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One of the biggest mistakes of internet marketers relates to how they overlook the nuances of the language. Despite our developed expertise on SEO jargons and profound methods of internet marketing, we sometimes make the silliest grammatical errors making an otherwise fine web print go awry. Our efforts in marketing our content are futile if we cannot present them in readable form.
As web marketers and writers, we adapt a conversational tone to make readers understand our message perfectly. What we speak is what we write, and what our readers see is what they hear. I don’t mean to lecture, but this “dumbed-down” version of the written language can only go so far. When you cross the threshold of the frantic grammar police, you will start to lose credibility among your readers and subscribers.
Here are seven critical mistakes that we should avoid in our web prints:
1. There, Their, They’re
Playing with contractions is risky if you quickly type what you think. “There” is a multi-functional word that denotes a point, place or space. Since “there” is used as an adverb, noun, pronoun, or adjective, we woefully abuse the usage of the word making it a possessive pronoun (their) or as a contraction of “they are” (they’re).
Examples:
There – “Why are you going there?”
Their – “Without their help, we can’t get this done”
They’re – “They’re going to the beach this afternoon”
2. Affect and Effect
It could be typo for some, but others make this mistake that stops the reader on its tracks. “Affect” is a verb while “effect” is a noun. Nouns and verbs have different usage. Verbs have a past tense (affected), while we usually put the word “the” before a noun (the effect). The difference in usage should serve as a hint when you encounter these words. Examples:
Affect – “The weather affected our summer holiday”
Effect - “The effect was unbelievable”
3. Than, Then
“Than” is used to compare objects and ideas, while “then” is used to organize events chronologically. Examples:
Than – “Mary is prettier than Linda”
Then – “John’s going to do some shopping and then fill some gas on the way back”
4. Your, You’re
“Your” is a possessive pronoun just like “their”, while “you’re” is a contraction of “you are” just like “they’re”. Examples:
Your – “It’s your problem that you missed out”
You’re – “There’s thirty minutes to go and you’re still here”
5. Its, It’s
Like the point above, “its” is a possessive pronoun. “It’s” is a contraction of “it is”. Examples:
Its – “That dog is a Labrador but I don’t know its name”
It’s – “It’s fascinating how big the universe is”
6. You, Me, I
“You”, “Me”, and “I” are interchanged because the writer is sometimes confused with what he writes. “What can you do for I?” instead of “what can you do for me?” will bring a top quality content many notches down. The thing is, whether you say you and me or you and I, etc depends on whether these personal pronouns function as subjects OR objects in the sentence:
* You and I should go see Africa some time.
* Mrs Jones has said she wants to interview you and me.
Whatever happens, these words should not be interchanged since it is painful to read.
7. P.S. and P.P.S against P.S.S., P.P.S
Have you ever stumbled upon a salesletter or email where the writer uses P.S., P.S.S instead of P.S, P.P.S ?
When we want to add a section to our blogs or web copies, we add P.S. in the end of our articles for effect. However, some writers feel the need to put an extra “S” after the “P.S.” just to be cute. Strictly speaking, P.S. means post scriptum and P.P.S. means post post scriptum, which are critical elements of formal correspondence.
Everyone trips up once in a while. Even I had a fair share of nudges from my editor when I make the same mistakes. Most of these common hiccups can be fixed with careful proofreading and keen observation in finding these mistakes.
Remember that marketing and content go hand in hand. Marketing builds the flair, while content builds the substance.
Do you know of other common grammatical mistakes that we must avoid? Share it with us or give a shout out with your comments.
{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }
Mainly people make mistakes by the web marketers and writers as it may be a reason of speeling a word differently by different people.
True. We need to consider British and American English as well.
My favourite (UK spelling!) infelicity is the wide use of the phrase: “painless drop in the bucket”. As opposed to what? A painful drop in the bucket? What’s that? It’s ugly and it makes no sense.
Maybe we should think about what we write. And avoid cliches like the plague…
Incidentally, a simple way to solve the ‘you and me/I’ problem is to try saying the sentence without the ‘you and’. The choice is then usually clear.
I have been working with Brits for years and the battle for proper english is always raging. One of my favorites is with words like authorise/authorize … personalise/personalize. The brits use “ise” and us yanks use “ize”.
nice post!
Woow!
This are the real errors people make when writing english especially for those with english as their second language.
Well, for me “Errors Corrected!” – Thanks Mr. Tjin
Australians use British English too. I tend to just stick with American English when I’m writing anything online.
