How to Eliminate Common Writing Mistakes, and Why You Should (Please)

I love this post from Lifehack. I care about the language, even though a lot of people don't anymore. That's why they say "myself" when they mean "me" and "yourself" when they mean "you" - perhaps my top pet peeve besides sloppy spelling in blog posts. (God I hope this one has no spelling errors.)

Please, please, please read why spellcheck is not your friend:

That's because spellcheck "is in actuality the product of a plot between Bill Gates, Richard Stallman, and Kim Jong Il, who are working together to undermine America’s public image in preparation for a non-violent overthrow of our country and our way of life."

One of the most effective tools for improved writing is a well-honed sense of when to look something up. Not just definitions or spelling, but grammatical usage, AP style, facts and figures, etc. I'll be damned if I know how to teach it, but over the years, I've learned it well.

Interesting point Mike.I'm not sure people can be taught to write, although teaching can help writers get better.

i could always write, but I've learned the most from working with good writers over the years.

and J-school certainly helped because it made us look everything up, which meant we had to know where to look.

I can't recall ever being formally taught grammar and I can't parse a sentence. Yet, I rarely make grammatical errors. Nonetheless, I feel that last sentence contains one :>(