Download Common Writing Mistakes (Grammatical Rules and Commonly

Common Writing Mistakes (Grammatical Rules and Commonly misspelled
words)
Rules for Common Writing Mistakes
Your/ You're
• Your (Belonging to you) What is your favorite song?
• You're (Contraction for "You are") You're a great student.
Accept/Except
• Accept (To willing take something in) He didn't accept her apology.
• Except (Not including/excluding AND "only") I looked forward to all of my
classes, except for biophysics. I would go to the party, except I still have a fever.
To/Too/Two
• To (In the direction of) Max threw the ball to Fido.
• Too (An excess of something and "Also") She had way too much makeup on.
We hope you come along too!
• Two (#2)
There/Their/They're
There (refers to location and anything else that doesn't fall under their or they're)
There must be someone tending that station over there.
Their (possessive, meaning "belonging to them/more than one person") They left
their bikes out in the lawn.
They're ( They are) I'm not sure if they're going to stay the night or not.
It's/Its
It's (Contraction for It is) It's been a really tough year.
Its (Belonging to "it") The tiny bird couldn't find its nest.
Common Capitalization Errors
• Always capitalize words which refer to culture, ethnicity, nationality, etc. The
French teacher fixed us some Chinese food on Christmas.
• Do NOT capitalize most school subjects, such as language arts, science, etc.; do
capitalize school subjects which refer to specific languages--French, Spanish, etc.
Our homework for history class was about the Chinese language.
• Capitalize the months and days of the week, but do not capitalize seasons. My
birthday fell on a warm summer Friday in the eve of August.
Commas
*As a general rule, it's important to know that there are specific rules for when a
comma is needed in most writing. The age-old rule of putting commas wherever
one needs to pause is not effective, because it can cause comma overuse or
underuse.
Remembering the following rules should help you to know when a comma is
needed: (SIIC)
1. Items in a Series (Put a comma between items, etc. when listing several things
off). Jim, Katie, Stanford and Molly went camping together.
2. Intros and Extras (Put a comma between something additional that's added to
the beginning or end of a sentence that could stand alone.) Wiping away her tears,
Mara finally spoke up about what had been happening. -OR- The hiker edged along
the cliff, shaking nervously.
3. Interrupters (put a comma on either side of a word or words that is placed in the
middle of a sentence that could stand alone) Her mother, a person who has
dedicated her life to helping others, was nominated for the award.
4. Compound Sentence (Put a comma in front of a conjunction that is combining two
separate sentences into one.) I would have warned her about the quiz, but the
teacher was hovering over us. YOU DO NOT NEED A COMMA BEFORE A
CONJUNCTION IF THE WORDS COMING AFTER THE CONJUNCTION DO NOT MAKE
A COMPLETE SENTENCE.
Sentences, fragments, Run-ons
Every sentence contains two parts, subject and predicate.
• Subject: The person/thing doing the action in the sentence.
• Predicate: The complete action in the sentence
The baby screamed for his mother. subject: The baby
predicate: screamed for
his mother
• A sentence missing either a subject or predicate is known as a fragment.
• When two or more sentences are joined together without correct punctuation,
this is known as a run on sentence.
Semicolons
Semicolons operate like periods to bring two sentences together that are related to
one another. Semicolons are often used for fluidity of writing and to connect ideas.
Semicolons do NOT operate like commas.
We yearned for spring, with its promises of warmer weather and flowers in bloom;
however, we found ourselves knee deep in six more weeks of winter.
Then/Than
• Then (Used when referring to "next" in sequence or for references to time) Back
then, we used to paint our fingernails black, then take pictures of our hands.
• Than (Used in comparisons) I feel more energized in spring than I do in winter.
I/Me Rules
2 rules: 1.) Always put the guest in the sentence first , before yourself.
2.) Take the guest away and see if I or me works in the sentence.
Would you like to go crazy with Lisa and me? Jim and I thought you would enjoy
that.
