I see horrors on the forum and in e-mails everyday :(
These are the 2 most common mistakes I see:
********* Its vs It's *********
"Its going to be sunny tomorrow." This is INCORRECT. It's is the
contraction of It is: "It's going to be sunny tomorrow." This is
CORRECT.
"What's that? I can't remember it's name." This is INCORRECT. Its is
a possessive pronoun that modifies a noun: "What's that? I can't
remember its name." This is CORRECT.
Source: http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/commonerrorsinenglish.html
And: http://www.apostrophe.fsnet.co.uk/
********* Apostrophe *********
The rules concerning the use of Apostrophes in written English are very simple:
1. They are used to denote a missing letter or letters, for example: I
can't instead of I cannot
I don't instead of I do not
it's instead of it is
2. They are used to denote possession, for example: the dog's bone
the company's logo
Jones's bakery (but Joneses' bakery if owned by more than one Jones)
... but please note that the possessive form of it does not take an
apostrophe any more than ours, yours or hers do the bone is in its
mouth
... however, if there are two or more dogs, companies or Joneses in
our example, the apostrophe comes after the 's': the dogs' bones
the companies' logos
Joneses' bakeries
3. Apostrophes are NEVER ever used to denote plurals! Common examples
of such abuse (all seen in real life!) are: Banana's for sale which of
course should read Bananas for sale
Menu's printed to order which should read Menus printed to order
MOT's at this garage which should read MOTs at this garage
1000's of bargains here! which should read 1000s of bargains here!
New CD's just in! which should read New CDs just in!
More common mistakes: http://dsv.su.se/jpalme/english-mistakes.html
And: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_spelhomo.html
--
Charles A. Landemaine.
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