I often work as an editor as well as a writer. While there are many errors that I see over and over again that make my eyes cross, I thought I’d  highlight the most common ones here, because a) they make a writer look unprofessional and b) they are easy to fix, so you’d do well to check for these before you send a manuscript to an agent or editor or slap your ebook (or even your blog post) up online.

1. Learn the difference between plurals and possessives. I see apostrophes used so often in plurals these days that I think English teachers must have taught this wrong for the last ten years. Plurals do NOT have apostrophes. Possessives often do. “Watch the dogs run” means watch multiple dogs run (plural); “Watch the dog’s run” means watch the caged dog area (the run belonging to the dog); that’s a possessive. Get it?
2. Sort of in the same vein is the difference between contractions and possessives. Here are the most common mistakes:
   – “It’s” is a contraction of “it is” and “its” is the possessive form of “it.”
   – “You’re” is contraction of “you are” and “your” is the possessive form of “you.”
   – “They’re” is a contraction of “they are” and “their” is the possessive form of “they.” (And then there’s “there,” which is a place.)
3. Don’t try to center titles with tabs. Every word processor has a CenterParagraph command; use it! (In Microsoft Word, the shortcut combo for Center is Ctrl+E.)
4. And lastly, proofread for your most common typos! Entering “you” instead of “your” seems to be the most common typo that everyone makes. You’d (contraction of “You would”) be wise to do a search for “you” throughout your file and make sure you got it right before putting your writing out in public.

We all make mistakes, but these are easy to fix–just search for them, fix the errors, and save an editor’s sanity.
Thank you.