It’s time to review some nasty writing mistakes that damage our credibility. Not normally a fun task, but absolutely necessary.

I promise to keep you amused to diminish the pain (or at least I’ll give it a shot).

I also feel compelled to mention that copywriting and blogging should be conversational and engaging, and breaking formal grammatical and spelling conventions can often be a good thing.Outside of specific professional or academic contexts, writing with a personal style that makes it easier on the reader is more important than pleasing Strunk and White.That said, I also believe you have to know the rules in order to break them. Plus, there are some errors that you’ll never convince anyone you did intentionally in the name of style (outside of a joke), and even then some people will still assume you’re dumb.

So, let’s take a look at some of those types of glaring errors you never want to make — common writing mistakes that can diminish the shine and credibility of your message.

[Here are the first two of seven glaring errors.]

1. Loose vs. lose

This one drives a lot of people crazy, including me.

In fact, it’s so prevalent among bloggers that I once feared I was missing something, and somehow “loose” was a proper substitute for “lose” in some other English-speaking countries. Here’s a hint: it’s not.

If your pants are too loose, you might lose your pants.

2. Me, myself, and I

One of the most common causes of grammatical pain is the choice between “me” and “I.”

Too often people use “I” when they should use “me.” Since “I” sounds stilted and proper, it must be right, right? Nope.

The easy way to get this one right is to simply remove the other person from the sentence and then do what sounds correct.

You would never say “Give I a call,” so you also wouldn’t say “Give Chris and I a call.” Don’t be afraid of me.

And whatever you do, don’t punt and say “myself” because you’re not sure whether “me” or “I” is the correct choice. “Myself” is only proper in two contexts, both of which are demonstrated below.

Many consider Chris a punk, but I myself tolerate him. Which brings me to ask myself, why?