Common

 Grammar  Errors  
Errors  in  your  writing  not  only  make  you  seem  careless;  they  can  also  frustrate  and  confuse  your  
readers.  Make  a  habit  of  proofreading  at  least  twice  to  catch  your  errors.  But  before  you  can  
proofread  for  errors,  you  have  to  know  what  to  look  for.  Below  are  some  of  the  more  common  
errors.  Fix  them  before  you  send  your  writing  out  into  the  world.  You  can  also  review  other  
UWC  handouts  on  specific  rules  regarding  commas  and  other  punctuation  marks,  as  well  as  
parts  of  speech  such  as  articles  and  verbs.  

Sentence  Structure  Errors  

Comma  Splices  and  Run-­‐On  Sentences.A  comma  splice  occurs  when  two  or  more  independent  
clauses  (i.e.,  clauses  that  can  stand  alone  as  sentences)  are  joined  with  only  a  comma.  

Ex.  The  airplane  flyover  is  an  exciting  part  of  an  Aggie  football  game,  watching  the  band  is  the  
best.  

A  run-­‐on  sentence  occurs  when  two  or  more  independent  clauses  are  joined  with  no  
punctuation.  

Ex.  The  airplane  flyover  is  an  exciting  part  of  an  Aggie  football  game  watching  the  band  is  the  
best.  

You  can  fix  a  comma  splice  or  run-­‐on  in  one  of  three  ways.  The  first  is  to  put  a  semi-­‐colon  
between  the  two  independent  clauses.  You  might  want  to  follow  the  semi-­‐colon  with  a  
transition  such  as  however  ortherefore.  Semi-­‐colons  should  be  used  to  connect  sentences  whose  
subjects  are  closely  related.  

Ex.  The  airplane  flyover  is  an  exciting  part  of  an  Aggie  football  game;  however,  watching  the  
band  is  the  best.  

The  second  option  is  to  add  a  coordinating  conjunction  after  the  comma.  The  seven  
coordinating  conjunctions  are  for,  and,  nor,  but,  or,  yet,  and  so.  (Remember  them  by  thinking  of  
the  word  FANBOYS).  Note  that  the  conjunctions  are  not  interchangeable—each  has  a  specific  
meaning.  

Ex.  The  flyover  is  an  exciting  part  of  an  Aggie  football  game,  but  watching  the  band  is  the  best.  

The  third  option  is  to  turn  the  two  clauses  into  two  separate  sentences.  

Ex.  The  flyover  is  an  exciting  part  of  an  Aggie  football  game.  Watching  the  band  is  the  best,  
though.  
Fragments.  A  sentence  fragment  occurs  when  a  sentence  is  incomplete  because  it  is  missing  a  
subject  or  verb  or  both.  

Ex.  Because  I  went  to  Chilifest.  

Ex.  Which  was  ironic  during  a  time  of  political  upheaval  and  unrest.  

The  examples  above  are  punctuated  as  if  they’re  sentences,  but  they  don’t  express  a  complete  
thought.  To  fix  a  sentence  fragment,  complete  the  thought.  Often  the  fragment  can  simply  be  
connected  to  an  adjacent  clause.  

Ex.  Because  I  went  to  Chilifest,  I  missed  class  Monday.  

Ex.  Claude  Monet  painted  water  lilies,  which  was  ironic  during  a  time  of  political  upheaval  and  
unrest.  

Fragments  are  not  always  errors,  although  they  are  more  common  in  creative  or  informal  
writing  than  in  academic  and  professional  writing.  Only  use  them  for  effect.  

Ex.  It  was  a  time  for  peaceable  revolution.  A  time  to  shun  confrontation.  

Agreement  Errors  
Subject-­‐Verb  Agreement.  A  singular  subject  must  have  a  singular  verb  (i.e.,  with  an  -­‐s  or  -­‐es  in  
third  person).  

Ex.  The  chicken  crosses  the  road.  

