Five Common Grammar Errors in Blogs 

Blogging, like good copywriting, should always be in a conversational style. There is a need to be personal and to communicate as if the blogger is addressing a close friend. This does not mean grammar errors would be excused and neglected. Many blogs fail to attain and secure the credibility they aim due to the writers’ inability to avoid and correct common grammatical pitfalls. 

It is obvious that many bloggers routinely end many sentences with prepositions, improperly use punctuation marks, or dangle modifiers inappropriately. Such grammar and usage mistakes often detract credibility. If you want more people to link or subscribe to your blog, prevent these five common and dumb mistakes in writing. 

First, be mindful of the use of ‘your’ and ‘you’re.’ Remember that ‘your’ is strictly a possessive pronoun, whereas ‘you’re’ is just a contraction of ‘you are.’ You should not say ‘Your a beautiful person,’ or ‘I want to see you’re pet.’ Many bloggers overlook this. The result, many readers are offended as they think bloggers take them as dumb people. Many blogs also fail to command respect and credibility because of the constant appearance of this problem. 

Second, avoid being troubled by the use of ‘it’s’ and ‘its.’ To avoid  this common mistake, think through the message you intend to say. ‘It’s’ is a strict contraction of ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ so use it as such. On the other hand, ‘its’ is a mere possessive pronoun (third person). To help you prevent this mistake, read aloud your sentence and use ‘it is’ to replace ‘it’s’ or ‘its.’ Doing so could help you identify the presence of the problem in your copy. 

Third, do not use ‘there’ instead of ‘their.’ Both are pronouns, but they are of different uses, though they may sound the same. ‘There’ should be used as a reference (as in ‘Put the book there.’) and as a pronoun (as in ‘There is the object of your desire.’) ‘Their’ is the plural form of possessive pronoun (third person). You say ‘Their class was suspended,’ instead of ‘There class was suspended.’ This could be very simple, but amazingly, many blogs frequently commit the same mistake. 

Fourth, observe the proper use of ‘affect’ and ‘effect.’ This could be a little confusing so it is not surprising that many bloggers are caught in the web of trouble. Take a moment to re-consider your sentence to make sure you are using the words appropriately and correctly. ‘Affect’ is used as a verb, while ‘effect’ is its noun form. To illustrate: ‘The power interruption would affect the flow of the meeting.’ ‘The possible effect of the power interruption is not known to many.’ 

Lastly, observe the dangling principle if you want to make sure your blog is free from any grammar problem. This could also be confusing because use of dangling modifiers surely could be troublesome, to begin with. This mistake damages correct flow of writing and affects overall comprehensibility. To illustrate, take this sentence as example: ‘After rotting in the attic for days, my sister threw some of the mangoes.’ The sentence when taken literally could mean the sister rotted for days, instead of the mangoes. To correct this, you should say, ‘My sister threw some of the mangoes that have already rotten in the attic.’