Thank you, Thank you! I was beginning to think that, although rich in wealth, these people are poor in intellect. It is appalling to me to have to read a piece with poor spelling or grammar. It’s so easy just to hit that correction tool we have on our computer to make sure we have not made mistakes in our work.
Some good points, the thing I find annoying with regards to the American / English differing of spellings, are two thing.
1 – The failure by, dare I say usually the american side, to realize that the British spellings are not “wrong” or “incorrect”, it’s just different ways.
and 2 – The cross-over some British people do dliberately when writing content for the online world. For example, they may spell it “favor” when the British spelling is “favour”.
Being a Brit myself I don’t mind if anyone spells it favor or favour, to use that same example again.
But at least be proud of your own countries ways, spelling in this case, as well as be tolerant of other nationalities and people’s differing spelling, as well as language, neither is right or wrong.
Just noticed I spelt “realize” in the american english way, look at that for tolerance ;0)
It’s always a good idea to spell check and check for proper grammatical usage before posting or publishing your copy. I will leave a site in a heartbeat when I see bunches of mis-spelled words and butchered grammar.
That being said, English can be a difficult language to write and speak properly, especially if it’s not your native language, but marketers do need to be aware of how their work is being seen and comprehended by their readers.
Aurelius, Thanks for this post.
Seriously! English is not my first language, but nothing aggravates me more than the your/you’re and than/then misuse.
Well done, Aurelius! Too often have I seen the misuse of “lose” and “loose”! BTW, Mr. Silva, that should be “we” Yanks not “us” Yanks. Say it without using the word Yanks and see how clumsy it sounds. While I’m not perfect at all in my speech, I do try to get it right in print. George Carlin made a living pointing out cliches and the
insipid wasting of breath in our use of similies and metaphors instead of saying what we mean! I especially cringe when someone uses stilted writing patterns and screws up tenses and plurals in the process!
Hi Aurelius,
When the author of a piece is not a native English speaker,some mistakes or mis-usage is understandable. The odd mistake by professional writers is also acceptable.
When someone deliberately uses “dumbed down” language, I will immediately turn off or delete.
Respect your reader and they will respect you and hopefully stick around long enough to read what you have to say and buy something.
Maybe I’m biased as a native English speaker from Scotland who is of a certain age
Warm regards.
Ian McLaren
You didn’t mention the “apostrophe S” when it comes to plural nouns. A guaranteed turn-off, that one!
I left a long post a little earlier. It was both informative and, dare I say, witty. Unfortunately, I seem to have entered the wrong code when submitting it, and, unlike other systems, my post was deleted when I was asked to try again.
Perhaps you could look at your system, Aurelius, to prevent this happening again.
Sincerely,
Anthony Harris
G’day Aurelius
That’s a great list! Nothing spells “sloppy” more than such basic errors constantly creeping into copy!
And as you suggest, “sloppy” does little to reinforce any credibility you should be working so hard to establish.
A few years ago the “grammar police” got stuck into me for the occasional US spelling that was in my Aussie content… so now, as far as the UK/US spellings are concerned, I just mix them up to keep everybody happy LOL
Hoo roo for now!
– that’s Aussie for cya later
My long post, or comment, that was deleted, also mentioned the omission of the use of the apostrophe in plural’s (yeh, it should be ‘plurals’). Marketers often use both in the same sales letter.
Go figure.
Anthony Harris
Thanks for posting your comments!
@ Brian – lol, “realize”. Yes, we should all respect anyone whose first language isn’t English.
Spell checkers aren’t as accurate as you think, indeed.
@ Ian – I understand where you’re coming from. I know what that “turned off” feeling feels like.
@ SalesPage Diagnostics – Yes, I could’ve added more but I wanted to make this post open so others can contribute.
@ Anthony – Unfortunately, I can’t find your post in my Wordpress control panel
Sorry buddy. It is annoying to write a long reply and later the system goes all nuts on you. I appreciate you making the effort to comment on that recent post, anyway.
Apostrophes, yes. What about names? “Aurelius’”, “John’s”, “Dogs”, “Days”, etc.
@ Stephen – thanks. Great idea
Aurelius, this is a very valid point, but I think you might have stirred up the proverbial wasp’s nest with this one.
In my personal opinion, the yanks have a whole range of expressions or slang which should be dumped, such as “slam dunk” or “awesome”. And that is mainly because the rest of the world just doesn’t understand what is written.
