Typos versus Errors

When someone edits your work, there are three main changes they could make:

• Rewording sentences that sound strange
• Fixing typos
• Fixing errors

Some editors only reference two changes – rewording and fixing errors. Not every mistake in an article is an error, in my opinion. At least, not an error due to you not understanding grammatical rules. Typos are a whole different breed.

I’m the queen of typos. I think it’s because my brain works so fast and my fingers are just trying to keep up. It’s why you see typos here occasionally (ok, I’m trying to be better about that!) and why I use an editor for 90%+ of the work I do for clients. In my opinion, typos aren’t really a hug deal. When I see a typos on a website, I do cringe a little, but I don’t think that the writer is bad at his job necessarily. It’s a mistake.

Errors are a whole other beast. I’m using the word “error” here to mean a mistake that a writer made because he or she didn’t know the correct usage of the word or punctuation mark. Sometimes, typos can look like errors. For example, I type “here” when I mean “hear” all the time. If you gave me a test with 100 sentences and asked me whether hear or here was right in each one, I’d know the answer every time. It’s a typo because I’m working so quickly. (Another common typo for me that looks like an error is typing “write” when I mean “right.”)

But in general, you can tell when a writer made an error, not a typo. And that does discredit the author a bit, in my opinion.

I’m not perfect. No one is. We make errors because we were raised in a certain culture, because we didn’t have perfect teachers in high school, and because we never realized we were doing anything wrong. Short story: I grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch household (basically, German). Proper grammar when talking is not highly important in this community, and because a lot of the older people still speak a form of German, which is not far from English, there are weird things said all of the time. Sometimes, I don’t even realize that they’re wrong. They sound right to me because I’ve been hearing it my entire life. A good example? If my mom runs out of milk, she’ll go to the store because “the milk is all.”

It wasn’t until college when someone said to me, “All what?” All gone, of course…but where I live, the “gone” part is implied when you say something is “all.” Who knows how many times I said or wrote that in my life, never realizing that it was a cultural error.

Image: sxc.hu

My point is this: an error doesn’t mean that you’re stupid.

There are certain rules every writer should know. You’re probably not fit to call yourself a professional if you don’t know the difference between to and too or if you write “alot” when you mean “a lot.” Those are basic rules that every writer should know.

But there are many words that can be confusing to even seasoned veterans. I see them used incorrectly all over the Internet, and I’ve had problems with them myself in the past. Over the next few days, I want to go over some of them, along with mnemonic devices to remember them.

What I’ll cover:

• Compliment vs. Complement
• Affect vs. Effect
• Fewer vs. Less
• Stationary vs. Stationery
• Who vs. Whom
• Adverse vs. Averse
• Lightening vs. Lightning
• Nauseous vs. Nauseated vs. Nauseating

If you have any questions about words that you commonly confuse, leave a comment below and I’ll add them to the list to cover!