Cheat Sheet to Better Writing

Common Confusions
Confused by these similar words? Youre not alone. They create headaches for many writers. There/theyre/their. There refers to place. Theyre means they are. Their means it belongs to them (Their website is beautiful). Then/than. Then is used for if/then statements and sequential statements (First do this, then do that). Than is only used to compare things (greater than, more than, etc.). Its/its. Its is a possessive pronoun, like his or her. Only use its when combining two words (it is or it has). Tip: You dont have an apostrophe on other pronouns (his or hers) so you dont need one for its. Your/youre. Your is a possessive pronoun, like his or her. Tip: If you can substitute his in the sentence and it still makes grammatical sense, then use your; otherwise, its youre. Except/accept. Except refers to an exception (I like her dress, except the big bow on the butt). Accept happens when you receive something (I accept your offer). Affect/effect. Affect refers to influence (He was greatly affected by the movie). Effect refers to cause (The overall effect was powerful). Tip: Effect implies that something was created. He was greatly effected by the movie would imply that the movie created the man. i.e/e.g. I.e. means that is, as in, in other words. E.g. means for example. Insure/ensure/assure. Insure means to cover or underwrite. Ensure means to make certain or guarantee. Assure means to promise, or to make someone feel secure. Farther/further. Farther is strictly distance. Further is conceptual. Loose/lose. Loose means how tight something isnt. Lose is a verb; you can lose a game or a sock. Whose/whos. Whose refers to possession (Whose sock is this?). Its like his or hers. Whos is always a contraction (who is or who has). Insecure/unsecure. Insecure is how you feel; unsecure is how easy something is to break into.

Invalid Words and Phrases

These words and phrases arent real. Dont use themevah. Flush out. No flushing going on. It should be flesh out, as in adding muscle and flesh to a skeleton of an idea. Irregardless. This is an abuse of the word regardless. Should of/could of/would of. Incorrect use of should have/could have/would have. For all intentsive purposes. Mangling of For all intents and purposes. Mute point. Should be Moot point. The points ability to vocalize is irrelevant. All the sudden. Mash up of All the Single Ladies and all of a sudden. Just use one.

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Bad Grammar
Run-on sentences. Separate two independent thoughts with a period, comma, or semicolon. Break up long sentences. Changing tenses. Keep verb tense (past/present/future) the same throughout the paragraph. Me/I/him/he. These get misused when you have two people in the sentence (The movie affected Bob and I). A good test is to remove the other person from the sentence and test it (The movie affected I); if it doesnt work, then you need to change the pronoun (The movie affected Bob and me). Commas: o Dont overuse commas. In general, if you can easily understand a sentence without a comma and the meaning doesnt change, then dont use it. o Use commas to separate adjectives of equal rank. If you can use adjectives interchangeably and insert and between them, they need a comma (Our feet sank in the cold, wet sand.). o Use commas on both sides of a parenthetical phrase (The restaurant, which was just remodeled, was packed.). Semicolons: o Use a semicolon to join two independent clauses (neither clause needs the other to make grammatical sense). o Use a semicolonNOT A COMMAbefore the words however and therefore (I agree with you in principle; however, its not that simple.). Apostrophes. Use ONLY to indicate possession (Bobs widget) or in a contraction (dont, wasnt). NEVER use to indicate plurality (1980s, the Johnsons, bananas only $0.59)

Style Issues
Good writing goes beyond spelling and grammar. Watch out for these stylistic mistakes. Texting/IM abbreviations or slang. These simply arent appropriate in business communication. Your documents can express personality or a human side without slang or texting shorthand. Ampersand (&). Spell out and. Using an ampersand is too casual and can appear a bit lazy. Redundancy. Avoid frequently using the same word or phrase. It sounds weird. Passive voice. As a general rule, use the active voice. Run-on sentences. Run-ons are hard to understand. Break up long sentences into shorter ones.

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