Gotcha Grammar: Common Punctuation Mistakes

The phrase “content is king” has been said so many times in the marketing world, but it’s a common phrase because it’s true and has been for years. Your target customers are always online hunting for answers to their questions or expert tips, and providing that content is the perfect way to get your name in front of them and begin building trust and recognition.

As you write and post that valuable web content, though, the information itself isn’t the only factor that matters. If you use poor grammar, it makes you seem less intelligent and knowledgeable than you are. In any industry, this can hurt your opportunity to make a positive impression on your readers.

Our “Gotcha Grammar” blog series is designed to help you maintain expert grammar so that you get the best value from your content. In this installment, we’re covering the most common punctuation mistakes.

Using Semicolons Incorrectly

Semicolons may be the most misused punctuation mark in the English language. We have seen content in which semicolons are used in place of commas, in place of colons, and in place of nearly every other punctuation mark out there. In reality, there are only two specific circumstances that warrant a semicolon.

The first use is in joining two full sentences that are so closely related that a period seems like too harsh of a divider between them. For example: “I saw a figure in the distance; it was him.” The second proper use for a semicolon is to separate items in a list when those “items” have commas within them. For example: “Our color scheme options are red, orange, and yellow; blue, white, and purple; or pink, orange, and yellow.”

Using Apostrophes to Make a Noun Plural

We often see content writers struggling with apostrophes or the combination of ‘s to make a noun plural. In correct grammar, apostrophes are not used to make a noun plural. They can be used to make a noun both plural and possessive, such as in “the girls’ dresses” if there are multiple girls, but they wouldn’t be used in phrases like “the girls walked.”

This mistake is especially common with acronyms. If you have an acronym or abbreviation, like GIF, simply add an “s” to make it plural, as in “GIFs,” the same way you would pluralize any other word.

Adding Emphasis with Quotation Marks

Quotation marks can be used for a few different purposes. They are most often used to signal a direct quote from someone else, such as:

Our services have been called “out of this world” and “worth every penny.”

You can also use quotation marks to send a message that something isn’t exactly what it seems. For example, you could say that in comparison to fried potato chips, baked potato chips are “healthy.” However, one common mistake we have noticed is using quotation marks for emphasis. A better way to emphasize a few words is to use a bold font or italic font.

Keeping Your Grammar Up to Snuff

Details like punctuation and other aspects of grammar play a more important role in your customers’ minds than you may realize, and it isn’t because customers are being picky. Issues like grammatical mistakes tend to give readers a subconscious opinion about your intelligence and expertise, even if it’s inaccurate. Overcoming the mistakes above will help you make a better impression.

If you’d prefer to leave the content writing to our team of professional content writers, we’re here to help. Call McCauley Marketing Services to discuss your marketing needs and how we can make a difference. Follow us as well on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more marketing tips.