1. Common Mistakes in Writing:
Avoiding Major & Minor Errors

2. Errors, errors, everywhere!
It is rare that anyone, regardless of education level, sits
down and pens a perfect draft the very first time he or she
attempts writing a letter, paper, or any other type of written
correspondence. We all make errors in our writing. Perhaps
they are as simple as hitting the wrong keys on the computer,
or maybe they’re due to a lack of understanding the constructs
of the English language. Regardless of the reason, we all have
struggled with writing at one time or another.
If you find that you have trouble identifying common
writing errors in your own work, or even in the words of others,
you are not alone. Perhaps it’s been a while since you attended
school, or maybe you’ve forgotten those grammar lessons from
high school. Regardless of the reason, it’s quite common to
feel a bit intimidated when it comes to writing mistakes.
Chances are a brief review of common mistakes, and
subsequent, careful proofreading of your work, will help you in
becoming comfortable at not only recognizing common writing
no-no’s, but also at avoiding the mistakes in the first place.

3. Major Errors
Sentence Fragment
Comma Splice
Run-on Sentence
Garbled Sentence
Faulty-Subject Verb Agreement
Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Misuse of Verb Forms

4. Before we begin . . .
Ask yourself how do we come to agree in
the English language that a group of
words and/or phrases is a sentence?
Do you remember . . .?

5. What is a Sentence?
Three elements constitute a word
group being a grammatically correct
sentence. Do you know what they are?
Subject
Verb
Complete thought

6. Sentence Fragments
A fragment is a group of words that looks
like a sentence but is missing a subject,
verb, or complete thought
Only a piece of a sentence
Considered a serious writing mistake

7. Watch out for fragments
(trouble spots)
A word group that starts with a preposition
A word group that starts with a dependent
word
A word group that starts with an ‘–ing’ verb
form
A word group that starts with to and a verb
A word group that starts with an example
or explanation of something mentioned in
the previous sentence
from Real Writings with Readings by Susan Anker

8. Sentence or Fragment?
Because I could not go to the store today.

9. Sentence or Fragment?
Because I could not go to the store today.
Fragment!

10. Sentence or Fragment?
Thinking she had been left by the bus
driver, Kelly walked to school in the rain.

11. Sentence or Fragment?
Thinking she had been left by the bus
driver, Kelly walked to school in the rain.
Sentence!

12. Sentence or Fragment?
The reason the college instituted the test
was to gage student reading
achievements.

13. Sentence or Fragment?
The reason the college instituted the test
was to gage student reading
achievements.
Sentence!

14. Sentence or Fragment?
Shut the door.

15. Sentence or Fragment?
Shut the door.
Sentence!
Be observant for implied subject (in most cases
“you.) In this example, it’s implied, “You shut the
door,” and therefore, technically this is not a
sentence fragment.

16. Sentence or Fragment?
That is the man. Who cheated me out of
money at the supermarket.

17. Sentence or Fragment?
That is the man. Who cheated me out of
money at the supermarket.
FRAGMENT!
Be careful! Often times, fragments are embedded in the
middle of a paragraph, and our natural tendencies to read
and attempt to make sense will cause us to miss
fragments.

18. Comma Splices
Comma splices are two complete thoughts
(two sentences) joined together by
commas
Common error among college composition
students
Serious grade deductions

19. Comma Splices: Spot them?
Paula and Henry have been friends for a
number of years, ever since first grade.
They often help each other stay out of
trouble, both of them, while good students,
are a little bit wild and do not take their
assignments seriously. Many people have
thought Paula and Henry dated, but that is
not the case, they are just good friends.

20. Comma Splices: Spot them?
Paula and Henry have been friends for a
number of years, ever since first grade.
They often help each other stay out of
trouble, both of them, while good students,
are a little bit wild and do not take their
assignments seriously. Many people have
thought Paula and Henry dated, but that is
not the case, they are just good friends.

21. Run-ons
Run-ons are essentially what the name
indicates: sentences that are thrown
together without any punctuation to
indicate where one ends and another
begins.
Similar to comma splices, but in the case
of regular run-ons, no comma is used
Often referred to as fused sentences

22. Run-ons
One time when I went to the store, I got
scared to death a gunman came in and held
customers and employees at gunpoint. I’d
never witnessed such in my life. My hands
were shaking, my legs went limp, my
breathing became very difficult. That day
forever changed my life. I no longer stop at
convenience stores. I prefer to do my
shopping in a more crowded place like Wal-
Mart there the likelihood of the store being
held up is significantly less that at
conveniences stores they are not nearly as
safe. That’s why I avoid them at all costs.

23. Run-ons
One time when I went to the store, I got
scared to death a gunman came in and held
customers and employees at gunpoint. I’d
never witnessed such in my life. My hands
were shaking, my legs went limp, my
breathing became very difficult. That day
forever changed my life. I no longer stop at
convenience stores. I prefer to do my
shopping in a more crowded place like Wal-
Mart there the likelihood of the store being
held up is significantly less that at
conveniences stores they are not nearly as
safe. That’s why I avoid them at all costs.

24. Garbled or Awkward Sentences
Garbled or awkward sentences can be
caused by various reasons
The end result is a sentence that doesn’t
fit in with those around it, either failing to
offer support to the writing, or just in some
fashion confusing the reader
Thorough proofreading usually finds
garbled/awkward sentences

25. Garbled or Awkward Sentences
Through the years, I’ve found that it pays to
show kindness even when others do not do the
same. Not everyone can prove it. There are
times when kindness doesn’t seem like the best
course of action; however, I believe one can’t fail
if he shows his fellowman compassion. Early in
childhood, many times while in pre-school
before grade school, it was not uncommon an
occurrence for me to get into brawls, even
though usually I was shy, yet talkative. Back
then, fighting resulted in a spanking. Though I
didn’t appreciate spankings then, now I do. The
corrective action helped me to understand that
fighting is not the correct way to handle
disagreements. It’s a motto I live by today.

