The 4 Most Common Grammar Errors in Christmas Cards

This holiday season, use these quick tips to avoid the most common grammar errors when writing your Christmas card.

1. Use a Comma After Your Greeting (and Usually Between the Greeting and Audience)

• "Merry Christmas, Everyone,"

• "Greetings,"

• "Hello, Family & Friends,"

• "Happy Holidays, All,"

BUT

• "Dear Grandpa,"

2. Don't Capitalize More than You Need To

If your Christmas card has a title, you should capitalize each word that is either first or a proper noun, noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, or adverb. If the word is a conjunction, article, or preposition, don't capitalize it (unless it's the first word, of course). If you're not sure what part of speech the word is, type it into Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary.

Examples:

• "Merry Christmas from the Browns!"

• "We Wish You a Merry Christmas!"

• "Season's Greetings"

You should capitalize your greeting like just like your title: capitalize each word that is a noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, or adverb. If the word is a conjunction article, or preposition, don't capitalize it.

• "Merry Christmas, Everyone,"

• "Happy Holidays, All,"

In the body of your Christmas card, you should only capitalize the word that starts a sentence and proper nouns.

• "We wish you a merry Christmas!" not "We wish you a Merry Christmas!"

• "Happy holidays!" not "Happy Holidays!"

• "This winter" not "This Winter"

3. Use a Comma After Your Sign-Off

• "Best,"

• "Love,"

• "From,"

• "Sincerely,"

4. You Don't Need an Apostrophe After Your Last Name

WHAT IT SHOULDN'T BE:

• The Jones'

• The Miller's

• The Brown's

WHAT IT SHOULD BE:

• Add "-es" to the end of your last name if it ends with

  • s,

  • x,

  • z,

  • ch, or

  • sh.

• Add "-s" if your last name ends with any other letter.

So with those quick tips, we wish you a grammatically correct holiday season.