Common grammatical and spelling errors - tips

Here are some common grammatical and spelling errors, corrected with explanations. Hope those who need it, find it of help and interest. We all have our 'mental blanks' on these things - myself included. I always want to spell Gorgious with an 'i' but, of course, it is: 'Gorgeous'. 



WHOSE / WHO'S

Whose book are you reading?

Who is that, looking through the window?  Who's that, looking through the window?
EXPLANATION:  Who is that - miss out the 'i' of is and say:  "Who's that...?"

The man whose Caterham 7 I was riding in...

BRING / BROUGHT - BUY / BOUGHT

Are you bringing your sister along?
Have you brought your sister with you?

EXPLANATION:  Bring has an 'r' in it, so the past tense is 'Brought' (with an 'r').

What did you buy?
I bought a lot of lovely new items to fill up my empty wardrobe.
I also bought you a teddy-bear, which doesn't have an 'r' in it.

The bracelet that I have brought with me today has an 'r' in it.

The teddy bear that I bought for the baby has no 'r' in its tummy, because the verb 'Buy' has no 'r' in it.


WOULD HAVE, COULD HAVE, SHOULD HAVE - MUST HAVE

Whenever you would like to use an 'of', hold on.
You would have liked to use the word 'of', because it sounds right, but look:-

EXPLANATION: I would have thought that you would have known that already.
Now miss out the 'ha' from 'have and it becomes:  I would've thought that ...  TA DAAAAR! Easy :)

"It must have been love, but it's over now....
It must've been good, but I lost it somehow."

Well, who would've thought it!?

He should've gone across the road and seen for himself.

I could've said it right, but like I didn't know it was could've and thought it was just Could Of, like.

STATIONERY / STATIONARY

When you think you need some writing paper, use the 'e'.

When you are standing still, and cannot move an inch - you are stationary, with an 'a'.


DEPENDENT / INDEPENDENT / DEPENDANT

Depending on the instance, you would need to say that Bob is dependent on someone else.
If we are talking about Bob, he is a 'dependant'.
However, it's rather confusing and this is possibly one that I should not have included here!

WHAT ELSE?

Do let me know of your own personal 'bug-bears' or mental blanks and let's see if, together, we can make the world a nicer, easier, more readable place.  Words is important, that's wot I reckons.