Top Ten Writing Errors

Top Ten Writing Errors Editing is a process of finding errors in your writing and fixing those errors. It's a damn sight easier to edit when you know what to look for. The following common errors have been proven to be among the top culprits in in secondary and college writing, so it should apply to you guys as well:) Keep these errors in mind when, writing, proofreading and revising.

Pay special attention to the explanation of independent and dependent clauses and phrases.

*On the exam, I will give example of sentences with a mistake, which you must recognize by name.

1. Missing Comma after Introductory Elements:

An introductory element is a word, phrase, or clause that introduces and/or sets up the main part of the sentence

To understand this, you need to know the difference between a phrase and a clause: *A phrase is a group of closely related words that is missing a subject or a verb. It is usually a prepositional phrase.

For example: After eating, we went home. [There is no subject in the introductory phrase.] After dinner, we went home. [There is no verb in the introductory phrase.]

*A clause is a closely related group of words that contains a subject AND a verb._

For example: I am cool. [I is the subject, and am is the verb] Phil ran towards the water. [Phil is the verb; ran is the verb, and "towards the water" is a prepositional phrase.]

Here's the rub: You need to be able to tell if a clause is dependent or independent. The Difference between an Independent and Dependent Clause *An independent clause when it can survive on its own as a sentence as an idea fully expressed or a completed thought.

For example: Phil ran towards the water. [This is a fully expressed thought!]

*A dependent clause needs another clause to "complete the thought" and complete the sentence.

For example: While Phil ran towards the water, [This is "dependent" on more information--as in an independent clause--to be a fully expressed thought, such as: While Phil ran towards the water, I called the police.] Here are the two big rules on clauses and comma usage: (1) If a dependent clause comes at the beginning of a sentence, it needs to have a comma after the dependent clause, but if the dependent clause comes after an independent clause (2), it does not need a comma because the word that comes before the dependent clause (called a "dependent clause marker") acts as the comma.

Generally, it is better to put the independent clause first because it has the most important information in the sentence.

For example: *We didn't have school today because it was snowing. [Not having school is the main point of the sentence, and so it should come to your reader's attention first.] *Because we had the storm of the century today that walloped New England with ten feet of snow, we didn't have school today. [Here the important part is the big storm, so it is fine to have the dependent clause come first.]

Note: If you have two independent clauses--and you want to have one sentence--you must combine these sentences using a comma with a conjunction, a semi-colon, or a long dash (double dash).

2. Vague Pronoun Reference: "When you come to a fork in the road take it." ~Yogi Berra Here it is helpful know the difference between a pronoun and an antecedent. An antecedent is the noun to which a pronoun refers. The antecedent always comes "before" (which is the root meaning of "ante) the pronoun.

For example: Woody is a good guy. He is always there for me. ["Woody is the antecedent and "he" is the pronoun that refers to Woody.]

*A Vague Pronoun occurs when a reader is unclear exactly to whom or what or where the pronoun refers.

For example: The boy and his father knew that he was in trouble. (Who is in trouble? The boy? His Father? Some other person?) Italy and Spain are both hot in the summer, but more in the mountains there. (Are you talking about the mountains in Italy or Spain or in both places?)

Thoughts: This mistake is easily caught by proofreading out loud to someone else. We almost never make this mistake when we are speaking, but we do it all the time when writing. • Never start a paragraph using a pronoun that does not have an antecedent in the same paragraph. • Never use a pronoun more than three times in a row; otherwise, your reader might lose track of who, what, or where you are talking about. 3. Missing comma in compound sentence: Soyet Andor Norforbut (spoken with a heavy slavic accent)

For example: Wordsworth spent a good deal of time in the Lake District with his sister Dorothy and the two of them were rarely apart. (Comma should be placed before the "and.") Soyet Andornorforbut!

*Anytime you see a conjunction, stop and ask yourself if there is an "independent clause" after it; if so, use a comma.

4. Wrong word: Over they're their putting on there clothes. Writers use wrong words when they are confused by homonyms (words that sound the same, but have different meanings) or words that are easily confused with another word. The only way to avoid these problems is to either know the word--and the spelling and usage of that word when you are writing--or to proofread carefully when editing.

For example: We used a coarse sandpaper, of course. I was so bored at the Board of Trustees meeting that I fell asleep. 4. Commas with Parenthetical Elements: If you need it, then you don't need it!

*Any phrase or clause that could go in parentheses, could also be enclosed within commas or a double dash.

Here you need to figure out if the information you are adding to a sentence is essential or non-essential. If the sentence "makes sense" without the phrase or clause then it is non-essential, and so it needs a comma to separate it from the essential part of the sentence. However, if the phrase or clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence, you should not use commas

For example: My brother in the red shirt likes ice cream. [In this sentence, you might have two brothers, so the red shirt is essential to the sentence.] My brother, in the red shirt, likes ice cream. [In this sentence, you are talking about one brother, who just happens to be wearing a red shirt. The red shirt adds detail, but it is not essential to understanding the sentence.]

Note: • If the information you are adding is spoken as an aside or whispered, use parentheses. • If the information you are adding could be shouted, use double dashes. • If it is just added information with no special emphasis, use commas. 6. Comma Splice: This is one of the easiest mistakes to make as a writers because it is so easy and natural to do! If you become a fanatic about your use of commas with conjunctions between independent clauses, then you will go a long way towards avoiding this common mistake. A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined only with a comma. To fix a comma splice, replace the comma with a semi- colon, a period, or a comma and conjunction.

For example: I love English class, I never miss class. To repair this: • I love English class; I never miss class. • I love English class. I never miss class. • I love English class, so I never miss class.

Note: A comma splice also occurs when a comma is used to divide a subject from its verb.

For example: My students are engaged in my class, and never want to leave. [The subject "my students" is separated from one of its verbs "want." Also, "never want to leave" is not an independent clause, which should trigger an alarm in your head!]

7. Possessive Apostrophe Error: It's a sad day for little bunny when its coat is lost.

Sometimes apostrophes are incorrectly left out; other times, they are incorrectly put in (her's, their's, etc.).

Note: Don't forget one of the biggies of all time: "Its" is a possessive pronoun. "It's" is a contraction for "it is."

8. Sentence fragment: If it doesn't sound like a sentence, it probably isn't!

Sentences always have subjects and verbs. If they don't, the sentence sounds a bit wacky. Exceptions to this rule might be using a sentence fragment for dramatic effect (and it won't be dramatic if you do that too often), or when the subject is implied; for example, "Shoot!"

9. Missing comma in a series Whenever you list things, use a comma to separate the different elements in the series. You'll find a difference of opinion whether the next-to-last noun (the noun before the "and") requires a comma. ("Apples, oranges, pears, and bananas...") The best advice is to use the comma because sometimes your list will include pairs of things: "For Christmas she wanted books and tapes, peace and love, and for all the world to be happy." If you are in the habit of using a comma before the "and," you'll avoid confusion in sentences like this one.

10. Run-on sentences Run-on sentences are sentences that run on forever, they are sentences that ought to have been two or even three sentences but the writer didn't stop to sort them out, leaving the reader feeling exhausted by the sentence's end which is too long in coming. (Get the picture?)

Note: Fused sentences occur when two independent clauses are put together without a comma, semi-colon, or conjunction. For example: "Researchers investigated several possible vaccines for the virus then they settled on one"