The following spelling/grammar/usage mistakes drive me NUTS. When I was a teacher I drilled the rules into my students. I suspect teachers everywhere are drilling these rules into the young, formative minds of their students. And yet I encounter people making these mistakes multiple times, every day. And I'm not talking accidental typos because you're typing too fast. I'm talking people really honestly don't know the rules. ARRRGGHH! (There are many more common errors, but the list below are among the more ubiquitous and egregious.)
THEIR-THEY'RE-THERE
"Their" is a possessive pronoun, as in "That is THEIR house." Note the spelling t-h-e-i-r and not t-h-i-e-r.
"They're" is a contraction, as in the shortened form of "they are," as in "They're going to come over soon."
"There" is for all other uses. "Put it over there." "There is a person at the door."
IT'S-ITS
"It's" is a contraction, as in "it is," as in "It's raining."
"Its" is a possessive pronoun, as in "The dog chased its tail."
GOOD and WELL
When you perform satisfactorily, you say you "did WELL." You do not say you "did GOOD." You can say you "did a good job," using "good" as an adjective. But you do not use "good" as an adverb.
LOSE and LOOSE
If you do not have control of something, you LOSE it, as in "I will hold this tightly so that I do not LOSE it." Or if you do not win, you LOSE. You do not LOOSE a game.
If something is not tight, it is LOOSE, as in "I have to tie up my dog so it does not run LOOSE."
I'm sure I'll think of more...if you think of any, let me know!
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