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Many people use a lot, alot, or even allot to indicate a large number or quantity of something. In this article, I will attempt to unravel the apparent confusion over which one of these expressions should be used in a particular instance. I will also explain the differences between formal and informal usages regarding these concepts.

To begin with, there is no such word as alot - it is not even in the dictionary, and the few credible online sources that address its usage indicate that it is considered substandard or nonstandard English. Interestingly, I discovered earlier today that there is actually a town in India called Alot (capitalized), but this is a proper noun and has nothing to do with the general concept of “a lot”. Therefore, unless you’re referring to the town, alot should never be used in written English.

Meanwhile, a lot is an informal expression that is commonly used to mean “a large number”, “a large quantity”, or occasionally “often”. It is one of those phrases that is usually acceptable in spoken conversation but should not be used in any type of formal writing or journalism. If you’re writing anything formal or semi-formal, it is better to use the words much, many, or often in place of a lot depending on the context of the sentence. As a general guide, use many if what you are referring to can be counted as separate units, much if it cannot. Use often if you simply mean “frequently”. Here are some examples to illustrate the proper usage:

1. We import a lot of oil from Saudi Arabia. (informal)
2. We import much oil from Saudi Arabia. (formal, standard)
   
   
   
   

3. We import a lot of barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia. (informal, rather awkward)
4. We import many barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia. (standard, much better)
   
   
   
   

5. We seem to import oil a lot from Saudi Arabia. (informal)
6. We seem to import oil often from Saudi Arabia. (standard)

Finally, although the word allot is sometimes used as a misspelling of a lot, it actually means to allocate, apportion, or parcel out. It is always used as a verb. For example:

1. The market research company chooses to allot five dollars to every member who qualifies and successfully completes its surveys.
2. The United States Constitution provides that we allot two senators for each state so that they have some measure of equal representation in Congress.

Now we can look at examples of incorrect vs. correct usage:

Incorrect: Do you spend alot of time changing between numerous profiles? — Yahoo Answers question, posted by “Twigs”

Correct: Do you spend a lot of time changing between numerous profiles?

Incorrect: My cat used to do this alot. Its no problem at all. She probably likes you alot. Yahoo Answers response by “lightworker27″

Correct: My cat used to do this often. It is not a problem; she probably likes you very much.

Incorrect: If you alot a certain amount for one thing that you really don’t spend as much on monthly, alot the money to something that you are always falling short on. — Yahoo Answers response by “Dave O”

Correct: If you allot a certain amount for one thing that you really don’t spend as much on monthly, then allot the money to an an item in your budget for which you always seem to have insufficient funds.

Incorrect: I have researched allot of different ways to make money and what I found out is that most of them are scams. — “Making money From Home” page at opportunities4yousite.com

Correct: I have researched many different ways to make money and have found out that most of them are scams.

Quick Summary: Never use alot, use allot for allocations, and use a lot if you are in an informal setting. Otherwise use much, many, or often depending on the context of the sentence.

During the past week, I have encountered three separate instances of lead vs. led usage errors. Normally this would not be Earth-shattering news, but what surprised me was that in each instance, the error was contained in a public press release that was presumably vetted by professional proofreaders or copyeditors before being published. Moreover, the organizations in question — one of which was a well-known affiliate network –were large and well-established enough to be expected to follow standard English guidelines when it comes to public correspondence.

Naturally, seeing the prevalence of these errors has led (not lead) me to our next English lesson. First I will deal with the different meanings of lead:

As a verb, pronounced LEED:

• To show the way; guide, conduct, direct, steer, or escort.
• To proceed on a course or for a certain distance, often used in reference to roads, pathways, and the like; extend, reach, go on.
• To be in a position of authority, take command of something, or play an executive role of some sort.
• To pass through in a certain way, usually used in reference to a person’s life.
• To begin with some type of introduction or preamble, often used in reference to written works; introduce, precede, preface.

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Recently I have been seeing the two homonyms roll and role used incorrectly on forums and message boards, so in this week’s lesson I will explain the distinctions in their meanings so that readers can avoid confusion. The word roll has many meanings - some dictionaries list more than twenty - and can be used as either a noun or a verb. In the interests of time and brevity, I will quickly review the most common, easily distinguished meanings here:

When used as a verb:

• To move something forward along a surface by repeatedly turning it over or revolving it on its axis, as in rolling a ball across the floor or rolling a boulder down a hill.
• To travel or move somewhere while on wheels, as in rolling down the street on a bicycle, scooter, skates, etc.
• To wrap around into a cylindrical shape, as in “roll a cigarette” or “roll up the poster”.
• To begin operation or movement, often used in media-related expressions such as “roll the cameras” or “roll the presses”.
• To recur or move forward in time, as in “the days rolled along” or “January rolled around again”.
• To lean or rock from side to side, usually used in reference to ships or airplanes.
• To lay out, extend, or flatten something on a surface; one can roll out a ball of yarn, roll out some rope, or roll out a piece of dough.
• In gambling or board games, to start a player’s turn by throwing one or more dice; used in the expression “roll the dice”.
• To play a prank on or trick someone, as in “rick rolling“.

