Important if you want your writings to be taken seriously

7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb

Don’t let these easy-to-fix spelling and grammar mistakes make you look unprofessional.

By: Leslie Ayres

August 5, 2011

705 Comments

Source: Getty Images

In business, excellence is indeed worth striving for. Make sure all of your communications hold to high standards, because misspellings and bad grammar can hold you back in your career.

Many brilliant people have some communication weak spots. Unfortunately, the reality is that written communication is a big part of business, and how you write reflects on you. Poor spelling and grammar can destroy a professional image in an instant.

Even if your job doesn't require much business writing, you'll still have emails to send and notes to write. And if you're looking for a job, your cover letters and resumes will likely mean the difference between getting the interview or not.

Bad grammar and spelling make a bad impression. Don't let yourself lose an opportunity over a simple spelling or grammar mistake.

Here are seven simple grammatical errors that I see consistently in emails, cover letters and resumes.

Tip: Make yourself a little card cheat sheet and keep it in your wallet for easy reference.

You're / Your

The apostrophe means it's a contraction of two words; "you're" is the short version of "you are" (the "a" is dropped), so if your sentence makes sense if you say "you are," then you're good to use you're. "Your" means it belongs to you, it's yours.

• You're = if you mean "you are" then use the apostrophe
• Your = belonging to you

 You're going to love your new job!

It's / Its

This one is confusing, because generally, in addition to being used in contractions, an apostrophe indicates ownership, as in "Dad's new car." But, "it's" is actually the short version of "it is" or "it has." "Its" with no apostrophe means belonging to it.

• It's = it is
• Its = belonging to it

It's important to remember to bring your telephone and its extra battery.

They're / Their / There

"They're" is a contraction of "they are." "Their" means belonging to them. "There" refers to a place (notice that the word "here" is part of it, which is also a place – so if it says here and there, it's a place). There = a place

• They're = they are
• Their = belonging to them

They're going to miss their teachers when they leave there.

Loose / Lose

These spellings really don't make much sense, so you just have to remember them. "Loose" is the opposite of tight, and rhymes with goose. "Lose" is the opposite of win, and rhymes with booze. (To show how unpredictable English is, compare another pair of words, "choose" and "chose," which are spelled the same except the initial sound, but pronounced differently.  No wonder so many people get it wrong!)

• Loose = it's not tight, it's loosey goosey
• Lose= "don't lose the hose for the rose" is a way to remember the same spelling but a different pronunciation

I never thought I could lose so much weight; now my pants are all loose!

Lead / Led

Another common but glaring error. "Lead" means you're doing it in the present, and rhymes with deed. "Led" is the past tense of lead, and rhymes with sled. So you can "lead" your current organization, but you "led" the people in your previous job.

• Lead = present tense, rhymes with deed
• Led = past tense, rhymes with sled

My goal is to lead this team to success, just as I led my past teams into winning award after award.

A lot / Alot / Allot

First the bad news: there is no such word as "alot." "A lot" refers to quantity, and "allot" means to distribute or parcel out.

There is a lot of confusion about this one, so I'm going to allot ten minutes to review these rules of grammar.

Between you and I

This one is widely misused, even by TV news anchors who should know better.

In English, we use a different pronoun depending on whether it's the subject or the object of the sentence: I/me, she/her, he/him, they/them. This becomes second nature for us and we rarely make mistakes with the glaring exception of when we have to choose between "you and I" or "you and me."

Grammar Girl does a far better job of explaining this than I, but suffice to say that "between you and I" is never correct, and although it is becoming more common, it's kind of like saying "him did a great job." It is glaringly incorrect.

The easy rule of thumb is to replace the "you and I" or "you and me" with either "we" or "us" and you'll quickly see which form is right. If "us" works, then use "you and me" and if "we" works, then use "you and I."

Between you and me (us), here are the secrets to how you and I (we) can learn to write better.

Master these common errors and you'll remove some of the mistakes and red flags that make you look like you have no idea how to speak.

Read the next articles in this entertaining series:

• More Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb: The Readers Speak
• Modern Grammar – Let's Just Say "They" Instead of "He or She," Shall We?

More tips for presenting yourself well in writing:

• How to Proofread Your Resume Like a Pro
• Hilarious Resume Bloopers
• 10 Pet Peeves about Your Resume
• Hilarious Resume Bloopers, Part Two

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How far can the rightwing INSANITY go?

