Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them for Better Writing

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Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them for
Better Writing
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(No Transcript)
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• Every day, most individuals write for jobs,
  school, personal purposes, or hobbies. However,
  most individuals are not writers. Even grammar
  specialists make common writing mistakes every
  now and then!
• Some mistakes are more serious than others. No
  one expects an ordinary person to understand the
  intricacies of the English language. However, as
  a professional writer, your writing must be
  impeccable. In this blog post, we have 10 common
  writing mistakes that are some of the most
  fundamental errors you should avoid while
  writing.

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10 Common Writing Mistakes To Look Out For

• Using the Wrong Words
• Wrong word mistakes can take several kinds. They
  may express a somewhat different meaning than you
  intended (compose instead of comprise), or they
  may indicate an entirely different meaning
  (prevaricate instead of procrastinate). They
  might even be as basic as a misplaced preposition
  or another form of an incorrect word in an idiom.
• Address this issue with the help of a thesaurus
  and spell checker. However, be careful when using
  this solution. If you choose a term from a
  thesaurus without understanding its specific
  meaning, or if you let a spell checker fix your
  spelling automatically, you may commit a mistake.
  If youre having trouble with prepositions and
  idioms, read up on the normal use.

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• Using Incorrect Punctuation
• When youre in the flow of writing, its easy to
  overlook the end punctuation. Sentences can be
  terminated with a period, a question mark, or an
  exclamation mark. The majority of sentences are
  declarative or statements. These should be
  followed by a period.
• Questions should always be followed by question
  marks. Exclamatory phrases express heightened
  emotions like enthusiasm, surprise, or rage. They
  should be punctuated with exclamation points.

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• Spelling Errors
• Even though technology now checks most of our
  spelling for us, a spelling error is one of the
  top 20 most prevalent blunders. Because spell
  checkers cannot recognize many misspellings, they
  are more likely to miss homonyms (for example,
  presence/presents), compound words spelled
  erroneously as distinct words, and proper nouns,
  notably names. Proofread carefully for typos
  after using the spell checker.

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• Mixing up Hyphens and Dashes
• Hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes are all
  distinct punctuation marks. A hyphen (-) is a
  thin line that connects two or more words or
  portions of words (e.g. ex-boyfriend,
  merry-go-round, skin-tight.)
• A timeline, numerical range, or serial order is
  represented by an en dash (-). For example,
  January-March, 2000-2005, or an alphabetical
  range such as Ca-Ch. It is both longer and
  shorter than a hyphen.
• An em dash () can be used in a variety of ways.
  Its the length of two hyphens, however, putting
  two hyphens next to each other is improper. Some
  applications will automatically change this to an
  em dash, while others will not. If you have a
  numerical pad, use the alt code to write it.

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• Quotation Error
• When we cite other writers, we incorporate their
  perspectives into our own. Quotation marks are
  important because they illustrate where their
  words finish and ours begin.
• Quotation marks are used in pairs remember to
  open and close your quotes. Block quotes do not
  require quotation marks in most documentation
  styles (for example, MLA Style). To discover how
  to display block quotes, see your professors
  approved style handbook.

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• Unnecessary use of the comma
• We frequently have the option of using a comma or
  not. However, if we use them in situations where
  they arent necessary, we risk obscuring rather
  than clarifying our idea.
• Commas should not be used to separate limiting
  features that are essential to the meaning of the
  words they alter. When a coordinating conjunction
  (and, but, for, nor, or, so, still) does not
  unite elements of a compound phrase, do not put a
  comma before it. A comma should not be used
  before or after the first or last item in a
  series.

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• Lack of pronunciation
• Pronouns are often gender (male or female, as
  appropriate) and number congruent with their
  antecedents (singular or plural). Many indefinite
  pronouns, such as everyone and each, are always
  singular. They can, however, be used to agree to
  adopt inclusive or gender-neutral language with a
  single antecedent. When two antecedents are
  related by or not, the pronoun must agree with
  the one nearest to it. Depending on whether the
  members are considered as a group or as
  individuals, a collection noun such as team might
  be single or plural.