Ex.  Hector  prays  daily.  

A  plural  subject  must  have  a  plural  verb  (i.e.,  without  an  -­‐s  or  -­‐es  in  third  person).  

Ex.  The  chickens  cross  the  road.  

Ex.  The  fifth  graders  pray  daily.  

Make  sure  to  find  the  true  subject  of  the  verb.  Sometimes  an  intervening  clause  confuses  things.  

Ex.  (correct)  The  mother,  along  with  her  three  small  children,  is  sick.  
Ex.  (incorrect)  The  mother,  along  with  her  three  small  children,  are  sick.  

Noun-­‐Pronoun  Agreement.  Pronouns  are  words,  like  he,  she,  they,  his,  and  hers,  that  refer  back  
to  or  hold  the  place  of  nouns.  Pronouns  should  agree  with  the  nouns  they’re  representing.  Plural  
nouns  should  take  the  pronoun  they  and  possessive  pronoun  their.  

Ex.  The  Beatles  wanted  their  music  to  convey  a  message,  so  they  created  music  and  lyrics  that  
others  would  remember.  

Singular  nouns  should  take  the  gender  corresponding  singular  pronoun  and  singular  possessive  
pronoun.  
Ex.  (masculine)  Jerry  wanted  to  spend  his  weekend  camping,  but  he  knew  he’d  have  to  talk  
Linda  into  it.  
Ex.  (feminine)  Linda  had  wanted  to  spend  her  weekend  at  the  spa,  but  she  knew  Jerry  wanted  
to  go  camping.  
Ex.  (gender  neutral)  The  raccoon  got  into  the  ice  chest  and  cut  its  paw  on  a  sharp  knife.  

Collective  Nouns.  The  simple  rules  above  can  become  complicated  with  the  introduction  of  
collective  nouns  and  pronouns—words  like  everyone,  all,  everybody,  committee,  and  staff.  A  
word  that  refers  to  each  individual  in  a  group—everybody,  everyone,  each—takes  a  singular  
verb  and  singular  pronoun.  

Ex.  Everyone  in  this  store  is  buying  chips.  

Ex.  Everybody  needs  to  bring  his  or  her  book  to  the  meeting.  

A  word  that  refers  to  individuals  as  one  group—committee,  staff,  faculty—takes  a  singular  verb  
and  singular  pronoun.  

Ex.  The  committee  is  making  a  decision.  

A  word  that  refers  to  a  group  of  individuals—all,  some—takes  a  plural  verb  and  plural  pronoun.  

Ex.  Some  people  are  going  to  the  movies.  

Ex.  All  people  listen  to  their  own  type  of  music.  

In  informal  writing  and  speech,  and  sometimes  to  be  gender  neutral,  they  can  be  used  with  a  
singular  but  genderless  pronoun  such  as  everyone.  

Ex.  Everyone  has  their  own  opinion.  

Many  people  consider  this  an  error  and  prefer  the  use  of  his,  her,  or  his/her.  A  good  
compromise  is  to  shift  to  a  plural  noun  or  pronoun.  

Ex.  We  all  have  our  own  opinions.  

Verb  Tense.  Sometimes  writers  change  verb  tenses  halfway  through  a  paragraph,  causing  
confusion.  Instead,  make  sure  the  verb  tenses  are  consistent.  

Ex.  (incorrect)  The  method  we  use  is  interview  and  survey.  We  found  that  most  people  voted  for  
the  candidate  whose  name  is  familiar,  regardless  of  the  candidate’s  political  leanings.  

Ex.  (correct)  The  method  we  use  is  interview  and  survey.  Our  findings  indicate  that  people  vote  
for  the  candidate  whose  name  is  familiar,  regardless  of  the  candidate’s  political  leanings.  

Ex.  (correct)  The  method  we  used  was  interview  and  survey.  We  found  that  most  people  voted  
for  the  candidate  whose  name  was  familiar,  regardless  of  the  candidate’s  political  leanings.  

