But what are the other mistakes that should be avoided at all costs? Let’s look at the most essential to recognize:

You will make mistakes (and you should embrace those mistakes)

How does a young child know not to touch something that is very hot? Usually by touching it, and finding out the hard way. In fact, scholars believe that long-term memory is shaped by those experiences that teach us something important to remember for future reference.

Learning anything, therefore, means making the mistake at first, and then seeking a solution from that mistake. Plus, if you have a fear of making mistakes and getting things wrong, then all it serves in doing is making you less likely to produce the language. You won’t speak because you are afraid. That has no benefit at all. So, speak! Make mistakes! And then learn from them!

Don’t try to speak like a native, or with a preferred accent

Listen to natives: that’s really important while you are learning. But wishing to speak like them is an unrealistic expectation, as you will probably retain an accent in that language for as long as you speak it. And that’s okay!

Often people say that they want to learn to speak English with an American, or British, accent, for example. But here’s the thing: even many Americans couldn’t speak English in a British accent, or vice versa. And it really doesn’t matter at all!

In fact, when you are learning a language, it’s good to get exposed to as many different accents as possible, which is incredibly helpful for your diversity of understanding.

When you speak the language, the most important thing to do is to speak clearly, and at a speed that is comfortable for both you and the person that is listening. And your accent is uniquely yours, so don’t be ashamed of it!

Don’t concentrate only on grammar, or only on vocabulary

Language is made up of many elements, so focusing too much only on one aspect is always a mistake to make. Grammar is important, but it is nothing without the vocabulary you need to express your ideas, and good pronunciation of those words so people understand you. Likewise, words are useful but must be used within the correct sentence structure to make any sense. Learning combinations of words in their correct grammatical forms is always a good approach.

And remember that there are four key skills involved in any language: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Try to give sufficient time to develop all of these four key skills to get to where you want to be in that language.

Not learning with materials that interest you

What is the purpose of language? It’s to communicate. But communicate what? Well, the answer to that is all of the thoughts and feelings that you have, and to then be able to talk about all the things that you need and want to talk about.

So, when learning a language, don’t spend time learning it in the context of topics and interactions that are relatively meaningless to you. “Is there a bank near here?’ How often are you going to need to say this, especially if you have GPS on your smartphone?!

Instead, learn the practical language, and learn with materials that are attached to your interests. Here are some simple examples:

·  Read articles about topics that you are interested in.

·  Watch the types of movies, TV shows and documentaries that you would normally watch in your own native language

·  Play video games, if video games are your thing, but in the target language, and interact with people online in that language

·  Watch sports, again if sports are your thing, but with the TV commentary in your target language.

·  If you love reading, read. If you don’t, then don’t!

·  Listen to music in the target language, reading and then singing along to the lyrics.

This is simple, practical advice. The point is, if something doesn’t interest you, then you lose the motivation to learn. And the motivation to learn is everything!

Share your experience

Don’t undertake the experience of learning a language alone. That means you need to share your experience with anyone you can find who a) has a similar objective b) is enthusiastic about your goal c) can help you.

Sharing means communicating (and asking for corrections), frequenting online forums to discuss the language with others who are doing the same as you, getting loved ones to help test you and challenge you, or anything else you can think of that involves other people.

Quite simply, don’t try to do this on your own!

The post 6 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Learning a Language appeared first on Linguix Blog.

If you want to be taken seriously as a business professional, it’s essential that the grammar and spelling of your posts reflect your commitment to accuracy. And here are the most typical mistakes to look out for.

There or their

These words sound the same (this is what is called a homophone in English), but other than that fact, the meaning of the two words is different enough to be easily established in context.

‘there’ has multiple functions, but is usually used to define place (over there) or the existence of something (there are many restaurants in the city).

‘their’ is the possessive of ‘they’ (it’s not our car, it’s their car).

The easiest rule to use is to think if the word means ‘it belongs to them’ or not!

To or too

This mistake is ubiquitous across the internet. The pronunciation of the words may be the same (another homophone), but again the meaning, and usage, is completely different.

‘to’ is a preposition or part of the infinitive form. Here are some examples:

‘I went to Florida.’ (a preposition)

‘I want to be an astronaut.’ (part of the infinitive)

‘too’ is an adverb used to mean ‘as well’, or to symbolize there is more of something than is considered good. Here are examples:

‘I went to the meeting too.’ (as well)

‘There are too many things to do.’ (the number of things to do is more than can be considered achievable)

it’s or its

This rule needs clearing up once and for all.

