1

Common Grammatical and Spelling Errors

(Miscellaneou s Resources)
Accept/Except
Affect/Effect
All right (not alright)
Altar/alter
Assure/Insure/Ensure
Breath/breathe
Complement/Compliment
Counsel/Council
Emigrate/immigrate
Lead/Led
Loose/lose
Moot/Mute
Its/Its
Past/passed
Principal/Principle
Rein/reign
Shutter/shudder
Than/Then
There/Their/Theyre
Youre/Your
Use of semi-colon (use it to separate two full sentences: The house is too hot; turn on the air
conditioning.)
Comma before conjunction (use when second part of sentence after conjunction could stand on its own:
The
house is too hot, and the garage is too cold.)
Agreement theirhis or her:
Be sure to watch that subjects match their possessive pronouns and prepositional phrases.
Wrong: Christians need to experience healing in their life.
Right: Christians need to experience healing in their lives.
Wrong: The believer is responsible for the strategic investment of their time.
Right: The believer is responsible for the strategic investment of his or her time.
Use of me, myself, and I
I went to the store. She told me to go to the store. I said to myself, I must go to the store.
Wrong: Jack told Suzie and myself to go to the store.
Right: Jack told Suzie and me to go to the store.
Use of that and who (use that for things, who for people). He is the one who came.

Common Spel l ing Errors and mi sused Words

http://www.genwriters.com/pdf/spelling.pdf
T op 10 Spel l ing Errors
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol5/html_no9.htm
Common Spel l ing Errors
http://www.oup.com/uk/booksites/content/0199296251/essentials/commonspellingerrors/
Common Errors in Student Research Papers
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reporterror.html
Common Term Paper Problems
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/almstrum/classes/cs373/general/term-paper-probs.html
F inding Common Errors
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/02/
________________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Pr o ofreadi n gforC o m m o nSurfaceError s :Spel l i n g,Pu nct uat i o n,andGrammar
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/proofing_grammar.shtml
Whataresomeofthemorecommonsurfaceerrors?
Hereisalistingofsomeofthemorecommonsurfaceerrors,brokendownbycategory.Eitherselectthelink
youwouldliketovieworscrolldowntotheappropriatetopic.

Spelling
Periods

Pronouns

Punctuation
Verbs

Othergrammaticalerrors

Commas
Subject-verbagreement

Sentencefragments

Apostrophes

Misplacedordanglingmodifiers
________________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Common Grammat ica l Errors
http://www.ece.msstate.edu/academics/writing_resource/grammatical_errors.html
Here is a list of some of the more commonly committed grammatical errors. You may click on any of
these errors to view an example of each as well as a discussion of the grammatical rule in question

Adjective/Adverb Errors

Apostrophe Misuse

Article Errors

Awkward Phrasing or Idiom

Capitalization Errors

Comma Omissions

Comma Splice

Contractions

Double Negatives

Failure to use Possessive before a Gerund

Faulty Coordination

Fragments

Fused or Run-On Sentence

Misplaced or Dangling Modifiers

Misused Semicolons

Mixed Construction

Parallelism

Past Tense Errors

Plurality Errors-Nouns

Pronoun Case Errors

Pronoun Errors-- Ambiguous, Redundant, etc.
Pronoun Reference
Shifts in Person or Number
Shifts In Tense
Subject-Verb Agreement
Unnecessary Commas
Verb Errors (wrong form)

The content of these pages was, in part, taken from the following sources:
Harbrace College Handbook (Revised Thirteenth Edition), Horner, Webb, and Miller. Harcourt Brace,
1998.
Digital Design, M. Morris Mano. Prentice Hall, 1984.
Physics: Principles and Problems, Zitzewitz and Neff. McGraw-Hill, 1995.
________________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Common Grammat ica l Errors
http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/Common_Grammatical_Errors.htm
1.Noun-verbmismatch,e.g."Aherdofhorsesarebetterthanaflockofsheep"(herdissingular).The
Cityfeelsthatthisisabadidea.(Acitycan tfeel)
2.Adjectiveusedasadverb,e.g.andespecially"Ididgoodinthiscourse"
3.Splitinfinitive,e.g."IurgeyoutonotsupportthisBill".
4.Misplacedmodifier,e.g."Weneedtostopdumpingwasteintotheenvironmentwhichkillsthefish".
TOavoidthismistake,putthemodifierascloseaspossibletothenounitismodifying.Repaired:"Weneed
tostopdumpingwaste,whichkillsthefish,intotheenvironment".
5.Dangling(ormisplaced)participleAparticipialphraseatthebeginningofasentencemustrefertothe
grammaticalSUBJECTofthesentence.Wrong:"Asthelargestreptilesevertohavelived,smallmammals
couldnotcompetewiththedinosaurs".Thissuggeststhatsmallmammalswerethelargestreptileseverto
havelived.Repaired:"Beingsmallanddefenseless,smallmammalscouldnotcompetewiththedinosaurs".
Moreexamples).
6.Endingasentencewithapreposition,e.g."Thisissomethingweneedtoworkon".
7.Startingaparagraphwithaconjunctionthatshouldrefertotheprevioussentence,e.g."Furthermore,...",
"However,..."
8.Run-onsentences(twocompletesentencesjoinedbyacommaratherthanaperiodorsemicolon)The
labisadangerousplace,youshouldwearalabcoat.(couldberepairedbytheadditionofso.
9.Incompletesentences,includingthosewithnoverb,e.g."Theseanimalscouldbeharmedbyvarious
things.Pollution,forexample."
10.Mixingupthe"notoriousconfusables"(confusibles?)(e.g.theirvs.there)

