Status Marking Errors

nonstandard verb forms in past or past participle: brung/brought had went /had gone lack of subject-verb agreement: we was/we were she dont think/ doesnt think double negatives objective pronoun as subject: Him and me are going downtown.

Very Serious Errors

sentence fragments run-on sentences non-capitalization of proper nouns would of instead of would have lack of subject verb agreement (non status marking) insertion of comma between the verb and its complement nonparallelism faulty adverb forms She treats her employees bad. use of transitive vert set for intransitive sit

Serious Errors
predication errors: The policy intimidates hiring. [policies dont intimidate people do] dangling modifiers use of I as an objective pronoun: Hes going to the museum with Jane and I. lack of commas to set off interrupters like however lack of commas in a series tense switching use of plural modifier with a singular noun: These kind of errors.

Minor/Unimportant Errors Moderately Serious Errors

use of a qualifier before unique: Columbia is the most unique city. writing different than instead of different from use of a singular verb with data use of a colon after a linking verb: The three causes of inflation are: omission of the apostrophe in the contraction its
lack of possessive form before a gerund: Pats policing of / Pats policing of lack of commas to set off an appositive: My good buddy Kristin lives in NY. My good buddy, Kristin, lives in NY. lack of subjective mood. Subjunctive mood is simply a variation of the verb that we use in special circumstances, such as to convey a strong suggestion. It is often used in clauses: If I was you, Id be careful. If I were you, Id be careful. c writing That is her across the street. use of whoever instead of whomever use of the construction The situation is . . . when failure to distinguish between among and between comma splices

Hairston, Maxine, Not All Errors Are Created Equal: Nonacademic Readers in the Professions Respond to Lapses in Usage. College English 43(1981): 794-806.

TOP 20 ERRORS THAT STUDENTS MAKE

1. No comma after introductory element 2. Vague pronoun reference 3. No comma in compound sentence 4. Wrong word 5. No comma in nonrestrictive element 6. Wrong/missing inflected endings 7. Wrong or missing preposition 8. Comma splice 9. Possessive apostrophe error 10. Tense shift 11. Unnecessary shift in person 12. Sentence fragment 13. Wrong tense or verb form 14. Subject-verb agreement error 15. Lack of comma in series 16. Pronoun agreement error* 17. Unnecessary comma with restrictive element 18. Run-on or fused sentence 19. Dangling or misplaced modifier 20. Its/its error
Italicized = gaining acceptance within Standard English Bold = moderately serious, serious, very serious, or status-marking errors * = errors that have become serious since Hairstons research Note - The most common errors found were spelling as such were excluded. Connors, Robert J., and Andrea A. Lunsford. Frequency of Formal Errors in Current College Writing, or Ma and Pa Kettle Do Research. College Composition and Communication 39 (Dec 1988), p. 385-409.