20 Tips to Improve Your Grammar NOW!

We all know the rules, yet we choose not to use them.

I recall being in an Advanced American Literature class my sophomore year of high school suffering through grammar lessons. Granted, I normally arrived higher than Willie Nelson (which is impossible, so that’s HIGH-perbole), complicating the learning experience. Nevertheless, I hate grammar, and I’m certain I’m not the only person who does.

In this article, you’ll learn twenty simple tips that you’ll never forget, and will forever improve your writing superpowers. We’ll discuss the following points:

1. Who vs. Whom

2. Farther vs. Further

3. Towards vs. Toward

4. I vs. Me

5. Passive vs. Active Voice

6. Affect vs. Effect

7. Peek vs. Peak vs. Pique

8. Less vs. Fewer

9. Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure

10. Semicolons

11. Subject Verb Agreement Errors

12. Commas for Introductory Elements

13. It’s vs. Its

14. Misleading Pronoun Reference

15. Breathe vs. Breath

16. However, Therefore, Moreover

17. Split Infinitives

18. Lie vs. Lay

19. “Could of…” Isn’t a Thing

20. Tautologies (Redundancies)

Who vs. Whom

Without much explanation, there’s a simple rule for these two. Rephrase your sentence into a question, and if the answer is he or she, use who. If the answer is her or him, use whom.

Example:

David fell. Who fell? He did.

David slapped Mike. Whom did David slap? Him.

Farther vs. Further

The debate between further and farther is a relatively new one considering their interchangeability hundreds of years ago. Though, there is a technical usage. Farther is for a physical distance or a measurable distance. New York is farther from England than it is Michigan.

Further is used for unquantifiable distances, more so in an abstract sense. You can further your education, though just how much is arbitrary.

Towards vs. Toward

These are the same thing. Except for the ‘s,’ there is no difference. They both relate to the direction of something; however, in North America the preferred spelling is sans ‘s.’ Towards is a preference in all other English-speaking countries.

I vs. Me

Much like who and whom, I and me have a simple rule to remember. I love hearing someone say, “Can you do this thing for my wife and me?” And their butthead buddy thinks he’s clever, replying, “You mean ‘My wife and I?’” No. He meant my wife and me because when you remove the wife from the sentence, you wouldn’t fix that garage door for I, you’d fix it for me.

Passive vs. Active Voice

Passive voice is used when the subject is a recipient of an action. Active voice is used when the subject performs an action. You’ll often see requests of people saying they want a more “active paragraph,” meaning they want to see the subjects doing things, not being the victim of things.

The nail can be hit by your hammer, held by your hand. Sure. But it’s much less interesting than you pounding the nail with the hammer clutched in your hand!

Affect vs. Effect

Affect is usually a verb, impacting or changing something. I will affect your science experiment by blowing it up.

Effect is usually a noun, typically the product of something affecting another thing. Detonating a bomb in your breadbasket volcano will have negative effects.

Peek vs. Peak vs. Pique

When you peek through the woods and see the mountain’s peak, your interests may be piqued. Make sense?

Less vs. Fewer

Less is used for measurable numbers; whereas, fewer is used for counted things. If you beat me in a race, you either did the race in fewer minutes or in less time, but not less minutes or fewer time.

Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure

To assure is to remove someone’s doubts. To ensure is to guarantee something happens. To insure is to provide insurance. I assure you that I’ll ensure your car is insured.

Semicolons

Unless you’re using them for “however” or words like it, avoid using them. There are many semicolon rules, but here’s mine: they’re pretentious and superfluous. If the two sentences can stand alone, let them.

Subject Verb Agreement Mistakes

Subjects and verbs must always agree with each other, meaning they exist in the same form: singular or plural. “My favorite part of living are…” is incorrect. “My favorite parts of living are…” is correct.

Commas for Introductory Elements

If you haven’t noticed, I love using commas. See that? That little comma changes the way we read that sentence and including a comma after an introductory phrase — a phrase that typically lacks a subject and verb, thus relying on the main clause — reads much smoother. “If you haven’t noticed I love using commas,” seems incomplete. You love using commas, so what?

It’s vs. Its

We’re taught to add the apostrophe for possession. Whose comb is that? It’s Jeffrey’s comb. “It’s” is the exception. “It’s” is the contraction of “it is,” not displaying any possession. Remember: the elephant hit its head. It didn’t hit it is head.

Misleading Pronoun Reference

A misleading pronoun reference, such as that, it, this, or which, in place of a noun can confuse your audience.

“When Serena finally gave birth to her daughter, she was happy to see her.” Who was happy to see whom, the mother or the daughter? You could try, “After Serena gave birth, she was elated to see her newborn daughter.”

Breathe vs. Breath

Breathe is the verb, breath is the noun. You can breathe a breath, but you can’t breath a breathe.

However, Therefore, Moreover

A common mistake I see people make with these is exclusively using a comma to separate their sentence. For instance, “I went to the mall, however, it was too busy to shop.” Because “I went to the mall” and “It was too busy to shop” are independent sentences, commas aren’t acceptable here. There are two right ways to do this.

First, you could leave them as two separate sentences: I went to the mall. It was too busy to shop.

The second option would be: I went to the mall; however, it was too busy to shop.

It’s important that the semicolon comes before the “however,” because you could still separate the two with a period and “However, it was too busy to shop” is still acceptable.

Split Infinitives

I’m excited to share this tip because I learned it for the first time today, instantly realizing how often I put these in my writing. Think of your “to do/to be” verbs, like “I went to shop,” or, “We wanted to play.” Now throw an adverb between the “to” and the verb. “We went to quickly shop.” I see this every day.

While there are no concrete grammar rules prohibiting the use of split infinitives, it’s highly discouraged. Instead of, “We went to quickly shop,” use, “We went to shop quickly,” or, “We went quickly to shop.” Not slapping your adverb in the center of your infinitive makes your sentences flow better.

Lie vs. Lay

Lay requires a subject. You lay something, like laying a fork on a table, or laying your dog on his bed. Lie does not require a subject, so when you lie down at night you can rest assured you used those two correctly. I appreciate a sentence I saw on Grammarly’s website: If you remember to lay your fork down before you’re full, you won’t have to lie down to nap later.

The past tense for each would be laid and lied. I lied down after I laid my kid in bed.

“Could of…” Isn’t a Thing

How often do you here someone say, “I could of done that?” Don’t believe them: they couldn’t have done that. I’m unsure how it’s come about, whether a dialect issue or a fundamental flaw in the way we speak English, but it sounds like we say “could of” when we mean “could’ve” or “could have,” so many of us write the words “could of.” It just ain’t right.

Tautologies (Redundancies)

A tautology is a phrase that expresses the same thing in two different ways. It often seems correct in conversation, but upon further inspection it’s a redundancy that detracts from the power of your words.

Common Error: He clapped with his hands.

Correct: He clapped.

We typically clap with our hands, so cutting the prepositional phrase “with his hands” your making a stronger statement: he clapped!

Note: the one I loathe the most is, “We were in close proximity.” Were you close to the thing or in proximity to it? Make up your darn mind!

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