Do you make common grammar mistakes? Your not alone!

By: Cole Buergi, Leonard & Finco Public Relations 

Of course, “your” is spelled incorrectly for its use in the sentence above. It should be, “you’re.” This word is one of my Achilles heals in writing. I know the difference between your and you’re but, for some reason, my brain doesn’t always translate that to my fingers when typing. 

Fortunately, a recent story in Inc. Magazine makes me feel a bit better about it. The story titled, “43 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes even Smart People Make,” highlights common spelling or speaking errors.

The top five include:

1. First-come, first-serve

It should actually be "served." Without the d, the phrase above suggests that the first individual who arrives will be the one who serves everyone, which is not the idiom's intent.

2. I could care less

Think about this one for a minute. The way it's written above suggests you possess care which still could be allocated to the situation in question. "I couldn't care less" is correct because it communicates that "I have no more care to give."

3. Irregardless

This is not a word. It's simply "regardless," as in "Regardless of what you think about grammar, you'll look silly if you use it incorrectly."

4. "I" as the last word in a sentence.

This mistake is remarkably common, yet a correct example would be "Karlee talked with Brandon and me." The trick to getting this one straight is to take the other person's name out of the sentence and see if your personal pronoun choice still sounds right. "Karlee talked with I" is awkward and incorrect.

5. "Me" as the first word in a sentence.

I hear people saying things such as "Me and Brandon met at Starbucks this morning" all the time, even though it's always wrong. "Brandon and I met at Starbucks this morning" is correct.

You can check out the full list on Inc. Magazine’s website. Are there any on the list that you’ve written or said incorrectly?

Unfortunately for me, your and you’re didn’t make the list, however I’m pretty confident it would have been number 44 had the list been expanded. Thanks Inc. for making me feel a bit better.