Ten Common Writing Errors

1
Ten Common Writing Errors

• Lesson Plan 3.0

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Fragments

• A full sentence has a subject and a verb that
  make sense by themselves.
• Fragments are usually Dependent Clauses or
  phrases that need additional information to make
  sense.
• Attach the fragment to the beginning or end to
  the most closely related sentence
• Attach the fragment to a newly created sentence
• Supply the missing subject and/or verb, changing
  the other words as necessary

3
Comma Splices and Run-Ons

• This commonly happens when a writer attempts to
  connect too much information together
• Complex-Compound sentences need to be rarely
  used. This is also true for simple sentences.
• When this happens, just break the sentence down
  into two or more sentences.
• Look for the subject and verb of a main idea.
• Use a semicolon to connect two very closely
  related ideas, use a comma and a conjunction to
  connect two Independent clauses, or turn one of
  the sentences into a dependant clause/phrase.

4
Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement

• This occurs when the writer mistakenly uses a
  singular or plural verb when the other is needed.
• The documents was found.
• The documents were found.
• The basic rule of thumb is that if you are
  dealing with a single item use the single verb.
• Tip Substitute a pronoun for the subject. Is it
  singular or plural? Use the appropriate verb form.

5
Faulty Pronoun Agreement

• If you have two or more subjects, you need to use
  a plural pronoun. They Their Them
• If you have one subject, you need to use a
  singular pronoun. She He It.
• Collective Nouns The Team uses a singular
  pronoun it
• Indefinite Pronouns Neither, anybody, each, no
  one, one, nothing, somebody, and something are
  singular
• To avoid sexist language use plurals
• Neither of the executives resigned his position.
• The executives did not resign their positions.
• Stay within the same person point of view.
• To register to vote, citizens third person can
  visit the state governments website, where you
  second person can download the appropriate
  forms.
• I You They

6
Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

• A modifier is a word or group of words that
  describes something else. It modifies our
  understanding of something. Sometimes authors
  misplace sentence modifiers creating confusing
  sentences.
• Television stations carried the story of the
  disastrous tornado throughout the nation.
• Faded and brittle with age, archaeologists
  unearthed a painted clay pot near the riverbank.
• Passengers complained about the flight at the
  customer service desk, which was turbulent and
  delayed.
• Modifiers need to be next to what they are
  modifying.

7
Faulty Parallelism

• Words in a pair or series should be in parallel
  or matching grammatical structures.
• After hiking all day, the campers were exhausted,
  hungry, and experienced soreness.
• Every road to the airport is either jammed or is
  closed for repairs.
• We knew that autumn was on its way because the
  leaves were changing color, the sun was setting
  earlier, and there was a chill in the air.

8
Comma Misuse

• The comma is the most common mark of internal
  punctuation.
• Used when two complete sentences are joined with
  a conjunction.
• To set aside introductory material which precedes
  a sentences main subject and verb.
• When a word or phrase describes a noun but isnt
  crucial for identifying the noun.
• When words or phrases inserted into the body of a
  sentence can be removed without significant loss
  of meaning. Interrupters are enclosed in commas.
• In a list of three or more items
• Before short quotations and their source.
• Mom said, Hey get over here.
• Between the numbers in a date and elements in an
  address

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Apostrophe

• Used to indicate missing letters or contractions
• Cant / Wont / Im
• Used to indicate possession
• Rosss / hers /The televisions knob
• Some plurals
• As

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Homonyms

• Words that sound alike but mean different things
• Accept receive or agree vs. Except but or
  excluding
• To toward vs. Too overly vs. Two 2
• Affect influence vs. Effect result or bring
  about
• Its possessive vs. Its it is
• Than comparison vs. then time
• Their possessive vs. there place
• Your possessive vs. Youre you are
• Whose possessive? vs. Whos who is/has