When used as a noun:

• The act of rotating something around its axis or turning it over.
• Something that is wound or coiled up into a cylindrical shape, such as a roll of toilet paper, a roll of tape, or a roll of cloth.
• An official list of people’s names that belong to a certain group; a roster.
• A small, rounded piece of bread, usually served as an accompaniment to a meal.
• A maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation about its longitudinal axis without changing direction or losing altitude.
• In music, a series of short blows on a percussion instrument, as in a drum roll.
• In gaming, a single throw of the dice.

For role, things are not nearly as complicated. There are only two commonly used meanings:

• A character or part played by a performer; may be used in reference to movies, plays, or any other type of theatrical performance. It may also refer to certain types of gaming (RPG is an acronym for role-playing game).
• A person’s expected function or behavior pattern; may be used in reference to a specific situation or the overall society.

Now we can look at some cases where people are prone to mix up the two spellings:

Incorrect: An RPG [Roll Playing Game, not rocket propelled grenade] based on the Columbine massacre — post title of the January 13, 2007 entry at VisualConsumer.blogspot.com

Correct: An RPG (Role Playing Game, not Rocket Propelled Grenade) based on the Columbine massacre

Incorrect: Pancakes Play a Starring Roll at Gingham’s But the Supporting Cast Struggles — Title of an article by Ann Lemons at SauceMagazine.com

Correct: Pancakes Play a Starring Role at Gingham’s But the Supporting Cast Struggles

Incorrect: The seafood platter included fried clams, 2 fish fillets, maryland style crabcake and 3 jumbo fried shrimp with fries cole slaw and dinner role for a $12.99 price tag. — user “dkrizer”, attempting to write a review of Ogei’s Grill at Restaurantica.com

Correct: The seafood platter included fried clams, two fish fillets, a Maryland style crab cake, three jumbo fried shrimp, fries, coleslaw, and a dinner roll for $12.99.

Incorrect: Author Lisa Belkin opens with a confession that once, long long ago, she snitched a role of toilet paper from the restroom of the company she worked for. — Karen Burns at KarenBurnsWorkingGirl.com

Correct: Author Lisa Belkin opens with a confession that once, long long ago, she snitched a roll of toilet paper from her employer’s restroom.

As a general “thumbnail” usage guide, if you’re playing a part in something, use role. For everything else, use roll.

Due partly to over-reliance on spell checkers, incorrect usage of both lose and loose has become common on the Internet and occasionally occurs in offline printed documents as well. Technically, the two words are not homonyms because there is a slight difference in pronunciation; the s in lose is pronounced with a z sound, while the s in loose is pronounced as we would normally expect. They also mean very different things, which is why it is important to learn the proper usage of these words so that one can avoid confusion and embarrassment. First, let us review the various meanings of lose. In all of these cases, the word is used as a verb.

• To misplace or fail to locate something; the opposite of find
  1. She managed to lose her keys by locking them in the car.
  2. Because flash drives tend to be small, one must be careful not to lose them.
• To suffer defeat in a contest or struggle of some kind; the opposite of win
  1. The extra time and energy expended in fighting off the Viking invasion in the north of England was a significant factor in causing the Saxons to lose the battle of Hastings to the Normans in 1066.
  2. Our team will probably lose the game, but we will still have a winning record overall.
• To give up or relinquish with regard to quantity or value; the opposite of gain
  1. If the quarterly earnings are lower than expected, our stock could lose at least five points in afternoon trading.
  2. With regular exercise, it is possible to lose five pounds or more in a week.
• To suffer a loss due to an unfortunate event or circumstance
  1. We may lose some of our possessions if there is a fire in the building.
  2. We could lose one of our relatives if the disease proves to be fatal.
• To evade or elude pursuers with the intention of avoiding detection and capture
  1. The vehicle was able to lose the police by using its off-road abilities and traveling through relatively rugged terrain.
  2. After the tax resisters were able to leave the country, the government goons managed to lose them.

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One issue that few grammar guides seem to cover is the apparent confusion between the words ad and add. Although their meanings are quite different, whenever I see an instance of incorrect usage, it is sometimes difficult to tell whether the writer is simply making a typographical error or truly does not know which word to use. In either case, this is an important issue to clarify for Internet marketers because these two words are often used in sales copy, and mistakes made here can turn off potential buyers and lead to lower conversion rates.

First of all, the word ad is a common abbreviation for the word “advertisement”. Ads are the basic vehicle that marketers use to generate leads, sales, and revenue. They are also used to increase public awareness of a brand and improve overall name recognition. Some examples of ads in the offline world include:

1. classified print ads
2. newspaper ads
3. billboard ads
4. leaflet ads (also called “flyers”)
5. radio ads
6. television ads (often referred to as “commercials”)
7. aerial ads such as flying banners or blimps

In the field of Internet marketing, we usually do most of our advertising online in order to reach people that already have computers and know how to perform the basic functions necessary to purchase our products or sign up for our services. Some examples of online advertising include:

1. text link ads
2. banner ads
3. contextual ads (advertising that is placed within the body text of web pages)
4. email ads (may include paid-to-read or opt-in lists)
5. pay-per-click (PPC) ads
6. interstitial ads (advertising that is displayed in between content pages)
7. pop-up, pop-under, fly-in, glide-in, drop-in ads (generally considered annoying)
8. splash page ads (often used in traffic exchanges)
9. widget ads (such as Entrecard, BlogCatalog, or Bumpzee)
10. long copy ads (also called “pitch pages”)
11. audio ads (may be annoying if played automatically)
12. video ads

Meanwhile, the word add means to combine, increase, or extend something. It does NOT refer to advertising. For example, we can add two numbers together, add to our collection of referrals, or download a Firefox add-on (that is, an extension), but we cannot run an “add” in the newspaper.

