You will be judged, for your entire life, on the basis of how well you write. If you write well, people will think you are smart. If you write poorly, they will think you are dumb. That is perhaps unfair, but it is the reality, and you might as well face it now.
Anyone can learn to write well, although for some people it does not come easily. Still, there are certain easy lessons that take no great effort to master.
1. Your vs. You’re
Many people make this error, and all it takes to avoid it is to take a second and think about what you’re trying to say.
“Y-o-u-r” is a possessive pronoun, as in “your car” or “your facebook.” “Y-o-u-’-r-e” is a contraction for “you are,” as in “you’re screwing up your writing by using your when you really mean you are.”
2. It’s vs. Its
This is another common mistake. It’s also easily avoided by thinking through what you’re trying to say.
“I-t-’-s” is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” “I-t-s” is a possessive pronoun, as in “this studying has lost its charm.” Here’s an easy rule of thumb—repeat your sentence out loud using “it is” instead. If that sounds goofy, “i-t-s” is likely the correct choice. Another way to keep track is to remember that contractions always have apostrophes, whereas some possessive words, like “yours” or “hers”, do not.
3. There vs. Their
This one seems to trip up everyone occasionally, often as a pure typo. Make sure to watch for it when you proofread.
“T-h-e-r-e” is used many ways, including as a reference to a place (“let’s go there”) or as a pronoun (“there is no hope”). “T-h-e-i-r” is a plural possessive pronoun, as in “their bags” or “their opinions.” Always do the “that’s ours!” test—are you talking about more than one person and something that they possess? If so, “t-h-e-i-r” will get you t-h-e-r-e.
4. Affect vs. Effect
As with any of the other common mistakes people make when writing, it’s taking that moment to get it right that makes the difference in catching this error.
“A-f-f-e-c-t” is a verb, as in “Your ability to communicate clearly will affect your income immensely.” “E-f-f-e-c-t” is a noun, as in “The effect of a parent’s low income on a child’s future is well documented.” By thinking in terms of “the effect,” you can usually sort out which is which, because you can’t stick a “the” in front of a verb.
5. The Dangling Participle
The dangling participle may be the most egregious of the most common writing mistakes. Not only will this error damage the flow of your writing, it can also make it impossible for someone to understand what you’re trying to say.
Check out these two examples :
After rotting in the cellar for weeks, my brother brought up some oranges.
Umm… keep your decomposing brother away from me!
Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee.
If you said that to the football player's face just the way it's phrased, you could end up a bloody lump of pulp lying on the astroturf, because he might conclude you think he "flits gaily," a thing most people in his profession don't do, at least in public.
The problem with both of the above is that the participial phrase that begins the sentence is not intended to modify what follows next in the sentence. However, readers mentally expect it to work that way, so your opening phrase should always modify what immediately follows. If it doesn’t, you’ve left the participle dangling, as well as your readers.