‘It’s a beautiful day today.’ (it’s = it is, so the apostrophe represents the missing ‘i’)

‘The dog is chasing its tail’ (its = possessive, so no apostrophe is used)

The problem is that the second example above can seem to fly in the face of normally established rules: we use apostrophes for possessives (for example, John’s T-shirt, Mary’s pen, Canada’s Government)!

But if you think about it, we never use apostrophes in the possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our, their). So that’s why we don’t use it with ‘its’ either.

Punctuation in general

One glance down a regular Twitter feed and you could be forgiven for thinking that companies are now making keyboards without punctuation symbols. Of course, this is not the case.

There are some differences of opinion when it comes to things such as commas (the Oxford comma for example, which is placed before the final ‘and’ in a list of items), and there can even be different interpretations when it comes to using colons (:), semi-colons (;) and the em dash (–), although strict grammarians would voice concerns about some of these ideas.

But when it comes to using a simple period or placing commas in positions in sentences where you would clearly pause, or using apostrophes to signify ellipsis (missing letters), the rules are non-negotiable. The result is that your text becomes almost impossible to read. It’s not a good look.

Capital letters

Acutely connected to the blatant disregard for periods is the capital letter. Or the random capital latter that is now seen so frequently.

The rules in English regarding capitals are quite clear: use them at the start of a new sentence, or for names of people, places or organizations. There really isn’t much that sits outside of these rules. However, one look at the music world will tell you that artists are now taking liberties with capital letters that may, or may not, be deliberate attempts to revolutionize the language.

But here’s a simple piece of advice. Use capitals when you should, and don’t use them when you shouldn’t. Also, don’t write entire words in capitals, because it looks like you’re shouting.

These are far from the only types of mistakes you can expect to see on social media posts. Just take a couple of minutes to check it out for yourself and you will see a host of misspelled words, a total disregard for punctuation, and an approach to capital letters that will leave you wondering if that person’s keyboard is broken.

Don’t be that person. Don’t be that business. Take the time out to proofread your post before you publish it, and use a professional writing tool such as Linguix to help frame your words and check your spelling and grammatical construction as you go.

The post The 5 English Mistakes That (Unfortunately) Characterize Social Media Posts appeared first on Linguix Blog.

Think about a work email that contains simple errors that you missed, or even going to the trouble to getting a brochure printed or sign made, only to discover that there is a ridiculous mistake included that ruins the credibility of what you have done. What about the power of a Tweet or Facebook post that takes the edge of your message through a simply-yet-glaring mistake?!

It can and does happen, to all of us, and we all have our own little areas of English where we make repeated mistakes.

The trick is to be careful in the first place, be aware of your problem areas, and then proofread everything that you produce before you send it/post it/publish it/print it and so on. Here are some particularly frequently made (and simple) mistakes to look out for:

Unwelcome apostrophes

‘I have two meeting’s tomorrow.’

Why has the word ‘meetings’ got an apostrophe? Think about the reasons for using an apostrophe:

1) Because it is a possessive

2) To signal ellipsis (something missing, such as a letter – used in contractions)

Which one is this?

It’s neither – it’s a plural, so no apostrophe should be used!

One word to be very careful with is when you use ‘it’ as a possessive = its. Note there is no apostrophe, which is to distinguish the word from the contraction of it is.

Confusing homophones

Their, there or they’re?

Too, to, or two?

As long as you know the difference between the meanings of these words, you should never really make a mistake. But people do, frequently! Even native speakers have problems when they are communicating quickly. If you stop and think, it should be easy to distinguish between them. So:

their = belonging to them (It’s their car, not ours!)

there = a pronoun representing a place or the existence of something (It’s over there!)

they’re = they are (They’re too busy to come!)

too = as well, or to say that there is an excess of something (I liked it too, although it was too long!)

to = a simple preposition (We went to Spain!)

two = a number (We went two years ago!)

99% of the time, these mistakes are just carelessness. So be careful!

Similar sounding words

Then or than? Specially or especially? Affect or effect? Lose or loose?

Now, all of these pairs of words sound similar but are far from the same. Mispronouncing while speaking is very possible, but when you are writing, there is no reason for making these mistakes as long as you 1) understand that these words are different and 2) know what each word means. Here we go:

then = after, or at that time (We went to the cinema, then we went home.)

than = a preposition used in comparatives (I’m taller than you.)

specially = done in a special way (I got these shoes specially made.)

especially = one above all others (I like movies, especially westerns.)

affect = the verb (Smoking affects your health.)

effect = the noun (Smoking has a negative effect on our health.)

lose = a verb meaning the opposite of ‘win’ (I hope we don’t lose the match.)

loose = an adjective meaning the opposite of ‘tight’ (My trousers are very loose.)