Here are some examples of correct and incorrect usage:

Incorrect: Friends should one keep your add here text on adbrite adds when you opt for there network ads? — user “icare” on Digital Point forums

Correct: Friends, should one keep the “Your Ad Here” text on AdBrite ads when you opt for their network ads?

Incorrect: I started with $50.00 three weeks ago and my add has not run at all. — user “dansdesals” in AdWords Help discussion

Correct: I started with $50.00 three weeks ago and my ad has not run at all.

Incorrect: thanx for ad me to fav and to friends! — user “Druyi” at DeviantArt.com blog

Correct: Thank you for adding me to your Favorites and Friends lists.

Incorrect: Humans have lived on earth about 4000 years so if you ad them together 11000 years. — user “twaddell21″, a Jehovah’s Witness creationist displaying some massive ignorance at Yahoo answers

Correct: Humans have lived on the Earth for about 4000 years, so if you add them together it is 11000 years.

For next week, I will probably cover lose vs. loose, as I have noticed that mistakes involving these words often slip past spell checker software. Other candidates include site vs. sight vs. site, past vs. passed, and higher vs. hire.

Some people have suggested that I deal with errors involving past and past participle tenses, such as using “have went” (incorrect) instead of “have gone” (correct). Others want me to decry the use of non-words such as “irregardless” and “anyways” in order to prevent the bastardization of the English language. Eventually I want to cover all of these issues, so if your favorite pet peeve has not been addressed yet, you can cast your vote for it in the comment section.

The words affect and effect have been the source of many headaches and much confusion even among relatively experienced English users. This is understandable because the two words are very similar in pronunciation and spelling, yet have some subtle differences in meanings and usage that can be difficult to detect. Each word has one meaning that is far more common than the others, but the less common meanings are used often enough in print to create confusion for many readers. In this week’s lesson, I hope to clear things up by providing correct usage examples of the most common meanings first and then explaining some of the more esoteric or archaic usages of these words so that you can be aware of them when reading other publications.

First of all, let us begin by sorting out the different meanings of affect. The most common meaning is to influence, change, or noticeably alter something; sometimes this will apply to people and their feelings or emotions but not always. In either case this form of the word is used as a verb. For example:

1. If you drop phenolphthalein into a clear solution with a pH greater than 8.2, it will affect the appearance of the solution by changing it to a very noticeable pink color.
2. It is debatable whether violent movies or video games truly affect those who view them in any meaningful way.

Meanwhile, there is also a noun form of affect that is rather esoteric and used mostly in the fields of psychiatry and psychology. It refers to a person’s disposition or perceived mental state, particularly regarding outward emotions, body language, and facial expressions. For example:

1. After treatment, the patient remained calm and showed no signs of a hostile affect.
2. The soldiers seen on television had been carefully chosen for blandness of affect. — Norman Mailer

Finally, there is a third meaning of affect that is rarely used in casual conversation but is sometimes seen in literature. It is a verb form like the first one but with a significantly different usage. It means to emulate, imitate, or copy something, usually with the motive of displaying a façade regarding appearance or emotion.

1. Although the Scottish princess affected a bonny disposition, she was secretly suspicious of the other faction’s emissary.
2. In order to remain relatively inconspicuous and gather information, the spy affected the manner of an ordinary merchant.

The word effect is usually used as a noun and refers to the result, consequence, or outcome of something. In fact, we could say that in order to produce an effect, something first has to be affected. The noun form of effect can also refer to the overall result of scientific phenomena such as the magnetic, photovoltaic, or greenhouse effects. Some examples:

1. Although it is possible for global warming to occur during certain time periods, I am still skeptical about the idea that its effects would be as catastrophic as the alarmists claim.
2. If you have ever noticed how hot the inside of a car can get when it is exposed to direct sunlight while its doors are closed, you have experienced a good example of the greenhouse effect.

Meanwhile, it is also possible for effect to be used as a verb in certain instances. This can sometimes create confusion because affect is also used as a verb. The verb form of effect means to produce, make, enforce, accomplish, bring into existence, or cause something to happen. For example:

1. By supporting Bob Barr’s candidacy with the Libertarian Party, we hope to effect change in the dynamics of the 2008 presidential election.
2. The new fiscal policies were designed to effect a passive income through savings and investments.

Now we can look at some examples of incorrect vs. correct usage. For simplicity’s sake (and to keep this post from becoming unbearably long) I will stick to examples of the most commonly used forms of the two words in question.

Incorrect: Most pharmaceutical drugs have both favorable and unfavorable side affects.

Correct: Most pharmaceutical drugs have both favorable and unfavorable side effects.

Incorrect: We hope that our vote totals will be high enough to effect the outcome of the election.