Modifier  Errors  
A  modifier  is  an  adjective,  adverb,  or  phrase  that  adds  information  to  or  describes  a  specific  
element  in  a  sentence.  

Misplaced  Modifiers.  Modifiers  should  be  placed  as  close  as  possible  to  the  word  they  are  
modifying.  A  misplaced  modifier  is  a  modifier  separated  so  from  its  subject  that  it  becomes  
unclear  what  it  modifies.  

Ex.  Broken  and  beaten,  the  messy  locker  room  looked  like  a  dungeon  to  the  exhausted  Longhorn  
team.  

In  the  above  example,  the  modifier  “broken  and  beaten”  appears  to  describe  the  locker  room.  
This  meaning,  however,  is  probably  not  what  the  author  intended.  “Broken  and  beaten”  is  really  
supposed  to  modify  the  Longhorn  team.  To  fix  a  misplaced  modifier,  simply  shuffle  your  
sentence  around.  

Ex.  Broken  and  beaten,  the  exhausted  Longhorn  team  saw  the  messy  locker  room  as  a  dungeon.  

Dangling  Modifiers.  A  dangling  modifier  occurs  when  the  object  or  person  being  modified  is  
missing  from  the  sentence.  

Ex.  Drenched  and  sore,  it  would  be  a  long  time  before  the  next  canoeing  trip.  

To  fix  a  dangling  modifier,  add  the  subject  necessary  to  make  your  sentence  logical.  

Ex.  Drenched  and  sore,  I  knew  it  would  be  a  long  time  before  I’d  go  canoeing  again.  
Ex.  Because  I  was  drenched  and  sore,  it  would  be  a  long  time  before  I’d  go  canoeing  again.  

Miscellaneous  Errors  
Homonyms.  While  the  spelling  checkers  are  useful,  they  have  limitations,  in  part  because  they  
don’t  recognize  homonyms—words  that  sound  the  same  but  are  spelled  differently.  The  only  
way  to  catch  these  errors  is  to  proofread  carefully,  preferably  on  printed  copy.  

Homonyms  to  watch  out  for:  

its  (possessive)  vs.  it’s  (contraction  for  it  is)  
your  (possessive)  vs.  you’re  (contraction  for  you  are)  
their  (possessive  )  vs.  they’re  (contraction  for  they  are)  vs.  there  (a  place)  

Quotation  Punctuation.  People  are  often  confused  about  using  punctuation  marks  with  quoted  
material.  Periods  and  commas  always  belong  inside  quotation  marks.  

Ex.  The  first  line  of  Dickens’  Tale  of  Two  Cities,  “It  was  the  best  of  times;  it  was  the  worst  of  
times,”  resonates  with  many  people.  
Ex.  Shakespeare’s  theme  is  embodied  in  Macbeth’s  line,  “It  is  a  tale  told  by  an  idiot,  full  of  sound  
and  fury,  signifying  nothing.”  

Question  marks,  colons  (:),  and  semi-­‐colons  (;)  are  treated  differently.  If  the  punctuation  is  part  
of  the  quoted  material,  it  goes  inside  the  quotation  marks.  If  not,  it  goes  outside.  
Ex.  He  asked,  “Did  you  lie?”  
Ex.  Who  said  “I  cannot  tell  a  lie”?  

Parenthetical  Punctuation.  When  you  use  parentheses  or  square  brackets,  place  end  
punctuation  outside  the  second  parenthesis  or  bracket  if  the  material  within  it  is  part  of  the  
sentence.  

Ex.  Monarchs  migrate  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  forests  of  Mexico  in  winter  (November  to  
February).  
Ex.  Monarchs  migrate  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  forests  of  Mexico  in  winter  (Herrara  59).  

If  the  parenthetical  material  is  within  its  own  sentence,  place  the  end  punctuation  within  the  
final  parenthesis.  

