Avoid These 2 Silly Grammar Mistakes

It’s no news that spelling and grammar mistakes on your CV could greatly thwart your chances of landing that job interview. However, many candidates still continue to send in their CVs with at times trivial grammar and or spelling mistakes. 

Showing your resume to someone else would be apt in making your resume error-free, in that he or she would be able to see typos, grammar mistakes or any inconsistencies that simply skipped through you. If you would like a more professional review of your CV however, then you could always send it to some recruiting agencies (like Muovo) who will review your CV and offer some suggestions for improvement. Otherwise, you could get your CV checked by a certified proofreader.

Also, while you may know your past work experience and the dates and employer’s (or employers’) name(s), whoever is going to read your resume might not – and probably does not – know it. Make sure that you are crystal clear and provide full details to get the most out of your limited space. Read Mistakes To Avoid When Writing A CV.

The following are two of the most common grammar mistakes that abound in CVs, relating to (mis)use of apostrophes!

Mistake 1: Your vs You’re
Let’s set something straight: You should never write contractions in your CV.  A contraction is an abbreviation (= short for) and is typical of informal writing. A CV is considered to be a more formal type of writing. ‘You’re’ is an abbreviation for ‘You are’. This is a tip that may help you in avoiding making the Your vs You’re mistake!

However, it is good to be able to distinguish the difference between the two...which is easy!

Your
This is a possessive pronoun, which demonstrates ownership or (as the name suggests) possession.
Example: Is this your mobile phone? No, it’s not mine. (the mobile does not belong to me).

Other examples:

1. Incorrect: I will call you on Friday if your in the office.
The office might be yours but the right word here is you’re (= you are).

1. Correct: I will call you on Friday if you are (you’re) in the office.

2. Incorrect: Please find my CV attached for you’re job posted last Friday on Muovo.eu.
The job posted ‘belongs’ to the one who listed it. Muovo is not the job post. It has listed the job and posted it on its blogs and so on.

2. Correct: Please find my CV attached for your job posted last Friday on Muovo.eu.

3. Incorrect: I look forward to you’re reply.
You may be the one who is going to answer my email (yes, you are!). But it is your reply that I am waiting for!

3. Correct: I look forward to your reply.

Mistake 2: Its vs It’s (that evil apostrophe again!)
The apostrophe is seen as that punctuation mark which people often make mistakes with. It is easy to confuse between the two (Its and It’s) but similar to Your and You’re above, there is really a simple explanation.

It’s is a contraction (abbreviation), and it stands for It is or It has.
It’s = It is (It’s [it is] a beautify day today...and it’s [it is] Easter!).
It’s = It has (It’s [ it has] been a great day so far, hasn’t it?).

Its shows possession. 
My mother’s car is huge and its colour is red.

A simple trick:
If the sentence still makes sense when you replace Its with His or Hers then you know that you have got the right word – Congratulations!

Look at the following examples:

1. Incorrect: Its been a rewarding experience working at ABC company.

Think...can we replace its with his?
His been a rewarding experience working at ABC company.

No, we cannot. So the answer is wrong. It should be written as:

1. Correct: It’s (or preferably It has) been a rewarding experience working at ABC company.

2. Correct: With so many job ads, it’s (=it is) not surprising that you have to be really careful about how and what you put down on your CV.

3. Correct: A qualification won’t guarantee you the job. It’s (It is) the attitude that really counts.

We will be posting more posts on grammar mistakes that you should avoid having on your CV soon!

Happy Easter!

Nikita Pisani at Muovo

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