Correct: We hope that our vote totals will be high enough to affect the outcome of the election.

Incorrect: Putting too many annoying ads on your blog can have an unfavorable affect on the experience of its readers.

Correct: Putting too many annoying ads on your blog can have an unfavorable effect on the experience of its readers.

Incorrect: Significant changes in the value of the dollar can effect the purchasing power of Americans when they travel to foreign countries.

Correct: Significant changes in the value of the dollar can affect the purchasing power of Americans when they travel to foreign countries.

For next week, I’m thinking about covering the issue of ad vs. add. This is one that I do not see much coverage of in most of the established grammar guides, yet I have been seeing a surprisingly high number of errors related to misuse of these words recently. Compared to this week’s conundrum, it should make for a relatively short and simple post.

A common mistake that inexperienced writers make when they try to compose original essays, articles, or blog posts is attempting to transcribe conversational English directly onto the printed page. This does not always work because the pronunciation of certain words and phrases can become corrupted with informal speech in ways that render them incorrect when written as standard English. A classic example of this phenomenon occurs when people write the phrase could have as “could of” or “coulda”. Similar errors occur with the phrases would have and should have.

Neither of the latter two forms (”could of” or “coulda”) is correct; these phrases should be written out as could have, would have, or should have. It is acceptable in less formal situations to use the contracted forms could’ve, would’ve, or should’ve, although for any written material that is intended for publication, I would play it safe and write out the word have separately.

Now we can look at some examples of relevant usage mistakes from other Internet sources and provide some much-needed corrections:

Incorrect: It could of been worse. You could of went back in time to when Hiroshima was bombed. — user Killy_mcgee on xkcd.com forum

Correct: It could have been worse. You could have gone back in time to when Hiroshima was bombed.

Incorrect: what if Trotski would of become the leader of the soviet union apose to Stalin? — user chillerwhale, attempting to post an interesting historical topic on BigThink.com

Correct: What if Trotsky would have become the leader of the Soviet Union as opposed to Stalin?

Incorrect: Terminator 3 Trailer (How It Should Of Been) — Actual title of a YouTube video, posted by user C2JUK

Correct: Terminator 3 Trailer (How It Should Have Been)

Incorrect: You coulda had Dinosaur dung for $1,000 — article title from the Offbeat News section of azcentral.com

Correct: You Could Have Had Dinosaur Dung for $1,000

For next week, I have tentatively scheduled coverage of affect vs. effect, which is an issue that seems to confuse many people because of the different meanings of those two words. Another contender is the usage of who vs. that when referring to either people or inanimate objects. Many people are continuing to use “that” when referring to people, which has been a source of much irritation among English teachers and grammarians.

The words accept and except are similar in pronunciation, but have very different meanings. Perhaps not surprisingly, this has led to a significant amount of confusion and incorrect usage. In this week’s lesson, I will clarify and summarize the actual meanings of these two words and provide examples of correct usage.

In general, accept is used as a verb and means “to take or receive something willingly” — that is, without objecting, contesting, or otherwise challenging it. For example:

1. We will accept the site owner’s invitation to participate in the contest.
2. Even if you don’t have a credit card, we can still pay for our meal because this restaurant still accepts checks.
3. Although there were many irregularities, the majority of the American public seems to have accepted the outcome of the election.

Another variation on the meaning of accept is when it is used with the connotation of believing in something or regarding something as correct or proper.

1. Atheists do not accept the idea of an invisible, omnipotent sky daddy.
2. Skeptics do not accept that a small amount of global warming will have such catastrophic effects.
3. I accepted her theory as plausible even though I did not have any specific proof of it.

Meanwhile, the word except is most commonly used as a preposition or conjunction and means “besides, excluding, or other than”. For example:

1. The mainstream media coverage was not fair because they reported on all candidates except for independents and members of third parties.
2. I used all of the text in the article except for the portions that were duplicate content.
3. Politicians like to talk about corruption except when it occurs within their own parties.

Alternatively, except can be used as a verb meaning “to exclude” or “to leave out”. Although this usage is less common than the first, it is still grammatically correct.

1. The Commission on Presidential Debates has routinely excepted all candidates that were not Democrats or Republicans. The inclusion of Ross Perot in 1992 was a rare exception to this.
2. At many public events, children are often excepted from paying admission fees or are allowed to attend at significantly reduced rates.
3. The rel=’nofollow’ attribute excepts links from passing PageRank to the linked web pages.

Now we can look at some examples of incorrect usage and their corrected versions:

Incorrect: We except aluminum cans for recycling.
Correct: We accept aluminum cans for recycling.

Incorrect: All members were paid accept the cheaters.
Correct: All members were paid except the cheaters.

Incorrect: Keyword-stuffed pages should be accepted from high rankings in the search results.
Correct: Keyword-stuffed pages should be excepted from high rankings in the search results.

As was the case last week, there is no clear winner for the topic of next week’s lesson. My overall tendency is to continue with similar-sounding word groups that are often misused such as site vs. sight vs. cite, but I could also switch tracks and cover a somewhat larger topic such as commas, quotation marks, or capitalization. As usual, if there is a consensus among the commentators, I will select the chosen topic; otherwise, I will randomly choose another one from my ever-growing list.

