When we read, we nearly always find some little errors. Even if the author has had an editor checking the manuscript, little mistakes might creep in. Sometimes they are missed; sometimes they are inadvertently added when making corrections.
I’d like to mention some of the more common errors I’ve noticed in books I’ve been reading. If it happens just one time, I may assume it’s a typo, but if it is repeated throughout the book, it begins to grate on my nerves, and most likely you feel the same when you’re reading. You can overlook a small mistake but when it’s repeated, it becomes annoying.
In a recent book I read, the writing was quite clean except for a couple of typos where words or letters were repeated (an for any) or a letter was left out ( how many time did you go there?), but the mistake that really bothered me (off of) occurred in the book at least five times.
Take the book off of the table.
Not only is the of not needed, but it is incorrect.
It would be easy to check for off of using Find in your Word document.
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Sadly I still come across misuse of lay/lie.
I just read a book that had eight instances of lay/lie misused and one instance of it being used properly (I’m sure that one was a lucky guess).
Here, once again, are the declensions of lay and lie. Sorry for the repetition, but it seems to be an ongoing problem.
Present Tense/Past Tense (simple because it is almost always the same, except for he/she/it)
Right now I lie down. Yesterday I lay down.
Right now he/she/it lies down. Yesterday he/she/it lay down.
Right now we lie down. Yesterday we lay down.
Right now you lie down. Yesterday you lay down.
Right now they lie down. Yesterday they lay down.
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Here comes the tricky part. If it is not the subject of the sentence that is doing the lying down (when there is an object that is being set down), the present and past tense go like this:
Present Tense/Past Tense (simple because it is almost always the same, except for he/she/it)
Right now, I lay (the parcel on the bed).
Yesterday I laid (the parcel on the bed).
Right now, he/she/it lays (the parcel on the bed).
Yesterday he/she/it laid (the parcel on the bed).
Right now, we lay (the parcel on the bed).
Yesterday we laid (the parcel on the bed).
Right now, you lay (the parcel on the bed).
Yesterday you laid (the parcel on the bed).
Right now, they lay (the parcel on the bed).
Yesterday they laid (the parcel on the bed).
My apologies for the repetition of lay/lie.
Anneli's Place 