5 Quick Grammar Tips
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Grammar is intimidating for a lot of people. It conjures memories of elementary school and getting questions wrong on tests. No one is perfect, but knowing what words trip you up will help improve your writing. I'm going to quickly explain some very common errors I see from authors, and give examples of them in a sentence.
It's or Its
It's is the contraction of it is or it has, while its is possessive, or shows ownership.
Example: It's a nice day today, but summer has its drawbacks.
Who's or Whose
Who's is the contraction of who is, who has, or who was, and whose is the possessive.
Example: Whose phone is ringing? Who's calling?
Stationery or Stationary
Stationery is paper, pens, etc but stationary is an unmoving object. The trick I use to remember the difference is that stationery includes envelopes, but stationary means there's no action.
Farther or Further
Farther describes a physical distance while further describes a figurative distance. Farther is an actual distance, but further is unmeasurable.
And I or And me
You were probably taught that you should always use "and I," but that's not actually true! When deciding the best phrase, you want to take out the other person and see if "I" or "me" is the best choice.
So you might say, "John and I are going to lunch." If you remove John from the sentence, "I am going to lunch" is correct. But you would say "You startled John and me," because when you remove John, "You startled me," is correct.
Hopefully, these quick tips will help you next time you find yourself debating how to use these words. I post new articles every two weeks, you can subscribe to my newsletter below to get notified of new posts.