Correct use of the words lie and lay has been a confusing topic for many readers, especially people who are not native English speakers and may never have learned the proper usage rules. It has become very common for most people to mix up the usage of these two words in informal speech; even I have done this on occasion. However, it is important to know what these words actually mean and be able to use them correctly in any type of formal or written work.

Depending on which dictionary is used, one can find many different definitions listed for the word lie, but most of these represent very minor nuances and can be grouped together into two basic meanings. To begin with, lie can be used as an intransitive verb that means “to recline, rest, or remain in position”, as in the following examples:

1. After feeling sick, I needed to lie down and get some rest.
2. My political loyalties lie with the Libertarians and the third party movement, not with Republicans or Democrats.
3. Our coastal property lies adjacent to the ocean.

The other major, well-known meaning of lie is to say something that is not true or provide false information. The word may be used in both noun and verb forms. This meaning is usually not confused with lay, but should be mentioned here for reasons of general knowledge and clarification. Politicians are infamous for their ability to lie without remorse and still persuade large numbers of people to vote for them anyway, as referenced in the following statements:

1. Bill Clinton was probably lying when he said that he had smoked marijuana but did not inhale.
2. In an attempt to justify the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration claimed that Saddam Hussein possessed “weapons of mass destruction” that posed a significant threat to the United States. Much to the chagrin of many American voters, this has turned out to be a lie.
3. In view of the primitive simplicity of their minds, they more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big. — Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (1925).

Meanwhile, the most common meaning of lay is “to put, place, or bring something into a particular position”. It is used as a transitive verb in this case, meaning that it requires a direct object of some sort. Note that this object does not necessarily need to be a physical, tangible item. It is possible to correctly use lay in reference to intangible things as long as the general idea of being put or placed is still there. For example, we can lay down a rule, law, or even a course (as in a navigational heading), but we cannot simply lay down on a bed. In the latter case, we must use lie. Here are some example sentences for correct usage of this form of lay:

1. After our pirates had completed their voyage, they were eager to lay all of the treasure on the table so that we could properly divide the plunder.
2. When the old king died, his successor was able to lay claim to the estate.
3. The ship’s captain said, “let’s lay a course for Belize so that we can avoid these storms.”

Perhaps contributing to the confusion about proper usage, lay also happens to be the past tense form of lie when used in reference to resting or reclining. So while we must lie down to take a nap in the present, last night we lay on the bed before going to sleep. Again, here are some examples of correct usage:

1. Yesterday we lay in the sun too long, and some of us now have sunburn.
2. Last night I lay awake for hours wondering if there was really a dog. — Agnostic Dyslexic Insomniac

Finally, there is a third meaning of lay that is somewhat less common than the others, but still sees significant usage in modern English. This is the notion of a lay person as opposed to a professional or an expert in a particular field. This form of lay is always used as an adjective. For example:

1. In late medieval societies, guilds were formed in which professional craft workers could be trained, obtain special privileges, and separated from the masses of lay people.
2. It is a relatively rare occurrence for a lay person to represent himself or herself in court without retaining the services of an attorney.

Since it has become a customary feature for me to give examples of both correct and incorrect usage, I will provide two examples of these below. However, in practice the only mistake that I see being made is people using lay when they really mean lie (as in rest or recline). I cannot recall any instances where I have seen or heard anyone make the opposite mistake (using lie in place of lay).

Incorrect: When the attorney asked, “Are you sexually active?”, the woman replied, “No, not really. I just kind of lay there.”

Correct: When the attorney asked, “Are you sexually active?”, the woman replied, “No, not really. I just kind of lie there.”

Incorrect: My cat lied down three hours ago.

Correct: My cat lay down three hours ago.

For next week, I have not yet decided on exactly which issue I will cover, but there are still plenty of topics available. So far, we have had one vote for coverage of commas, one for coverage of quotation marks, and one for “could of” vs. “could have”, so there are no clear consensus winners at this point. As usual, anyone who wants to suggest a particular topic may do so in the comment section. If there are still no clear favorites by the end of next week, I will simply choose an English usage topic at random from my ongoing list of ideas that I have already compiled.

Incorrect use of apostrophes has become a disturbingly prevalent phenomenon in recent years, especially in the realm of advertising. Apostrophe abuse and “rogue apostrophes” seem to be popping up all over the place, occurring most commonly in the plural forms of ordinary words. In this week’s lesson, we will learn when and how apostrophes are actually supposed to be used so that we can avoid using them incorrectly.

