The English language can be very confusing. Even experienced grammaticians sometimes stumble over it. Here you will find out which one you are using wrongly, how to solve them and which one you can simply ignore.
1. “Me” vs. “I”
This often goes wrong for many. When do I use ‘me’ and when do we use ‘I’. You can solve this quite simply. In a sentence like “Me and my mom went to the shop” you simply take the other person away. In this case it is “my mom”. The next sentence “Me went to the shop” doesn’t sound like that. Because of this you know you have to use “I”.
2. It vs. It’s
Source: ShutterstockIn almost every other form an apostrophe(s) indicates a possession. However, in the case of “It’s” this is not so. The possessing form in this case is “It”. The “s” in this case is attached to it; “The rabbit crawled into its burrow”. In this case “It’s” is an abbreviation of “it is” and has the same use as “wouldn’t”, “don’t” and “shouldn’t”.
3. Who vs. whom
“Who” in English refers to the subject. “Whom” refers to the object in the sentence. If you want to be more clear about this, change the “who/whom” in the sentence to “he/him” or “she/her”.
4. Wrong plural
There are several plural forms in English that do not simply place an “s” behind the singular. Just think of “mouse/mice” or “foot/feet”. However, other words in the plural are exactly the same, like “deer”, “aircraft” or “sheep”.
5. British vs. American spelling
Source: ShutterstockEnglish is a language used worldwide. However, there are several uses, such as British and American spelling. However, there are only a few differences, such as “color” in American and “color” in British. Or “program” in American and “program” in British.
6. To end a sentence with a preposition
This rule may be ignored, although it is still under discussion. “Preposition in Latin means “to place before”. It would therefore be wrong to end a sentence with a preposition.
7. “Good” or “well”
“Good” is often used as an adjective, while “well” is an adverb. Since people always understand what you mean even if you use the words wrong, it’s not something you have to worry about.
8. “Badly” or “bad”
Source: ShutterstockAgain, “bad” is an adjective, while “badly” is an adverb. But again, people understand what you mean, even though you might use the two words interchangeably.
9. Apostrophe on words ending in an S
According to the Oxford Living Dictionary, the use of an apostrophe S is only necessary if you would pronounce this extra “S” when you actually say the sentence. If the word ends with an “S”, it is best to add “es” at the end of the word and add the apostrophe after that.
10. “Could care less”
“I couldn’t care less” is the correct use of this phrase. However, more and more often you see “I couldn’t care less” appear. Professor Stephen Pinker of Harvard thinks this is because “I couldn’t care less” is mainly used as a sarcastic variant which actually means “I couldn’t care less”.
