How to Avoid Common Writing Mistakes

No one can use perfect grammar every time. However, by learning about the most common writing mistakes, you can reduce the number of times you make them. Letters, reports, papers and manuscripts that have grammatical errors make you look bad. They reduce your chances of communicating with your audience because they get in the way of your ideas.

Instructions

1. Double check your use of apostrophes. It's one of those common writing mistakes that can easily be overcome. The apostrophe should replace missing letters, as in contractions, or show possession. Pay special attention to "it's/its" and plural nouns when showing possession.

2. Be careful when using participial phrases. "Driving down the street, Joanne saw her friend had just gotten a new haircut" is ambiguous. "Joanne saw her friend driving down the street with a new haircut" or, "From her car, Joanne saw her friend had just gotten a new haircut" makes it clear who was driving.

3. Make sure you use possessive pronouns clearly. Consider this example: "Acme Company partnered with Widgets International to promote their products." "Their products" could refer to Acme Company's, Widget International's or both companies. Write "Acme's products," "Widget's products" or "the products of both companies" to make it clear what you mean.

4. Make sure your verbs agree with your subjects. This is especially tricky with complex phrases as subjects. Always look for the subject of the sentence when deciding which form of the verb to use. In "Jan's garden, where she grows only native plants and flowers, is particularly beautiful this year" ignore the plural nouns near the verb.

5. Pay attention to similar sounding words. "Affect," for instance, is rarely used as a noun except in a medical context, "she has a flat affect" to describe a patient's mood. But if you want to tell about an incident that influenced your decision, use the verb "effect." Further confusion follows effect and affect, because both words can be a noun or a verb.

Tips & Warnings

• Misuse of the apostrophe with names ending in "s" is one of the most common writing mistakes. In general, consider how the word sounds. "James's car" is okay but "the Joneses's cabin" isn't.

• Read what you have written and spell check before submitting your documents to avoid embarrassing simple mistakes.

Resources

• Here's a list of similar sounding words and their meanings.