In English, there are three primary uses of apostrophes:

• In colloquial speech, informal writing, and some foreign languages, apostrophes are used in contractions to indicate one or more omitted letters. In extreme cases, they can even be used more than once in same word, such as in the modern pronunciation of the word forecastle. Occasionally, contractions are also used with numerical figures, most commonly in dates where all digits of a certain year except for the last two are replaced with an apostrophe.
  1. Although blogging can be profitable in the long run, you’re probably not going to make millions overnight.
  2. The Libertarian party is one of the few organizations remaining in America that actually believes in the spirit of ‘76.
  3. After the grappling hooks were in place, the pirates swarmed over the fo’c’sle of the merchant ship and eventually captured it.
• Apostrophes are used to indicate possession. If the entity doing the possessing is singular, an apostrophe is added before the letter s. If the possessor is plural, the apostrophe is placed after the s, except in cases where the plural form does not normally end in s. In these situations, simply add the apostrophe before the s to show possession.
  1. The quality and quantity of a blog’s content can determine the degree of success in terms of subscriber numbers and search engine traffic.
  2. Before deciding on which company should receive the majority of our investment, we looked closely at the two companies’ financial reports.
  3. The early women’s movement, sometimes referred to as “first wave” feminism, was instrumental in obtaining the right of suffrage through the 19th amendment.
• In cases where the plural of a single lowercase letter needs to be written, apostrophes are used because their omission would cause the expression to appear awkward and confusing (for example, the plural of “a” would be written as “a’s”, not “as”, which is a completely different word). Apostrophes are not used in the plural forms of acronyms.
  1. When preparing a document for legal purposes, it is always a good idea to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

Here are some examples of commonly used incorrect usage, followed by the corrected forms.

Incorrect: The number and importance of a websites inbound links will greatly affect its ability to rank well in the search engines.

Correct: The number and importance of a website’s inbound links will greatly affect its ability to rank well in the search engines.

Incorrect: Most banks do not charge fee’s for using their own ATMs.

Correct: Most banks do not charge fees for using their own ATMs.

Incorrect: A common suggestion for practicing politeness is “mind your ps and qs.”

Correct: A common suggestion for practicing politeness is “mind your p’s and q’s.”

Incorrect: I dont think that the quantity of traffic a website receives impacts its search engine ranking.

Correct: I don’t think that the quantity of traffic a website receives impacts its search engine ranking.

For next week, we have had one suggestion to cover usage of lie vs. lay, although there are plenty of other issues that we could also address such as “could of” vs. “could have”, peak vs. pique, and past vs. passed. If you have any other favorite pet peeves regarding English grammar, be sure to mention these in the comment section and I will try to cover them in the approximate order that they are posted.

Misuse of the words then and than has become quite common in recent years, especially when we look at blogs and articles that are published on the Internet. For example, I have often seen Internet marketers mix up then and than in their sales letter copy. Many of them are apparently oblivious to the fact that they look quite silly when trying to sell products to people who can easily see that they are not even bothering to proofread their own writing while still expecting prospects to take them seriously enough to trust them and actually purchase something.

In other instances, I have seen cases where bloggers are genuinely confused about which of the two words to use and are wondering how they should be spelled. In this week’s lesson, I will attempt to clear up the confusion regarding proper use of then and than by first defining these terms and then providing examples of correct and incorrect usage.

First of all, the word than has three major definitions and uses:

• Comparison of one entity or quality to another:
  1. Two is less than three.
  2. In general, Internet marketers have a greater income potential than those who are employed at traditional salaried occupations in the corporate world.
• Indication of a preference:
  1. John McCain’s basic values are so antithetical to libertarian ideals that I would rather vote for a Democrat than take the risk of him being elected as president.
  2. It is better to have a bird in the hand than two in the bush.
• Used to suggest something beyond a specific amount or a certain point:
  1. In order to benefit from my articles and understand enough of the material to make an intelligent comment, people need to read more than the first paragraph.
  2. The differences between Republicans and Libertarians go far beyond and involve much more than simple disagreements about the degree of federal taxation.

Meanwhile, then also has three basic meanings:

• Reference to the past or a previous time period in comparison with the present; at another point in time:
  1. Back then, search engine optimization was relatively simple. Now, however, it is somewhat more difficult because search engine algorithms are more complex and there are more competing web pages for most keywords.
  2. A common Karlonian fantasy is having the ability to return to the days of yore while still retaining knowledge of all historical events leading up to the present day. From our modern perspective, things seemed so much simpler back then.
• The next item in a sequence:
  1. When building a profitable website, it is better to publish quality content first and then apply the monetization methods as opposed to trying to do it the other way around.
  2. In order to balance the federal budget, pay off the national debt, and make real long-term improvements to our economy, we must first reduce government expenditures and then look at ways to lower taxes and increase our economic freedom.
• Denotes a logical conclusion; often used in computer programming code in the form “If X Then Y Else Z”:
  1. If you have optimized your page properly, done the necessary keyword research, and acquired a significant number of inbound links, then you can expect to see a significant amount of search engine traffic arriving at your website.
  2. If X = 2, then print “Yes, your answer is correct. 1 + 1 = 2″, else print “Sorry, your answer is incorrect. Please try again.”

Now for some examples of incorrect and correct usage:

Incorrect: Buy a reusable water bottle, rather then using plastic ones. — found as an article title at http://www.edenbee.com/goals/933946514

Correct: Buy a reusable water bottle rather than using plastic ones.

Incorrect: Are cats better then dogs? — used as the title of a video at Metacafe.com

Correct: Are cats better than dogs?

Incorrect: The key to reading IF operators is to understand that the condition part of the traditional “if X than Y else Z” notation has already been evaluated. — rpntutorial, “Reading the IF Operator” at http://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/tut/rpntutorial.en.html

Correct: The key to reading IF operators is to understand that the condition part of the traditional “if X then Y else Z” notation has already been evaluated.

