Six Grammar Mistakes That Drive Me Crazy

Everyone's heard of the self-proclaimed "Grammar Nazis". While I cannot claim to feel my teeth grind every time I see or hear a grammar error (heck, I know my own writing is not perfect), there are a few writing mistakes that drive me nuts. I've seen some of these in self-published works, and they were common in my undergraduate writing courses.

1. Their, There, and They're. 
• Their indicates possession.  
• He is their dog.
• There can indicate a place (real or abstract) or indicate the existence of something with the verb "be".   
• Please don't leave your shoes there.  
•  There are some apples on the table.  
• There is no one here. 
• They're is a contraction meaning they are and can only be used as a subject and verb.  
•  They're coming for dinner tonight.  
• Don't let me forget they're meeting us at the movies.
2. Commas. It seems like when people are in doubt, they use a comma.  Please use commas in the following instances and avoid them otherwise.
•  To separate items in a series.
• Jan, Max, and Phillip went to the game.
• Before a conjunction to connect two independent clauses.
• I drove to her house, but she wasn't there.
• To separate introductory clauses.
• When he got to work, he realized he forgot to lock his doors.
• NOTE: flipping the clauses would eliminate the need for a comma: "He realized he forgot to lock his doors when he got to work".
• After introductory words.
• Yes, I will pick her up at eight.
•  See Purdue Online Writing Lab for further instructions and examples. Others will thank you!
3. Then and Than. 
• Then is associated with time.   
• We ate dinner, then we saw a movie.
• Than provides comparison.   
• She is taller than me. 
4. Its and It's.
• It's is a contraction meaning it is.   
• It's my birthday.   
• Its indicates possession. 
• Its fur sure looks dirty.
5.  Punctuation and Quotation Marks.
• Commas and periods go inside quotation marks unless they are followed by citations.
• Colons and semi-colons go outside quotation marks.
• Question marks and exclamations are more tricky.  If they apply to the quotation only, they go inside the quotation marks.  If they apply to the whole sentence, they go outside the quotation marks.  I know this is one I always have to look up for clarification.
• See Purdue Online Writing Lab for detailed information on quotation marks in general.
6.  The Apostrophe.
• Just please review these guidelines for using apostrophes to create plurals or possessives. 
• Or check out this comic: How To Use An Apostrophe. 

If you're looking for a little humor on the topic, visit The Oatmeal's "Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling."

At times I need reminders for commas and quotations, so it's important to have resource handy in case you just don't know proper use. I highly recommend the Purdue Online Writing Lab for any questions relating to citation and grammar. Visit for a quick review whenever you are in doubt or just need a refresher.

Are there any common mistakes you see others making?  What mistakes drive you nuts?

A Beginning Poet's Assets

Poetry takes many different forms.  Meter, syllable count, rhythm, and literal shapes are combined in endless ways, or even avoided completely, to create poetic pieces.  Line breaks, organization, and white space can be used to change or create meaning in a poem.  Although my main goal is to write fiction, I find poetry writing a great exercise because it often heavily utilizes many literary devices that are beneficial to both forms.  During a recent poetry writing workshop with Southern New Hampshire University, I found the following resources most important to my writing process.


The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics
A full spectrum of poetry information sorted alphabetically for easy navigation.  From poetic movements to terminology, the site a great first resource for poetry knowledge.

Shadow Poetry - A Poet's Writing Resource
Shadow Poetry explores poetic figures of speech, forms, mechanics, and terms.  The site provides definitions and examples, a poetry guide, a poetry handbook, and a word challenge poetry competition.  The numerous forms of poetry discussed and explained will prove a great resource to a poet looking to stretch out of their comfort zone, challenge their abilities, or simply learn new forms by which to express their poetic ability.

Rhymer by WriteExpress
A free rhyming dictionary that allows you to search for rhyming words by beginning rhyme, end rhyme, first syllable rhyme, last syllable rhyme, and double rhyme.  The free online version is limited, but very helpful.

Thesaurus
Find synonyms and antonyms for words.  The search breaks words down by definition, part of speech, and the directly related synonyms and antonyms for each one.  A simple click of one word will bring you to the same break down for the selected word.  Sometimes in poetry you need to express things differently from your initial wording and a thesaurus is necessary to really explore your options unless, of course, you're a walking dictionary and thesaurus.

VirtualSalt: A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
A list of 60 rhetorical devices to spice up your writing with definitions and examples for terms such as alliteration, anaphora, assonance, oxymoron, metaphor, personification, etc. 

How Many Syllables
Simple syllable counter for those words you aren't too sure about. 

The Writing Journal: Practice, Practice, Practice!

When teaching and developing literacy in children, the most important tool at a teacher's or parent's disposal is practice.  PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.  The more students practice writing, the better their writing becomes because they learn what works and what doesn't through hands-on assignments, especially with the proper guidance.  Journaling provides vital practice to young students, and it should become apart of your daily routine as well.  

The best tool at an aspiring writer's disposal is a journal.  Electronic or paper, whatever.  Write about your day, express your feelings, complain about the jerk who cut you off in traffic.  Write down ideas as they come, brainstorm for something you're currently writing, create simple poetry.  Write short stories, complete writing exercises, describe that character or scene you just can't get out of your head.  It doesn't matter what you write, just that you write.  Pick a certain time of the day and write as little or as much as you like but make sure that you write consistently.


I have a notebook at work and at home, but I also use features on my iPhone when I don't have a pen or have a thought I'd like to remember later.  My tendency to think of things when lying in bed at night has made this essential; after all, I can't write very legibly without a light (especially if it's long), so my phone is the perfect solution.  I cannot begin to count the number of ideas, sentences, characters, etc, that were lost due to the dark midnight hour.  What can I say? My muse is a night owl!

When you get to the point that you're writing creatively on a daily basis, I suggest "upgrading" to a writer's journal.  While there's no requirement to completely abandon the original journal, a writer's journal is important because it focuses on what you're writing.  Specifically, it provides a special place to document your journey and keep ideas, notes, and research that you can refer to as long as you write.  Explore thoughts and feelings related to characters, scenes, or plots.  React to your own work.  Flesh out histories, settings, or descriptions.  Create a journal entry as the character you're working on.  Make notes on where to pick up tomorrow.  Ultimately, the way you use your writing journal is up to you.  Use it to the fullest extent because you never know when something old might complement and infuse energy into something new.

What If? You need some inspiration and practice...

During my undergraduate career, I took a course in fiction writing that left me with a textbook I highly recommend for any fiction author.



Available on Amazon for about $50, What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers (3rd Edition) is a great investment if you'd like a ton of writing exercises that focus on different important elements of creative writing including beginnings, character development, voice, dialogue, plot, etc.  The authors also guide you with pointers with each exercise that are very helpful and often result in an "Ah-hah" moment if its an element where you were previously stuck.  In fact, you'll probably see me refer to this book often in some of the exercises I share on this blog.  If $50 is out of your price range, you can also purchase the 2nd edition for about $20 on eBay as I'm sure it's not too different.

Please feel free to offer any other book suggestions in the comments.