It’s the most wonderful time of year, and that time of year when we see many spelling and grammar mistakes strewn across magazines, billboards, social media and festive greeting cards. It’s always a good idea to copy check your writing – you never know who is reading it, and poor spelling makes a lousy impression, even if it’s only in a family Christmas card. Much like a neat and tidy outwardly appearance, good spelling says a lot about a person. Here are some of the most common spelling and grammar mistakes made over the festive season.
The Surname Plural
A very common grammatical error we see over the holidays is the dreaded surname plural, especially on Christmas cards. It can be difficult to keep your plurals and possessives apart, especially if your surname ends in an s! To show the plural of a name that ends with a ch, s, or z sound, add es.
Graphic Designed by The Brand Collective
Top Holiday Typos
If you’re writing or typing with speed, auto correct on your computer may misinterpret what you’re trying to say. It is best you double check your work – especially with regards to the following festive words and phrases:
Mary Christmas – Merry Christmas
Happy Holiday – Happy Holidays
Santa Clause or Satan Clause – Santa Claus
Old lang zine – Auld Lang Syne
New years eve – New Year’s Eve
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
Pesky Apostrophes
Apostrophes can be confusing, even for native English speakers. However, they aren’t difficult to master if you can remember two easy rules.
Apostrophes serve two basic functions:
- They show possession, for example: Made in Santa’s Workshop.
- They indicate letters have been removed to form a contraction, for example: Santa’s putting you on the naughty list! (The apostrophe is indicating a missing letter – Santa is putting you on the naughty list).
Photo by Samuel Holt on Unsplash
Closing Commas
When signing your Christmas cards, make sure that your closing phrase is followed by a comma. The comma should separate the closing phrase from the signature, which is your name, or a combination of names. For example: Best wishes, the team at The Brand Collective.
May you have a wonderful Christmas, and may misplaced apostrophes, commas, and typos never creep into your greeting cards 😉 If you’d like your professional work spellchecked, or would like us to write you a punchy, grammatically correct newsletter, copy for your website, or monthly blogs, contact us at The Brand Collective. Our competent, creative copywriters are always on hand to help.