They are different! Now just be careful!

Making mistakes with the subject and verb complementation

This is usually a learner mistake but is an error that can also be made when proper proofreading is not performed. Let’s have a look at a few example mistakes:

‘She have been living here for 10 years.’

She has…

‘My brother play football.’

My brother plays…

‘The people is very happy.’

The people are…

Learn the grammar rules first, and then make sure you proofread everything, checking for this precise type of mistake in particular.

Spelling

Spelling is a contentious issue, mostly because some people think it’s really important while others think it is not important at all. Certainly, with the increase in mobile communication devices and instant messaging, the way that we chat with words has become a little more fluid: ‘How R U?’

But, of course, there is a time and a place for every type of communication. And in a professional context, it’s important to be as accurate as possible.

Of course, word processing software will help you correct your spelling mistakes, and there are really useful tools such as the Linguix AI-powered writing assistant which will help you correct mistakes as you write.

But how many times have you read something on Twitter, for example, that has lost its message, gravitas or even meaning through poor spelling and grammar?

It’s always a good idea to be able to trust yourself to recognize some of your most common mistakes when it comes to spelling. Here are some typical categories of mistake:

‘ie’ or ‘ei’

This causes a lot of heartaches.

In school, many native speakers are taught a rule to tackle this problem: ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’.

The problem is that this rule is so regularly broken that it’s barely worth having it at all.

Here are some examples:

receipt (actually follows the rule)

their (doesn’t follow the rule)

achieve (follows the rule)

foreign (doesn’t follow the rule)

Double letter or not?

There is a rule in English that when you make a participle of a word (for example, run – runner) then you double the consonant if the last three letters of the original word (in this case ‘run’) are consonant-vowel-consonant. This really helps.

However, then there are loads of other words that you just have to remember. For example:

embarrassed

accommodate

disappoint

Have you ever been caught out by one of these classic words? Learning by heart is the only way.

‘a’ or ‘e’ (or ‘i)?

We’ve all been there: saying a word over and over to try and remember if that vowel sound is an ‘a’, or an ‘e’. It could even be an ‘i’! One thing is for sure, the pronunciation isn’t going to help you.

Here are some classic examples:

acceptable (not acceptible)

calendar (not calender)

separate (not seperate)

Don’t let your writing lose its message through a litany of simple spelling, punctuation and grammar mistakes. Be aware of where your weaknesses lie. And proofread!

The post Simple Mistakes in English That Can Make You Look Bad appeared first on Linguix Blog.

We’ve come up with an ultimate list of 23 most frequent errors that you should stop making in your writing.

1. They’re vs. Their vs. There

“Their” and “there” are homophones, i.e., words that have the same pronunciation but different meaning. To always correctly identify which word to use, remember that “there” is the opposite of “here” and refers to a place, while “their” describes possession. Also, “they’re” is just a contraction of “they are” (or “they were”).

We’ve published a comprehensive guide with multiple examples of using their/there on practice.

2. Your vs. You’re

Similar to the previous issue here we have two homophones which are often tricky to use correctly. The word “your” denotes possession while “you’re” is a contraction for “you are.”

Examples:

This is your decision.

Wow, you’re so fast!

3. Its vs. It’s

Another puzzle that might be very hard to solve even for the most educated people. “Its” denotes possession like “your” or “their,” and “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.” In such cases the ‘s makes people think that there is possession involved as well, which is wrong.

4. Could/would/should of

When you say a contracted form of the phrase “could have” which is “could’ve” it sounds similar to “could of.” This is why sometimes people, especially non-natives, think this is right to write it like this. The thing is the contracted form for could/would/should have is ‘ve, and no “of” involved here.

Bad: We could of been there right now.

Good: We could’ve been there right now.

5. To vs. two vs. too

English is full of homophones, isn’t it? Many language learners mix to/two/too because they sound so similar. To avoid this mistake, you should remember that:

• “To” is used in the infinitive form of a verb or has the meaning “towards.”
• “Too” means “also.”
• “Two” is just a word form of a number 2.

Bad: Let’s go too the party.

Good: Let’s go to the party.

6. Then vs. than

Another top widespread mistake which, again, originates from the similarities of those two words. To avoid errors, remember that you use “than” in comparisons, while “then” can be used to indicate that something follows something else.

Examples:

She was a better player than him

We will go to school first, then to the playground.

7. Peek vs. Peak vs. Pique

This one is not that popular as “who vs. whom” puzzle, but still can be found quite often. People may even know what word they want to use, but still, make a mistake in writing.

