Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
November 4, 2025
Gist is a noun that typically means “most important idea” or “essence,” but it can also be used to refer to the grounds of a legal action. It’s almost always preceded by the definite article “the” (and can’t be used with the indefinite article “a”).
Jist is a misspelling of the word gist and should not be used. The QuillBot Grammar Checker catches and automatically corrects common mistakes like this.
Examples: Jist or gist in a sentence
I read the summary to get the jistof the novel’s plot
I read the summary to get the gist of the novel’s plot.
Can you give me the jistof the presentation in a few sentences?
Can you give me the gist of the presentation in a few sentences?
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
March 12, 2025
The noun label describes a piece of material that identifies the object it’s attached to. It can also be used as a verb to describe the act of affixing a label to an object or assigning a label to a person to put them in a specific category.
“Lable” is a common misspelling and should be avoided. The QuillBot Grammar Checker will fix this and other common mistakes automatically.
Examples: Lable or label in a sentence
Don’t try to lableme!
Don’t try to label me!
Do your parents still lableyour clothes?
Do your parents still label your clothes?
Label is the standard spelling in both US and UK English, but other verb forms are different for US and UK English (e.g., labeled vs labelled).
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
November 12, 2025
Yours truly is commonly used as a sign-off before your name to end an email or letter. You typically use it when you’re writing to someone you haven’t communicated with before.
Yours truly consists of the possessive pronounyours and the adverbtruly (which is often misspelled “truely”) and is followed by a comma. It’s used in a similar way to Sincerely yours. However, “Sincerely yours” is traditionally used for people you have communicated with before. Nowadays, this distinction is no longer as strict.
When using “Yours truly” and other formal sign-offs, you should always capitalize the first letter of the first word. You can use the QuillBot Grammar Checker to check for this and other spelling and grammar mistakes.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
November 4, 2025
Sense is a noun that means “awareness,” “good judgment,” “particular meaning,” or “vague impression,” or a verb that means “to feel.” It’s also used to refer to the five sensory faculties (smell, touch, taste, hearing, and sight).
“Sence” is a common misspelling and should be avoided. Words with a similar pronunciation are sometimes spelled with a “c” (e.g., “pence”), but others are spelled with an “s” (e.g., dense). Sense belongs to the latter category.
Examples: Sense or sense in a sentence
That doesn’t make any sence to me.
That doesn’t make any sense to me.
My sence of smell has completely gone since my cold.
My sense of smell has completely gone since my cold.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
November 4, 2025
Hers is a third-person singular feminine possessive pronoun. It’s sometimes written as “her’s”—with an apostrophe—but this spelling is incorrect.
Possession is typically indicated by adding ’s to a word, but possessive pronouns are an exception to this rule. This means that “her’s” is always incorrect.
This is also true for other possessive pronouns, such as ours and theirs. The QuillBot Grammar Checker will fix this and other common mistakes automatically.
Examples: Hers and her’s in a sentence
I forgot my charger, but maybe I can borrow her’s.
Forty is sometimes misspelled as “fourty”—probably because 4 is spelled as “four”—but “fourty” is not a real word. This is also true when “forty” is used as part of a larger number, such as “forty-two” or “two-hundred-forty.” QuillBot’s grammar check tool will fix this and other common mistakes automatically.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
November 12, 2025
At your earliest convenience is a phrase commonly used at the end of a professional email to request someone to do something as soon as reasonably possible.
The phrase is typically considered professional and polite, but it’s not specific and might cause confusion or miscommunication. In some cases, it’s better to use one of our three alternatives to end an email to make sure the other person understands the level of urgency.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
November 5, 2025
Into and in to are pronounced the same, but they have different grammatical uses.
Into (without space) is a preposition that describes insertion, collision, transformation, or entry. It is also used to express that someone is involved with or interested in something.
In to (with space) is a combination of the two prepositions “in” and “to.” These words are kept separate when they are not connected, such as when “in” is part of a phrasal verb (e.g., “the teacher stepped in to break up the fight”).
Examples: Into in a sentence
Examples: In to in a sentence
Sorry, I’m not into men!
The criminal was turned in to the police by his own mom!
Luke quickly raninto the bathroom before the meeting.
I was just checking in to see how you’re doing.
The artist put a lot of thought into each brushstroke of the masterpiece.
Do you all want to chip in to buy a gift for Samuel?
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
November 4, 2025
Beck and call is the correct spelling of the phrase that’s part of the expression “to be at someone’s beck and call,” which means “to be ready to follow someone’s commands.”
Beckon call is a common misspelling of the phrase and should be avoided.
Examples: Beck and call or beckon call in a sentence
Damien is at the beckon call of his mom.
Damien is at the beck and call of his mom.
You don’t have to be at my beckon call.
You don’t have to be at my beck and call.
The nounbeck is related to the verbbeckon, but they have different meanings and can’t be used as synonyms. Beck is typically only used as part of the expression beck and call.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Julia Merkus, MA
Revised on
October 29, 2025
A cliché is an overused and unoriginal expression. For example, when having to decide between two unfavorable options, it’s common to say “caught between a rock and a hard place.”
The word cliché functions as a noun (e.g., “I removed all the clichés from my writing”). While some dictionaries recognize it as an adjective (e.g., “The movie had a cliché storyline”), others list clichéd as the adjective form (e.g., “He had a clichéd perspective”).
Examples of ClichesAvoid it like the plague.
Better late than never.
