Top Ten Mistakes of College Writing

WRITING FOR COLLEGE

WHY IS IT DIFFERENT?

Monday, October 4, 2010

The Most Common Writing Errors

For EWRT 211

Academic writing is different from creative writing or journalistic writing!

• Do not write the way you speak.• Do not use slang.• Do not expect your reader to know what you

mean.• Do not write in fragments.• Use complete sentences.• Always use Modern Language Association

(MLA) Guidelines.

Bad Habits to Avoid in Academic Writing

• Second person “you”• Inconsistent person• Inconsistent tense• Abbreviations• Do not use: ya, thru, wanna, gonna• Do not use: etc., &• Avoid ending verbs with “en” or “in” instead

of “ing”: waitin, watchen

Pronoun/Antecedent Agreement and Reference

• Pronouns take the place of nouns (he, she, it, they, I, you)• The antecedent is the word to which

the pronoun refers. For example: Mary went to the store and she bought candy. (Mary is the antecedent for the pronoun she.)

Mechanical Rules

• Numbers – Never begin a sentence with a number.(Spell it out.)

• All numbers below 100 should be spelled out. Those above 100 are optional but should be consistent.

Commonly Misspelled Words

• your you’re • to too two• there their they’re• its it’s• quite quiet• than then• whose who’s

Unnecessary Repetition

• A round circle• Refer back• An eyewitness present at the scene• The whole entire world

Words and Phrases to Avoid

• A-lot is two words – very, thing, you, I• Avoid beginning sentences with conjunctions (for, and,

nor, but, or, yet, so)• Avoid contractions• There are no such words as: theirself, hisself, alright. Write

themselves, himself, all right. • Do not capitalize subjects like biology, math, science,

history.• Use the word “finish” instead of “done”• Use “who” when referring to people.• The party would (of, have) made me happy.

Parts of Speech

• Nouns – person, place, thing, or idea.• Pronouns – take the place of a noun• Verbs – action words• Adjectives – Describes a noun or pronoun• Adverbs – Describes a verb, adjective, or another adverb• Prepositions – Form a phrase modifying another word in a

sentence. Usually show movement such as around, under, over, into, through, etc.

• Conjunctions – Connect words, phrases, clauses: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (FANBOYS)

• Interjections – Express surprise or emotion. (Oh! Hey! Wow!).

TOP TEN MOST FREQUENT WRITING MISTAKES

#1 THE SENTENCE FRAGMENT

• A sentence fragment is a partial or incomplete thought that is used as a complete sentence. In most student writing, sentence fragments are the result of a less formal, more conversational tone.

! Ex: When I tripped on the curb.! Re: When I tripped on the curb, I split my pants right down the middle.

! TIP: Look at your writing. Do you have any sentencesthat cannot stand alone?

#2 THE RUN-ON SENTENCE

#2 THE RUN-ON SENTENCE• The run-on occurs when two (or more complete

thoughts or phrases are written as a single sentence without separation. Run-ons are generally a result of simple carelessness.

! Ex: Dave went to the store to buy some beer and an ounce of pot he forgot his wallet.

! Re: Dave went to the store to buy some beer and an ounce of pot, but he forgot his wallet.

! TIP: Run-ons are not confined to longer sentences;check the structure of short sentences, too. 13

#3 COMMA SPLICE AND FUSED SENTENCES

• This is a type of run-on sentence where two (ormore) complete sentences are connected with only a comma. These types of fused sentences are usually the result the writer trying to tie a complex thought together.

! Ex: Collin studies many hours, he is the smartest guy in theclass.

! Re: Because Collin studies many hours, he is the smartest guyin the class.

! TIP: Review your work. If one sentence can easily be readas two complete sentences, it is probably a comma splice orfused sentence. 14

#4 LACK OF SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT

• A lack of agreement occurs when the subject does not agree with the verb (both not singular or both not plural).

! Ex: The girl run fast down the street.! Re: The girl runs fast down the street.

! TIP: Try to pay close attention to the verb and its subject(s) or a pronoun and its antecedent(s). Do they agree?

#5 INCONSISTENT TENSE

• You can have inconsistent tense when the tense of two (or more) verbs in a sentence do not agree.

! Ex: She forgot that she needs to do some homeworkfor her math class.

! Re: She forgot that she needed to do somehomework for her math class.

! TIP: When you have multiple verbs in one sentence, pay close attention to the tense.

#6 FAULTY PARALLELISM

• Faulty parallelism is a grammatical mistake whereby there is a awkward lack of balance in the creation of lists and series.

! Ex: I glanced out the window and saw an elm tree, a tree with bright red fruit, and a large bush.

! Re: I glanced out the window and saw an elm tree, an apple tree, and large bush.

! TIP: When making a list or series, pay close attention tothe grammatical structure of the nouns. 17

#7 DANGLING MODIFIERS

• Simply put, dangling modifiers describe or reference words that never actually appear in a sentence.

! Ex: Driving down the street, the weather seemed to be changing rather quickly.

! Re: Driving down the street, I noticed the weather seemed to be changing rather quickly.

! TIP: Try not to carelessly add descriptive phrases to asentence. Pay attention to the phrases in a sentenceand what they modify.

#8 PASSIVE VOICE

• With a passive voice, the subject of a sentence becomes the receiver of the action. Basically, nothing or no one is performing the action.

! Ex: The haunted house at the top of the hill was greatly feared by us.! Re: We feared the haunted house at the top of the hill.! Ex: The poemʼs narrator is the mother.! Re: The mother narrates the poem.! Ex: The glass was broken by the cat.! Re: The cat broke the glass.

! TIP: Unless you absolutely need an passive verb,change it to the active voice.

#9 REDUNDANCY

• As the term implies, redundancy is the overuse or needless use of words.

! Ex: She was totally the tallest girl in the classroom.! Re: She was the tallest girl in the classroom.

! Ex: To fix the car, you will need both a wrench and a screwdriver.! Re: To fix the car, you will need a wrench and a screwdriver.

! TIP: Go through your work and look for descriptive words you often use when speaking – these tend to be redundant in college-level writing.

#10 INEXACTNESS OR IMPRECISION

• When writing, make sure you use words and phrases which correctly convey your meaning.

! Ex: In an attempt to levitate the situation, the police officer backed off a few steps.

! Re: In an attempt to alleviate the situation, the police officer backed off a few steps.

! TIP: Donʼt try and stretch your vocabulary. If needed, grab a dictionary to find the best word. Also, try and avoid extremely pretentious wording. 21

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