10 Most Egregious Writing Mistakes on the Web

As the internet becomes more accessible, more and more people find themselves writing on a daily basis. Be it a daily blog, a Myspace page, emails, or what have you, our writing skills (or lack thereof) are on display for family and friends, and sometimes the general public. And all too often, those writing skills just don't measure up. Here is a list of the 10 most common spelling and grammar mistakes, along with ways to correct them.

Writing Mistake #1: More better, more faster, more stronger, etc.
I suppose that this isn't technically wrong, but it's redundant. The -er suffix on the word already indicates "more." "Stronger" means "more strong." You don't need to say "more." It's already there.

Speaking of redundancy, think about your prefixes before slapping them onto words. "Irregardless" is not a word. You mean "regardless." Sticking that ir- on the front negates the word. The same thing goes for "unthaw." You do realize that to "unthaw" your chicken would mean to freeze it, right? Thaw is the opposite of freeze.

Writing Mistake #2: Their, there, they're, etc.
These words are often confused with one another, because they sound the same. But they actually have very different meanings. "Their" is a possessive pronoun, similar to "her" or "his." "There" is a word indicating location. "They're" is a contraction meaning "they are." "They're going there to their house." There are other instances in which a possessive pronoun gets confused with a contraction that sounds the same. "Its" and "it's" are also often misused in internet communication. "Its" without an apostrophe is a possessive pronoun, similar to "theirs." "It's" with an apostrophe is the contraction meaning "it is." "My car stalled again. It's on its last legs." In the same token, "your" and "you're" are often used improperly. "Your," again, is a possessive pronoun, where "you're" is a contraction meaning "you are." "You're going to your class later, right?"

A similar problem occurs with "too, to, and two." "Too" means also. "To" is a preposition. "Two" is a number. "I went to two shows, too."

Writing Mistake #3: Should of
I see things of this sort all the time. "I should of cleaned the kitchen today. I could of if I wasn't so sick. I would of liked to have a clean counter." Wrong, wrong, wrong. Should have, could have, would have. This common mistake happens because when we speak, we tend to contract these expressions to "should've, would've, could've." It sounds like "of," but we're actually just being lazy about saying "have."

Writing Mistake #4: "Are" vs. "our"
These words get interchanged because folks think that they sound the same, but really, they don't. At least, they shouldn't. "Are" is a verb, one of the forms of "to be," and is pronounced like the letter R. Arrrr. "Our" is a possessive pronoun, and should be pronounced like "hour." Ow-r. Again, this problem occurs because of our laziness in speaking. It takes more effort to pronounce "our," so it comes out sounding like "are," and gets confusing. "Are dog" doesn't make any sense. Change it to "our dog."

Writing Mistake #5: Who r u?
"Are" and "you" are actual words. They are spelled with more than one letter. Now, even I, as nitpicky as I am, will occasionally use these abbreviations (and others) in text messages and instant messages. In those contexts, speed is key, so it's perfectly acceptable to shorthand words in this manner. But when typing something longer, such as an email, blog, or an article to be published on Associated Content, you really should spend the time to type those two extra letters and complete the word.

Along the same lines, it doesn't look cool when you "tIpe LykE diSs." It looks as though you can't spell, and there's something wrong with your shift key. I have heard this kind of spelling referred to as "phonetics," but it's not. Phonetic spellings require a whole different set of symbols than the ones there on your keyboard. It takes so much extra effort to misspell everything on purpose, and it's wasted energy. Please don't do it. Your readers will take you more seriously if they aren't spending their energy trying to decipher your code.

Writing Mistake #6: She and I
This one can get a little tricky. You've been told all your life that "me and her" is incorrect. Instead of saying, "Me and her went to the grocery store," you should say, "She and I went to the grocery store." In this case, "she and I" is absolutely correct.

The problem arises when people use things like this as the object of a sentence. "Dad gave the money to she and I." No he didn't. He gave the money to "her and me." You need the object pronouns here. When in doubt, take out the other person and see what sounds better. "Dad gave the money to I," or, "Dad gave the money to me." The second one is correct. "Dad gave the money to she," or "Dad gave the money to her." Again, it's the second one. It will take practice, because you've learned to apply that "she and I" rule in every case, even where it isn't appropriate. Unlearn the rule.

Writing Mistake #7: Punctuation
Punctuation can be tough, especially if you're not used to writing. There are all kinds of rules to using proper punctuation, but really, it's not as complicated as all that. All you need to do is to read the sentence aloud. Don't worry so much about the "rules" for comma usage - nobody can agree on them anyway. If you naturally pause when reading the sentence, use a comma. At the end of the sentence, insert a period. If it's a question, use a question mark, and if you're excited, use an exclamation point. But do try to refrain from using too many exclamation points... if you use them too often, you start to sound like a loony. In general, one or two for every 10 sentences or so is more than enough.

Writing Mistake #8: Fragments
A sentence needs to make sense. In order to make sense, it has to have a subject and a verb at the very least. This should be common sense for anyone who speaks English, but unfortunately, it's not. Read each sentence by itself. Ignore everything before and after it. If it doesn't make any sense, it's a fragment. There are occasions where fragments can be used for effect, but if you don't have much practice with writing or you are unsure, it's better just to stay away from fragments altogether.

Writing Mistake #9: Caps Lock
DO NOT TYPE WITH THE CAPS LOCK ON. To a reader, it feels as though you're yelling, and that's not fun. Most people would prefer to read an entire page with absolutely no capitalization or punctuation than one sentence that is typed in all capital letters.

Writing Mistake #10: Text blocks
We've all seen them: the huge blocks of rambling text with no white space to be found. This kind of writing is bound to induce migraine headaches in even the most loving readers. Writing should be broken up into smaller paragraphs whenever possible. Most paragraphs really shouldn't be more than 10 sentences, and preferably not more than 5 or 6. If you're having trouble, think of your writing in terms of a television show. If you come to a point where a commercial break would be welcome, insert a paragraph break.

If you find yourself making these mistakes in your writing, I hope that you remember this article and correct the problem. Your writing will improve, and your readers will be grateful for the change.