The word “peek” means to take a quick look at something, while “peak” is a top point, say, of a mountain. The hardest word in this sequence is “pique” which means “to provoke.”

There is a piece of mnemonic advice to sort it out in your head fast:

• You have to reach some threshold to get to the peak.
• If you peer at something, you are peeking.
• If you’re piqued by or about something, this means you have some questions about it.

8. Who vs. Whom vs. Whose vs. Who’s

“Who vs. Whom” dilemma is one of the trickiest puzzles the English language has to offer to a learner. We’ve already taken on it in one of our previous posts.

There is a fast way to decide between the two words to see how you can substitute the target word. If you can replace the actor in the sentence with “he” or “she,” then you use “who.” If “him” or “her” looks better than use “whom.”

In turn, “whose” is used to assign ownership, while “who’s” is a contraction for “who is”:

Whose car is that?

Who’s calling the customer today?

9. Who vs. That

One of the trickiest things to figure out. Both words are used for descriptions, and when you describe the person the correct option is “who”:

Bad: Jane is a marketer that has huge experience in working with international customers.

Good: Jane is a marketer who has huge experience in working with international customers.

However, when you’re describing an object, it is correct to use “that”:

Good: This is a car that I’d like to buy one day.

10. Alot vs. A lot vs. Allot

Yep, some people think that “alot” is a real word. It is not, so never use it. If you mean to say about a vast number of something, then you should use “a lot.”

“Allot” is a complicated word you can easily replace, but if you are interested, it means “to assign as a share or portion” or “to distribute by or as if by lot”:

Allot five minutes for each pitch.

11. Into vs. In to

Yes, these could be mistyped as well. To be always correct, you should remember that “into” indicates movement while you can use “in to” in multiple situations when both these words are connected to different other words. For example, if you have a phrase “call in to a game” here “in” is a part of a verb.

So, if you want to write a sentence where someone or something is moving, use “into.”

12. Lose vs. Loose

One more pair of homophones. Really, these two words are spelled so similarly, that there is no surprise, a lot of people make mistakes when writing them.

To avoid such errors, you should know that “lose” is a verb that means that you can’t find something, or you fail to win or solve some task. You can lose a game or your wallet.

In turn, “loose” is an adjective that denotes something “not tightly fastened, attached or held” as outlined by dictionaries.

So, when you are talking about the game, someone could not win, or an object one fails to find, use the word with one “o” – “lose.”

13. Affect vs. Effect

People often confuse these words when talking about changes that were inspired by some event.

Bad: That book effected me strongly.

The truth is that “effect” is the verb used to denote that the change is taking place.

Good: That new play had a significant effect on the audience.

However, if you describe a situation when something happened, and it provoked changes, then “affect” will be OK.

Good: That book affected me so much!

14. Do’s and Don’ts

These words look strange because of apostrophes which are located in different places. The most frequent mistake here is to put an apostrophe in the wrong place for “don’ts”:

Bad: Five Do’s and Dont’s of content creation.

There actually two commonly used styles for these words.  The Chicago Manual of Style offers the following writing: “dos and don’ts.”

15. Me vs. I

Though the absolute majority of language learners correctly identify the difference between “me” and “I” when it comes to using them in sentences, there might be some difficulties

Bad: When you finish the report, send it to John and I.

Good: When you finish the report, send it to John and me.

To identify the correct word to use, search for an object in the sentence. In the example above there are two objects – “John” and “I.” But the word “I” should not serve as an object. There is “me” for that purpose.

16: Run-on Sentences and Comma Splice

Let’s move to the more tricky grammar issues. A run-on sentence arrives when you join two independent clauses without proper punctuation and with no relevant conjunction. This is very similar to the comma splice. The difference is that in such case a comma separate two clauses still with no conjunction.

There are several solutions to the problem you can apply:

1. Just separate two clauses into independent sentences.
2. Use a semi-colon instead of a comma.
3. Use coordinating conjunctions like “and” or “but” to replace the comma.
4. Subordinating conjunctions like “although,” “if,” “since” suit for this purpose as well
5. The more elegant and sophisticated solution is replacing the comma with the semi-colon plus transitional word (“however,” “moreover,” etc.)

Bad: John is very good at football, he began playing in the team when he was five.

Good: John is very good at football. He began playing in the team when he was five. (You can use either of five fixes above you like).

17. Pronoun agreement errors

Sometimes people mistype or forget that pronouns should agree in number with the corresponding nouns. The singular noun should have singular referring pronoun.

