1. To remind vs to remember

Remind : to put in mind of something : cause to remember

Remember : to bring to mind or think of again

It can get a bit tricky when you're wondering whether to say "to remind oneself" versus "to remember." The difference is that reminding oneself of something kind of implies that the person is likely to forget something unless they consciously do something to alert themselves of the thing. Remembering is usually a natural process that happens without prompting.

2. Journal vs Journal Entry

This is a common error on Journaly, for reasons that are probably obvious. A journal is a record of events or thoughts. All the definitions from Merriam-Webster fall into this category. Thus, it's not accurate to say, "I haven't posted a journal on this website for a long time." This sentence means that you uploaded a digital version of a record of events or thoughts spanning multiple days.

What are you supposed to call it instead? An entry. Journal entries are individual units within a journal. They represent each time a person sits down to write. Sometimes people write one journal entry per day, sometimes more often than that.

3. "[to be] a long time that [sb.] don't/doesn't"

Sometimes I see posts on Journaly that start with, "It is a long time that I don't make a post on Journaly." This is incorrect. "Is" implies that the action is happening now, but the fact that you just posted means that the action ended when you posted. This necessitates the present perfect "has been." When using the phrase "It's been a long time," the right structure is "since [sb.] [has/have]." Both sides of this formula use present perfect conjugations.

The correct sentence would be, "It's been a long time since I've posted on Journaly."

4. Not only [statement] but also [statement].

This is an advanced concept. I don't know why English does this, but it has a very counterintuitive structure with "not only.” Even though the first independent clause is a statement, it's structured like a question. The second independent clause is structured as a statement.

"Are you going to the library?" can become "Not only are you going to the library but you're also..."

"Do you not understand?" can become "Not only do you not understand but you also don't..."

5. used to (tendency) vs used to (currently accustomed to)

"I used to hike" describes a past tendency. The verb is in the infinitive.

"I'm used to hiking" describes a thing that a person is currently accustomed to doing. The verb is conjugated in the present continuous and actually functions as a gerund. Also, the conjugation of "to be" is necessary.

6. [language] native speaker

It's more natural to say "native Russian speaker" than "Russian native speaker." However, people have published heaps of content online that says "[language] native speaker," so don't let their mistakes fool you!

7. "Probably" at the beginning of a sentence

"Maybe" sounds natural at the beginning of a sentence, so why doesn't "probably?" I don't really know the reason, but "probably" is usually placed after the subject or a stand-in of the subject or after a conjugation of "to be."

"We probably can't make it today."

"It's raining, which will probably delay the picnic."

8. Not inserting a comma before the subject

Believe it or not, "Hi guys!" is incorrect. This one is hard to remember because native speakers and non-native speakers constantly forget this rule. Because "guys" is the subject of the sentence and you're addressing them, the comma should go before the people you're addressing. "Hi, guys!" One way that English speakers are taught to remember this rule is the difference between the meaning of the sentences "Let's eat Grandma!" versus "Let's eat, Grandma!" (If you're wondering why I capitalized "Grandma," it's because I'm using "Grandma" as a placeholder for a name.)

9. ([separate sentence]).

When you insert a parenthetical note inside of a sentence (as I am doing now), the parenthetical note is considered part of the greater sentence that surrounds it. Thus, it should not have its own punctuation on the far right side. However, when a sentence in parentheses is not surrounded by another sentence, it is considered its own independent sentence. In this case, the ending punctuation of the sentence goes inside the parentheses.

Here's a contrast for you:

You'll need three tomatoes (which won't be ripe until next month, I think).

You'll need three tomatoes. (They won't be ripe until next month, I think.)

10. You might be wondering, "Is this correct punctuation?".

No, it is not. If the quote is at the end of the greater sentence surrounding it (aka the overarching sentence), there should be no punctuation after the end quote. I know that the overarching sentence is a statement, but so does everyone else. That's why there's no need to explicitly put the period at the end; we're just supposed to figure out that it's a statement.

11. Advices

"Advice" is an uncountable noun referring to a body of recommendations. If you want to refer to a particular recommendation, say "a piece of advice." "An advice" and "advices" are incorrect.

12. “How to [do something]?”

This is not a complete sentence in English. It’s missing a subject. You need to specify who intends to do the thing. If you’re talking about people in general or society, you would express that as “you,” or “How do you [do something]?”

You might see a heading that says, “How To [Do Something]” without any punctuation at the end of the heading. This is grammatically correct. The person who wrote the heading knows that it’s a sentence fragment, so the person did not include punctuation at the end. All’s well.

Please read Error # in the link provided.