Writing Mistakes To Avoid : Part 1

In keeping with our ultimate mission of helping others to grow as writers, we will be dedicating one blog post a week to common mistakes we see involving grammar, spelling, meaning, pronunciation and writing.

A large portion of our customers come to us with work related to the academics. Whether it be essays, theses, dissertations, or any other scholarly work, there are a variety of mistakes that we encounter over and over again, across all disciplines. Today's post will cover two of the most common mistakes we see.

1.) I couldn't care less vs. I could care less

In regard to wording, perhaps the most common mistake that can be found is connected to the statement "I could care less." Spoken often by undergraduates, fed-up spouses and misunderstood teenagers, the phrase is used to communicate the idea that the speaker is physically impossible of caring less about something. In essence, the speaker is communicating the exact opposite of what they intend. Instead, simply use "I could not care less."
       

2.) Intents and purposes vs. intensive purposes

The second most common mistake we encounter is a mix-up of an oft-quoted saying. In many papers, we see the phrase "for all intensive purposes." Despite sounding correct, it is actually a garbled form of the correct words: "For all intents and purposes." A phrase such as this, which is most often encountered in verbal and social situations, has slipped past the part of our brain that processes word-by-word meaning, becoming a nearly universal writing mistake.


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