Common mistakes that send red flags to an editor

Notice of meeting date changes: We will meet on November 19th this month due to Thanksgiving. Same time same place: 10:00 A.M. Lady Lake Public Library, Guava St., Lady Lake.

We are not meeting in December, but will resume our regular schedule of meeting monthly 4th Thursday's in January of 2010. Please mark your calendars accordingly.

James Hamilton who writes for the UK's top correspondence college would like to share some common mistakes writers make. 1) Confusing 'its' (meaning belonging to it) with 'it's' (short for it is). The former never requires an apostrophe; the latter always does. 2) Assuming that 'there' at the start of a sentence always takes a singular verb. This mistake comes from the erroneous belief that 'there' is the subject of the sentence, when in fact it is just an adverb. So you should write, 'There is a tree in the town square' but, There are lots of trees in the park.' 3) Confusing 'your' (meaning belonging to you) with 'you're' (short for 'you are'). Example: 'This is your computer' but, 'you're always welcome in this house.' 4) Putting the apostrophe in the wrong place in expressions such as women's refuge and people's choice. Many writers, if they use an apostrophe at all in these constructions, put it after the 's'. This is incorrect. The phrase is short for 'refuge of the women' or 'choice of the people', so the apostrophe needs to go before the 's'.

5) Omitting the vocative comma in speech. When someone is addressed directly in speech, the name (or other term) they are addressed by must always be offset by a comma. You should write, 'What's up, Alan?' or, 'Can you help me, officer?' 6) Here's one that has popped up i critique sessions more than once - confusing 'who' and 'whom'. The former is used in subjective case, the latter in the objective. Thus, you should write, 'Who is driving?' (he is driving), but 'Whom are you following?' (you are following him). In speech and casual writing today 'whom' is falling out of use, but in formal writing such as business reports, the distinction should still be preserved.

Stay tuned, I'll post three or four more common mistakes in my next blog. Hope these have been a good review for you.

Thanks for your suggestions of topics to be addressed in this blog. It's all about helping you reach your writing goals!

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