Not only am I a Virtual Assistant who specializes in proofreading and editing , but I have also always excelled in spelling and grammar since grade school and later in high school.

I have a hard time reading a book for pleasure or enjoying a blog post because I can NOT turn off the part of my brain that sees the spelling, grammar and word usage errors. That is honestly a downer in my personal life but a big plus in my professional one.

Today, I am going to share three of the most common spelling or usage errors I constantly see both on the net and offline. These are on even the biggest famous name web sites and often in the biggest famous name print books. I am hoping that someone who reads this post might actually learn and benefit from these tips.

Number ONE

The number one, most often mis-used word I find both on the net and off is it’s and its. As a matter of fact, in the 10th grade, I LOST a city wide (St. Louis public schools) spelling bee over this one! I had managed to out-spell hundreds of other straight A & Honor roll students to get to the spell-off between one other student and ME, and with some of the hardest words you can imagine, and then LOST with its versus it’s!

Its is the POSSESSIVE. Something belongs TO IT.

An example would be: The dog wagged its tail when it saw its owner.

It’s is a contraction for the words it and is.

An example for this would be: The dog is wagging its tail because it’s happy to see its owner.

The second most common one I see AND the one I edit the most is the usage for these: your and you’re.

The POSSESSIVE for this one is your, as in:
Your dog is wagging its tail because it is glad that you’re its owner.

Likewise, you’re is the contraction for you and are.

Your dog is wagging its tail because it is glad that you’re its owner.

Number three is the there, their and they’re usages.

There are three ways to spell this word that sounds the same but they mean totally different things and they’re always ready to mix up their users.

Their is the POSSESSIVE form of this word. If it belongs to them, it is theirs.

They’re is a contraction for they and are.

There are lots of other usage errors out there but these three are the ones I see the most.

Remember, I am a Virtual Assistant who LOVES to do editing , proofreading and
transcription assignments!

Jan Tallent
Tallent Agency Virtual Assistance

573-775-4520 jan@tallentagency.com