Seven Common English Errors Every Proofreader Should Look For
1 Me, Myself and I
"If you would like help with your homework, see your teacher or myself. We are more than happy to help." This is wrong because the word 'myself' should only be used when the sentence includes the word 'I'.
2 Apostrophes - When should they be used? The one area of punctuation that seems to cause people the most problem is apostrophes. Use apostrophes where the word is shortened. I.e., Is not becomes Isn't. Does not becomes doesn't will not becomes won't. Also, apostrophes are used to express possession. I.e., The man's car. The lady's shoe. The cat's bed.
When should apostrophes NOT be used.
Do not use an apostrophe when the plural of a name is being used.
I.e., The Swifts are always early. NOT The Swifts' are always early.
For the word ITS. ONLY use an apostrophe if IT'S should be IT IS.
3 That versus Which
There is an easy rule when the word 'that' should be used and when the word 'which' should be used.
'That' is used when what is going to follow, is vital to the understanding of the sentence.
I.e., Jo Swift Proofreading Services is a service that always delivers promptly.
'Which is used when what is coming in the sentence is NOT important. If you are going to use the word 'which' in a sentence, it should always be preceded by a comma.
I.e., Jo Swift Proofreading Services is very conscienctious, which means that your work will be accurate.
4 Who and Whom
The words who and whom are very easily mixed up. People tend to use the word 'who' when they actually mean 'whom'.
The word 'who' means I and the word 'whom' means me.
For Example:
"Who is going to do the dishes this evening?"
"The dishes are going to be done by whom this evening?"
5 Would Have
These two words are used a lot of times by people in conversation in the wrong context.
I.e., If I would have been there, then you wouldn't have had that accident.
This should be, If I had been there, then you wouldn't have had that accident.
I.e., If you would have seen what the cat was doing you would have laughed. This should be, If you had seen what the cat was doing you would have laughed.
Extracted from Vappingo.com- credit to them for an excellent post!
