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Common Writing Errors

Common writing Errors

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Fadi Khan
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10 views

Common Writing Errors

Common writing Errors

Uploaded by

Fadi Khan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Common Writing Errors

Quratul Ain
Subject-Verb Agreement Errors
• The subject and verb of a sentence must agree with one another in
number, whether they are singular or plural.
• If the subject of the sentence is singular, its verb must also be
singular; and if the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural.
• Example:
• Incorrect: An important part of my life have been the people who
stood by me.
• Correct: An important part of my life has been the people who stood
by me.
• Incorrect: The two best things about the party was the food and the music.
• Correct: The two best things about the party were the food and the
music.
Sentence fragments
• Make sure each word group you have punctuated as a sentence
contains a grammatically complete and independent thought that can
stand alone as an acceptable sentence.
• Example:
• Incorrect: Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious
findings. For example, the pollen of forty-eight plants native to Europe
and the Middle East. [2nd sentence = fragment]
• Correct: Tests of the Shroud of Turin have produced some curious
findings. For example, the cloth contains the pollen of forty-eight
plants native to Europe and the Middle East.
• Incorrect: Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine
consumption. Although caffeine does cause convulsions and death in
certain animals. [2nd sentence = fragment]

• Correct: Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine


consumption, although caffeine does cause convulsions and death in
certain animals.
Misplaced or dangling modifiers

• A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not


clearly stated in the sentence.
• Place modifiers near the words they describe; be sure the modified
words actually appear in the sentence.
• Example:
• Incorrect: When writing a proposal, an original task is set for research.
• Correct: When writing a proposal, a scholar sets an original task for
research.
• Incorrect: Many tourists visit Arlington National Cemetery, where
veterans and military personnel are buried every day from 9:00 a.m.
until 5:00 p.m.
• Correct: Every day from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., many tourists visit
Arlington National Cemetery, where veterans and military personnel
are buried.
Faulty parallelism
• Be sure you use grammatically equal sentence elements to express
two or more matching ideas or items in a series.
• Example:
• Incorrect: The candidate’s goals include winning the election, a
national health program, and the educational system.
• Correct: The candidate’s goals include winning the election, enacting
a national health program, and improving the educational system.
• Incorrect: Some critics are not so much opposed to capital
punishment as postponing it for so long.
• Correct: Some critics are not so much opposed to capital punishment
as they are to postponing it for so long.
Unclear pronoun reference
• All pronouns must clearly refer to definite referents [nouns].
• Use it, they, this, that, these, those, and which carefully to prevent
confusion.
• Example:
• Unclear: Because Senator Martin is less interested in the environment
than in economic development, he sometimes neglects it.
• Clear: Because of his interest in economic development, Senator
Martin sometimes neglects the environment.
Incorrect pronoun case
• Determine whether the pronoun is being used as a subject, or an
object, or a possessive in the sentence, and select the pronoun form
to match.

• Example:
• Incorrect: Castro’s communist principles inevitably led to an
ideological conflict between he and President Kennedy.
• Correct: Castro’s communist principles inevitably led to an ideological
conflict between him and President Kennedy.
• Incorrect: Because strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the
Constitution as written, no one objects more than them to judicial
reinterpretation.

• Correct: Because strict constructionists recommend fidelity to the


Constitution as written, no one objects more than they [do] to judicial
reinterpretation.
Omitted commas
• Use commas to signal nonrestrictive or nonessential material, to
prevent confusion, and to indicate relationships among ideas and
sentence parts.
• Example:
• Incorrect: When it comes to eating people differ in their tastes.
• Correct: When it comes to eating, people differ in their tastes.
• Incorrect: The Huns who were Mongolian invaded Gaul in 451.
• Correct: The Huns, who were Mongolian, invaded Gaul in 451.
Apostrophe Errors
• Use an apostrophe with it’s only when the word means it is or it has.
Without the apostrophe, it means belonging to it.
• Example:
• Incorrect: I don’t believe its finally Friday.
• Correct: I don’t believe it’s (it is) finally Friday.
• Incorrect: The cat was licking it’s tail.
• Correct: The cat was licking its tail.
Wrong Word Usage
• There are a variety of words that are commonly confused and
misused in sentences.
• Misusing words can change the meaning of the sentence or simply
reflect carelessness.
• There are hundreds of these commonly confused words, so when in
doubt, always check the definition and correct spelling of the word.
• Homophones: Homophones are two words that sound the same, but
have different meanings. For example, the words two – too, ate –
eight, there-their, in-inn, ring-wring or more difficult, like principal-
principle, and except-accept
• “Effect” is most often a noun (the effect), and “affect” is almost
always a verb.
• Incorrect: The recession had a negative affect on sales.
• Correct: The recession had a negative effect on sales
Sentence sprawl
• Too many equally weighted phrases and clauses produce tiresome
sentences.
• Unclear: The hearing was planned for Monday, December 2, but not
all of the witnesses could be available, so it was rescheduled for the
following Friday, and then all the witnesses could attend.
• [There are no grammatical errors here, but the sprawling sentence
does not communicate clearly and concisely.]
• Clear: The hearing, which had been planned for Monday, December 2,
was rescheduled for the following Friday so that all witnesses would
be able to attend.
Comma splices
• Do not link two independent clauses with a comma (unless you also
use a coordinating conjunction: and, or, but, for, nor, so, yet).
• Instead use a period or semicolon, or rewrite the sentence.

• Comma splice: In 1952 Japan’s gross national product was one third
that of France, by the late 1970s it was larger than the GNPs of France
and Britain combined.
• Correct: In 1952 Japan’s gross national product was one third that of
France. By the late 1970s it was larger than the GNPs of France and
Britain combined.
Misspellings and Tense Errors
• Spelling errors are usually perceived as a reflection of the writer’s
careless attitude toward the whole project.
• Always reflect on your writing before finalizing it.
• Make the correct use of tense, when referring to past, present or
future events.

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