26. Garbled or Awkward Sentences
Through the years, I’ve found that it pays to
show kindness even when others do not do the
same. Not everyone can prove it. There are
times when kindness doesn’t seem like the best
course of action; however, I believe one can’t fail
if he shows his fellowman compassion. Early in
childhood, many times while in pre-school
before grade school, it was not uncommon an
occurrence for me to get into brawls, even
though usually I was shy, yet talkative. Back
then, fighting resulted in a spanking. Though I
didn’t appreciate spankings then, now I do. The
corrective action helped me to understand that
fighting is not the correct way to handle
disagreements. It’s a motto I live by today.

27. Garbled or Awkward Sentences
Recognizing garbled/awkward sentences is a
skill that matures as you advance as a writer.
It’s often a matter of sound writing judgment. A
good way to learn to recognize such sentences
is by reading the work of your peers. Similarly,
allow peers to proof your papers or essays. It’s
often hard to gage when our own writing isn’t
clear because we know what we meant when we
wrote it.

28. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
Major problem for many students
Usually occurs because subject and verb are
divided by prepositional phrases or other
phrases or clauses
Must locate the subject of the sentence
Ask yourself if the subject is singular or plural
If the subject is singular, choose a singular verb
If the subject is plural, choose a plural verb

29. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
The athlete runs around the track.

30. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
The athlete runs around the track.
singular subject, singular verb

31. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
The athletes run around the track.
plural subject, plural verb

32. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
The man that lives over the hill scare us
every time we walk by his house.

33. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
The man that lives over the hill scare us
every time we walk by his house.

34. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
The man that lives over the hill scare us
every time we walk by his house.
Notice “that lives” is a dependent phrase
(noun phrase) modifying man
“over the hill” is a prepositional phrase
We are left with a singular subject, so it
requires a singular verb

35. Faulty Subject-Verb Agreement
The man that lives over the hill scares us
every time we walk by his house.
CORRECT!

36. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
Very confusing for many students
We hear faulty pronoun agreement many
times a day during the course of
conversations, broadcasting on television
or radio, etc.

37. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
The noun or pronoun that another pronoun
refers to is called the antecedent.
The antecedent comes before the pronoun
in question
Antecedents usually found near the
pronoun
Be careful because dependent
clauses/phrases can separate the two and
make agreement even more tricky

38. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
Everyone in the play should know their
lines by Monday.

39. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
Everyone in the play should know their
lines by Monday.
In this case, the pronoun in question,
“their” refers to everyone
While we used to hearing such
statements, we have to remember that
“everyone” is treated as “every single one”
Singular “everyone” requires singular
“his/her” for pronoun agreement

40. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
The audience clapped their hands as
Faith Hill ended her song.

41. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
The audience clapped their hands as Faith Hill
ended her song.
In this case, we are looking at the subject
“audience” and the word serves as the
antecedent.
“their” is the pronoun in question
Even though multiple people in the audience, it
is one audience– a singular entity
Therefore, “audience” requires “its” for
pronoun/antecedent agreement

42. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
The members of the Chamber of
Commerce Board reversed its decision
and allowed the adult video store to open
within the city limits.

43. Faulty Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement
The members of the Chamber of Commerce
board reversed its decision and allowed the
adult video store to open within the city limits.
In this case, “members” is the subject and
antecedent.
“its” is the pronoun in question
Though there is only one Chamber of
Commerce Board and it acts as single entity, in
this case, “members” is plural and is the subject
of the sentence.
Therefore pronoun-antecedent agreement the
“its” must be replaced with “their.”

44. Misuse of Verb Forms
Easily made errors, especially in
compound/complex sentences
Verb tense (shifting tense) is a common
writing problem
If you’re writing in the past tense, keep it in
the past tense, etc.

45. Misuse of Verb Forms
A verb’s tense indicates the time– past,
present, or future– of an event
Writers must remain consistent with uses
of verb tense

46. Misuse of Verb Forms
The township bought a powerful new lawn
mower which breaks down after two
weeks
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

47. Misuse of Verb Forms
The township bought a powerful new lawn
mower which breaks down after two
weeks
Complex sentence here with two verbs
Since we began in the past tense with
“bought” it is not correct to change to
present tense with “breaks”
Change “breaks” to “broke”; therefore, we
are uniform in our use of past tense

48. Misuse of Verb Forms
The restaurant’s homemade bread is thick
and crunchy. It was a meal within itself.
What is the problem?

49. Misuse of Verb Forms
The restaurant’s homemade bread is thick and
crunchy. It was a meal within itself.
What is the problem?
“is” is present tense; “was” is past
Must change the tense to be uniform
Change both to “is” or both to “was” and
establish proper tense; choose according to
the situation, depending on what sense of
time you wish to establish

50. Misuse of Verb Forms
Faulty use of past tense
To establish one event from an earlier
one, use the past perfect tense (usually
have or had, plus the verb)

51. Misuse of Verb Forms
The plane already finished rolling down the
runway when it burst into flames.
PROBLEM: Faulty tense
CORRECTION: The plane had already
finished [past perfect] rolling down the
runway when it burst [simple past] into
flames.
This establishes that one event preceded
another and gives our readers the
appropriate sense of time
Source for Verb Forms slides: The Longman Writer by Nadell,
Langan, Comodromos