Incorrect: I hear sound, and than I don’t hear sound when I put a movie in the vcr. Can you help? — user “mandylover”, trying to ask a question on Yahoo Answers

Correct: I hear sound, and then I don’t hear sound when I put a movie in the VCR. Can you help?

Next week’s topic is currently scheduled to cover the increasingly prevalent phenomenon of apostrophe abuse, where apostrophes are being used in plural forms of words when they should be used only to indicate possession. Meanwhile, if you have any other suggestions for English usage topics, please feel free to mention these in the comment section below.

Confusion among the words to, too, and two ranks almost as highly as errors involving it’s and its in terms of overall prevalence. Among the three, the word to is usually the most commonly used and has many different meanings that can be found when we look up the word in a dictionary. In most cases, the word is used as a preposition but there are a few less common instances where it can be used as an adverb. Here are some of the most important meanings of the word to, followed by examples of correct usage:

• toward, in the direction of, or becoming closer in distance
  1. We went to the store.
  2. The advisor turned to me and explained the idea.
• against, in contact with
  1. His neck was pressed to the ground by the boots of fascist pigs.
• concerning, regarding
  1. We are waiting for a reply to my email.
• constituting, composing
  1. There are four quarts to a gallon.
• indication of an infinitive verb form
  1. We wanted to go.
  2. The investors were looking to buy.
• awaking into consciousness
  1. After being in a coma for several days, the patient finally came to.
• move into a closed position
  1. Please push the door to so I can get some sleep.
• a specific nautical usage meaning “into the wind”
  1. The captain shouted, “Heave to and lower the anchor!”

Meanwhile, the word too is relatively easy to understand because there are only two basic meanings:

• also, in addition to
  1. After reading about how much money could be made on the Internet, she wanted to set up a website too.
• excessively, more than is necessary
  1. Putting too many graphics or advertisements on a web page may slow down loading times and discourage visitors from reading your content.
  2. As a libertarian Internet marketer, you can never have too much money, too many referrals, or too much freedom.

Finally, two is the easiest of the three words to understand because it simply refers to the number that is the sum of 1 + 1:

1. Two income streams are better than one, although having more than two is better still because we can diversify our assets and minimize risk.

Now for some examples of incorrect usage, followed by the corrected forms:

Incorrect: he seems to scarred to ask you and he wants you too hurry up and ask him out and he is jus tryin to make you do that a lot quicker by actin lik he is losing interest — user “wolfeman8″ on Yahoo! Answers

Correct: He seems too scared to ask you and probably wants you to hurry up and ask him out first. By acting like he is losing interest, he is hoping to persuade you to ask him out much sooner.

Incorrect: Do you think I waste to much money? — Question asked by user “Animal lover” on Yahoo! Answers

Correct: Do you think I waste too much money?

Incorrect: The solution is too make sure that any data being return is encoded as UTF-8. — Joshua Eichorn of blog.joshuaeichorn.com

Correct: The solution is to make sure that any data being returned is encoded as UTF-8.

Incorrect: The cost was 8 cents and her father told her that was two much money. — Ann Werrebroeck Herman at belgium.rootsweb.ancestry.com

Correct: The cost was 8 cents and her father told her that was too much money.

The topic for next week is still open for discussion, but at this point I am leaning toward either covering then vs. than or addressing the issue of apostrophe abuse, which includes the widespread but incorrect use of apostrophes in plural nouns.

Of all the instances of grammatical errors that occur both online and offline, the misuse of its and it’s is probably the single most prevalent example of poor English usage that I have encountered. Interestingly, it also one of the easiest kinds of mistakes to avoid. If you’re (not your) confused about which word to use, the rule is actually quite simple.

Use it’s (with the apostrophe) whenever you would logically use “it is” or “it has” in the sentence; it’s (not its) a contraction of two separate words. Otherwise, use its (without the apostrophe), which is the possessive adjective form of the pronoun it. This word is used in a similar fashion to other possessive adjectives such as my, your, their, his, her, and our.

Although its usage is less common than the other variants, I should point out that its’ (with the apostrophe after the s) is simply invalid syntax and should never be used in a proper English sentence unless you have some strange desire to look like an ignorant fool. Now let us look at some examples of correct and incorrect usage:

Read the rest of this entry »

In this second post on English usage, we will explore the issues related to the words your, you’re and yore. Misuse of these words has not only been running rampant throughout the Internet, but has also crept into email marketing and corporate documents. Occasionally I have even seen mistakes involving your and you’re slip past editors and find their way into printed publications such as owner’s manuals or instruction booklets. Naturally I am keen to stamp out this sort of ignorance before too many people forget (or never learn) how we are actually supposed to use these words.

First of all, your is the possessive form of the personal pronoun you, and is used in a similar fashion as the word their from last week’s lesson. It is commonly used as an adjective as in the following examples:

1. This is not a permanent fix for the memory leak issue, but it will keep your Firefox extensions from consuming all of your computer’s memory. - Jared Hislop from Gearlive.com
2. I do not recommend getting rid of all your gold because there are still offsetting factors, such as war with Iran, a falling dollar, a major terrorist attack, or a major purchase of gold by a central bank. - Gary North at LewRockwell.com

Meanwhile, you’re is actually a contraction of the words “you are”.

