Tag Archives: common grammar mistakes

Years old: Hyphen or no hyphen?

Posted on April 26, 2013 by

  Today we’re discussing when to hyphenate the phrases years old and year old. Let’s take a look at two sentences: His son is four years old. He has a four year old boy. In the first sentence, you would … Continue reading →

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Feet vs. feat

Posted on April 15, 2013 by

feet: plural of foot feat: a deed notable especially for courage; an act or product of skill, endurance, or ingenuity —Merriam-Webster Feet and feat are homophones, which means they sound the same but have different meanings. Feet can mean the … Continue reading →

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You and I vs. you and me

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

It seems many of us are still reeling from elementary school teachers who overcorrected use of the pronoun I. How many times did you hear a knitted-sweatered, thin-lipped woman of authority say, “It’s ‘May Johnny and I go to the … Continue reading →

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Misbelief and disbelief

Posted on March 6, 2013 by

disbelief: mental rejection of something as untrue misbelief: erroneous or false belief —Merriam-Webster To keep these two words straight, consider this: Misbelief is when something is untrue. Disbelief is when you think something is untrue (regardless of whether it is). … Continue reading →

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Principal vs. principle

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

principal: most important, consequential, or influential principle: a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption —Merriam–Webster I still remember one of my elementary school teachers teaching me this tip to remember the correct endings of these two words. She’d say, … Continue reading →

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