Common Grammar Mistakes

Plural vs. Possessive

When a noun is possessive, you must put an apostrophe before the "s"

The bands lead singer is very deep and mesmerizing. The bands set lasted at least two and a half hours.

The lady in front of me dropped her sunglasses and I had to ask if it was her’s.

My friend’s hilarious.

Comma Splices

A comma splice results from placing only a comma between clauses.

A clause is a group of words containing a subject and predicate

Both of us are planning to major in history.

I'm smarter than he is, though.

Both of us are planning to major in history, I'm smarter than him.

Link the clauses using a conjunction.

Both of us are planning to major in history, but I'm smarter than him.

Or, link the clauses with a semicolon

Both of us are planning to major in history; I'm smarter than him.

I got up feeling bad, I feel even worse now.

Many developing countries have very high birthrates therefore most of their citizens are young.

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Hyphens

Compound nouns

• a compound noun uses two or more words to name a person, place, thing, or idea.
• You sill have to refer to the dictionary to find out if a compound noun is hyphenated, one word, or two words

Compound nouns:

• brotherinlaw
• selfinterst
• highschool
• paperweight
• firefighter

Use a hyphen in a compound adj. beginning with an adverb such as better, best, ill, lower, little, or well when the adjective precedes a noun

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• better prepared president
• best known work
• ill informed reporter
• well dressed announcer

But do not use a hyphen when the compound adj. comes after the noun it modifies

The ambassador was better prepared than the other delegates.

Do not use a hyphen in a compound adj. beginning with an adverb ending in -ly or with too, very, or much

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• thoughtfully presented thesis
• too hasty judgment
• very contrived polot

Use a hyphen in a compound adj. ending with the present participle (e.g., loving) or the past participle (e.g., inspired) of a verb when the adj. precedes a noun.

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• sports loving crowd
• fear inspired loyalty

use hyphens in other compound adj. before nouns to prevent misreading.

Portuguese language student