Fortunately, not all American marketers use language which is of poor quality.
Michael
I also see the loose/lose mistake very often.
To ‘log in’ or ‘log on’, that is the question…
Thanks Aurelius.
WOW! I have been sitting on this problem for ages, without knowing what or where to discuss it. This is great, the way you ‘hit the nail on the head’. I have been turned off so many times, for these same little errors, resulting in lost revenue for the ‘salesman’. Thanks, Aurelius, for bringing this out in the open. Great posts, everyone. Now, can we all DO what we’ve been TALKING about?
Added thought: We Canadians have a triple problem. Do we go with the Yanks, the Brits or the Aussies? That is [also] the question!
@ Michael – Slangs are another thing. I agree with you at a certain point though. We need to becareful that we don’t use too much slang in our copy.
@ Slagup – Yes, I see loose/lose a lot.
@ Austin – I normally just use log in.
@ Vern – Feel free to share anything here
Australians use British English.
It is true that proper grammar is critical, but getting too formal and impersonal is dangerous as well. Your web copy should come across as conversational and not as some lesson on formal English. Some of the bigger names in copy writing suggest having some errors in grammar or wording in order not to lose touch with your target market. This advice depends largely on who you are talking to and what you are talking about.
I think using “Slang” words is a dangerous practice.
While a certain term may be taken as a clever joke in some places,that same or similar word may be extremely offensive in another part of the world.
Trying to look clever by using big words is another one to avoid, especially when used in the wrong context.
Spoonerisms are funny when used in an amusing situation but can stop the reader dead when they crop up due to lack of experience or research by the author.
I see a lot of simple grammatical errors both in emails and salepages all the time. And not necessarily by people to whom English is not their first language. I think these people actually work harder to try and make their grammer correct because they know that their writing is directed to a large majority of people who read and converse in English and their grammer has a big effect on how their writing is perceived. But we all make mistakes once in a while. Hopefully we try to keep them at a minimum.
FINALLY! … Someone has taken the time to point out the frequent spelling and grammatical errors we find online. Thank you, Aurelius!
The sloppy, careless writing I frequently encounter drives me up the wall!
What does this say for today’s education systems? Much is falling between the chairs in teaching students the correct use of our languages, especially English.
I don’t believe I noticed above any mention of the following two common errors:
“You” instead of “Your” … i.e., “Let this be ‘you’ first lesson in proper English grammar.” I’m not sure if it’s laziness, hurried typing, or what … but I often see the ‘r’ missing in the possessive ‘your’.
Another common error is the improper use of “different than”, rather than “different from”. What is someone trying to say, when they say, “I’m different than you”? Does that mean you’re MORE different than I am? Different how?! What is the meaning of ‘different’ in this instance? If you’re making a comparison between two objects or between two individuals, one is ‘different from’ the other, NOT ‘different than’ the other.
Thanks again, Aurelius! (Maybe you and I should Joint Venture a low cost report on proper English grammar and spelling?)
Another common problem is the use of antecedents for pronouns. This makes an article very confusing.
Brian: “spelt” is a type of grain. The past tense of spell is “spelled.”
Vignash: speeling? I think you meant “spelling.” Sometimes it’s easy to make mistakes even in a few sentences.
Ray: There are style books (Chicago Manual of Style, MLA, and APA) that cover the topic in hundreds of pages. It’s a broad topic that takes years of experience to master. There are also several websites that have very good articles on proofreading. However, maybe you can write an article with a different slant. Good luck!
If you know of anyone who needs a freelance proofreader, please have them contact me at buckeyegal@insight.rr.com. Thanks.
Hi Aurelius
Thank you for the post. The spelling errors on sales pages always drive me up the wall, especially ‘your’ and ‘you’re’ and ‘there’ and ‘their’.
Mind you, these errors are often made by successful marketers who probably paid top dollars for copy writing.
So the lesson here is – You can still make money and be a millionaire even if you can’t spell and you can still make lots of money as a copy writer even if you can’t spell.
ps: Anita- spelt and spelled are both past tense of spell, just like learnt and learned.
@ Jason – A valid point there. The style of writing depends on your market. You don’t want to be too formal as you might make yourself look like you’re in a different league than your audience/readers/prospects etc.
@ Ian – Thanks for another contribution. Yes, we all need to becareful we don’t use the wrong words.
@ Paul – Yes, your perspective about a person, product or service may be justified by how they present themselves.
