Hello everyone! Martha Stewart once said, “If you learn something new everyday, you can teach something new everyday”. So we are going to learn some new Common Grammatical Errors.
If you have been following and reading all our previous blogs you have already mastered many of the errors by now and if you haven’t then we suggest you should read part 1, 2 and 3, and those thinking “why bother?”…well…your wish but blame yourself when someone else correct you for a silly Grammar Mistake next time which could have been avoided if you would have read the previous blogs.
Without wasting any more time let us get started.
- Allot vs. A lot vs. Alot
All the three words differ either by some space or by a letter or two but they sound similar. However, they are used for different functions and have different meanings. Let us investigate each word separately.
- A lot: it is formed by a combination of an indefinite article ‘a’ and a noun ‘lot’ (a considerable quantity or extent). The meaning of this word depends on the context but usually it means ‘many’ or ‘to a great extent’
E.g. I have been reading a lot of novels lately.
- Allot: this means to ‘assign as a share or portion’. In simple words, it means ‘to distribute portions’.
E.g. The government has allotted 6 casual leaves, a year, to all the people doing government jobs.
- Alot: It is not a word so don’t use it especially when writing something formal because mistakes like these can leave a really bad impression.
Fun fact check – Alot /Alote is a town in India.
- Into vs. In to
A common error is to confuse ‘Into’, as one word, with ‘In to’. However, if you know the individual meaning of both the words it is easier to decide which should be used.
- Into: It is a preposition which means to the inside or interior of. Into indicates movement or some type of action or change that is taking place.
E.g. She walked into the room.
The caterpillar changed into a butterfly.
- In to: It is an adverb ‘in’ followed by a preposition ‘to’. They are not actually related and only happen to fall next to each other in a sentence. They are just neighbouring words.
E.g. The burglars broke in to rob the house.
- Assure vs. Insure vs. Ensure
People very often use these three words interchangeably and think of them as same. All three do have meanings close to ‘to guarantee or to promise that something is true or something will happen’ but there is a subtle difference in the meaning of the three words. Now worried about the fact that you might have used one word in place of another while writing anything formal? Don’t worry there is a lot of chance that the reader himself might be confused between them and also they are interchangeable in some circumstances.
- Assure: Promise; to say or write the guarantee
E.g. I assure you that the reports will be submitted by tomorrow
- Ensure: Confirm; to do something to make sure or guarantee that something will (or won’t) happen.
E.g. To ensure a good result, follow the given rules.
- Insure: Protect; guarantee something with insurance or other financial instruments.
E.g. According to the news, Priyanka Chopra has insured her lips.
- Compliment vs. Complement
Although the two words have completely different meanings people often get confused and use one in place of another. I think that happens not on purpose but people just don’t remember the spellings as they both sound similar. “I gave her a compliment- or was it ‘complement’ I gave?” Let’s break it down
- Compliment: To praise someone or express admiration.
E.g. I complimented the chef on his delicious food.
- Complement: something that complete, fill up or makes something better by adding itself to it.
E.g. The green colour of her eyes complemented the green dress she was wearing.
- Farther vs. Further
Whether these two words can be used interchangeably or not has been debatable. People use both further and farther to mean ‘more distant’. However, American Native English speakers prefer to use ‘Farther’ for physical distance and ‘further’ for metaphorical or figurative distance. But remember rules don’t always stick.
- Farther: It means ‘at or to a greater distance’.
E.g. The tiniest bird flew farther in the sky while the big ones fell down.
It can also mean ‘a greater extent’ or ‘a more advanced point’
E.g. The farther you are, in the cycle of life, the easier it is to let go.
- Further: It can be used as a verb unlike farther. As a verb, it means “to aid in the progress of, to promote, or to move forward.”
E.g. He would do anything to further his own shares in the company.
As an adjective, it means “more, extended or additional”
E.g. You should contact the head office for further Inquiry.
As an adverb, it means “in addition to”
E.g. Any further attacks of police without a cause would lead to riots.
- ‘Use of Commas’
I have to write a whole new blog on this separate topic on what and where is the correct usage of commas. However, for starters, we can learn some very common uses
- Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by any of these seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, for, yet, nor, so
E.g. The teacher had explained the topic, yet the students were clueless.
- Use commas after introductory clause, phrase or words.
E.g. When the rain stops, I will go outside and play hide and seek with my friends.
- Use a pair of commas in the middle of a sentence to set off clauses, phrases, and words that are not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Use one comma before to indicate the beginning of the pause and one at the end to indicate the end of the pause.
E.g. The house, which burnt down during the war, has been demolished.
- Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases or clauses written in a series.
E.g. The shopping list already has coffee, butter, cheese, and sauce written on it.
That is it for today. We hope you learned something new. Do not forget to revise the old rules every time you learn something new because learning something new and forgetting the older ones is of no use because you didn’t learn at all. We will be back with some new rules in the next blog. Click here for Most Common Grammatical Mistakes (Part – 5).
Thank You.
