Common spelling mistakes in English: were, wear, where versus we're.
You may recognise that a minor spelling mistake in an e-mail can quickly influence your perception of the sender. In business e-mail communication, you obviously want to appear professional, but a small mistake can quickly slip into your message.
However, you can avoid spelling mistakes if you pay extra attention to them.
We have listed a number of common spelling mistakes. If you become aware of these mistakes, you will be one step closer to professionalising your business English.
Were, wear, where or we're
Should you write were, wear, where or we're? These four words look very similar and in the case of 'wear' and 'where' they also sound exactly the same.
However, they are grammaticaly very different:
- Were is a simple past of 'to be', for example 'we were at home yesterday'.
- To wear is a verb meaning 'to have on' or 'to be dressed in', for example 'what shall I wear today?'.
- Where is a question word about the place someone or something is in. For instance, 'where is my cell phone? It's on the table'.
- We're is the contraction of 'we are'.
Some examples of common spelling mistakes made
- Incorrect: *Wear you in Brussels yesterday?
Correct: Were you in Brussels yesterday? - Incorrect: *We’re are you going?
Correct: Where are you going? - Incorrect: *You should were a jacket.
Correct: You should wear a jacket. - Incorrect: *where closed until Friday.
Correct: We’re closed until Friday.
More tips on English grammar and common mistakes in English? These articles might also interest you:
- English spelling: its or it's
- English spelling: full or ful
- English spelling: no, know or now
- English spelling: than or then
- English spelling: there, they're or their
- English spelling: to, two or too
- English spelling: your or you're
- English spelling: live, lives or life
- English spelling: with, which or witch
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