Writing Skills: Use the Correct Word for the Context

This is my second article on writing skills. In this article, I want to point out some words that are often incorrectly substituted for the proper word. Spell checkers will not catch these errors because the word that is used is spelled correctly; it just isn’t the right word in the context where it is used!

Here are some common ones:

• Who’s – Whose
• You’re – Your
• It’s – Its
• To – Too
• I – Me

The first three are examples of a contraction and a possessive which sound the same when spoken. “Who’s” is short for “Who Is,” “You’re” is short for “You Are,” and “It’s” is short for “It Is.” When using these words. read the sentence out loud and use the two words the contraction would replace to see if it sounds correct. For example, you wouldn’t say “you are car.” You would say “your car” because you want to convey that the person you are addressing possesses that car. Conversely, if you mean to convey “you are in the right place” you would use “you’re” and not “your.”

Probably the trickiest one is “its.” The thing to remember is that “its” without the apostrophe is a possessive by itself, just like your, my, our. So you do not use the apostrophe for a possessive. You only use the apostrophe for the contraction of “it is.”

Examples of correct uses are:

• Who’s running this meeting?
• Whose house is this?
• You’re making progress.
• Your house is beautiful.
• It’s time to start.
• Its intention is to impress.

Just remember that a contraction represents two words: a noun and a verb combined. In contrast, a possessive is a single word and indicates possession of something (an object, place, emotion, situation.)

Now, the word “to” is a preposition and has SO many correct uses:

• Get to the church on time
• Prices range up to $10
• Five minutes to 6
• Add salt to taste

But the one incorrect use is when you want to convey an excess or addition. The word “too” is an adverb. Some correct uses are:

• You could say that, too
• You could add pepper, too
• Too much time
• Too many excuses

The words “I” and “me” are most often confused when combined with other people or things in a sentence. For example, do you say “Susie and I went to the store” or do you say “Susie and me went to the store?” I will never forget my eighth grade teacher making this easy: just read the sentence without the other person! Which is correct, “I went to the store” or “Me went to the store?”

Another example: “It belongs to Jim and me” or “It belongs to Jim and I” would be read, “It belongs to me” or “It belongs to I.” See how easy that makes it?

One final area where I often see mistakes, is possessives being used where a plural belongs. I mentioned this in my article on the correct use of the apostrophe. For example, someone may write “many company’s use this product” when it should be “many companies use this product.” Or, people may use just a plural when they actually want a possessive plural: “many companies financial statements” should be “many companies’ financial statements.”

I hope this information is helpful. Remember, your professional image is important and the written word is forever! Once published, you often cannot erase the footprint; people can copy your content and publish it elsewhere without you knowing it! So, get assistance if you need it to ensure that your content is always professional. If you are going to publish content regularly and you do not have good writing skills, either learn them or hire someone who does.