many people would say, wrongly, "Sally saw John and I."
I successfully taught my kids to do this right with one quick trick. Simply imagine your sentence without the other person. So for the sentence above, "Sally saw John and (who? is it me or I? Ack!)" drop John for a second and imagine it without him. You get "Sally saw me!" And when you put John back in, politely putting him in front of you as you were taught, you get "Sally saw John and me." Ta-da!
Okay, so what about "myself?" There are really only two proper ways to use that word. The first is when you are both the subject and the object of the sentence. Thus "I talk to myself" is correct, as is "I saw myself" or "I love myself" or "I smacked myself on the forehead."
The second correct usage is for emphasis along with the word "I" as you would when saying "I, myself, held the winning ticket."
It is not okay to use "myself" when someone or something else is the subject of your sentence - the actor. So "He talked to myself" is wrong. Nor is it okay to use "myself" in place of "I" as the lone subject, but this is hardly ever a problem. Nobody says "Myself ran to the front door." It is perfectly acceptable, however, to say "I saw myself running..." as you are using it correctly as the object of the sentence in that case.
Effect v. Affect
This one can be tricky, but there is a very clear difference between the two words.
"Effect" is usually a noun, meaning the result of some cause or action. So "The effect of all that rain was a soggy lawn" and "The movie has awesome sound effects." It can be used as a verb, but only when talking about bringing about change, as in "effect a transition."
"Affect" is usually a verb, meaning to modify: "The weather affected the ratio of grass to muck" or "The vote was affected by the huge number of signatures gathered."
So far, so good. Now let's dive into the confusion.
You can both affect a change and effect a change: two very different ideas. To "effect" a change is simply to make something different - say, to turn water blue by dropping dye into it. To "affect" a change would be to have an influence on the change itself! That is, while the water is turning blue, to speed up the drop rate, or to stir the water or shake it, so it turns blue faster. Get it?
And it's "in effect," never "in affect." Effectively, meaning that all criteria have been considered. There's a whole website about this one: http://effectaffect.com/.
And finally, before I lose you all entirely, I must include one more pet peeve:
Further v. Farther
I'll be brief.
"Further" has nothing to do with distance. "Farther" has nothing to do with making a point or achieving a goal.
You go farther, a town is farther away. You further a cause, or, further, add a point to an argument.
Okay, I know it's pedantic - most people use these interchangeably. It's one of the more minor mistakes out there.
Finally, I am finished. I'm sure there are more, but I will leave it for now. I thank you for listening to a grumpy grandma grouse about grammar.