COMMON GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES WRITERS MAKE | punctuation, word usage, and more!

Hello friends! Today I'm back with FIVE common grammatical mistakes I often see as a freelance editor. These are mistakes that many writers make, from punctuation, to word usage, and more! Learn these common writing mistakes so that you can catch them in your own work.
And if you're looking for an editor, you can check out my services at enchantedinkpublishing.com
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#authortube, #writingtips, #writingmistakes,

[@ArtemHahauz-nm7bk]

If I'm being completely honest, I'd love to be a writer and a freelance editor at the same time. The reason of that is derived from my meticulousness to minute details and joy while learning something linguistic. I believe that editor's job is literally for me even though I am a non-native English speaker. Best regards from Ukraine! Keep up the great work!

[@domd4350]

Next time when you upload videos like this can you do more visuals? Like words on the screen, sentences and examples...etc it’s hard to track for me and I’m sure others because most ppl are visual learns. 🙃

[@NataliaLeigh]

Dom D Absolutely - thanks for letting me know!

[@marlowyork7089]

I'm definitely guilty of many of these mistakes, whether my accident or just not knowing the proper usage. That's why editors like you are so important! You help catch these mistakes so they don't end up in the published book (which I'm also guilty of haha).

[@antoniodossantos5960]

Thanks Natalia 🌎 Greetings from Colombia. The Venezuelan immigrant writer 🇻🇪

[@amitymiller9340]

I love this! The em rule (em dash) is my biggest pet peeve in edits. The worst part is, my Mac always automatically changed my em rules to hyphens.

[@AuthorJCCarpenter]

Oh Natalia, we are such kindred spirits lol! It is so nice to know I am not the only person who is silently correcting everyone's grammar in my head (and depending on who it is not so silently lol) because I thought I was all alone. I also do it with my own posts I make too, and if I see an error I made, it could be hours later, I will edit my own post just because it would drive me crazy to knowingly leave it incorrect. This is the reason I can not edit my own writing, I get a little obsessive. So nice to know there are others out there 😊 Love the video, as always! ❤

[@alisonf.haring3411]

I love how passionate you sound when speaking about copywriting 😊 such great pieces of advice here 👍

[@SysterYster]

If I'm the slightest unsure of a word, I'll google it. It takes like 2 seconds, and you've got the correct meaning.

[@jts841]

Great video!! Thank you and I love your passion 🙏🏻 I did however find myself worried about your hair and that candle lol

[@winnmiller6012]

Wow, I've NEVER heard/used the words 'clamber/clamor' (In ALL honesty) in my life. Guess l learned something today--which is ALWAYS a good thing! 😊

[@crystalwaid518]

When I’m ready, I would LOVE to use your services!

[@harulestokeswrites2284]

Great editing info!

[@Artraive]

Thanks for another great video! 😊

[@RebeccahRodriguez]

I remember I had one beta who got very irritated with me for using hyphens instead of em dashes when she was reading my work. She kept asking 'why are you using this!?', and I felt so embarrassed because I was one of those people that didn't know they were 2 different things! While I'm glad she corrected me, I don't think getting frustrated with someone for not knowing something is the way to go 😣

[@NataliaLeigh]

Rebeccah Rodriguez Eek! While it’s nice when betas teach us new things, it should always be done kindly and gently ❤️ I didn’t know what em dashes were for yeeeears. It’s all good! ✌🏻

[@janemeredith8949]

If there are two persons involved in a possessive, are both written with an apostrophe? Jim's and Jane's book or Jim and Jane's book? Thanks❤

[@thomasswritingjourney]

I am always learning all kinds of things on your channel. I make all kinds of mistakes in my work. I do find these videos to be valuable. Thank you! 😀

[@reneebarrette4514]

GREAT CONTENT!!! I learned lots today!

[@jessicindel2865]

Thanks for the video!

[@jeanninewalker9779]

Thank you Natalia. This was very informative for me.

[@antoniodossantos5960]

Greetings from Colombia, the Venezuelan Immigrant writer 🌎

[@susanbuckminster282]

Thank you!

[@ryanmedina5090]

This was a great video. I would love to see more like this. I definitely can say I learned a lot about hyphens and dashes that I didn't know that i didn't know haha.

[@NataliaLeigh]

Ryan Medina I’m happy to hear it! I was completely confused the first time I heard of an em dash 😂

[@ryanmedina5090]

@@NataliaLeigh I had no idea that an em dash was a thing so yeah learn something new every day.

[@authorlacyhess]

Loving these new videos!

