Lead, Lead, Led

You need to know the difference between "lead," "lead," and "led." You'll only get caught on this one if you use it in your writing, and then only if your reader is as sharp as, well, a freshly sharpened pencil.

Wrong: I lead the team to victory last season.
Right: I led the team to victory last season.

Mistaking "lead" for "led" is a very common error, even in newspapers where copy editors should have caught it. Now that you know about it, watch for it and let me know when you see it in print.

TIP: Just remember that the past tense of "lead" is always "led." The word "lead," when pronounced like "led," means that black stuff in the center of your pencil (that's actually graphite, but you know what I mean).

If everybody does it wrong, does that eventually make it right?

Does widespread incorrect usage over time create a sense that wrong is the new right? I suspect the misuse of pronouns with gerunds is more prevalent among English speakers than almost any other grammatical error. Or maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine right now, so I notice it everywhere.

I want to use gerunds correctly. Really I do. But they're used incorrectly so commonly now, my using them correctly (which I just did) may sound affected ("speaking or behaving in an artificial way to make an impression").

You probably hear the correct usage one in 100 times. Develop an ear for the difference (see the blog post below), and let me know what you've heard. Or what you've seen in print—writers get the usage wrong nearly as often as speakers. Here's one I just noticed in a professional writer's blog: "My wrestling match with God ended with me accepting the reality that God had called me to write..." ("me accepting" should be "my accepting").

Anybody know what a gerund is?

When it comes to using gerunds (a noun made from an action word by adding "ing"), just about everybody gets it wrong. Can you hear the difference in these examples?

Examples

Wrong: You snoring will keep me awake.
Right: Your snoring will keep me awake.
(It isn't you keeping me awake; it's your snoring.)

Wrong: Will me finishing the dishes make you happy?
Right: Will my finishing the dishes make you happy?
(It isn't me that will make you happy; it's my finishing.)

Wrong: The dog barking kept him awake.
Right: The dog's barking kept him awake.
(It isn't the dog that kept him awake; it's the dog's barking.)

And here's one I just saw on a major newspaper's website:
"...yet she recalls the Secretariat saga gripping people around the world."
(Should be, "...yet she recalls the Secretariat saga's gripping people around the world."

TIP: Use a possessive pronoun (or possessive proper noun) before a gerund.