11 Grammar Mistakes to Avoid

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I've often been struck by a common inability of English teachers--at least, those practicing in the US--to distinguish style from substance. This is why it comes as no surprise that a site such as The Apple puts out a list of "11 grammar mistakes" that are, with apologies to Mike Myers and Saturday Night Live, neither grammar nor mistakes. My advice to teachers is much simpler--avoid advice from advice-column grammarians. Every one of the 11 recommendations deals with style, not substance of writing. The recommendations are for avoiding particular elements of style, not substantive grammatical errors. Teachers would be better off to focus on the substance of writing and less on style. Once their students know how to write, they will be ready to learn how to write well.

"Fewer brains"? Seriously? Sigh. If you're going to perpetuate this silly rule, at least get it right. "Brains," in this usage, doesn't mean a number of discrete central nervous systems, but a metonymy for intelligence. As such, it is used as a mass noun (something akin to "brain matter") rather than a count noun, and therefore, according to the rule you're illustrating with the example, it would be "less brains" rather than "fewer brains."

Excuse me while I shed a tear for the English language.

Another important RULE to remember: PLEASE use the case of verbs correctly! Please! For example: Say, "I AM going to the store (NOT "I IS going to the store"). And please say, "She GOES to the store (NOT "She GO to the store"). English verb conjugation (which I hope is still being taught in schools) is: I AM, you ARE; he, she, it IS. And, I GO; you GO; he, she, it GOES. Sincerely, in the Hope of Better Spoken English Language for all Americans, Phil Lacefield

Firstly: To those who object to the whole point of the article on grounds that it's too picky: That other aspects of writing are more important (true) does not mean that grammar does not matter. That the quake in Haiti did much more harm than my failure to use my turn signal yesterday could have does not mean my turn signals don't matter.

The first post stole most of my thunder: Yes, many of the entries are matters of style, not grammar at all. Also, some of the rest are matters of word meaning, not syntax (the way words are combined). I'm not sure if semantics should be considered part of grammar at all (I'm not sure if it it), because it's so much broader in scope.

Does grammar matter only if getting it wrong interfere with communication? Yes--but the little things *DO* matter. They're like a fine grit that gums up the reading process. To clarify, I refer again to the Haiti/turn signal analogy.

If it sounds a little off, however, it will probably not last as a singular form. The trouble with "none" is that it doesn't match the concept of the speaker even though it is the most common choice to express the idea "they aren't there." That "none" probably derived from "not one" is no longer transparent to the speaker. We say "you" today to refer to one person; however, "you" was originally plural, and not only that but it was also the accusative case. The equivalent would be to say "Us is wrong." Language changes and the changes don't always make sense. Most of the "mistakes" discussed in this article are probably changes underway and there will be no stopping them. The English-speaking community is making up its mind about them. One last addition: look at the comma situation. In lists of three or more things, I was taught that there should be a comma between the last two items. I didn't know this was called the Oxford comma, however. Then we went through a time when we were told not to use the comma. Now it is optional. Not the clearest or most consistent guidelines to be found!

One common grammatical error is the comparision of well with good. For example, when asked, "How are you?" A common response is, "I am good." The correct reply should be, " I am well." As a teacher of English Language Learners, part of my job is to teach Standard American English.

If you are going to call a list "11 Grammar Mistakes to Avoid," the list should focus on issues of grammar. The first item about "constipated clauses" and the one about the weasel expressions are issues of style not grammar. The "etc." entry, while addressing grammar, focused mostly on style. In principle, I agree with RainbowButterfly that grammar should mainly before an issue when it interferes with the communication of the message at hand. However, we need to remind our students about register and dialectical style and word choice. As my Bilingualism professor always says, the standard dialect is a dialects with an army and a navy, but it is still only a dialect. We need to focus on making students capable users of multiple level of written and spoken language rather than harping on minor grammar points.