[@NataliaLeigh]

Lacy Hess Thanks for letting me know Lacy! I’m glad you’re enjoying them 🥰

[@RN4037]

I enjoy watching your video. You highlighted critical issues in the English writing world. I know as an English learner I make a lot of mistakes when I am writing, particularly the ones you mentioned. I jotted them down and looked up some of them. And I found out that I make many mistakes in the subject-verb agreement. I will pay attention to them until I get familiar with their agreements. Thx

[@EveningTV]

Did I miss where you showed the M dash and N dash? I saw a hyphen, and think I'm doing it correctly though I didn't know what it was called, but when you redo this topic it would be great to see examples on the screen. Your content is really great btw. I just found you today and have been gobbling up your content (and procrastinating working on my book!).

[@hanawriter]

Lovely video, Natalia! I enjoyed both of these common error videos immensely! If you think of more you would like to share, I would love to see them! 💜

[@AxleBoost]

I thought one of the most common similar word pairs you highlighted was going to be insure and ensure. I see those a lot!

[@katherinewebster5137]

We need your expertise! more of these videos! I realised so much from this video and am going to try harder when I write.

[@patrickskramstad1485]

Also, you have a sharp eye. :) Thank you 😊

[@missdameenor]

You really hit the nail on the head... Did you learn most of your copy-editing skills from college or EFA courses? Thanks for the great content as always!

[@TheWriteNowMom]

The hyphenation guide in CMOS is kicking my butt for my proofreading course. It's awesome seeing how much you enjoy it, though! Any tips on figuring it out?

[@mischarowe]

I like grammar, don't get me wrong, but the way most people explain it bores me. The tediousness is painful. But. Your explanations. I got it right away. You explain it so well. I will check your site out. :)

[@rachelastrickland]

I would love to know a little bit about the editing courses that you took! ❤️

[@AndrewWatsonChangingWay]

My favorite example of your second mistake is, "The officers were gamboling round the table." I think that I heard it from a high school English teacher, long ago and far away.

[@morizanova8219]

great tips!! Will be awesome if your video have subtitle for peoples from another countries . Thanks

[@bgchaz]

Yet more things to look for as I edit my novel. The torture is sometimes necessary. What would i do without you? Happy writing.

[@NataliaLeigh]

Happy writing to you as well Charles! And I'm always happy to help!

[@nextinstitute7824]

Em dashes are created by tying two hyphens directly after a word and glue the second word immediately to the hyphens. The Word program will then create the em dash once you add a space after the second word.

[@jeffmcmahon3278]

An em dash using Word on a Mac is achieved with shift+option+hyphen

[@sarahmatthews5878]

You need to have a black Stutson for when you wear your hair like this. You look like a Western Gunslinger. I love it.

[@antoniodossantos5960]

Hello Natalia... Thanks 🌎

[@klitemyfire5965]

Hello Natalia, and thank you for the tip. I really enjoy your channel. Been learning a lot about writing correctly from your vid. In this one I was hoping you would touch on the use of commas. I can't seem to get the hang of properly using commas. Maybe, I'm the exception to the rule but I was thinking that the use of commas would be one of the most common mistakes made. Also, I had no idea what a EM Dash vs EN dash was. I looked them up and now understand what they are used for. Although, I am using MS Word and to use an EM dash goggle indicates to Hold down The Alt key and type 0151. When I do this noting happens, other then the Style Box at the top opens up. Just curious what might I be doing wrong. You also mentioned using a dictionary. One way I have found to quickly check my spelling which I believe will work for anyone these days is to use there cell phone. Since we all have them handy it works great. I have an iPhone, so all I do is ask Siri for the spelling of any word I need. Quick and easy. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[@dariakey5318]

As a non-native I enjoyed watching this. Really useful! But could you please add more visuals on the screen next time? It would be really helpful and more graphical and clear. Thank you for the video.

[@NataliaLeigh]

Daria Key Sure thing! I’m glad you enjoyed the content and I’ll work on more visuals in the next one 👍🏻

[@s.l.wymansrockinwriting6633]

Dictionary, thesaurus, the Emotion Thesaurus, and Save the Cat are a must for me when I edit/write. Accept no substitutes. On Writing by Stephen King, The Little Red Writing Book, and Elements of Style are also fabulous resources. Quick question: I'm used to MLA format due to tons of essays. Is Chicago style more prominently used in editing circles for fiction?

[@antoniodossantos5960]

Reading over...aloud - very important 🌎

[@antoniodossantos5960]

I like em dash!!

[@wade]

I was at a writer’s conference where I heard a fellow author complain about the errors in Junie B Jones!

[@juliannagoodwin2875]

Wade Bradford That’s pretty funny.

[@SysterYster]

The singular plural thing I mess up now and then, because I get unsure of whether it is the bouquet (singular) or the flowers (plural) that I'm supposed to refer to. XD

[@marthawilley5512]

Good info. Hate apostrophes.

