SIX GRAMMAR MISTAKES TO AVOID
“six grammar signals. get them wrong, educated people cap your potential.”
The Lesson
Six grammar mistakes that signal your ceiling to educated people. I/me: remove the other person ('Bob and I went' vs 'happened to Bob and me'. Would you say 'happened to I'?). Less/fewer: less for indivisible things (water, air), fewer for countable things (players, cars). 'Brang' is not a 'brought.' It's 'brought.' Was/were: use 'were' for hypotheticals ('if I were planning'). Theory/hypothesis: in formal contexts, 'hypothesis' shows you know the difference. Hopefully: rarely correct; say 'I hope' instead. Only 2-5% of people catch all of these, but those people often make decisions about your career.
Real-World Example
A founder pitching investors says 'Me and my co-founder built this' and 'We had less users than expected.' Two strikes in thirty seconds. The partner with an Ivy League degree mentally caps their potential. Another founder says 'My co-founder and I built this' and 'We had fewer users than we'd projected, but if we were to raise now...' The grammar signals competence and attention to detail. Same pitch, different ceiling.
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