Do you know how to avoid grammar Gremlins?

Everyone can write, but can they write well? And do they have that natural ability to weave and dance with their words to evoke emotion, or to portray another person’s life, or to simply transport you away to somewhere else entirely?

It’s one thing scrawling or tapping out the words at pace, but quite another to thoroughly understand all its constituent parts, and the rules of written English. I definitely wasn’t taught all the complexities of our language, spoken, written or otherwise, so I am learning more each and every day.

When I write, I often refer to the Complete Writing Guide, published by Collins. And it has an opening page entitled The Thirteen Gremlins of Grammar, here they are, hope they tickle you, but more importantly, I wonder if you understand why all have been selected as examples?

1. Correct speling is essential.
2. Don’t use no double negatives.
3. Verbs has got to agree with their subjects.
4. Don’t write run-on sentences they are hard to read.
5. About them sentence fragments.
6. Don’t use commas, that aren’t necessary.
7. A preposition is not a good word to end a sentence with.
8. Remember to not ever split infinitives.
9. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
10. Alway’s use apostrophe’s correctly.
11. Make each singular pronoun agree with their antecedents.
12. Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.
13. Proofread your writing to make sure you don’t words out.

And, above all, avoid cliches like the plague!

So do you know your prepositions from your verbs, and when to use a semicolon, and when not to use an apostrophe?

Some common misconceptions and errors will be revealed in the coming series of Dollop of Mustard Blogs – for content creators, marketers & entrepreneurs. Watch out for it, if you like me, get a little confused sometimes.