[@NataliaLeigh]

Martha Willey I love apostrophes-as long as they’re used correctly 😅

[@abbiepancakeeater52]

Do you have any videos on how to become an editor? Its really fun and relaxing to me and Im interested in what a career in it is like and how to achieve it :)

[@abbiepancakeeater52]

Also goodness its such a pet peeve of mine when people put possessive apostrophes on things when its not necessary, like after numbers.

[@atheistechoes9594]

I really need to work on scentence structure

[@andrewjgrimm]

I'd love to know which grammatical mistakes get picked up by proof-reading software and which ones don't.

[@quartkneek3670]

I think I was following that last point but then you kind of confused me. I wish you'd do a whole video on just that topic of clauses with at least five different examples. You could also do one on when to use a colon and a semi-colon and other "in the weeds" style deep dives into grammar.

[@NataliaLeigh]

Quartknee K Thanks for letting me know. I’d be happy to do more in-depth grammar and writing videos.

[@megamoochilli3297]

You said "on accident". Surely it is "by accident". When I hear "on accident" I have the same immediate reaction as reading "then" when the person meant "than". Wouldn't normally write a message like this but this is literally the time and the place.

[@ekgheiy]

What about when the last name ends with a 'y' like Gilly? Would it be "The Gillys live down the street" or "The Gillies live down the street"?

[@bonniehuh]

I know I overuse em dashes and fragment sentences but struggle to know when they're wrong. I am terrible with grammar. It's the scariest part of writing to me.

[@Fuliginosus]

Making an em dash seems kind of complicated. My system is to copy from an existing document, or something online, then paste it into whatever I'm writing.

[@reader1956]

I know this is an older video but here is a current difficulty. Commas. Do you have a video on this? I can't find one. Commas before 'but' or 'and'. No commas after the beginning word 'Perhaps', 'And', 'But'. I get lost on what is correct anymore. P. S. This video was a great help, by the way.

[@antoniodossantos5960]

Punctuation...my weakness!

[@pauladams8350]

What is the difference between an en dash and an em dash and when do you use one or the other and why.

[@harveythepooka]

I use em dashes all the time. For anyone using word it's control/alt/dash. But I'm crap at hyphenation. >.>

[@newtoatheism5968]

Grammar was never my strongest subject in english class

[@SysterYster]

I personally hate dashes, em-dashes, and parenthesis in fiction. I will not use them at all (apart from in interrupted speech), and I'm not usually seeing them in the books I read either. I find that they're more common in YA. Why is that?

[@vegasrenie]

What about n dashes?

[@johnterpack3940]

I often worry that I'm doing something wrong. My style of writing seems to lend itself to the promiscuous use of semicolons. I can easily have several of them in a single paragraph, definitely within a page. So I look back at it and wonder if it's something that needs fixed or just an idiosyncrasy. Words that trip me up: discrete/discreet.

[@NataliaLeigh]

I feel you on the use of semicolons! I often try to vary my semicolon use by using commas, colons, and em dashes when appropriate.

[@johnterpack3940]

@@NataliaLeigh I have a comma fetish, so I have to be careful with them. See? I have paragraphs that contain all of the above. I also abuse the ellipsis. The em dash is my new best friend though. I'm a semantics Nazi; as I come to grips with the meanings of the various punctuation marks I'm sure I'll make better use of them. Yeah, I tend to write stream-of-conscious style. Then I have to go back and rework everything to make it coherent to everyone who doesn't live inside my head.

[@elizalagonia1049]

How do you put in a Mdash when typing?

[@beths44]

That’s my question too.😁

[@NataliaLeigh]

Eliza Lagonia There are a couple ways to do it-I just type two hyphens and then continue writing, and your word processor should change the hyphens into an em dash for you 👍🏻You can also press Alt + Ctrl + - (minus) and that should do the trick in Microsoft Word.

[@elizalagonia1049]

@@NataliaLeigh Thank you. I will do that.

[@hanawriter]

Eliza Lagonia Sometimes Word isn’t set up with the double hyphen system. If it isn’t, go to the Special Characters menu and you can set up an Autocorrect setting to change two hyphens into an em dash. I’ve had to do this on a few of my computers!

[@NataliaLeigh]

@@hanawriter Thanks for the tip Hana! My Word program already came with this set up, so I didn't realize other people might have to change some settings. :)

[@kopfgefickt]

How do I become a copy editor/proof reader?

[@stephenlayland2889]

I hate "flaunt" for "flout", almost as much as "decimate" for "devastate". And then there's what I call the Mark Twain Rule: Nothing enclosed in quotes is wrong. It all goes to character.

[@Xan_dur]

I also hear and see many people use 'me' instead of 'I'. Like when someone says something like this: "Me and my brother went to the store". It should be this instead: "My brother and I went to the store". If you went to the store by yourself, you wouldn't say this: "Me went to the store". So why replace 'I' with 'me'?

