Writing mistakes are more common than others. Learning these 5 common writing mistakes will make you professional in your writing skills. In this article, we will take a short look at how these mistakes work in writing and also understand how to avoid them. Let’s look at 5 common writing mistakes and how you can avoid them to improve your English writing skills.
5 Common Writing Mistakes
In this section, we will take a look at the below common writing mistakes:
- Subject-Verb Disagreement
- Comma Splice
- Sentence Fragment
- Confusing Words
- Vague Pronoun Reference
These are the most common writing mistakes that every writer makes. By keeping these common mistakes in mind, you can easily improve your writing. This guide will help beginners remember the most common writing mistakes and avoid them in future writing tasks.
1. Subject-Verb Disagreement
When the numbers of verb and subject don’t match in a sentence, then the sentence will be wrong. Here, we will learn through a simple example:
The wrong version of the sentence is “All of us wants to go to a Thai restaurant tonight,” and the correct version of the sentence is “All of us want to go to a Thai restaurant tonight.” Repeat this paragraph again.
These are two same sentences but the numbers of subject and verb didn’t match. To avoid this mistake, you have to focus on the numbers of the verbs and subjects of a sentence; they must be matched. Always check if the subject and verb are both singular or plural. Let’s breakdown the above example:
- Wrong: “All of us wants to go to a Thai restaurant tonight.”
- Right: “All of us want to go to a Thai restaurant tonight.”
The above example shows the difference between subject-verb agreement and disagreement in the English writing. When you focus on this common thing, then you will be able to avoid this mistake in your writing skills. So, let’s breakdown the above example.
In this example, we will talk about the three words “all of us,” “want,” and “wants.”. These kinds of things are very common that create confusion during the correction of a sentence in English writing. Here the subject is “all of us” because “all of us” refers to more than one person; that’s why “all of us” makes the subject plural.
The verb “wants” is a singular form, used for subjects like “he,” “she,” or “it.”
After reading the above discussion, you will be able to avoid this mistake and enhance your writing skills. Remember that when the subject is plural in a sentence, we can’t use the singular verb.
2. Comma Splice
Splice splice is used to separate two joined sentences. When we need to join two sentences to form one complete sentence, then we use a comma.
For example:
- Sentence with mistake: My brother is an engineer, he works in an office.
- Correct: My brother is an engineer. He works in an office.
The above example shows the use of a comma when we join two sentences to form a complete sentence. Using a comma in the wrong place will affect writing skills, and the meaning of the sentence will be wrong.
We can also use period (.) and conjunction words (and, but, because) to separate the sentence.
For example:
- Period: My brother is an engineer. He works in an office.
- Conjunction: My brother is an engineer, and he works in an office.
3. Sentence Fragment
These are the sentences that often miss subject and verb and they are also incomplete.
For example:
- Example of Mistake: I love all kinds of films. Especially, horror ones.
- Corrected: I love all kinds of films, especially horror ones.
Without subject and verb, a sentence will be a meaningless and incomplete sentence. To avoid this mistake in writing, you have to make sure that each sentence has both a subject and a verb to be complete.
4. Confusing Words
The confusion of the same meanings and spelling words is a very common thing in writing. Some words sound similar but have different meanings or spellings. Mixing them up can cause confusion.
For example:
- Example of Mistake: For farther information, contact my secretary.
- Correct: For further information, contact my secretary.
Learn the meaning of words that sound and spell alike (like “farther” and “further”) and use them correctly.
5. Vague Pronoun Reference
When a pronoun in a sentence isn’t clear and refers to more than one thing, the vague pronoun reference happens. These kinds of mistakes in writing will confuse the readers. To avoid this mistake, you have to use the pronouns in the right place. To understand this mistake in writing, we will use the below example:
- Example of Mistake: When I found my book in the drawer, I closed it.
- Corrected: I closed the drawer after finding my book in it.
That was the 5 common writing mistakes. By keeping these mistakes in mind, you can easily improve your writing skills. Check your sentences before closing your work. Don’t forget to use the commas and pronouns in the right place; this will make your writing much clearer. At the end of this lesson, I suggest you practice these common mistakes in your writing and the main thing is similar-words sounding. Similar-words sounding and the use of a comma in the right place, will make your writing clearer to your readers.
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