March 4, 2021 – Well, there is a day for everything! Lovers of language who turned that love into a career, known as Word of the Day linguists, will be in the spotlight today as they encourage everyone to march forth on the fourth of March and use proper grammar. Let’s review the history of the day and then three egregious grammatical errors!

National Grammar Day History
Martha Brockenbrough, a teacher, founded the day in 2008 to help her students learn – and care about – grammar in a fun way. President George W. Bush issued a letter supporting the day. Martha is also the author of the book, Things That Make Us [Sic].

National Grammar Day is annually celebrated on March 4 with a slogan to “march forth” to properly use the English language.

In 2021, the day is being hosted by Mignon Fogarty, author the New York Times best-selling book, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.

On the popular Grammarly blog, there are suggestions for how to celebrate the day.

Egregious Grammatical Errors
Below is a list of grammatical errors Redwood Learn has identified over the years that are especially egregious. It’s painful when professional journalists or well known television reporters make these grammatical errors.

News publications formerly had a staff of copy editors who were charged with correcting mistakes in grammar and/or punctuation before articles were published. But today, many publications, especially smaller newspapers and magazines, can no longer afford to have a staff of copy editors. Publications include newspapers and magazines, both print and digital.

It is up to writers to be their own copy editor these days. Even when writing papers for school, it’s always a good idea to wait between writing the paper and reviewing it for errors.

So here we go to highlight the most egregious grammatical errors that should draw immediate attention to correct.

1. It’s vs. its
This is such a common mistake, it’s worthy of a headline. The egregious mistake is made even by professional journalists and television news or sports personalities. Hearing or reading it causes linguists to cringe.

It’s is a contraction of “it is” so it is a subject and a verb. For example: It’s a nice day today because it’s sunny and warm.

On the other hand, “its” is not a contraction of a subject and a verb but a possessive pronoun often used as an adjective. For example: The weather today is looking ominous for the group to have its picnic.

2. I, She, He, Me, Him and Her
For linguists who hear or read these pronouns being used incorrectly, it’s an incredibly painful experience, especially when the error is made by a professional journalist.

When you start a sentence with a pronoun, it must be I, We, She, He or They. That usage is not too difficult to master. But people get very confused when referring to more than one person. A very common mistake is the following:

“Her and I ran the marathon together.” WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Him and her are objects of sentences, not nouns! The sentence should be: She and I ran the marathon together.

Similarly, after prepositions, such as “for” or “to,” the sentence requires an object.

“Ribbons for participating in the race were given to my friend and I.” WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
The sentence should be: Ribbons for participating in the race were given to my friend and me.” A helpful hint in this case is to take out the word, friend, and read the sentence. It just doesn’t sound right, a clue the word is being used improperly.

3. Complimented vs. Complemented
Some homophones present challenges for usage. In this case, the word “complimented” means saying something nice or favorable but the word “complemented” means something works or pairs well with something else. It’s a small difference but is glaring when used incorrectly.

Example: I was happy when my teacher complimented my paper. (Correct usage)

Example: The Irish coffee complemented the dessert perfectly on St. Patrick’s Day. (Correct usage)

4. There vs. Their

This grammatical error should never happen.

There

It’s easy to remember that “there” means a place or can be used as the subject of a sentence to state a fact.

Example: I found the book there by the desk.

Example: There is a room at school to store athletic equipment.

Their

This word is a possessive pronoun meaning ownership of something.

Example: Their boots are by the desk.

March Forth!

Let’s “march forth” today on the fourth of March to use the English language properly!