writers.com tips:

Mistakes Spell-Checkers Will Not Catch (and That Drive Editors Crazy)

apostrophes
In general, the apostrophe indicates one of two things:

A contraction of two words with the apostrophe replacing the "missing" letter as in "don't," a combination of "do" and "not" with the "o" absent.
Possession: "Mark's book" or "Karen's car." If a thing belongs to another thing, however, remember that "its" is the possessive form of "it," it's" is ALWAYS the contraction for "it is" and never means "belonging to it."

lay/lie
"Lie" does not need an object, "lay" does. "You lie down", or "You lay yourself or your book down."

like/as
"Like" is not a conjunction; "as" is. "Like" governs pronouns and nouns; "as" should be used before phrases and clauses. "She smelled like roses." "She smelled as fresh as a daisy."

to/too/two
"To" is used as part of a verb or as a preposition ("to go to the store"). "Too" is used interchangeably with "also" or in expressions such as "too many." "Two" is a number.

you're/your; they're/there/their
A contraction for "you are" and the possessive of "you." A contraction for "they are," a place, a plural possessive.

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