When it comes to developing good content for your mobile app, it’s better to be similar to a professional sports referee.
When they aren’t noticed, you know they’re doing their job. The same goes for grammar in your content. If users don’t notice that you’re making mistakes, you’re doing well.
It’s easy enough to grab a mobile app template and fill it up with written content, articles, videos and social media posts. The tough part is ensuring this content is valuable to your users.
However, even a high quality Facebook post or a solid About Us page will look unprofessional if a common grammar error is spotted by a user.
From screwing up homonyms to using too many commas, the possibilities are endless, and they could turn off some of the people who download your app.
So, we put together a list of the most common grammar mistakes killing your mobile app content. Enjoy!
Messing Up Homonyms in your Mobile App Content
The problem with homonyms is that the only way to prevent screwing them up is by having an editor look over your work. A spellcheck is no match for a misused homonym, considering the error is most likely an actual word. Homonyms are those tricky words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings. We’re talking about words like “aunt” and “ant” or “effect” and “affect.”
Some of the other more common homonyms you’ll run into include “arc” and “ark,” “banned” and “band” and “die” and “dye.”
As we talked about above, the spellcheck is no match for when you don’t use these homonyms properly, so do yourself a favor and reread your content a few times before publishing it. The best solution is to do that and pass it off to an editor.
Not Using Quotations Properly in your Mobile App Content
Using quotations should not be that common in your writing. In fact, the only time you should insert quotations into your content is when you’re directly quoting someone. For example, a press release where someone from your company makes a quote would be a good time to use quotations. Another time is when you’re listing a bunch of testimonials to bring in more customers.
The only other time you may be using quotations is when you’re trying to specify a title. For example, some grammar guides suggest that you put quotations around book and movie titles. Other than that, quotations are off limits, and they look silly.
Not Handling There, They’re and Their Well in your Mobile App Content
Here’s a short guide to help you out with distinguishing between the following words:
There – This is used when you want to describe a person, place or interjection. For example, you might say that you want to go over there, or “Hey there, how are you doing?”
They’re – This is simply a combination of two words. It means “They are,” so there’s no reason to use it at any other time.
Their – This is a possessive adjective when you’re attempting to describe that someone else owns something. For example, you might say “Their dog is running down the street.”
These three words are easily noticeable when you use them wrong, so do yourself a favor and run content by an editor in order to avoid problems. Not to mention, a spell check won’t help you out at all.
Tenses in your Mobile App Content
The three tenses in the English language include present, past and future. You’ll run into readability problems if some of your sentences change from past to present, or future to past, or any combination, in the middle of said sentence.
For example, “John’s Barbershop was created in 1989, and it is the best place in the world.”
As you can see, the first part of the sentence in in past tense, but the second part shifts to present tense. It throws readers off, and is not exactly grammatically correct.
Too, Many, Commas in your Mobile App Content
Commas are nice for adding brevity between two independent clauses, and they can also serve you well when implementing an introductory word or comment. The goal is to use commas as little as possible, considering it can throw off the reader if you break too often. If you’re contemplating whether or not a comma should be inserted into your sentence, consider breaking it into two sentences by using a period instead.
That’s it! If you have any questions about common grammar mistakes in mobile app content, share your thoughts below.
