EnglishForEnglishSpeakers.com

You and I

Myth:

Saying "you and me" is always wrong. Use "you and I".

Example

"Johnny and me went to the store." Wrong!
"Johnny and I went to the store." Right!

Correct Rule:

Subjective case requires "you and I".
Objective case requires "you and me"

Example:

"Johnny sent you and I an email." Wrong!
"Johnny sent you and me an email." Right!

How to know:

Does "Johnny sent I an email" sound right?

Subjunctive Mood

Wrong:

"If I was rich...." (This actually means "if it was in fact true in the past...".)

Right:

"If I were rich...." (This is subjunctive mood, and means "in the hypothetical situation...".)

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Wrong:

"To reach the top of the white board, it is important that you are tall enough." (This means it is in fact true that you are tall enough, and that's important.)

Right:

"To reach the top of the white board, it is important that you be tall enough." (This is subjunctive mood, and it means you might be tall enough - dependong on who you are.)

Plural vs Possessive

Plural

No apostrophe. For example, "Provider's Enter Here" should be "Providers Enter Here".

Possessive

With apostrophe. For example, "The car's headlights...."

It's vs its

it's

Contraction: "it is" or "it has"

its

Possessive: "The dog lost its mind when..."

Have RAN

To say "have ran" is wrong. There is no such tense of the verb "run". It appears to be a mixing of simple past tense and present perfect tense.

Past		Present Perfect
Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
I ran	We ran	I have run	We have run
You ran	You ran	You have run	You have run
He/She/it ran	They ran	He/She/it has run	They have run

Examples:

Past Tense: I ran in the park yesterday.

Present Perfect: I have run every day for the past week.

To, Too, and Two

To

Preposition: I am going to the store.

Too

Adverb: I am getting too far behind.

Two

the number: I will buy two drinks.

Loose vs Lose

Loose rhymes with goose.

Loose

I lost some weight and now my pants are loose.

Lose

I am going to lose more weight.

Active vs Passive Voice

Active voice is when the subject of the sentence is performing the action. Passive voice is when the subject of the sentence is being acted upon.

Passive

I was hit by a car.

Active

A car hit me.

Both

Both is used when something being said is true of each of two things independently. It is not appropriate when some sort of comparison is being made between two things.

Right:

My brother and I are both over six feet tall. (Each person is over six feet tall.)

Wrong:

The distance between both cities is 50 miles. (It makes no sense to say the distance between one city.)

Right:

The distance between the two cities is 50 miles.

Between...and vs From...to

There are two expressions that are often mixed up. You might say "between 1 and 10", or "From 1 to 10", but it makes no sense to say "between 1 to 10" - that is mixing the two expressions.

Between...and

Between 0 and 10 volts.

From...to

From 0 to 10 volts.

vs

The abbreviation "vs" is short for "versus", not "verse". A verse is a section of a song or poem.

Wrong:

Donald Trump vs ("verse") Kamala Harris

Right:

Donald Trump vs ("versus") Kamala Harris

"led" vs "lead"

To "lead" is to be out in front. Past tense of it is "led". What often confuses people is that the metal "lead" is pronounced like the past tense of the verb, "led".

The metal:

Lead poisoning is a serious problem.

The verb:

You can lead a horse to water....

The verb, past tense:

They were led down the primrose path.

"allowed" vs "aloud"

"Allowed" means permitted. "Aloud" means out loud.

Allowed:

Pedophiles should not be allowed to be teachers.

Aloud:

I didn't realize I said that aloud.