When I was an English tutor, I’ve encountered my share of grammatical errors in composition papers. Many writers will make those mistakes, but it is important to understand what those mistakes are so that you can make the necessary corrections when you proofread. Here is a list of some of the most common grammatical errors in composition writing and how you can avoid them when you write your own paper.
Subject-Verb Agreements
A subject-verb agreement is a grammatical rule in which the noun and verb in a sentence must correspond with one another according to whether a noun or pronoun is singular or plural. Beginning writers often make subject-verb errors when they confuse the singularity or plurality of a subject with its corresponding verb. Examples of common mistakes and correct revisions look like this:
Incorrect: “A shipment of new book catalogues are arriving today.”
Revision: “A shipment of new book catalogues is arriving today.”
Incorrect: “Several recent studies about a new AIDs drug has excited the medical community about the drug’s effectiveness in fighting the disease.”
Revision: “Several recent studies about a new AIDs drug have excited the medical community about the drug’s effectiveness in fighting the disease.
Pronoun Agreement
A pronoun agreement works in the same fashion as the pronoun-verb agreement in that a pronoun and noun must have a corresponding plural or singular agreement. Words such as anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody are all singular nouns and therefore require singular possessive pronouns. Writers often confuse the singular noun or pronoun with a plural verb or possessive pronoun. Common mistakes include:
Incorrect: “To each their own.” (Each is singular)
Revision: “To each his/her own.”
Incorrect: “Everybody collected their coats.”
Revision: “Everybody collected his/her coat.”
Incorrect: “No one in the room knew where their coats were.”
Revision: “No one in the room knew where his/her coat was.”
Dangling Participles
Beginning composition writers often make the common mistake of dangling their participles. A dangling participle is a clause that is unattached to the subject of the sentence. For instance:
Incorrect: “Running across the street to retrieve the ball, a car struck me.”
This example suggests that the car was running across the street to retrieve the ball and not the subject. The participle should reflect the subject and the transitive (or intransitive) verb in the sentence:
Revision: “While I was running across the street to retrieve the ball a car struck me.” Or: “While running across the street to retrieve the ball, I was struck by a car.”
Parallel lists
Parallel lists are lists of items, actions, etc. within a sentence. Beginning composition writers will often make the mistake of mixing nouns, participles, or infinitive verbs within parallel lists. For example:
Incorrect: “While at film school, I had learned how to direct and edit, as well as raising money for films.”
“Had learned” is a simple, perfect verb, suggesting that the action has been completed, while “raising” with the suffix -ing is a continuous verb, indicating that the action is on-going. Thus, in this example, the actions implied are incompatible. Therefore, this sentence needs to be revised so that the list is consistent:
Revision: “While at film school, I had learned how to direct and edit, as well as how to raise money for films.”
Other ways to revise this sentence are:
“While at film school, I had learned how to direct, edit, and raise money for films.”
Or: “While at film school, I had gained skills involved in directing and editing, as well as in raising money for films.”
Incorrect: “The children love to fish, to camp, and going hiking.”
Revision: “The children love to fish, to camp, and to hike.” Or: “The children love fishing, camping, and hiking.”
Other examples of mistakes students make in parallel sentences are as follows: parallel nouns:
Incorrect: “A sensualist is someone who enjoys fine wine, gourmet food, and having sparkling conversations.
Revision: “A sensualist is someone who enjoys fine wine, gourmet food, and sparkling conversations.”
Incorrect: “The debate team had gained valuable skills in articulation and in arguing.”
Revision: “The debate team had gained valuable skills in articulation and argumentation.”
Article Agreements
When I was tutoring English composition students, another common mistake I’ve encountered, particularly among students whose native language was not English, was the misuse or absence of articles-the, a, an, some. In some languages, such as Russian or Japanese, articles are not used at all, so the transition into English will be understandably confusing for such students. An important rule in using articles is that nouns require a supporting article. For instance: “a ball,” “the ball,” “an apple,” “some apples,” etc. When using an indefinite article before a vowel, it’s important to remember to use an, as in “an apple” or “an owl” to break up the repetitive vowel sounds. In some cases, though, a noun doesn’t always require an article. For instance, its not always necessary to designate an article for plural nouns, depending on the context in which they are used: “Internet users have increased over the years” or “Tigers are intimidating creatures.” In these cases, “internet users” and “lions” are indefinite plural nouns and do not require definite articles in these contexts, whereas if the writer was speaking specifically of a group of internet users or tigers, then an article would be needed: “The group of internet users” (in this case, the singular “group” becomes the noun) or “The tigers in the cage.” Other nouns, such as reading or swimming, also do not require articles, i.e. Reading is fundamental” or “Swimming is a rigorous sport.” Some modifiers make article usage redundant as well, such as “Rock climbing is fun.” Many of these rules depend on context, and a writer whose native language is English will be able to determine when and whether article usage is necessary. But for the writer who is learning to read and write in English and is unfamiliar with articles it is important to understand their various conventions.
Dangling Prepositions
A preposition is a word which denotes a place, location or designation-of, to, with, about, by, for, from, in, etc. A general rule regarding prepositions is that they cannot be placed at the end of a clause or sentence:
Incorrect: “We had nothing to compare our experiences with.”
Revision: “We had nothing with which to compare our experiences.”
