I was reading comments from a copy editors’ camp this week, and I thought I would share what was identified as the most common error they cite: mistakes in word choice.

The most common mistakes in word choice are as follows:

• using which for that and vice versa
• using affect for effect and vice versa
• confusing they’re, their, and there
• confusing your with you’re
• overusing utilize
• using between you and I instead of between you and me
• using compare to when compare with is correct
• using convince someone to  instead of persuade someone to
• using its for it’s and vice versa (by far the most common mistake)

There you have it, something else to look for during that revision 🙂

-Jan R