Are you a writer who loves creating content? Or are you a grammar nazi? If you said yes, I need to talk to you.

When writing, or even while speaking, we all tend to make errors, some minute and some massive. But what’s the difference between a writer and a content writer working in a content writing agency? The latter is a superhuman. S/he never makes these mistakes in whatever content s/he generates.

1. Subject-Verb Disagreement

One of the biggest mantras of grammar for a sentence is that the subject and verb should agree and work in sync. So, if the subject is singular, the verb HAS TO be singular, and vice versa. The same logic applies to plural subjects and verbs.

Example:

Correct: The two best things about the party were the food and the music.

Incorrect: The two best things about the party was the food and the music.

Correct: The dog chases the cat.

Incorrect: The dog chase the cat.

NOTE: 1) The rule doesn’t apply to verbs used in the simple past tense without any helping verbs. Example: The girls talked to me.

2) The rule doesn’t apply to any helping verb and also to “has” and “have” when used as the second helping verb in a pair. Example: The girls could have talked to me.

Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/l0MYwronkQ60aP4Xu/source.gif

2. Confusing Articles

A very usual grammar mistake that a lot of writers (including me) make is using the wrong articles in the wrong place. You must know that articles are used before nouns or noun equivalents to specify grammatical definiteness of those words. The basic thumb rule of article usage is that,

• Definite article (the) is used to indicate that the identity of the noun is known to the reader.
• Indefinite article (a or an) is used when the identity of the noun is not known. Here, “an” is used before singular count nouns beginning with a vowel (Example: an apple) or vowel sound (Example: an hour), and “a” is used before singular count nouns beginning with consonants (Example: a table).

You can always refer to this outstanding article on articles for better understanding.

3. Upsetting Commas

When it comes to commas, the number of mistakes made is high.

Scenario 1

People often miss out on using a comma after an introductory word, phrase, or clause. Commas give the reader a slight pause after an introductory element and often help avoid confusion.

Example

Correct: To stay in shape for competition, athletes must exercise every day.

Incorrect: To stay in shape for competition athletes must exercise every day.

Scenario 2

People miss out on putting commas in compound sentences separated by a conjunction. The rule is that the comma goes after the first clause and before the coordinating conjunction that separates the clauses.

Example

Correct: The man jumped into a red car, and he drove away quickly.

Incorrect: The man jumped into a red car and he drove away quickly.

Scenario 3

People often get into comma splices. A comma splice is a phenomenon when two separate sentences are joined with a comma rather than a period or semicolon. The presence of transitional words make such mistakes very popular.

Example

Correct: His intention was to take her out to dinner; however, he decided not to invite her after all.

Incorrect: His intention was to take her out to dinner, however he decided not to invite her after all.

Scenario 4

Some people often get overwhelmed and start using commas religiously. Throwing commas around liberally when they aren’t necessary is unacceptable when you are a writer.

Example

Correct: The bouquet of flowers on the table belongs to Mary.

Incorrect: The bouquet of flowers on the table, belongs to Mary.

Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/l0IsGMsdWi3SZsCTC/source.gif

4. Incomplete Comparisons

Comparisons in sentences are also a part of grammar, a part that writers often get wrong. Imagine a sentence ‘the car model is faster, better, stronger.’ The first question that will pop up in the mind of any sane reader is ‘faster, better, stronger than what?’ Sentences with incomplete comparisons leave you wondering what the writer is trying to compare the subject with. And writers keep doing such things often. If you too have been doing this thing, stop it! Complete your sentences and define the comparisons well.

Example

Correct: I ate more than anyone else that night.

Incorrect: I ate more that night.

5. Stressed Tense

Some blunders happen just because of improper use of tenses. And this happens when writers don’t get the rules of tense usage. Tenses communicate an event’s place in time, and the different tenses are identified by their associated verb forms. But when you make mistakes, you tend to change the entire meaning of your sentence.

Example

Correct: The baby has been sleeping for three hours now.

Incorrect: The baby is sleeping for three hours now.

Correct: He returned from London last week.

Incorrect: He has returned from London last week.

6. Who or That?

I am sure every writer, except the ones who are employed at a reputed content writing agency, has made this mistake at least once in her/his life. These two words can be used when you’re describing someone or something through a phrase. But where you use which one of these can be confusing.

I’ll give you a simple cue that you must memorize right now: “Who” refers to people. That (and even which) refers to groups or things.

Example

She is the one who rescued that bird.

She belongs to the organisation that specialises in saving dogs.

Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/tGTj1jrKwVFaU/source.gif

7. Catastrophic Apostrophes

I agree apostrophes can get confusing. But if you make mistakes with the usage of apostrophes, you’ll create a catastrophic situation in the minds of people. So, keep the following rules in mind.

• If the noun is singular and doesn’t end in an s, you’ll add the apostrophe before the s. Example: the lizard’s tail.
• If the noun is plural, add the apostrophe after the s. Example: the dogs’ bones.
• If the noun is singular and ends in s, you should also put the apostrophe after the s. Example: the dress’ blue colour.

8.Title Caps

Well, this isn’t a “mistake” as different organisations and clients have discrete needs. Whether you should capitalise the initials of every word in the content title or not is a big question. However, there’s a basic rule that most writers across the globe follow.  As per the basic rule, you should

• Capitalize nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions.
• Lowercase articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions.
• Lowercase the ‘to’ in an infinitive

Source: https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7btYNKhwTRD7P2Ks/source.gif

If you too have been making such blunders in your writing, there are two ways to obtain a 100% error-free content piece every time.

#1 Either learn from these mistakes, bookmark this article, and become a super-writer.

#2 Hire a content writing agency to create flawless content for you.

If I were you, I would’ve surely chosen one of these. But luckily, I work in a reputed content writing agency!