Generally, most writers make this error. Even now, it is so common, that one might think it is not necessarily a mistake so much as it is the writer’s way of bringing common speech or colloquialisms into the written language to make it less formal. Grammar today is not as it used to be fifty or a hundred years ago, and rules do change over the course of time. Still, if you are writing a paper for a composition class, it’s best to play it safe and make certain that your prepositions don’t dangle.
Run-On Sentences and Incomplete Sentences or Fragments
Run-on sentences are a fairly common grammatical mistake with beginning composition writers. What is a run-on sentence? Typically, most beginning composition writers assume a run-on is a very long sentence. In truth, run-ons are simply sentences that have two distinct ideas or clauses composed of a noun-verb-subject, but lack conjunctions (and, but, then) which connect those two ideas and clauses. For instance, a run-on would look like this:
Incorrect: “We went to Wendy’s party we danced all night.”
Typically, this sentence can be broken into two with a period or a semi-colon:
Revision: “We went to Wendy’s party. We danced all night.” Or: “We went to Wendy’s party; we danced all night.”
Or it can be written into one fluid sentence through the use of a conjunction:
Revision: “We went to Wendy’s party and we danced all night.”
It can also be written with a dependent clause:
Revision: “When we went to Wendy’s party, we danced all night.”
In other words, without the use of punctuation, conjunctions, dependent clauses or modifiers (a phrase or clause that modifies or explains something about a noun or verb), then the sentence becomes a run-on. It’s important to remember that there is nothing grammatically incorrect about a long and complex sentence. Most beginning students, after being taught to look out for run-on sentences, often mistakenly believe that only short sentences are grammatically correct. Grammatical correctness is not determined by sentence length but rather by whether the sentence conforms to grammatical rules.
An incomplete sentence or sentence fragment is one that does not have a subject-verb-object structure and/or does not complete a thought. Fragments often occur when students write dependent clauses that require a completed thought. For instance:
After we found the car.” Or: “Since we ran into Molly.” Or: “Unless we make it home in time.”
These examples are fragment sentences because they are dependent clauses. A dependent clause needs a completed thought or a subject and verb in order to be a complete sentence. Therefore, a complete sentence should look like this:
Revision: “After we found the car, we drove home.”
Revision: “Since we ran into Molly, we decided to go with her to the party.”
Revision: “Unless we make it home in time, we will miss the phone call.”
Each dependent clause needs an independent clause in order for the sentence to make sense. An independent clause conforms to the subject-verb-object sentence structure that completes a thought, i.e. We drove home”; “We decided to go with her to the party”; “We will miss the phone call.”
Most students also mistakenly believe that short sentences are incomplete. This is not the case. Some sentences have only a subject and a verb to complete a thought, such as:
“He ran.”
“She jumped.”
“They cheered.”
Again, a complete sentence isn’t defined by its length, but rather by its ability to fulfill all the requirements (a completed thought, noun-verb-object structure) in order for it to be grammatically correct.
Double Negatives
Make certain that your sentences are free of double negatives. A double negative is:
Incorrect: “We didn’t do nothing that the day.”
Revision: “We did nothing that day” or “We didn’t do anything that day.”
Contractions
Understand the difference between a contraction and a possessive pronoun. Contractions are two words that are contracted together with an apostrophe, such as can + not = can’t or have + not = haven’t. A possessive pronoun is a noun that is designated by ownership or a claim over something else, i.e., their, his, her. Student writers commonly confuse a contraction with a possessive pronoun when they are homophones (words that sound alike), such as:
Incorrect: “They’re house is over there.”
Revision: “Their house is over there.”
Incorrect: “Your looking much better now.”
Revision: “You’re looking much better now.”
A best way to determine whether you’re using a contraction when you should be using a possessive pronoun is by asking yourself: can this word (they’re/their or your/you’re) be separated into two? If yes, then rewrite the sentence with the uncontracted words: “They are house is over there.” If it doesn’t make sense, then clearly you’re using the incorrect term.
Tense Shifts
Verb shifts are a common mistake all writers make simply because it can happen so easily, especially if she/he is free writing. Tense shifts occur when the writer shifts from one verb tense (past, present, future) to another. Example:
Incorrect: “We went to the theater last Thursday, hoping that the concert wasn’t sold out. But when we get there, we realize we are not the only ones who hope to snag up the last remaining tickets.”
The best way to revise this sentence is to write it consistently in past, present, or future tense:
Revision in present tense: “Today, we go to the theater, hoping that the concert isn’t sold out. But when we get there, we realize we are not the only ones who hope to snag up the last remaining tickets.”
A shift in tense can occur when you are flashing back to a previous event by using the verb to have to signal the shift:
Revision: “I remember that day vividly. We had went to the theater that Thursday, and were surprised to learn we were not the only ones who hoped to snag up the last remaining tickets for the concert.”
Other grammatical errors students make are incorrect punctuation and spelling. The number of ways in which students these mistakes are far too numerous to list in this essay. If you feel, as a writer, you are uncertain about the correct use of punctuation and spelling, then I suggest you consult a grammar guide and dictionary. Grammar guides and dictionaries are available in any local bookstore or online store. It doesn’t hurt to have either handy while you’re writing. Even the most experienced writers still consult grammar guides to make certain that their writing is grammatically concise.
By knowing the common grammatical mistakes writers make, you’ll make able to avoid them and write clearly and concisely.
