10 English Grammar Checks to Run Before You Hit Send

Priya Sharma

Priya Sharma writes English learning guides for ESL students. Pune-based language enthusiast.

Visual representation of the voice · not a photographic portrait

Quick answer: Before you send anything in English, check ten things: subject and verb agree, articles (a, an, the) are there, verb tenses match, plurals have an "s", prepositions are right, "it's" and "its" are correct, sentences are complete, commas do not join two full sentences, word order in questions is right, and capital letters are in place. These cover most of the mistakes learners make in writing.↗ Share on X

Before you send an email, message or document in English, check these ten points: subject and verb agree, articles are there, tenses match, plurals are marked, prepositions are correct, "it's" and "its" are right, every sentence is complete, no comma joins two full sentences, questions use the right word order, and capital letters are in place. These ten checks catch most of the mistakes English learners make in writing. Below, each one has a simple rule, a wrong example, and the fix.

Why use a checklist instead of just "reading it again"?

READ ALSOPick the Right English Tense for Daily Life Easily →English Grammar for Beginners: 12 Rules That Fix Most Errors →Check These 10 English Grammar Rules Before You Hit Send →

When you read your own writing, your brain sees what you meant, not what you wrote. A checklist forces you to look for one kind of error at a time. That is how professional editors work. It takes two or three minutes, and it is much more reliable than a quick read.

The 10 checks at a glance

Now each check in more detail.

Check 1: Does the verb match the subject?

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In the present simple, when the subject is he, she, it, or one person or thing, the verb gets an -s.

• Wrong: *My manager want the report today.*
• Right: *My manager wants the report today.*

Watch out for long subjects. The verb matches the main noun, not the nearest one.

• Wrong: *The list of names are attached.*
• Right: *The list of names is attached.* (The main noun is "list", which is singular.)

Quick test: find the verb, ask "who or what does this?", and check if that word is one or more than one.

Check 2: Is there an article where one is needed?

Many languages do not use "a", "an" and "the" the way English does, so this is a very common error.

Simple rules:

1. One countable thing, first time mentioned: use *a* or *an*. *I have a question.*

2. A specific thing both people know about: use *the*. *Did you read the email I sent?*

3. General plural or uncountable ideas: usually no article. *Dogs are friendly. Information is important.*

Use *an* before a vowel sound, not just a vowel letter: *an hour*, *a university*.

Check 3: Do your tenses stay in the same time?

If your story happened in the past, keep the verbs in the past. Jumping between past and present confuses the reader.

• Wrong: *Last week we had a meeting and the client asks for a discount.*
• Right: *Last week we had a meeting and the client asked for a discount.*

Quick test: look for time words like *yesterday, last week, in 2020, ago*. Every verb connected to them should be in a past form.

Check 4: Did you add -s to plurals?

After numbers bigger than one, and after words like *many, several, a few, both*, the noun needs a plural form.

• Wrong: *We need three more day.*
• Right: *We need three more days.*

Remember the irregular plurals: *person → people, child → children, man → men, woman → women*.

And some nouns are uncountable and never take -s: *information, advice, equipment, feedback, furniture, homework*. Write *some advice*, not *some advices*.

Check 5: Is the preposition right?

Prepositions (in, on, at, to, for, with) are hard because the rules are often about habit, not logic. Learn the most common combinations as a group.

Common error: *I'm agree with you.* Correct: *I agree with you.* ("Agree" is already a verb; do not add "am".)

Check 6: Did you use "it's" and "its" correctly?

This one catches native speakers too.

• it's = *it is* or *it has*. *It's raining. It's been a long day.*
• its = belonging to it. *The dog wagged its tail.*

Quick test: replace the word with "it is". If the sentence still makes sense, write "it's". If not, write "its".

The same trick works for other pairs:

• you're (you are) vs your (belongs to you)
• they're (they are) vs their (belongs to them) vs there (a place)

Check 7: Is every sentence complete?

A full sentence needs a subject and a verb, and it must make sense on its own. Pieces that start with *because, although, when, if, which* are not complete by themselves.

• Wrong: *Because the meeting was cancelled.*
• Right: *We have free time because the meeting was cancelled.*

Quick test: read the sentence alone, out loud. If it sounds like it is waiting for something, it is incomplete.

Check 8: Did a comma join two full sentences?

In English, you cannot join two complete sentences with only a comma. This is called a comma splice.

• Wrong: *The file is attached, please check it.*

Three ways to fix it:

1. Use a period: *The file is attached. Please check it.*

2. Add a joining word: *The file is attached, so please check it.*

3. Use a semicolon: *The file is attached; please check it.*

The period is the simplest, and it is always correct.

Check 9: Are your questions in question order?

In most English questions, the helping verb (*do, does, did, is, are, can, will, have*) comes before the subject.

• Wrong: *What time the meeting starts?*
• Right: *What time does the meeting start?*
• Wrong: *Why you didn't come?*
• Right: *Why didn't you come?*

But in indirect questions (inside a longer sentence), use normal order:

• *Can you tell me what time the meeting starts?*

Check 10: Are the capital letters right?

Always capitalize:

1. The first word of every sentence

2. The word I

3. Names of people, cities, countries and companies

4. Days of the week and months (*Monday, March*)

5. Languages and nationalities (*English, Brazilian, Spanish*)

Do not capitalize seasons (*summer, winter*) or ordinary nouns in the middle of a sentence, even if they feel important.

How to use this checklist in 3 minutes

1. First pass (1 minute): read only the verbs. Check 1 (agreement), Check 3 (tense) and Check 9 (question order).

2. Second pass (1 minute): read only the nouns. Check 2 (articles), Check 4 (plurals) and Check 10 (capitals).

3. Third pass (1 minute): read sentence by sentence. Check 5, 6, 7 and 8.

For very important messages, read the text out loud. Your ear catches mistakes your eyes skip.

Build your personal mistake list

Everyone has their own "favorite" mistakes. Maybe you always forget *the*, or you always write *informations*. Keep a note on your phone called "My mistakes". Each time someone corrects you, add the wrong version and the right version. Check that list before sending anything. After a few weeks, you will notice those errors disappearing from your writing.

Your next step

Open the last email or message you wrote in English. Run the three-pass method above and mark every error you find. Then write the two errors you found most often at the top of a new "My mistakes" note. From today, check those two first, every time, before you hit send.

FAQ

What is the most common English grammar mistake?

For many learners, the most frequent problems are subject-verb agreement (he go instead of he goes) and missing or extra articles (a, an, the). Both are easy to check once you know to look for them.

Is it okay to use a grammar checker app?

Yes, as a helper. But apps miss some errors and sometimes suggest wrong changes. Use the app, then read the text yourself with a checklist like this one.

How can I stop making the same grammar mistakes?

Keep a short list of your own repeated mistakes. Every time a teacher, app or friend corrects you, add it. Check your writing against that list before sending, and after a few weeks most of those errors disappear.