There are some folks out there who love learning about grammar for the sake and satisfaction of just getting it right.

Other people can’t be bothered, or have a hard time making the rules stick in their heads – and usually, it has nothing to do with how smart a person is, IQ-wise.

Even if you’re the first type of person, though, I bet these grammar rules can get confusing on the best of days.

“Me” vs. “I”

You were probably corrected by a teacher at least a handful of times when you said “me and so-and-so have to go to the bathroom,” etc.

The thing is, it’s not as simple as some people want to make it.

For instance, if the first-person pronoun is an object and not a subject, using “me” is perfectly find.

Example” My mom met me and dad at the store” is correct, as opposed to “My mom met dad and I at the store.

It’s vs. Its

This comes down to whether or not your ‘it’ is a contraction meaning “it is” or a gender-neutral possessive referring to something that belongs to “it.”

Example: “The fox ran into its den” vs. “It’s den was nearby.”

Who vs. Whom

The rule is simple on its face: “who” refers to the subject of a sentence or clause, while “whom” refers to the object of the sentence or clause.”

Example: “Who went shopping with you?” vs. “With whom did you go shopping?”

A trick for figuring it out is replacing “who” with “she” and “whom” with “her” in the same sentence.

British vs. American Spelling

The history of the different spellings goes all the way back to the American Revolution, when Noah Webster (Webster’s Dictionary) pushed “America” variations in 1789.

They removed the extra “u” in words like “colo(u)r,” the finally “me” in words like “program(me)”, and replaced a lot of s’s with z’s.

Ending a Sentence with a Preposition

Grammar lovers really rally behind this rule, and their reasoning is that in Latin, the word preposition comes from a word that means “to place before.”

That said, even dictionary.com says that “English grammar is different from Latin grammar,” and it’s perfectly fine (in most situations) to write a sentence the way you would naturally speak it.

Yes, even if you would end it with a preposition.

Good vs. Well

Technically, “I’m doing well” is correct, not “I’m doing good.”

This is because “good” is an adjective (to modify a noun) and “well” is an adverb, so should be used to modify a verb.

That said, people will know what you mean – and most won’t think twice about it.

Badly vs. Bad

Bad and badly are both adverbs, which makes this one extra confusing (if you ask me).

So, this is mostly about context clues – but you would use “badly” a lot less often than you might think.

Remember you’re using “bad(ly)” to describe the verb, so that should help.

Example: You wouldn’t “feel badly” unless you were actually having trouble feeling.

Apostrophes on Words Ending with ‘S’

This one is hotly debated around Christmas card time every year, as people try to figure out how to pluralize their last name.

Grammar police are actually divided on, say whether “I went to Jonas’ for dinner” or “I went to Jonas’s for dinner” is correct. So, you’re probably ok to use either – though again, going with spelling the way you say it is usually preferable.

When to Capitalize

We know the easy ones, like capitalizing proper nouns, but when it comes to things like directional terms it can be a little less clear.

Like, it’s “eastern U.S.” but the East Coast.” So what gives?

The rule is that if the word is part of the noun phrase it gets capitalized – which honestly, still leaves room for plenty of confusion.

E.G. vs. I.E.

E.g. is short for exempli gratia, which means “for example” in Latin.

I.e. is short for is est, which means “that is” in Latin.

The former should be used in front of a list of examples, while the latter would be used to clarify.

The Oxford Comma

The Oxford comma is the comma that goes between the last two items in a sequence, and officially, it is no longer required.

That said, you might still need to use it to clarify if the final two items are separate from the first.

Example: I love my parents, bunnies and mice.

Your parents are not bunnies and mice, so an extra comma would help clarify that.

If it’s a simple list, like “I bought green beans, peas and broccoli,” then the extra comma does no real job.

Which vs. That

Both “which” and “that” are relative pronouns, which means they are used at the start of an independent clause to connect it to a dependent clause.

If they fulfill the same grammatical purpose, can’t we use them interchangeably?

The answer is…not really.

The official rule is that “which” should be used with a comma and “that” should be reserved for comma-free clauses.

Example: I liked the dinner that my son made vs. The dinner, which my son made, was delicious.

Seriously, though, very few people will judge you for getting this one wrong.

Lay vs. Lie

This one is the bane of my existence, I swear. Even though we know they’re not interchangeable, we’re often just throwing out our best guess while typing.

The official rule is that “lay” needs an object, but “lie” does not.

Example: I need to lie down (no object) vs. I need to lay down this baby.

To confuse matters, “lay” is the past tense of “lie.”

So. Have fun.

I hope you learned a thing or two!

I know I certainly did.

If you found that post interesting, learn more about why people often wake up around 3 AM and keep doing it for life.