Ex.  Monarchs  migrate  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  forests  of  Mexico  in  winter.  (They  are  there  
from  November  through  late  February.)  

Parallelism.  Parallelism  refers  to  keeping  like  elements  in  the  same  grammatical  form:  singing,  
eating  dancing,  or  to  sing,  to  eat,  to  dance.  It’s  a  type  of  stylistic  repetition  employed  by  writers  
for  rhythm  and  impact.  A  lack  of  parallel  structure  can  be  confusing,  especially  in  regard  to  lists.  
The  following  list  is  hard  to  understand.  

Ex.  Alexander  Hamilton  influenced  the  creation  of  the  United  States  through  his  authorship  of  
the  Federalist  Papers,  established  the  National  Bank,  and  participating  in  the  writing  of  
the  Constitution.  

Note  the  items  in  the  list  at  the  end  of  the  sentence  are  all  in  different  grammatical  forms.  The  
first  item  in  the  list  is  a  noun,  the  second  is  a  past-­‐tense  verb,  and  the  last  is  a  gerund.  You  can  
improve  this  sentence  by  making  the  items  in  the  list  parallel.  

Ex.  (nouns)  Alexander  Hamilton  influenced  the  creation  of  the  United  States  through  
his  authorship  of  the  Federalist  Papers,  his  establishment  of  the  National  Bank,  and  his  help  in  
developing  theConstitution.  

Ex.  (verbs)  Alexander  Hamilton  impacted  the  creation  of  the  United  States  because  
he  authored  the  Federalist  Papers,  established  the  National  Bank,  and  helped  in  the  
development  of  the  Constitution.  

Ex.  (gerunds)  Alexander  Hamilton  impacted  the  creation  of  the  United  States  
by  authoring  the  Federalist  Papers,  establishing  the  National  Bank,  and  helping  to  develop  
the  Constitution.  

That  vs.  Which.  Writers  often  confuse  that  and  which.  Both  can  function  as  pronouns  in  
descriptive  clauses,  but  they’re  not  interchangeable.  
Use  that  for  restrictive  clauses.  In  other  words,  use  that  when  you  are  including  a  description  
necessary  to  identify  the  subject,  i.e.,  a  description  that  restricts  (or  limits)  the  meaning  of  the  
noun  it  modifies.  Because  the  phrase  is  necessary,  do  not  add  commas.  

Ex.1  The  cat  that  used  to  sit  on  the  fence  ran  away.  
Ex.2  Yesterday,  I  saw  the  dress  that  I  want  to  wear  next  weekend.  

In  the  first  example,  the  speaker  is  distinguishing  the  cat  that  used  to  sit  on  the  fence  from  other  
cats.  It’s  specifically  the  fence-­‐sitting  cat  that  ran  away.  In  the  second  example,  the  speaker  is  
distinguishing  the  dress  that  she  wants  to  wear  from  other  dresses.  It’s  that  particular  dress  that  
she  saw  yesterday.  

Use  which  for  nonrestrictive  clauses.  In  other  words,  use  which  when  you  are  including  extra  
information  that  is  not  necessary  to  identify  the  subject  being  discussed.  Because  the  phrase  
does  not  restrict  the  meaning  of  the  word  it  modifies,  you  set  it  off  with  commas.  

Ex.  The  wedding  cake,  which  we’d  gotten  from  Polly’s  Bakery,  toppled  over  during  the  
reception.  
Ex.  I  knew  I  could  do  well  on  the  test,  which  had  only  multiple-­‐choice  questions.  

Note:  If  the  above  subjects  were  people,  you’d  substitute  who  for  that  and  which.  

Ex.  The  boy  who  is  wearing  the  red  cap  stole  my  book.  
Ex.  Gertrude,  who  always  attends  the  Thursday  bingo  game,  is  excited  about  the  Scrabble  
tournament.  

Updated  May  23,  2011.  Filed  under  Learning  to  Write  in  English,Revising  &  Editing    
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