Holiday Card Grammar Mistakes

When signing your holiday cards, ensure that your closing phrase (such as “Sincerely,” “Love,” or “Best Wishes”) is followed by a comma. The comma should separate the closing phrase from the signature, which is your name, or a combination names.

Since this is a common grammatical mistake, make sure that you are alert to the difference between “It’s” and “Its” in your holiday correspondence. “It’s” means “It is” or “It has,” whereas “Its” is a possessive term.

Apostrophes are tricky in holiday correspondence. With just one small mark, they can make the difference between an error-free card and the alternative. Adding an apostrophe to “Season’s Greetings” is correct, since it makes the phrase possessive. (As in, the greetings belong to the season.) Whereas “the Bakers” is correct as it is. If there were an added apostrophe (as in, the Bakers’ or the Baker’s), it would make the term possessive. This is incorrect, since there is no subsequent noun for the Bakers to take possession of in the phrase.

Remember where your holiday card is going. There are regional variations of holiday greetings around the country and around the world. Especially if your card is heading overseas, you may want to look up any variations of greetings, phrasings, and spellings and implement them into your card. Your loved ones will appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Before sending off your holiday card, be sure to proofread your inscription. Reading your card aloud will help you catch any mistakes that may have made their way into your holiday wishes. In addition, if you are preparing your holiday cards online, spell check is an essential tool for catching errors. If you are printing your cards in bulk or ordering from an online site, you definitely want to catch any mistakes before you print them and send them out.