Bad: Everybody should take their lunch box.

Good: Everybody should take his or her lunch box.

18. Mistakes with apostrophes

In the English language, apostrophes are often used to demonstrate possession. However, there are also possessive pronouns (my, mine, his, her, their, etc.) and after them, you do not use apostrophes.

Bad: I parked next to his’ car.

Good: I parked next to his car.

For “it’s” the apostrophe does not denote possession, it is merely a contraction for “it is.”

Bad: Its a warm day for December.

Good: It’s a warm day for December.

19. Subject/Verb agreement errors

If you write a sentence in the present tense, then there should be an agreement in number between subjects and verbs. If the subject is singular so should be the verb, and if your subject is plural the same applies to the verb linked to it.

Bad: These cars is good for newbies.

Good: These cars are good for newbies.

20. Dangling modifiers

To make your writing crisp and clear you must always put the modifier next to the word it modifies. Everyone should be able to understand this connection at a glance.

Bad: He saw a puppy and a kitten on the way to the office.

Good: On the way to the office, he saw a puppy and a kitten.

21. Using ‘They’ to describe a company

Quite often you can meet the word “they” describing the specific company in blog posts, media articles. People do this because they think about business as a group of people. It seems legit to use “they” in such a scenario, but a word “company” or “business” is not plural. Therefore it is “it,” not “they.”

Bad: Apple is planning to release their new iPhone later this year.

Good: Apple is planning to release its new iPhone later this year.

22. Incomplete Comparisons

This is not a critical issue. However, it makes your writing less confident. Look at this example:

Bad: Our new software is faster, more reliable, and robust.

Here we have a comparison, and an object we try to compare, but we miss another object we are referring to. Shortly speaking, our new software is faster than what? Another software, previous version of our own tool, something else?

The rule is that when you’re comparing something, there should be at least two objects, or the comparison will be incomplete.

23. Possessive Nouns

Usually, possessive nouns have an apostrophe, but it is not always that clear where to put it. It depends on a singular or plural noun it relates to. Here is an example:

All of the boy’s toys were broken.

This sentence is a bit unclear: the apostrophe tells us that there is a specific boy, whose toys are broken, but the word “all” in the beginning indicates that there might be a lot of boys.

Here are some rules to follow:

• If you have a plural noun then the apostrophe should go after the “s.” (The boys’ toys.)
• When you have a singular noun that ends in “s,” the apostrophe will go after the “s” again. (Example: the school bus’ yellow color.)
• If the noun is singular and does not end with “s,” you should put the apostrophe before the “s.” (The boy’s toys).

The post 23 of the Most Common Grammar Mistakes You Need to Stop Making in Your Writing appeared first on Linguix Blog.

Don’t word count

A good writer treats the article as a whole and tries to tell a story. Having to keep in mind a required volume can kill creativity. If a company uses outsourced writers, linking their pay with the number of words is the worst thing to do. It prompts the writer to include empty information in the article to get more money.

Offline media has to consider the physical size of a newspaper. In terms of online media, blog posts and articles can be of any size, as there is nothing to limit it. Don’t worry that an article is too short, that doesn’t matter.  

Quite often, short articles consisting of a few paragraphs are read by thousands of people, while long reads that took weeks to prepare go completely under the radar.

“This-Has-Already-Been-Covered” policy leads to failure

It’s always tempting to be the first one to cover something. But most topics a company could elaborate on have been already covered by somebody else. This isn’t an excuse to sit and wait for huge breaking news that will explode on all blog platforms and attract the attention of the best media outlets.

Regular postings are an important component of successful content promotion. You can’t write something unique every time unless your company is a giant like Google or Facebook. This means that you’ll have to learn how to find something newsworthy in unexpected places, look at existing topics from a new angle and compile different opinions and postings in order to channel a debate in the right direction.

Nobody wants your boring corporate news

With a few rare exceptions, corporate news doesn’t interest anyone except for founders, team members and relatives. So don’t publish press statements about a couple of new functions or changing the color of your menu buttons.

However, an article about how your company collected and analyzed data on audience preferences in order to introduce these features, or how changing the color of a button improved conversion and sales, could be appealing.

Earn the right to advertise

This is the single most important point. Former Apple staff and marketing guru Guy Kawasaki says companies should earn the right to advertise their products. If you start a conversation with your audience using press releases about your success, ignoring the interests of the readers, their numbers will not increase.

And vice versa, if your business wins an audience with compelling content, and then offers information about its goods and services to loyal readers, it will score really good results.

The post Common Content Marketing Mistakes appeared first on Linguix Blog.