There are areas of your writing that you may unknowingly skip over. Don't worry, that's normal. So here are the top 5 spelling blunders that usually weaken our article writing skills.
Thier vs. Their
Remember that rule “I” before “E” except after “C”? When it comes to the word their, throw that rule right out the window. Their is the possessive form of they, which is used before a noun. It can also be used to replace his or her.
Example: Their home is just around the corner.
Example: John forgot his lunch. Susie forgot her lunch. They forgot their lunch.
Key: Their heir is on the weir.
Layed vs. Laid
Before the Grammar Police raid this post on the differences between lie, lay, and laid, let's get this spelling blunder out of the way - "layed" is not a word. What this blunder is attempting to achieve is the past form of lay, which becomes laid.
Example: The police told him to lay down his weapon, so Jack laid down his pen.
Key: Like the words paid (not "payed") and said (not "sayed"), it's laid (not "layed").
Special Note: Don't worry, we'll earmark this one for a later date to discuss Lie vs. Lay vs. Laid.
Knifes vs. Knives
Most of the time, common nouns ending in "f" or "fe" are made into the plural form by adding an "s" to the end of the word (this is always true for proper nouns or names given to specific persons, places, or things). Irregular nouns ending in "f" or "fe" (e.g. knife) are made plural by changing the "f" to "ves" (e.g. knives). This is one of those weird English language rules you will want to reference from time-to-time until you are sure.
Example: This is the last set of knives you will ever need to buy!
Key: Thieves hide knives up their sleeves.
Aswell vs. As Well
The phrase as well (in addition; as much) does not form a compound. Similar to the word "every time", the phrase "as well" should always be a phrase (i.e. two words separated by a space because they just don't get along).
Example: Although, I don't like tacos as well as I once did, I will have the tacos as well.
Key: I'll take a space as well.
Targetted vs. Targeted
Why should "targetted" be targeted? The confusion is caused by past tense words ending in ed that may require an additional letter, such as occur and occurred or permit and permitted. Instead of getting up on my linguistic soapbox and going into stressed vs. unstressed vowels, let's chalk this one up to one of the silly rules of the English language best served by memory and a dictionary.
Example: They targeted their missiles at the incoming asteroid.
Key: Ted targeted the target with one "T".
The robots' knives may not have targeted the balloon as well as their lasers, but they laiddown on the grass before we could discover other balloon bursting weapons!