[@sarahmatthews5878]

I abuse the comma. Not intentionally. I've made a bad habit of hitting it when I breathe in a sentence. I also write out Becasue instead of Because. I can spell it, but my fingers hit the keys that spell Becasue. Ugh, it's annoying.

[@jeffmcmahon3278]

An em dash using Word on a Mac is achieved with shift+option+hyphen. And what about "effect" versus "affect"? Seems the term "impact" has destroyed our knowledge of these two powerful words.

[@alexika9981]

I’m tired of making many grammatical mistakes and sentence structure mistakes. English is my native langue as I went through school and college here in GA. I want to know ways I can naturally improve my grammar. Should I volunteer and help k-12 students with their grammar? Idk

[@jeyhey5320]

I did not understand the first mistake. Is it „Denies lives down the street.“ why would this look wrong?

[@srinivastatachar4951]

My pet peeve is the general lack of understanding of the perfect tense, especially the past perfect, and the usage of a wrong tense in its stead that results from this. =======================================================================================================================================================

[@patrickskramstad1485]

I believe grammatically it should be "The Leigh family lives up the road." "The Leigh's family home is up there." My auto correct changes the pluralization of last names for a reason. :) I know people don't always speak correctly, but I want correct speech like Star Trek 😂 I believe it is time to educate while entertaining. Especially since I saw who is in charge of the education system now...

[@NataliaLeigh]

Patrick Skramstad Your version sounds cleaner, but plural last names are in no way grammatically incorrect. Word processors and auto correct can only do so much 😉

[@SysterYster]

A lot of people use "that" instead of "who" I have noticed. "The man that did this" instead of "The man who did this" for example. A mistake I often do, even though I know what the different things mean, is mix up "its" and "it's". possessive and "it is". I KNOW what they mean, but I keep messing it up because I don't think about it, and I don't see it. XD It's sooo annoying.

[@xChikyx]

I only use - fml hahaha

[@andrearoberts2663]

I didn’t even know clamber was a word

[@Foslopac]

How do you advise writers who use plural pronouns to describe a singular person?

[@jeffmcmahon3278]

And don't get me started of this ridiculous term "gotten". What does it mean? "I've gotten a migraine." Really? Do you have a migraine? If so, what's wrong with "I have a migraine"? OR "I have developed a headache."

[@AndrewWatsonChangingWay]

Word most often annoyingly misused: hopefully. I shudder when I hear it misused in a video by a booktuber or authortuber. Consider: hopefully, she will be here soon. It means: she will be here before long, and when she does, she will be full of hope.

[@persephone3892]

"But the fixation with "hopefully" is different from those others. For one thing, the word itself is so utterly inconsequential - is that the best you've got? And then there's no rational justification for condemning it. Some critics object that it's a free-floating modifier (a Flying Dutchman adverb, James Kirkpatrick called it) that isn't attached to the verb of the sentence but rather describes the speaker's attitude. But floating modifiers are mother's milk to English grammar - nobody objects to using "sadly," "mercifully," "thankfully" or "frankly" in exactly the same way." www.npr.org/2012/05/30/153709651/the-word-hopefully-is-here-to-stay-hopefully Interesting topic. Like "literally," the word has evolved to have a new accepted meaning.

[@NataliaLeigh]

Hopefully is an adverb and can be used in different ways. It can be used to describe the way someone does something, such as: "He gazed up at me hopefully." However, it can also be used to mean it is hoped, I hope, or we hoped. So saying, "Hopefully the line isn't long," is still proper use of the word "hopefully."

[@AndrewWatsonChangingWay]

@@persephone3892 'Like "literally," the word has evolved to have a new accepted meaning.' I was afraid of that.

[@persephone3892]

@@AndrewWatsonChangingWay Yes language evolves. It has been evolving for all of its existence. There are many reasons, such as people migrating, languages in close proximity, and necessity for evolution (sometimes we need new words). And there have always been people who oppose these changes. But the argument is as pretentious as the usage of can/may. If everyone understands the intended meaning, theres no reason to complicate it.

[@AndrewWatsonChangingWay]

@@persephone3892 I know that language evolves. It's just that this particular evolution annoys me more than most. It annoys me more than "loose" for "lose", which I've corrected so many times that I wish it was now correct, so that I don't have to correct it any more. Can/may annoys me not at all.

[@harveythepooka]

I think you might be cheating on your boyfriend with the Chicago manual of style.

[@NataliaLeigh]

harveythepooka We’re very comfortable with the love triangle

[@diamond852]

Lie/lay. Americans do.not.know.the.usage.

[@cwfcwfcwf]

The drunken English lords that came up with this stupid language must have fallen off their chairs laughing with some of these rules. Few things in life are as disgusting as writing the English language. :)