![]() One is a preposition, another is an adverb and the other is a number. These three words sound exactly the same, however, that is all they have in common. Say the sentence aloud in your head, if you are showing ownership it’s “your”, for everything else it’s “you’re.” 6. ![]() you would use the contraction “you’re.” Please let me know if you’re interested in buying this poodle, which can also be written as, Please let me know if you are interested in buying this poodle. If however you would like to say that a person is doing something or is going somewhere etc. As in, I think someone is trying to steal your poodle. If you are trying to say someone owns an item you would use “your”. One denotes possession and the other is a contraction. Your/you’reĪs much as these two words seem the same they are not. The key is whether you can quantify what you’re talking about, if not you’re best to use “less.” 5. Another great example comes from a comparison between people, you can have fewer people, but can only have less of a crowd. You can only use the express checkout if you have 15 items or fewer. Whereas “fewer” is used for a knowable quantity, e.g. “Less” is used exclusively for unknowable quantities, for example Jacob put in less effort this year than last year. ![]() Fewer or Lessĭon’t believe what you read at the supermarket checkout, the express aisle that requires 15 items or less is grammatically incorrect. If you’re deciding which one to use, first think about your sentence, are you trying to show possession, where something is, or are you contracting two words? Once you have the answer, you’ll know which one to use. Finally “they’re” is a contraction of the words “they” and “are,” they’re not answering the phone, which can be written as they are not answering the phone. “Their” is the possessive form of “they,” we tried to find their house. When selecting the right there/their/they’re, remember “there” is an adverb and is used to draw attention to a person, place or thing, we stayed there for six days. These three words are homophones and all sound the same, however, their meanings are not and if you use the wrong one in your writing you’ll probably lose some credibility. The reason is because the first sound in uniform is a “you” sound, which is a consonant – hence “an.” Keep this in mind the next time you find yourself wondering which indefinite article to use. However, if you were referring to a particular uniform, you would say a uniform I saw last week. The actual rule works a little more like this: if the first sound of the word is a vowel sound, use “an,” if the first sound is a consonant use “a.” So if you were referring to a station in the underground, you would say an underground station. Who can remember being told this indefinite article rule when they were first learning English: always use “an” if the next word starts with a vowel, and always use “a” if the next word starts with a consonant. The indefinite article conundrum – “a” or “an” A trick to decide whether you need “that” or “which” is to remove the part of the sentence that comes after the pronoun (which or that), if your sentence still makes sense, use “which.” 2. If you are using “which,” you should always include a comma before the “which”. Charlie will only drink dairy milk, which he buys from the store. If however you wanted to introduce non-essential qualifiers you would use the pronoun “which”. In this example the information about “a cow” is essential to the rest of the sentence as the meaning is changed without it. Charlie doesn’t trust milk that isn’t from a cow. “That” is a restrictive pronoun meaning it is vital to the noun to which it is referring. At first these two words seem interchangeable, however, they aren’t. This has to be one of the most common mistakes when it comes to writing in English. ![]() Below you’ll find a list of common mistakes people make and some simple tips to keep in mind to avoid them. However, there’s no need to stress as we’re here to help. With so many different rules, exceptions to the rules and unruly punctuation marks, English can seem like a minefield. At least it may seem that way to newcomers. Welcome to the English language where the rules are confusing and your understanding of logic doesn’t matter. So here are 11 common English mistakes that you'll hopefully never make again. I think an important aspect that can be overlooked when applying for jobs is, grammar and correct word usage. A throw back to when I used to write job advice for a living.
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