@ Ray – Thanks
I knew it would be a great topic to cover. At the same time, I didn’t want to make this a really strict thing.
You’re right about the “different than”, “different from”. My English isn’t perfect, and I know I had made this same mistake in the past. Thanks for sharing that over-looked grammatical mistake wtih us.
@ Anita – I believe spelt is the past tense of spell for British English speakers. Same thing with learn – both “learnt” and “learned” are grammatically correct and acceptable. Thanks for spotting the little errors
Good to see there’s a freelance proofreader here.
@ Working from home – I know exactly what you’re talking about when you said “these errors are often made by successful marketers…” I know of a few but don’t want to expose their names here.
sorry, aint got no website im just tryin to bild one.i found sum of the comments very interetsin and now i no were to look for sum help wen writin emails and letters.
Seriously, Aurelius, I am appalled at the some of the basic grammatical and spelling mistakes, both U.K. and American English, that I see when perusing online correspondence.
As a proofreader and copy editor for many years in the printing industry (now retired), I welcome any attempt which may help to eradicate some of these basic mistakes. Long may you continue.
P.S. Thought the first paragraph may help some budding proofreader to practice (practise) there, sorry, their proofreading marks!
Nice example, Brian
Some mockery to present an example of bad grammar is ok.
Grammatical errors can be found in some emails and salespages.
What bothers me most is wrong spelling for even simple words
which you may find even in respected gurus’ works. Sometimes,
I think wrong spelling was deliberate as it attracts more
attention.
Thanks,
-Ding F. Arenal
Pitogo, 4308 Quezon, Philippines
I agree with Miguel in that “your/you’re & than/then & lose/loose!” misuse is very aggravating… of course, a simple “spell check” will NOT catch this since the words ARE correctly spelled, however, if you use MS Word (or a similar Word Processor), and include the Grammar Check, it SHOULD suggest alternatives to help you make the correction (for most of this type of errors). I KNOW that it’s extra work, but it doesn’t take too long… and (after all) how much money do you want to make? How high would you like your conversion to be ???
I think that Accuracy is the most important thing! I believe that the “level” of English that you use in any given Sales Letter or Email should reflect the expectations of the target audience!
i.e. Scientists and Graduate students (for instance targeting Medical Doctors or Attorneys) would require a higher level of Grammar, whereas Most of the general Population would appreciate a more relaxed “conversational flow of words”.
@ Anthony -> I have had various forum posts go the same way… It’s VERY frustrating when you just spent 15-30 minutes typing (I’m S-L-O-W) a post and then it disappears into “cyber-space” never to be seen again! I developed the habit a long time ago (for that very reason, of ALWAYS copying my entire Post (including the “Subject”) to the clipboard before attempting to save it! That has saved me untold amounts of frustration over the past few years!
@ Anita -> Actually, I did NOT remember being familiar with “spelt” as a hardy European variety of wheat, (until I looked it up)! However, apparently BOTH spelt & spelled are actually recognized as the Past Simple or Past Participle tense of “Spell” (although I believe that spelled is more commonly used by most Americans). Until I looked this up (just now) I thought that “spelt” was for British English usage ONLY!
Regarding the Use of apostrophes with Proper Names ending in “S”… As a tip for anyone who doesn’t know:
The correct written usage is (I’ll use MY name): the possessive of Chris would be ” Chris’ ” (NOT Chris’s) !!
I should say that is for American English… While I am privy to many of the differences between American & British English, I am NOT sure if the same holds true for British English. Do any of you “Brits” out there know ??
By the way, I hope you don’t mind the constructive criticism, but I believe I found ONE error in your post:
in 5. Its, It’s (the FIRST example):
Its – “Sharks are one of the biggest species in the ocean. Its teeth are sharp.”
I believe that in the second sentence you are referring to the Species (with “its”), but shouldn’t “its” refer to the Subject of the previous sentence? And isn’t that subject “Sharks”?? If so, the second sentence should read: “Their teeth are sharp.”
To Our Success … in LIFE and in Business!
May Your Life ONLY get Better…
from this day forward!
Sincerely,
Chris Roy Jackson
Hi Chris,
Excellent points there!
Oops, you’re right about my bad example there. Thanks for telling me. I’ve
changed it to:
Its – “That dog is a Labrador but I don’t know its name”
Thanks for posting your informative comment.
words and perception! oh my ! Just yesterday I was almost found to be in contempt of court for calling in a animal control officer a Dude
I used it to a disception the Judge went off on me because it was slang he considered it to be disrespect but the American Heritage dictionary in its second deff. states”A conspicuously overdressed manThe man had his hat on a parker and two shirts and a tie and a pocket protector it was 85 degrees. I do not think I was wrong
@ Lily – “dude” … hehe nice one.
