If you are like me you make spelling errors and grammatical errors like it's an Olympic event. However I feel it is something we should aim to improve about ourselves. Certainly that's the case for me - I wish to raise the bar (to keep abusing the metaphor) and this cheat sheet will, I hope, help towards that.

What I've done is listed the most common errors. If you see me making these errors then please feel free to point them out. I'll make no secret of the fact that my grasp of spelling and grammar is shaky but I refuse to let that stand between me and good blogging.

I feel that bloggers have the opportunity to take the lead from the printed media and in Thanet this is especially true. To do this we need to present the best version of our work that we can. This is where this cheat sheet might be handy (especially for me). If you make any of these mistakes then congratulations you are a human being. Like me for example - were it not for one last re-read I would have left a clanger in this article - right in the example itself!

Your and You're: They are both pronounced the same and so are easily confused. My trick is to ask yourself if you could write "you are" and still make sense. If so you are thinking of "you're" whereas "your" is something that belongs to you.

Example: "Is this your blog? You're very clever"


To, Too and Two: Classic set of words that all sound identical but are used in different ways. Two is the number, too means "as well" or "also" and "to" is the fiddly one for most other things.

Example: "To be like Jack one must write well and produce two articles a day too"


It’s and Its: We all do this - I still find the two confusing. "It's" means "it is" but "its" is talking about the possession of the subject. (See also the Apostrophe entry)

Example: "It's a fact that his blog has lost its mojo"


Apostrophe: If ever there was a hard to master punctuation mark it is the (not so) humble apostrophe. It's amazing how easy I find it to put it in the wrong place it gets in everywhere. (A favourite mistake of mine is to write "get's" which is wrong). The apostrophe is used to denote ownership ("Bob's blog") or a missing letter ("it's a blog" being short for "it is a blog"). I don't know of many people that don't have a hard time with this one.


alot: is an outright mistake, it turns out, and should be "a lot" the same goes for "todo" which should be "to do". They say you learn something every day...


There, They're and Their: how many time have I gotten this fellow wrong? "There" is talking about a place and "Their" is talking about a people. The odd man out is "they're" which is short for "they are" and if you want to present a more formal tone is best avoided.

Example: "Bob and Jane? They're over there by their computer"


everyday and every day: If something is "everyday" it is common, ordinary and quite usual. But "every day" means "daily."

Example: "Every day I make everyday mistakes"


always and all ways: If something always happens it means it happens every time but you must try all ways available to avoid misusing it. I only discovered this difference researching the correct meaning for some of my more common mistakes


Affect and Effect: my hands are up to this one - I have to look up which is which or take a guess. "Affect" is the verb while "Effect" is the noun - if like me you were never instructed in the "rules" of writing that means not a lot to you too.

Example: "Your ability to blog well will affect your blog's popularity immensely"
Example: "The effect of a poorly written blog is lower readership"


Could have and Would have: The common mistake here is to write "could of" or "would of". We make this mistake (so I am told) because of the way we say things. It turns out that we are not saying "could of" but "could've" or "would've" which is short for "could have" or "would have". Thinking about this I am sure that I could have made this mistake a good many times in the past.


These are all common mistakes and could be can avoided with just a touch more effort (on my part), I feel. I'm going to try and cut out these mistakes and hopefully by sharing my cheat list you might be able to avoid a few clangers too. Perhaps the super literate (of which Thanet has a few) might be able to shed more light on these issues?