Two Essential Problems to Avoid When Writing Your Blog
When you visit another person’s blog site that you are eager to investigate to read some pertinent information on a certain subject matter, what turns you off more than any other mistake the blog writer makes? It usually has to do with either the blog layout itself or the blog writer’s bad grammar or spelling errors, right? Don’t make that same mistake. Always check your content pages for a nice flow to your content, not just the content itself.
GRAMMAR
Most of the common mistakes that are made by web writers originate with using incorrect grammar. You need to stop writing at times and think about HOW you are using a word instead of WHY you have chosen it. For example, when you are using “affect” as opposed to “affect”, you need to remember that “affect” is a verb that means “to influence”. “Effect” is a noun that is defined as “a result of something”, an entirely different meaning altogether.
A huge topic of contention between editors is the usage of “that” as opposed to “which”. I believe that if the sentence you are using these words in sounds better when you separate them by a comma, always go with “which”.
PUNCTUATION
These errors should be easy to catch when it comes to blog writers, but always make sure to double check your work before submitting your pages to be published. The most common punctuation error is using “it’s” when “its” should be used instead. Remember that “it’s” is a contraction for “it is” or “it has” when using this word.
Another huge common punctuation error is using “they’re” instead of “their”. “They’re” should only be used when you are referencing something that more than one person is doing, for example: “They’re the only football players that never allowed for one touchdown the entire season.” When you are using “their” in a sentence, you are describing the person who owns something. A good example: “The group of women that belong to the Valentine Social Club keep their belongings in the club’s storage area.”
By following these rules by the book, you should be able to decrease your overall writing errors by at least 30% within a month’s time.
Ken | October 1st, 2007 at 5:43 pm #
Are you aware of any good software besides Office that can check for both spelling and grammar?
Chris Coyier | October 1st, 2007 at 7:25 pm #
I think you committed one of your own essential mistakes to avoid =)
You do make a good point though.
Michael Martine | October 1st, 2007 at 8:21 pm #
Some good points, and a year ago I would’ve agreed completely. Here’s why I’m starting to think differently: 1) I’ve noticed more blogs written by people in English, but for whom English is a second language. They make all kinds of crazy mistakes that are very different than what you mention. 2) I think ShoeMoney proves you can be awesome even if your grammar isn’t. Even Darren Rowse of ProBlogger still can’t get “its” and “it’s” usage correct. But nobody’s going to stop reading ProBlogger because of that.
That’s my take on things. Of course we should bother with correct grammar and spelling as best as we can, and for that, your post contains excellent tips.
Todd K. Edwards | October 1st, 2007 at 9:24 pm #
That’s for the English Brush up! I am guilty of all those mistakes mention above!
I will keep this post in mind!
Andrew | October 1st, 2007 at 11:02 pm #
Awesome post.
Hate to point this out but..
You just did what you told us not to do.
“For example, when you are using “affect” as opposed to “affect”,”
I guess incorrect grammar gets us all sometimes.
;o)
Rob Mead (Post Author) | October 2nd, 2007 at 1:28 pm #
I am not aware of any software besides Word that will correct spelling and grammar, maybe somebody else out there does? I did just notice the “affect” duplication in my content- it is way too easy to mess up for damn sure! I’ll have to check my next blog three times more precisely for grammatical errors, which does tend to occur more times than spelling errors in most people’s blog content pages.
Nancy Lemmon | October 3rd, 2007 at 5:51 am #
I congratulate you for addressing one of my pet peeves about web sites in general, not just blog sites. To me, nothing discredits the veracity of a web page’s content more quickly than grammatical errors or misspelled words. None of us is perfect, however, which is why pencils have erasers.
It’s true that rules for grammar and punctuation sometimes change, through common usage, but let’s not accelerate this process by proliferating incorrect usage!
In your section on grammar, you state: A huge topic of contention between editors is the usage of “that” as opposed to “which”. I believe that if the sentence you are using these words in sounds better when you separate them by a comma, always go with “which”. You would be more correct in stating your comment like this: “I believe that if a sentence in which you are using these words sounds better when you separate them with a comma, always use, “which.”
In the section on punctuation, you wrote: Another huge common punctuation error is using “they’re” instead of “their”. “They’re” should only be used when you are referencing something that more than one person is doing, for example: “They’re the only football players that never allowed for one touchdown the entire season.” Here, you should have pointed out that, “they’re,” is a contraction of the words, “they are.” Also, your example is grammatically incorrect. It should read, “They’re the only football players who never allowed one touchdown for the entire season.”
I would also suggest trying to avoid over-usage of adjectives such as, “huge.” You could have stated this idea more succinctly, like this: “Another frequent punctuation error is substituting, “they’re,” for, “their.” Please note that words set in quotation marks within a sentence should be preceded by a comma.