Checklist of Common writing errors for editing and proofreading all papers

then (time)        than (comparison – “farther than”)

there (versus where, here)         their (possessive)          they’re (they are)

too       (overly – “too much”; also: “I want to go too”)  to (towards; infinitive: “to write”)-

effect (result; think: cause and effect)    affect (influence, emotion, feeling - compare “affection”)

everyday (describing a noun “it is for everyday use”)          every day (adjective + noun: all days)

men (plural)                  man (singular)

women                         woman

conscious (waking mind)           conscience (moral feeling)

should have (NOT should’ve, or should of)

principle (idea, opinion that you use as basis for thought  or values); principal (main, chief one)

capitol (city where government resides) capital (top, great, head)

A COLON     :   is used to point at some material, such as a list. “Collect the following items:”

            Note that you use a colon when you use a complete sentence to introduce a quotation.

Patrick Henry defied his captors: “Give me liberty or give me death.”

Compare 

Patrick Henry declared, “Give me liberty or give me death.” [Note proper use of the comma.]

A SEMI-COLON is used to yoke two complete sentences together (see below).

Good form

* Do not refer to authors by their first names in your formal writing unless they are your personal friends. Use last names. Make sure in particular to use women authors’ last names.

* All titles of works need to be distinguished from ordinary words: usually, titles begin with capital letters and capitalize all important words in the title: The Red Badge of Courage

Titles of whole volumes (such as of periodicals), books, and plays are underlined or put into italics: The New York Times; Bowling for Columbine. Titles of short pieces or parts of books, such as essays, poems or articles are put into quotations marks: “Born to be Wild”

* Writing your first draft in your own ordinary speech can help you write freely. When you train yourself to write as a professional, however, edit your work to sound formal and exact. Trim out “warm-up” phrases, spell out contractions (“do not” and “would have”, not “don’t” and “would’ve”). NOTE: Use “it is” instead of the contraction “it’s”. This will also help you remember that “its” is a possessive, meaning “belonging to it”.

Quotations When you discuss a source, make sure to quote it properly and provide page references in parenthesis. For long quotations, use BLOCK QUOTING. That is, instead of quotation marks, make clear that it is a quotation by indenting the entire passage (normally 5 spaces). Add the page citation after the entire block quotation, simply following the last punctuation mark. See Good Reasons for good models of quoting.

Possessives Each time you see a word ending in S, check to make sure whether it is a plural or a possessive. Test by asking yourself “would a his, her, or their fit into the word?” Decide where the “his” would fit in, and insert an apostrophe where letters would be missing (pretend it is a contraction). “Charlie[hi]s wagon” would be how the expression “Charlie’s wagon” is understood.  Put an ` (apostrophe) where you leave out the [hi].

In nearly every other case besides “its,” possession is indicated by an apostrophe.  For example, “I am going over to Mary's house.”  If something is possessed by a group of people, then the apostrophe goes after the plural “s”.  For example, “That is the lawyers' lounge.”  If someone's name ends in an “s”, then you can choose whether to add the “'s” or pretend that the entire word “his” has been left out. For example, “I am going to Tess's/Tess’ house.”

Off-Set Clauses:  An offset clause is a phrase in the middle of a sentence, set off from the rest of the sentence by commas.  Typically an offset clause is not essential for the sentence in which it is placed, but is handy because it saves having to write an additional sentence.  For example, “My brother Tim, who just graduated from high school, will be coming to live with me.”  Make sure that you place a comma at the beginning and end of any offset clause.

Qualifiers:  Words like “however,” “though,” “therefore,” etc. help to qualify or specify the meaning of a sentence.  Typically, they must appear in the middle of a sentence, not at the beginning or the end.  For example, “I went to Nepal this summer.  As it turned out, however, I got sick and so never left my hotel.”

Proper Names and Pronouns:  One makes the first letter a capital for a person's name, a specific title or institution, or a place name.  Thus one writes “the King of England,” but writes “all kings have crowns.”  Also, generic terms, including concepts, are rarely capitalized.  Thus one writes “according to law” not “Law”, “true” not “True”, “the American government,” not “the American Government.”

Verb-Subject Agreement:  When writing a sentence, make sure that you use the verb tense that agrees with the subject of that sentence.  Thus one writes “all the men are going,” not “all the men is going.”

Complete Sentences: Many students write sentences that make no sense as they stand, since they are cut off before they are completed.  For example, “In this book, which the author wrote twenty years ago, one can see.”  Proof-reading your work will allow you to avoid such errors.

 Make sure that a sentence expresses a complete thought.  Learn to identify an “independent clause” and make sure that each sentence is built on one. Example: “The dog ran away.” It can make sense standing alone. “Dependent clauses” cannot make full sense by themselves: “Because I dropped the leash” – it needs to connect to another thought it is explaining.

Compound sentence: two independent clauses joined together: “The dog ran away, but I retrieved her. In order to join independent clauses, you need a coordinating conjunction (CC). There are only seven: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. [The device FANBOYS helps you remember which these are.]

Two ways to create compound sentences:

1) The dog ran away, and I can’t find him. Independent clause, CC independent clause.

2) Independent clause; independent clause. [Note the correct use of the semi-colon (;). The main thing to remember is that a semi-colon connects two complete sentences, even if the sentences themselves contain additional phrases]

Two ways to create complex sentences:

Independent clause    dependent clause.            The dog ran away when I dropped the leash.

Dependent clause, independent clause. [Note proper use of comma.]

            When I dropped the leash, the dog ran away.

WARNING: It is an extremely common error to stick a dependent clause and independent clause together loosely. You need to compel yourself to make sense and keep your imagery clear.

Example: faulty comparison:

            Like Wallace Stevens, her job strikes readers as unexpected for a poet.

[This construction compares her job to the poet himself—not what was intended.]

Like Wallace Stevens, she holds a job that strikes readers as unexpected for a poet.

[Correct—the person is being compared to the person.]

Misplaced modifiers:

            Walking into the house, the telephone rang. [Sounds like the telephone did the walking.]

            Correct: Walking into the house, we heard the telephone ring.

            Delighted with the team’s victory, the parade route was decorated by the fans.

                        [Sounds like the parade route was delighted rather than the fans.]

Aim for parallelism:

            They really enjoy          playing volleyball,

                                                bicycling on country roads,

                                    and       snorkeling in the Gulf waters.

She loves both swimming competitively and playing [not “to play”] golf.