English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Top Trouble Spots in Writing
Chapter 6 The 25 Most Common Usage Problems
Part 2 Usage and Abusage
You should read this chapter if you need to review or learn about
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More than ever before, good writing is essential for success. Simple, straightforward, and correct writing saves time, creates good faith, and prevents misunderstandings. In this chapter, we’ll concentrate on the correct part of this equation so your writing will be “letter perfect.”
Top Trouble Spots in Writing
When someone complains that a person “can’t write,” they are most often referring to errors that person makes in grammar and usage. Below are the top 25 writing hot spots.
The 25 Top Writing Errors
Grammar and Usage
1. Lack of clarity
2. Redundancy (unnecessary words)
3. Problems with subject-verb agreement
4. Lack of parallel structure
5. Wrong verb tense
6. Mixed metaphors
7. Dangling modifiers
8. Misplaced modifiers
9. Incorrect idioms
10. Biased language
11. Incorrect voice (active versus passive voice)
Sentences
12. Fragments (incomplete sentences)
13. Run-ons (two sentences run together)
Spelling
14. Missing letters
15. Extra letters
16. Transposed letters
17. Incorrect plurals
18. Errors in confusing word pairs (such as weather/whether)
Punctuation
19. Missing commas or extra commas
20. Missing or misused apostrophes
21. Misused exclamation marks
22. Misused semicolons
Capitalization
23. Proper nouns not capitalized
24. Errors in titles
Proofreading
25. Missing words
Now, we will review each of these problem places so that you can have writing that is letter perfect.