Typical Errors – Part I

There are common errors that manage to make it into our written work. We investigated a few of them and came up with a list for you.

The most common errors and mistakes made when writing

When do I use “less” or “fewer”? This is actually fairly simple. Use “fewer” when you talk about something numerically quantifiable, i.e. “two pounds or fewer”. Use “less” when you talk about a matter of degrees, i.e. “I am less concerned about the price of rice in China.”

Words that sound the same aren’t the same. Principle and Principal, Advice and Advise, Accept and Except – each pair sounds the same but has entirely different meanings. Principle is a noun meaning “rule”, Principal can be a noun or an adjective, depending on usage, and means either an important person, such as “the principal of the firm”, or refers to a sum of money, as in “principal and interest”

The key here is that you will need to memorize the correct word and, in case of doubt, check a dictionary. Your spell checker will typically not pick up if you confused a word. Additionally, you can always google for “commonly confused words” to get some help.

When writing SEO texts: Keyword capitalization doesn’t matter, even if the client provided all lower case words. Search engines do not differentiate based on capitalization.

We will continue this topic with another brief article entitled “Typical Errors Part II”.

Dieser Artikel wurde am 22.April 2010 von angelina geschrieben.

Angelina Conic

3 Kommentare

Christy Shell, MSN, RN 08.05.2010, 09:57:12 Uhr

I am very interested in your clickworker concept. The problem I see is that $10.00 an hour is not enough for a parent returning to finish her doctorate and take care care of her family. I will watch with interest in the future and maybe at that time, I will be able to participate in this program which sounds interesting and fun.

Michele Godwin 09.05.2010, 18:40:44 Uhr

While the article itself was very helpful, the first sentence was grammatically incorrect. “When do I use “less” or “fewer”? This is actually fairly simply.” The word “simply” should be replaced with the word “simple.” Also, punctuation should be within the quotes, not outside of the quotes.

:)

angie 20.05.2010, 19:56:28 Uhr

You have a wonderful concept here, and it is something I’m very interested in, however I think you may need to employ some “clickworkers” of your own!
In reading just a few pages on your site, I’ve come across several spelling errors. For example, in the article “Typical Errors – Part I”, the second sentence in the list of common mistakes reads: “This is actually fairly simply.” It should read: “This is actually fairly SIMPLE.” I mean, this is an article on “common errors that manage to make it into our written work”! Also, in your services section, you have links that read “pricing & infos” when it should read “pricing and INFO”.
They seem small, but when you’re advertising your services for resume critiques and such, it can make or break a sale!