1. The subjunctive
This one is pretty simple. When you're writing about a non-true situation – usually following the word if or the verb wish – the verb to be is rendered as were.
* If I were (not was) a rich man.
* If Hillary Clinton were (not was) president, things would be a whole lot different.
If you are using if for other purposes (hypothetical situations, questions), you don't use the subjunctive.
* The reporter asked him if he was (not were) happy.
* If an intruder was (not were) here last night, he would have left footprints, so let's look at the ground outside.
2. Bad parallelism
This issue comes up most often in lists, for example: My friend made salsa, guacamole, and brought chips. If you start out by listing the first two items, it has to cover subsequent ones as well. To fix this, you usually have to do just a little rewriting. Thus, My friend made salsa and guacamole and brought chips to go with them.
3. Verb problems
There are a few persistent troublemakers you should be aware of.
* I'm tired, so I need to go lie (not lay) down.
* The fish lay (not laid) on the counter, filleted and ready to broil.
* Honey, I shrank (not shrunk) the kids.
* In a fit of pique, he sank (not sunk) the toy boat.
* He saw (not seen) it coming.
(The last three are examples of verbs where people sometimes switch the past and participle forms. Thus, it would be correct to write: I have shrunk the kids; He had sunk the boat; and He had seen it coming.)
4. Pronoun problems
Let's take a look at three little words: Me, myself and I
Grammatically, they can be called object, reflexive, and subject. As long as they're by themselves, object and subject don't give anyone problems. For some reason, though, things can get tricky when a pronoun is paired with a noun. We all know people who say things like Me and Fred had lunch together yesterday, instead of Fred and I. We also (most of us) know not to use it in a piece of writing meant to be published. Word to the wise: Don't use it in a job interview, either.
A word that's recently become quite popular is "myself,” maybe because it seems like a compromise between I and me. But sentences like "myself and my friends went to the mall" or "they gave special awards to Bill and myself" don't wash. Change the first to "My friends and I" and the second to Bill and me.
