A short piece about common grammar mistakes and malapropisms written for Loews Hotels magazine back in 2010.

1. loewsmagazine
18
i
sounding
smarter
You don’t need
to be Merriam
or Webster to
avoid common
mistakes when
it comes to
word use,
punctuation
and grammar.
by abel delgado
enhance
In an episode of The Sopranos, mobster Christopher
Moltisanti speculated that the FBI was trying to create
“dysentery among the ranks.” Mike Tyson once said
that after his career was over, he might “fade into
Bolivian.” And former president George W. Bush once
declared, “We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations
hold this nation hostile or hold our allies hostile.” Verbal
missteps can be funny—unless we’re the ones who
make them. Here are some common gaffes to avoid.
Alright. This is not a word, though you see it a lot, especially in
e-mails or texts. The correct phrase is “all right,” all right?
e.g. and i.e. The abbreviation e.g. stands for exempli gratia,
meaning “for example,” while i.e. stands for id est or “that
is.” Just remember that i.e. clarifies something—“We have to
protect strategic areas, i.e., power plants and military bases”—
while e.g. gives examples: “Our dog Scrappy loves chew toys,
e.g., pig ears, ropes and rawhide bones.”
It’s/Its, you’re/your, they’re/their. It’s, you’re and they’re
are contractions of the phrases “it is,” “you are” and “they are,”
respectively, while its, your
and their are possessive
adjectives. Just remember
that the apostrophe is used
for the verb, while no verb
usually means possession.
Here’s an example: “Get
your car. Today, you’re the
one who’s driving.”
Me, Myself and I. Most
of us know that “John and
me went to the store” is
wrong and that “John and
I went to the store” is right.
But sometimes this makes us avoid “me” where we shouldn’t:
“Please give the memo to John or myself.” To check if it’s
right, just take out the second party: “Please give the memo
to myself.” That’s how you know it should be, “Please give the
memo to John or me.” If you plan to say, “Harry gave the paper
to John and I,” take out John. “Harry gave the paper to I” may
make sense on the planet Zortron, but not in regular English.
What’s right: “Harry gave the paper to John and me.”
Premier/Premiere. Premier is the best in a category or a prime
minister, while premiere is the opening of a movie or play.
Stratagem/Strategy. A stratagem is a plan intended to fool
someone or a scheme to achieve a goal, such as a thief posing
as an employee to get into a building. Strategy refers to overall
planning to achieve long-term goals.
Towards. In U.S. usage, it’s “toward,” with no “s” at the end.
Unique. This means one of a kind, so it makes no sense to call
something truly unique or very unique. It’s either a flying turtle or
it isn’t—there are no degrees to being unique.