Common Writing Mistakes

During the past decade I have discovered that students make common errors when writing, so much so that I created a list of those common mistakes and provided a solution to them. Some will see these exact phrases on your email reports. I anticipate that you will eliminate these problems from your writing by the end of the semester. You will discover that I will offer fewer explanations of what is wrong as the semester wears on. I expect you to learn from your mistakes; I do not expect you to constantly repeat them.

Common Writing Errors

Ability (yellow/red): You wrote about ability but you are describing actuality.

Contractions (red): You could have run spell/grammar check. Do not use contractions.

Defining (yellow): You are telling the reader what to think is true. You must explain to the reader why it is true.

Due to: Use “due to” only when you have a to-be verb. Use “because of.”

Double spaced: Because of the length long reports are double spaced.

1st/2^nd Person (blue): Do not use first or second person unless the reader recognizes you as an expert. And you would have discovered this if you used Word's spelling/grammar as suggested.

Font: Always use Times New Roman, 12 points unless otherwise instructed.

Future tense: Do not use “going to” for future tense. Use will.

Internet (orange) is a proper noun: Internet.

Introduction: Not reason to introduce the report/article in this fashion, especially when you have a citation.

Logic: One idea does not lead to another. You need a transition.

MLA Style: You are not following it. Go to this site and learn: <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/11/>.

 

Now: Nowadays is vernacular. Use today or now.

Passive Voice: (Yellow and Gray): Ask who/what is doing the action. Then rewrite with that as the subject..

Punctuation and Quotation Marks: Punctuation always appears inside quotation marks.

Quotations: Quotation marks within quotation marks become single quotation marks (').

Run-on Sentence/Comma Splice: Run on sentence. Create two sentences. Grammar check would have caught this.

Singular (Company): When you mention a company, it is a singular noun, requiring singular pronouns such as it, its (and not they, their, and theirs).

Singular When Referring to an Individual: When you mention an individual, do not use the pronoun “their.” Use he/she if you do not know the gender of the individual. After the first reference, use the masculine form if you are male; use the feminine form if you are female.

Stacking Quotations: Do not stack quotations. You need a transition from one idea to the next.

Titles: Upper and Lower Case for Titles