Do: I could have studied more for that exam.
Don’t: I could of stayed up later to study.

Note that the same rules apply to “should have/should of” and “would have/would of.”

Thanks to another Etsy grammar find for inspiration for this blog post:

We couldn’t capture every error on the ticker, but we did snap photos of a few of the most glaring mistakes, which you can check out on our Facebook page.

As you can see from the pictures, the news station employee who was responsible for the ticker clearly had no regard for basic grammar rules. Has the 24-hour news cycle diminished our adherence to proper grammar, punctuation and spelling? Perhaps. Media outlets compete to break the story, so they might be more focused on getting the story out first, not getting the story out correctly. In the end, poor grammar diminishes a news organization’s credibility and indicates sloppy work.

If you watch that scrolling ticker long enough, you’ll surely find some grammatical errors as well.

In these instances, businesses have used apostrophes to make a word plural. Remember, folks, apostrophes should never be used like this. Use them to indicate possession or to combine words like in contractions.

Boarder

A boarder is a person–either someone who boards, or receives lodging, or someone who snowboards

Border

Border is the more commonly used term meaning the outer edge or boundary.

So, a boarder might live in your house, but you cross the border when you travel from one state to another.

For example:

• The weather forecast calls for high-speed winds.
• The well-intentioned student impressed her teacher.
• Advisers must work closely with dual-degree-seeking students.

There are a few exceptions to remember when using compound modifiers:

• Do not hyphenate the compound modifier if it follows the word it describes. Compound modifiers are only hyphenated when they precede the word.
• Do not hyphenate compound modifiers that end in “-ly.” For example, “highly educated man” should not be hyphenated.

“Literally” means “really” or “actually,” but people often confuse it with “figuratively,” which means “in an analogous or metaphorical sense.”

Fortunately, “literally” is typically misused in speech rather than writing, but it can often lead to unintentional hilarity. Check out Literally: A Web Blog for the best misuses of the word in print and on the web.

Businesses seem to be the biggest fans unnecessary quotation marks. Often, misplaced quotation marks can be humorous, as chronicled in the Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks. 

So, folks, remember why we use quotation marks—to set off and represent exact language. Don’t use quotation marks for emphasis, unless you want to give your readers a good laugh. If you want to emphasize text, bold it, underline it, italicize it, or put it in all caps, but please don’t use quotation marks.

Stationary

Stationary means immobile or unchanging in condition.

Stationery

Stationery means materials for writing or typing.

So, you ride a stationary bike at the gym, but you write thank-you notes on stationery.

Which of the following three sentences uses the proper preposition?

A) A doctor is different than a veterinarian.
B) This dress is different to that one.
C) The pink flowers are different from the red flowers.

If you chose C, you’re correct. “From” is the proper preposition to use after “different.” While there has been debate over this usage in the past, most resources, including The Elements of Style online, prefer using “from” rather than “than” or “to.”