​Incorrect grammar can make even the best assessment piece look sloppy. With assessment week approaching, we’ve asked our Chisholm Online teachers for the most commonly made grammar mistakes, along with some tricks you can use to avoid them. 

1. Their, they’re and there

For some people the difference in these words is obvious, however many people struggle to remember the grammar rules. Mixing up these words is one of the most common mistakes teachers see occurring in assessment pieces, so it’s an important one to get your head around. 

• Use “there” when referring to a​​ place or location. For example: “I am going there.”
  
• Use “their” to indicate possession. For example: “I’m going inside their house.”
  
• Use “they’re” when you mean “they are”. For example: “They’re behaving well.” 
  

2. Your and you’re

Similarly to the above rules, the position and inclusion of the apostrophe is important.

• “You’re” is used when you want to say “you are”. For example: “You’re studying hard.”
  
• “Your” is used when you are referring to something that belongs to someone. For example: “Is this your backpack?”
  

3. Than and then

These two words have very different meanings, however they are often used incorrectly. 

• “Than” is used when making a comparison between things. For example: “My computer is older than this one”.
  
• “Then” is used when referring to time. For example: “I’ll finishing this, then I’ll start the next task”.
  

4. Capital letters

Capital letters are often over used for emphasis on particular words people think are important or relevant to what they’re trying to say. Here are the basic rules of when to use capital letters:

• At the start of a sentence “I saw a dog walking.” Instead of “i saw a dog walking”.
  
• Proper nouns (for example the name of a person, company, city or month). 
  
• Within the title of an assessment piece, essay, blog, book etc. 
  

5. Abbreviations 

It’s likely you will use abbreviations within your assessment piece, however never just assume the reader knows what the abbreviation stands for. It’s important to write out the full name of a company, institution, government body, authority or code when you first refer to them. For example you would write “The Building Code of Australia (BCA)”, then you may use the short form “BCA” throughout the rest of the piece of writing. 

6. Alot or a lot

Thankfully spellcheck often catches this mistake, however it’s a slip-up teachers still see popping up in assessments. Always remember there should be a space in “a lot” when referring to a large quantity of something.

7. Use paragraphs 

No teacher wants to see a huge block of text that hasn’t been broken up into paragraphs. Your assessment piece should consist of paragraphs of at least three to four sentences and no more than five or six. Start a new paragraph for each new idea or point you want to make and make sure each sentence within the paragraph relates to that same idea or point.