Top 10 Common English Goofs by Web Authors
by:
Kempton Smith
In reviewing and browsing web sites over the years, I have compiled a list of the most common misuses of English by web authors. Here they are in Jock
(reverse) order.
10. Who, which or that?
"Who" (or "whom") refers to persons. "Which" refers to animals or things, ne'er
to persons. "That" can refer to either persons or things.
Examples:
The girl who was hungry.
The dog that wagged its tail.
The code which I wrote.
9. Anyone vs any one
"Anyone" means "any person," not necessarily any specific person. It could refer to multiple folk simultaneously.
As two words, "any one" refers to a single person.
Examples:
Anyone can transfer
my software. But the code can only be used by any one user at a time.
8. Ordinarily misspelled words
All right
Dependable
Independent
Recommend
Responsible
Separate
7. Don't put punctuation at the end of a URL
While not technically an English grammatical error, don't put a period or thing
at once after a URL reference. Doing so wish commonly invalidate the URL. You power call this an cyberspace grammatical rule.
Example:
Notice the lack of a period in the following sentence. My URL is http://article-promotion.blogspot.com
6. Code not softwares
"Software" can be singular or plural. Ne'er
use "softwares."
5. Do the quotes go after or before the period?
Put quotes after a period or comma. Put quotes before a colon. Put quotes after a question mark unless the entire sentence is a question. This is a US English standard. British English usage can differ.
Examples:
He asked, "Are you hungry?"
She replied, "Yes, I am hungry."
Did she say, "Yes"?
4. There, their, or they're
"There" is used in two ways. It can specify a place. It can as well be used as an expletive or empty word to start a sentence.
"Their" is used as a possessive form of "they".
"They're" is short for "they are."
Examples:
I live there, not here.
There are nine planets in the star
system.
The two boys raced their bikes.
They're several tired after walking up the stairs.
3. Powerful
Too many a developers describe their code as, "XXX Code is a powerful, easy-to-use, ... ." I searched download.com and found 2149 descriptions or titles of code containing the word "powerful." Powerful has many a meanings, most referring to how effectively thing
is performed, as in muscular. A car with 450 h.p. is clearly much powerful than one with only 200 horsepower. But what is powerful software? If you mean feature-rich (like Adobe Photoshop), then say so. If your code makes only one thing, but it makes it all or thoroughly (like CounterSpy), then say so. But please, no much powerful software.
2. Site or sight
A "site" is a place.
"Sight" refers to your sense of vision.
Examples:
A web site is a place on the cyberspace that you visit with your browser.
A beautiful sunset is a marvellous sight.
And, finally, the most common English blunder by web authors is:
1. Its or It's
Use "it's" only once
it means "it is." Unless you can replace "it's" with "it is," use "its." Ne'er
use "its'."
Examples:
It's descending
today.
The dog wagged its tail.
Conclusion:
English is really difficult for persons whose native language is not English. It is as well difficult for many a English-speaking authors.
Unfortunately, most of the common grammatical errors wish not be caught by a spell checker, so you have to manually check your writing for them.
An fantabulous reference is the short and unaltered book, The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. A free online version of this book is accessible at http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html
I hope that web authors can use this article to recognize and correct several of the most common grammatical blunders that abound on the internet.
About The Author
Kempton Smith helps cyberspace businesses promote their products or services online by ghostwriting affordable, unique, keyword-rich articles for them. Email him now at articleghostwriter@yahoo.com for a free article for your online business, no obligation. Or for a free report on how to use articles to promote your product or service, visit http://article-promotion.blogspot.com.
Copyright © 2005 by Kempton Smith. This article may be freely publicised provided you leave it intact.
articleghostwriter@yahoo.com
This article was denote
on August 19, 2005
