7 Grammar Mistakes You Should Avoid

This week we have some expert insights to share with you based on the large amount of blog content we read, approve, write, and edit every single day here at LeadG2. There are a few key things we’ve learned about blog writing that we’d like to share:

1. Anyone can write a great blog post (see here for ideas if you get stuck!) as long as you are tapping into your experiences and expertise. Having great grammar or spelling isn’t important, as someone else can handle that portion of blog writing. What’s important is that you think about what your target persona wants to read about and what questions you can answer for them in an easy-to-read, applicable way. 
2. Spelling and grammar are still very, very important. Make sure your blog manager (or a professional proofreader) edits every post before it goes live.

We’ve talked a lot about blog writing and what makes for great headlines and content, but what about the second part of this? You may not be the person in charge of ensuring everything is proofread, but you can still learn a thing or two from the top mistakes we see.

7 grammar mistakes that we’ve noticed time and time again:

1. Do not, I repeat do not, use two spaces after a period. You may have been taught this back in grade school but in the business world it is not something you need (or should) do. Stick to a single space and you're good to go!
2. Don’t under or over-use commas. If you’re noticing too many commas, then break the sentence into two. 
3. Always use the Oxford (or serial) comma. Note the difference between the two sentences below. One implies odd parentage, and the other implies influences in your life. ("I'd like to thank my parents, Martin Luther King and God." vs. "I'd like to thank my parents, Martin Luther King, and God.")
4. Limit the ellipses. These are those dot, dot, dots that can give a nice pause in your writing. However, they are often overused so try to determine if it’s necessary. 
5. Break up your copy with subheadings and multiple paragraphs. While this isn’t necessarily spelling or grammar, it’s an important part of the proofing process. In the online world, most paragraphs should be about two or three sentences long. Try to break up your writing into subheadings bullet points and anything that eliminates that dreaded “wall of text.”
6. Know the difference between common errors like they’re, their, and there or to, two, and too. 
7. Use consistent punctuation in bullet points and subheadings. For instance, in this series of bullet points you can see everything is written as an actual sentence with punctuation. Be consistent in how your bullet points are structured.

This, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg on errors that can are commonly made, but they are some of the most frequent ones we encounter which is why we chose to pass this on to you.