1. No one ever came to me and said, “You’re a fool. There isn’t such a thing as God. Somebody’s been stuffing you.” - Frances Farmer, 1931
2. You’re not stupid, just ignorant in this area of topics. - user Xevion at Ars Technica forum

Finally, yore, although sometimes written as a misspelling of your, is a relatively obscure word that means “time long ago” or “in times past”. It’s actually a pretty fun word to use, especially when reminiscing or entertaining romantic visions of enjoying life in a previous historical period.

1. Pirates of yore attacked any ship that crossed their path. Today’s pirates plan their attacks and select their prey before they leave shore. - Cindy Vallar, 2000
2. We were standing at a guard tower on the Great Wall of China, looking across to the expanse of Inner Mongolia and wondering about those barbarians of yore. - Elaine Lowe

Now we can look at some examples of correct vs. incorrect usage:

Incorrect: If your using yahoo, hotmail or msn, you might want to consider switching to gmail. - Michele Ballard

Correct: If you’re using Yahoo, Hotmail or MSN, you might want to consider switching to Gmail.




Incorrect: So you’re money woes may be a bit grating now, but they won’t be forever. - Brian Freedman

Correct: So your money woes may be a bit grating now, but they won’t last forever.




Incorrect: Wow man that is really nice, looks like you got yore money worth out of that chip. - user Kohan, Overclockers forums

Correct: Wow, that is really nice! It looks like you got your money’s worth out of that chip.




Incorrect: When yore done frying the lamb you just make a plain sauce with the cooking grease as base. - Kaftan Barlast, Obsidian Entertainment forums

Correct: When you’re done frying the lamb, you just make a plain sauce with the cooking grease as a base.




Next week we will tackle the infamous issue of its vs. it’s, which has probably manifested itself in more errors found on signs and other forms of advertising than either of the other two groups of homonyms that I have already covered.

This post is the first installment of my English usage guide, an ongoing weekly series of articles that are designed to educate readers in the proper use of the English language and raise awareness of the need for thorough proofreading. The first few lessons will deal with groups of homonyms, words that sound alike when pronounced but are spelled differently and have different meanings when they are used in written text. Homonyms can be tricky for students and webmasters who do not manually proofread their work before submission. Unless obvious typographical errors are made, incorrect usage among these words will not be detected by standard spell checking programs.

Some of the most common errors that I see being made on published web pages involve incorrect usage of the words their, there and they’re. For the remainder of this post, I will demonstrate examples of correct and incorrect usage of these three words so that you can hopefully learn how to use them correctly and avoid mistakes in your writing.

The word their is the possessive form of the pronoun they, and is used as an adjective to modify the noun that follows it. For example:

1. Humans were forced to develop their intelligence so as not to be destroyed by their stupidity. - Matthijs van Boxsel
2. Those who believe that they have nothing to learn from barbarians have resigned themselves to their ignorance. - Karl Erfurt

There, on the other hand, is an adverb that is used to indicate a place or location, as in the commonly used phrase “over there”:

1. Tell Bush to go over there and fight for oil. - Thomas Wilson
2. Unfortunately I live in Australia, so it’s very difficult to get over there. - Chantau Daffy

The word there can also be used in a general sense to indicate the existence or nonexistence of something, as in the following humorous quotes:

1. There is no dog! - Anonymous Atheist Dyslexic
2. I stayed awake for several hours last night wondering if there was really a dog. - Dyslexic Agnostic Insomniac

Meanwhile, they’re is simply a contraction of the two words “they are”.

1. They’re not really that stupid, or misinformed, or delusional. - user HP from Scienceblogs.com
2. Do people with normal intelligence know they’re ignorant? - question asked on Yahoo Answers

The most common usage errors seem to occur when people mix up their and there. They’re is misused also, but this seems to be less common. It is relatively easy to tell whether or not you are using it correctly by simply substituting the words “they are” in the sentence. Here are some examples of incorrect usage, followed by the corrected versions.

Incorrect: Those people are genuinely happy in there ignorance. - user “franznietzsche” from Physics.com forums

Correct: Those people are genuinely happy in their ignorance.

Incorrect: I wonder if there’s a legal doctrine of “misuse of a trademark” just as their is for “misuse of a copyright”. - user Thomas from Cisco.com blog

Correct: I wonder if there’s a legal doctrine of “misuse of a trademark” just as there is for “misuse of a copyright”.




Incorrect: Does this mean msnspace will hammer out an agreement with Ubuntu over they’re logo? - Macewan, Msdn.com blog

Correct: Does this mean MSN Spaces will hammer out an agreement with Ubuntu over their logo?




Incorrect: She is actually abusing you they’re is not doubt it my mind if all this is true! - Anna, Yahoo answers user

Correct: She is actually abusing you - there is no doubt in my mind if all of this is true!




Next week, unless enough of you want me to cover a different English usage topic, I am planning on dealing with the your vs. you’re vs. yore issue, followed by its vs. it’s, and then probably sight vs. site vs. cite. We have also had one request for coverage of “could of” vs. “could have” (and similar variants), so I will fit this one in as soon as I can after dealing with the most common errors involving homonyms.