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How NOT to sound dumb online: Common mistakes and grammar fixes
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The early days of social media were a place to keep in touch with classmates, friends and family. It’s devolved into a frenzy of privacy invasion, targeted advertising, trolls and fake news. Surprisingly, these are still the most popular digital platforms worldwide.
You can mitigate the ills of social media with some basic practices, such as keeping your personal information private and avoiding heated arguments. You should also do one thing right now to protect people you know. Tap or click here to stop making this mistake on social media.
It’s good to exercise basic writing skills to avoid being caught in a silly mistake online. Want to make a point? Stronger language skills will serve to strengthen it.
Here’s a quick primer
Whether you’re catching up with a friend from high school or commenting on your favorite band’s post, you want your message to come through loud and clear. A punctuation error here or there is no big deal, but people notice when you constantly commit the same basic mistakes.
Abbreviations like LOL and OMG are part of everyday conversations on social media. So is the practice of leaving out periods at the end of single sentences. These forms of nonstandard English are usually employed on purpose.
But there’s a difference between using casual, irreverent language and being outright wrong. And that’s what we’re here for today. Let’s check out some of the most common misuses of spelling, grammar and punctuation on social media.
Don’t “loose” your cool
If you must call someone a loser online, at least get it right. Labeling them as a “looser” only serves as ammunition to use against you for your silly mistake. Here’s the difference:
- “My muscles felt looser after stretching.”
- “They didn’t play well today and went home feeling like losers.”
aka vs. i.e. vs. e.g.
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