Everyone makes mistakes in grammar, sometimes out of carelessness, but most of the time out of ignorance.  This ignorance is usually not true ignorance but forgetfulness. We may have been taught the correct grammar, but without reinforcement have blithely made mistakes and then continued to make them. As a child, we may have been corrected by teachers, but as an adult, politeness would prevent others from correcting us. Sadly, many of these errors are even repeated in forums where we would expect good grammar, and our ignorance becomes even more entrenched, believing that, if the announcer on T.V. says it that way, it must be right.  Here are a few of the most common errors that we should be aware of and, more importantly, avoid.  

Incorrect subject and object pronouns

Pronouns are words used to represent nouns. The subject pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they. Since the subject of a sentence is the person, place or idea that is doing something or being something, the subject pronoun must represent that person, place or idea.  Most of the time, people don’t have a problem with the subject pronoun when it is singular. The problem arises when another subject is added to the mix.  Not many people would say “Me gave him a gift.”, they would say “I gave him a gift.”, yet “Me and my wife gave him a gift.” is frequently heard.  Your wife (or anyone else’s) does not change the subject pronoun from “I” to “Me”.  “My wife and I gave him a gift” is correct.

The object pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, you and them.  It would almost appear that there are many people who learned the above lesson too well, and have now become overly careful of using the object pronoun “me” Thus, those who would normally say “He gave the gift to me.”  are tempted to say “He gave the gift to my wife and I.” Again, the little lady is being given too much grammatical power.  “Me” is the object pronoun, and having your wife in the sentence does not change the need for the correct object pronoun: the correct sentence is “He gave the gift to my wife and me.”

Lack of reference between noun and the relevant possessive pronoun

Another problem exists for many people when they have to match the possessive pronoun to its subject. The possessive pronouns are my, your, his, her, its, our, your and their. If the subject of the sentence is singular, so must the possessive pronoun be. If the subject of the sentence is plural, the possessive pronoun must also be plural.  The confusion usually arises when the noun immediately prior to the possessive pronoun confuses the sentence. “Every one of the students must bring their books.” is wrong because the referenced noun is “one”, a singular noun and therefore needs to have the possessive pronoun his or her. The speaker or writer who made this mistake probably hears or sees students, and makes the possessive pronoun agree with this plural noun. The correct sentence would be “Every one of the students must bring his or her books.”