Watch the following two very short videos of mothers fearful about Obama's speech to the school kids (which he is giving right now). They tell the story of right wing insanity far better than anything I could say. Of course, none of the nutcases who are keeping their kids home from school today will be listening to his speech--they actually DO fear it might turn them into Nazis...or worse. My god, hasn't this gone far enough? The control the right wing propagandists have over the stupids in their ranks is obscene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SmoOB_K4cY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofxVMlU97yA&feature=related

As one commenter puts it: The woman (in the 2nd video) is obviously play-acting, but can you really spot the difference between her and those dumdums at the town halls? Can you distinguish her rhetoric from that of the so-called "thinkers" of the con-servative movement? American con-servatism is a brain defect ..., and the Republicon Party is a den of vipers. 'Nuff said.

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Meditation in schools

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/14/transcendental-meditation-in-schools

I think we can anticipate that there will be plenty of naysayers about this proposal to teach meditation to children in our schools. Even though daily meditation has been found by doctors and scientists to have a calming effect on the body and brain and a positive effect on the ability to think clearly, this idea may not be welcomed by all because it is called "Transcendental Meditation" (which might sound too scary, too foreign to the beliefs of religious mainstream Americans). There are still in our country those folks who fear anything "different" (i.e., than what they were taught by their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. They call it "tradition"--but it could also be termed "a fear of growth" or of thinking for oneself). Yet these same people, without complaint, will allow modern medicine to drug their children on daily doses of Ritalin and other "behavioral modification" chemicals. We have come a long way in our understanding of the mind/body connection in regard to health, but perhaps not quite far enough for a proposal of meditation being taught in our schools to be wholeheartedly approved by the entire mainstream public. Let's hope that a small minority will not prevail over the intelligence of the majority.

One doctor who wrote a book (way back in 1975) about the practice of meditation and the positive effects it has had on lowering blood pressure (and other health problems) called it simply The Relaxation Response--a term that might be more acceptable to tradition-following parents. Instead of a foreign-sounding mantra like "Om" to focus the mind, the author suggested using the word "One." This book is by Dr. Herbert Benson, Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Mind/Body Medical Institute. Following is a review of that book, which became an all-time best-seller:

Amazon.com Review
When you look at the popularity of mind-body medicine today, it's hard to understand what a groundbreaking book this was when it was first published in 1975. Based on studies at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Herbert Benson showed that relaxation techniques such as meditation have immense physical benefits, from lowered blood pressure to a reduction in heart disease. The Relaxation Response demystifies the mantra meditation used in the transcendental meditation program, explaining how anyone can reap its advantages. If you want to understand the beginnings of today's alternative medicine movement, or if you're simply looking to learn a simple meditation technique without a lot of metaphysical trappings, this is a good place to start.

Description of Book

When Dr. Herbert Benson introduced this simple, effective, mind/body approach to relieve stress in The Relaxation Response twenty-five years ago, the book became an instant national bestseller. Since that time, millions of people have learned the secret of the relaxation response--without high-priced lectures, drugs, or prescription medicine. The tremendous success of this approach has turned The Relaxation Response into the classic reference recommended by most health care professionals and authorities to treat the harmful effects of stress.

This revitalizing, therapeutic approach, discovered by Dr. Benson and his colleagues in the laboratories of Harvard Medical School and its teaching hospitals, is now routinely recommended to treat patients suffering from heart conditions, high blood pressure, chronic pain, insomnia, and many other physical ailments. Requiring only minutes to learn, and just ten to twenty minutes of practice twice a day, the Relaxation Response has proven to be one of the most effective ways to relieve the tensions of modern-day living for a richer, healthier, more productive life.

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Cafferty on Education -- a good essay

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/03/30/cafferty.schools/index.html

However, I do not agree, even in jest, that Marines should run our schools--or that Marine-type fear-driven discipline is the answer to achieving cooperation and a love for learning in the students. That kind of harsh bullying is not the way to inspire children! Better teaching methods and better trained teachers, who are consistent in their discipline but kind in their hearts--as well as strong parental involvement, encouragement, and praise, can instill in kids a desire to learn and to succeed in life. The No Child Left Behind program is not doing that job. Kids don't respond well when the teachers are fearful and drill-driven and not allowed to teach creatively and inspirationally. The numbers are proving this to be true.

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