By Rachel Dhaliwal
Contributor, Career Services
You’ve probably heard it a thousand times: check and re-check your resume for spelling and grammatical errors. This is crucial because one single error can derail even the most eloquent resume. It is often recommended to use your computer’s spellcheck feature. As you well know, however, spellcheck won’t catch words that are spelled correctly, but are just the wrong word to use – such as too and to. So here are some mnemonic devices to help you conduct your own spellcheck, and be confident that you have used the write right word.
To, Too, and Two: The only one with the “w” is the number. Think of too as in “excess” or “more.” Then remember that too has more “o’s.” If your text doesn’t need either of these two words, then the only word left is to.
There/They’re/Their: There is a location, just as here is, so if you remember that here is in there, you should be fine. They’re is a contraction, or a shortening of the two words, “they are.” So, if you could substitute “they are,” then they’re is the proper version to use. By process of elimination, then, if you aren’t shortening two words, and you aren’t talking about a location, then you must use their.
Accept/Except: The irony with this mistake is that these words are effectively opposites. To accept something is to take it, but to except something is to exclude it. Remember that EXcepting means EXcluding.
A part/Apart: These are closely related in issue to the above example, as they frequently are opposites. A part is a piece of a whole, so being a part of a team means you participated in their success. Apart means “separate from,” so if you say you are apart of a team, you are saying that you had nothing to do with them or their success. Worse yet, this is a grammatically incorrect statement, so you’ve dealt your resume a double whammy! So, just remember, “Everyone wants to be A part of the A Team.”
Personnel/Personal: Personnel are the staff members of an organization; personal is something that is specific to an individual. Remember that personnel has more than one “n,” as do most organizations have more than one staff member; personal only has one “n,” just as there is only one of you.
Patients/Patience: People have patience, and patients are people. You cannot have more than one patience for a situation, but there can be several hospital patients. Remember that “s” makes something plural (e.g. dogs, cars, houses), so patients are something that can be counted.
It’s/Its: This one is easy to confuse, because it goes against the normal rules for denoting ownership (Mike’s truck, the dog’s toy, etc.); so for simplicity’s sake, remember that unless you are shortening “it is,” you will use its. (You would not say, “The dog buried it is toy,” so you can’t say, “The dog buried it’s toy.”)
Principle/Principal: Unless you mean “a fundamental truth/moral rule/basic law of existence,” you will always use princiPAL– as, for the purpose of resume writing, it denotes either the position of being the head of a school or a sum of money.
It is often said that a resume is the singlemost important document in one’s life. Don’t run the risk of coming across to your reader as uneducated, inattentive to detail or just plain apathetic. Use these tips to help you spellcheck your spellchecker, and create a stellar resume that is above reproach.
[Related article: Spell Check is Not Your Friend: Proofread Your Resume]
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