Avoid 3 Copywriting Mistakes That Make You Look Stupid
I’ve got to get something off my chest. Well, three things, actually.
Grammar mistakes are one of the easiest ways to show you’re a careless writer. Of course, no one’s perfect – I’m sure I have made a lot of errors over the years. But there are at least three that get stuck in my craw each and every time.
1. Literally vs. Figuratively
On the corner of Division and Ashland on Chicago’s northside, there’s a billboard above a Washington Mutual Bank. You can find a picture of it above. It drives me crazy everyday.
I’m not going to venture that shoddy grammar is the reason that WaMu went out of business, but it can’t help that your bank’s ads show your lack of sophistication with the English language. Personally, I only trust my money to someone that can handle high school English.
In our modern parlance, the use of “literally” is almost always incorrect. It’s been so flogged and abused that you likely think you are using the correct word. Read the definition. If “monkeys are literally flying out of your butt” or “you literally choked on your words” or “your friend is literally the devil” – it’s likely you have bigger problems to worry about.
So, let that be your red flag. If you feel the word coming out of your mouth, consider that you are probably making a mistake.
2. It’s vs. Its
At the risk of sounding like an asshole, I’m not sure why this is such a tripping point. Here’s the thing: an apostrophe means that something has been taken away. When we say “Danny’s gone to the bodega for a slice o’ pie,” the apostrophes stand in for “Danny has” and “of pie.”
The thing that might be confusing is possession. For instance, when I say “Danny’s pie,” I mean that the pie belongs to Danny, not that “Danny has pie.”
But in the case of “it’s” and “its,” things are even simpler. All you need to know is that if you can substitute “it is” or “it has” then the correct word is “it’s” (using the apostrophe = missing letters logic explained above).
If you can’t make this substitution, then use “its.” This might be confusing. To show possession, you would say “Danny’s pie.” But in this case, there would be no apostrophe showing possession (its).
If you can replace the word with “it is” or “it has” – use “it’s.” If not, use “its.”
And if you get confused, check Its Not It’s.
3. Yours vs. Your’s
This problem originates from an errant apostrophe, but it’s even easier than it’s vs. its.
Normally, when showing possession, you use an apostrophe (i.e. “Danny’s pie”). But simply put, this is never the case for the possessive “yours.”
There is no such thing as “your’s.” Never was. Never will be. Erase it from your head.
“Yours” is the correct possessive. eLearnEnglish explains it well.
You could say about the Your’s rule: Its as easy as pie, literally. Ha!
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Tags: copywriting, grammar, language, literally, Marketing, Online marketing, writing
You would be surprised at how many marketing professionals I’ve worked with over the last few years who use grammar incorrectly and have horrid spelling skills. It seems like strong writing would be a basic tool in strong marketing, but all too often, writing skills aren’t emphasized enough.
Thanks for this post – I’m glad I’m not the only one who cringes at these same three mistakes!
Oops. When you wrote “Its as easy as pie” in point #3, were you deliberately making a mistake? Given your point #2 about it’s/its, didn’t you mean “It’s as easy as pie”?
Kay
Good eyes, Kay!
Yeah, it was a deliberate use of the first two mistakes. Just an attempt at levity. Thanks for reading!
Pretty funny for a non native speaker (so please excuse my mistakes
) to see that even us citizens struggle with grammar. Espacially with stuff like that. And I won’t say you’re an asshole 
You’re completely right. At least stuff that reaches a bigger audience than some facebook friends (or guys who read blog posts) should have correct spelling and grammar.
You’re doing great by me, Sascha.
I understand everyone makes the occasional mistake – that’s why I tried to take a light tone with this post. But you’re correct – if your content is for mass consumption, then you’ve got to play by the rules. It just helps your communication get across quicker and more accurately. What marketer would have a problem with that?
You are absolutely “on target” with these examples. What is going on in these large agencies? Where are the proofreaders and copywriters?
I see so many advertisements across multiple platforms for a variety of companies that are grammar ignorant.
Another one of biggest pet peeves is the misuse or lack of proper capitalization especially for proper names. If it was me and/or my company I’d be insulted if an agency (ad & pr) didn’t capitalize it properly.
Joann
PS: If my grammar and spelling is not accurate, please forgive me — the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet.
I’ll agree that literally may literally be one of the most misused and misappropriated words in the english language, but…did it occur to you that the billboard is on the roof of the bank, thus it is (somewhat) literally on the house? Not that the free checks are attached to said billboard and sharing its proximity to the bank, but it may be the joke/association they were going for. Just a thought.
And if I may, your vs. you’re is far more egregious in terms of misuse than yours vs. your’s. I get that your’s isn’t correct ever, but YOUR really pushing the stupidity envelope when YOU’RE grammar can’t handle apostrophes.
@Andrew – I considered that it’s on the roof, but come on – that just makes it stupid. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt by assuming it was a grammar mistake.
And good call with your/you’re! I felt it was too similar to its/it’s, but that is sure another pet peeve.
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Hear, hear (or is it here, here?)! These are just 3 of the many grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and punctuation errors that drive me nuts. It’s good to find a few like-minded souls.
One way to help remember when to use its vs it’s is to compare its to other possessive pronouns. His and hers do not have apostrophes so its doesn’t need one either.
And if this stuff bugs you, then never go to the children’s clothing department at JC Penney. There I saw on signs and even painted on columns ‘Young mens’. Not ‘Young mens department,’ no, just ‘young mens’.
Sigh.
It’s so nice to hear someone champion good grammar in the age of “R U” text speak.
It matters, and it affects people’s perceptions of you over the long term.
Love the example!
Copywriters Untie!
Thanks for this post. The figuratively/literally misuse pains me the most. When misused, it is a self-negating statement, instantly discrediting the speaker. My first thought about the billboard was the physical location interpretation, but I agree it also fails. It is literally just a billboard on the roof of a bank!
But I’m also reminded of the other slogans–Got Milk, I’m lovin’ it, I can has cheezburger–that push grammar for effect.
Then there’s the Apple Think Different debate which was correct or incorrect depending you interpretation. But either way it got us talking about the product. Mission accomplished.
I have to do the its v it’s test every single time I write it….might want to run a spell check on “errent”
Oh, serves me right! Thanks Bill – errAnt now fixed.
I read this post with a smile on my face. You know why? I am one of them who do these mistakes.. haha.. You made me realise how stupid I am.. Need to brush up my skills back..
[...] And OnlineMarketer, who will only trust his money to a bank that can handle high school English. [...]
Copywriters do make mistakes right? ^_^ but then again it really is good to take time monitoring your grammar. Brings out the professionalism in you..
Nice post!!!
Good call on “literally” being misused, but I think you meant to write “It drives me crazy every day”, not “everyday”. The latter is an adjective that means appropriate or commonplace.
People can really abuse the hell out of the poor apostrophe. Apostrophes are often erroneously wedged in when people pluralize proper nouns or words that end in vowels. If one word is an example of both, you can almost guarantee that someone is going to screw it up. “Chicken Special: Only on Sunday’s!”
An interesting (to me, at least) point of division: What if a proper noun that ends in “s” is being used as a possessive? Do you use an apostrophe or an apostrophe, then “s”? I’m in the latter camp, but the consensus seems to be that either is fine, as long as you’re consistent.
[...] And OnlineMarketer, who will only trust his money to a bank that can handle high school English. [...]