A very good article (and interesting posts) but in your P.S. you wrote “Share it to us”. Shouldn’t that be ‘with us’?
My apologies for not clarifying that spelled is the past tense of spell in English, and spelt is the lesser preferred version. Thanks for the update re: British versions.
Thanks for your article Aurelius, a lively topic to raise. It would certainly be nice if grammatical ‘howlers’ could be edited out. I think that they may well be a cause of false-negative reactions to people’s promotional material.
I’m inclined to think that much of the mis-use of grammar, in the plethora of articles and page copy that reach the Internet, is just ‘typo’. Beyond that *theirs* a lot of innocent mis-use which is down to the primacy of English in worldwide communication. Since the vast majority of people using English in communications thesedays are not English, or necessarily from an English-speaking background, it’s not surprising to find a lot of *accepted* mis-usage creeping into the language.
Language inherently changes. Jane Austin wrote beautifully, with excellent punctuation, but she spelled choose: chuse. How would Shakepeare’s English fare in the modern world. Try texting an ode by the light that shines by yonder window dude! We gain a lot of new colouration when language changes; and the challenge is to minimize the drifting of the conventions of language towards literary entropy, when mis-uses become so familiar as to be commonly understood.
Mike’s comment on US / Brit use of -ise / -ize caught my eye. As an ex-POM I always thought that it was the Americans who spelled words like “realize” ‘improperly’ as “realise”. The difference doesn’t stretch across the big pond: it’s down to this: -ise is the French usage, from verbs that end in -iser; and -ize is more classically Latin, from verbs that end in -izare. There ya go…
Hi everyone! I enjoyed reading all your posts and now want to add mine…
A very common mistake is putting the word ‘only’ in the wrong part of a sentence.
As in “We are only offering this for 3 days” it should, of course, be “We are offering this for only 3 days”.
Another common mistake often seen online is ‘Free gift’ In my view all gifts are free, or they wouldn’t be gifts.
Have any of you noticed the frequent use of ‘must of’ when what is really meant is ‘must have’? I’ve tried explaining about the verb ‘to have’ but I think the blank stare told me I wasn’t really being understood.
Well said Ray, about the word ‘different’. People almost always get this wrong. Here in the UK most people say “different to”
Now I’ll see if the system will let me submit this… It’s rejected all my previous posts!
Hey Aurelius,
Another fabulous post, you always explains things
very simply.
Sally
@ Norma – Oh yes, you’re quite right. I just read that last part. I changed it to “with”.
@ Richard – Thanks. lol @ “chuse”. Yes, you’re most certainly right about the American/British grammar.
@ Anne – You’re welcome anytime to post, Anne. Great one — must of/must have. Sorry it rejected your previous posts. It must be the ‘captcha’ plugin that’s playing.
@ Sally – Good to hear from you. Thank you. You’re always welcome.
Aurelius:
Hey, you would not believe how accurate this post is. I run into these spelling and grammatical errors so often – particularly in blog posts where the ‘feel’ of the website is supposed to be relaxed and conversational. However, I cannot help but occasionally get annoyed by what appears to be simple grammatical errors. Hey, we al make them once in a while, but when navigating throughout a site, reading various posts, it gets to be a bit much when you come accross several of the same grammatical mistakes; these mistakes (recurring ones that is) gradually erode the credibility of the author.
Great Post!
Daniel Tetreault
I run an online editing website, and I am on a mission to rid Australian websites of these terrible spelling and grammar errors.
If only more people recognised how irritating sloppy writing is for readers!
Even though we are all incredibly busy these days, delivering a clear, error-free message shouldn’t be ditched in the cause of brevity and speed.
If people are too busy to carefully proofread their own copy, as a courtesy to their readers, they should consider having their text professionally edited before publishing it online.
What I find most appalling is the spelling errors I find in online articles on the topics of writing and editing!
This is interesting ! It reminded me of my school days…my English teacher distributed the list to all students before the exam…well, a lot of us are confusing because the word sounds the same
Thanks for the reminder. With various everyday pressures, text messaging, and so on, it can be easy to make these sort of errors online (and elsewhere) – errors that cab be damaging to one’s online reputation.