All the Small Things
Something I see all the time is the prolific use of “that” when referencing people. Example: “The person that interviewed me today was lovely,” or “My son’s teacher is the one that schedules conferences.” This is SO.FREAKING.COMMON. I’ve encountered it in books, magazine articles, and, of course, everyday conversation.
In every instance, “…the person WHO…” should always, always, always be used.
It gets slightly more complex when you’re talking about a group or organization; for example, “The team who won had a big celebration” can frequently appear as “…the team that won.” However, as a general rule, if you’re talking about a group of people, using “who” is the safest bet.
Other examples of small but mighty mistakes in the course of our everyday language are:
1. Your vs. you’re – as in, “Your welcome.”
2. Misuse of “its” in the possessive sense – as in, “The organization and it’s followers.”
3. On that note, any use of a possessive when it should be a plural.
a. Side note: I was once asked to complete a writing assignment as part of the pre-interview process (you read that right) for a company who manages websites for a large service provider in the area. One of the more recent blogs had a title with something along the lines of “…Helping Golfer’s with Their Swing,” and it took every ounce of restraint not to discredit the entire company over allowing that to appear in print.
All that being said, we all make mistakes. My friends working in journalism with more critical eyes than mine can probably spot a thousand mistakes in these blogs. However, some of these (such as the aforementioned instances) take us back to our early days of learning the English language. I feel pretty confident that, despite the changing landscape of education, kids are still learning the basic parts of speech and punctuation. There is no shame in forgetting, though, because many of us are several years (if not decades) removed from those critical years of learning, and maybe the rules of the English language didn’t stick with you like most math skills didn’t stick with me.
The moral of the story is, there are a lot of tools that will help you audit your everyday writing (like Grammarly – a great tool!), but before you put anything in print, run it by a second pair of eyes – preferably, someone who’s not afraid to get out the proverbial red editing pen – to prevent potential mistakes from being published. Need a hand? Give me a call!