Apostrophes
Apostrophes are used to show possession/ownership or to indicate a missing letter
in a contraction.
• 's (Add to a word to show possession/ownership) Mark's house is gorgeous.
• s' (If a word already ends in s and you want to show possession, simply add an
apostrophe to the end of the word. This is usually done for something plural.) The
groundhogs' homes were destroyed by the tornado.
Punctuation of Titles of Works
As a general rule, you always underline the title of a larger work and put the smaller
components of the work in quotes. Here are a few common examples:
• Always underline the titles of books, yet put the chapter names in quotes
• Always underline the title of a poetry book , but put the titles of poems in quotes.
Always underline the title of a magazine, journal, etc, yet put the title of the articles
in quotes.
Affect/Effect
It is important to know that Affect is a verb, whereas Effect is a noun.
Affect (verb)--To influence The medication will affect his behavior in the
afternoon.
Effect (noun)--The result/impact The play had a profound effect on us.
Less/Fewer
Less (Use when referring to something which cannot be itemized/counted) There
was less Jell-O in his bowl than I had in mine.
Fewer (Use when referring to something that can be itemized/counted) Fewer
people attended the performance than we had previously estimated.
Using They, Their, Them
• Only use the words they, them, and their when referring to more than one
person. The brothers left their house at dawn.
• When referring to one person, you must use the words he/she, him/her, his/her.
The student must have forgotten to put his/her name on the quiz.
That/Who/Whom/Which (Which pronoun to use?)
Who--Only refers to people who are doing the action in a sentence. ( Who showed
up late?)
Whom--Only refers to people to/for whom the action is being done (who is
receiving the action in a sentence.) (I'm not sure for whom I should buy gifts this
year.)
That--Refers to nonhuman things or animals in a sentence. (Grover was the dog that
dug up the radishes.)
Which--Refers to anything--humans, animals, etc.--in which you are specifying one
in many. (Which dog from the shelter did you decide to take home?)
Other Important Terms
Nouns--person, place, thing, abstract idea (table, nurse, Iowa, illness)
Verbs--The action that's happening in the sentence (is, jumped, dreamt)
Adjectives--Words that describe nouns and often come right before the noun.
(gorgeous, fragile, charming) Keep in mind that ing verbs are often times adjectives
in a sentence if they're being used to describe something.
Adverbs--Words that describe verbs or adjectives (and usually end in ly). (casually,
cautiously, seemingly)
Pronouns--Simple words which refer to more specific nouns. (that, I, he, her, who,
it, etc. )
Prepositions--Words that give the position or relationship of something in space or
time. (over, beside, in, to, before, on, etc.)
Homophones--Words that sound the same but have different meanings.
(Write/right, threw/through, weather/whether.
Commonly Misspelled Words
Absence
Accommodate
Beginning
Beneficial
Changeable
Committee
Convenient
Defendant
Difference
Discipline
Environment
Existence
February
Accessible
Acquaintance
Believe
Calendar
Colonel
Confident
Counselor
Definitely
Dilemma
Eighth
Especially
Familiar
Fulfill
Accidentally
Balloon
Basically
Cemetery
Column
Consistent
Criticize
Dependent
Disappoint
Embarrass
Exhaust
Fascinating
Foreign
Genius
Guarantee
Heroes
Independent
Jealousy
License
Miniature
Neighbor
Occurred
Peculiar
Principal (School kind)
Quizzes
Recognize
Restaurant
Schedule
Shining
Success
Temperature
Unnecessary
Valuable
Volume
Governor
Happily
Immediately
Influential
Knowledge
Loneliness
Muscle
Naturally
Opinion
Permanent
Privilege
Realize
Recommend
Rhythm
Secretary
Stopped
Suspicious
Thorough
Unique
Villain
Vacuum
Grammar
Height
Immigrant
Intelligence
Length
Manageable
Necessary
Occasion
Parallel
possess
Psychology
Receipt
Religious
Scenery
Separate
Subtle
Technical
Tomorrow
Until
Violence
Yacht