Otherusefulsitesifyouwanttoimproveyourwritingskills:

GuidetoGrammarandWriting

Pleonasms,redundanciesandtautologies(needlessrepetitionofwordsoverandoveragainmultipletimes)

________________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

C o m m o nGram ma t icalError s&HowtoFixThem

http://www.arc.sbc.edu/grammar.html

Dang l i n gMo d if ier s

4
Adanglingmodifierisaphraseorclausethatbecauseofitsproximityseemstomodifyaworditcould
notlogicallymodify.Oneofthemostcommondanglingmodifiersoccursinthefollowingsentence:
"Hopefully,theprojectwillsucceed.""Hopefully"isanadverbthatappearstomodifythenoun"project,"the
subjectofthesentence.Buthowcanaprojectbehopeful?Tofixthesentence,weneedtoshowwho'sreally
doingthehoping:"Wehopethattheprojectwillsucceed."

Anotherverycommondanglingmodifierappearsinthefollowingsentenceconstruction:"Basedonour
observations,theprojectwillsucceed."Again,themodifier"based"cannotlogicallymodifythenounto
whichitisattached"project.""Theproject"isnot"basedonourobservations."Tofixthesentence,weneed
tosay,"Onthebasisofourobservations,webelievetheprojectwillsucceed."

Incon s i s ten tVerbTenses

Makesureyouusepasttenseconsistentlythroughoutasentenceandusepastperfecttensewhenitiscalledfor.
Forexample,inthefollowingsentencethereisalackofconsistencyintense;itshiftsfrompasttopresent:
"Governmentofficialssaidthattheyarecorrectingtheproblem."Sincetheverbinthemainclauseisstatedin
thepasttense"said"theverbinthesubordinateclause"arecorrecting"shouldalsobestatedinthe
pasttense.Thesentenceshouldread"Governmentofficialssaidthattheywerecorrectingtheproblem."If,
however,theactionofthedependentclausewascompletedbeforetheactioninthemainclause,usepastperfect
tenseinthedependentclause.Forexample,"Governmentofficialssaidthattheyhadcorrectedtheproblem.

Nou nStr i n g s
Trytoavoidlongstringsofnouns,suchasthefollowing,thatshownogrammaticalrelationshipsamongthe
manynouns:"ArmyFiscalYear1990ApacheHelicopterSpareandRepairPartsBudgetRequest."Add
possessivecaseandprepositionstoclarifyhowthenounsrelatetoeachother.Revision:"TheArmy'sFiscal
Year1990BudgetRequestforSpareandRepairPartsfortheApacheHelicopter."

Faul t yAgreemen ti nNum ber

Oneofthemostcommonpronounagreementproblemsoccurswhenonetriestoavoidthesexistuseof
pronouns.Forexample,thefollowingsentenceisinconsistentinnumber:"Eachstudentmustcleantheirown
room."Thepluralpronoun"their"doesnotagreeinnumberwiththesingular"Eachstudent"andthesingular
"room."Tofixthesentence,youcouldsay"Eachstudentmustcleanhisorherownroom."Ifyoufindthe"his
orher"constructionawkward,makeallpronounsandassociatednounsinthesentenceplural:"Allstudents
mustcleantheirownrooms."

UnclearAnteceden t sfor"Th i s,""Wh ich,"and"I t"

An"antecedent"isthenounapronounrefersto.Whenusing"this,""which,"or"it,"makesurethereisno
questionaboutwhatthepronoun'santecedentis.Inthefollowingcase,theantecedentfor"this"isunclear:"The
companyneedsaccuratedataforitsestimates.Thisisthepurposeofthetaskforce."Similarly,theantecedent
for"which"isinclearinthispassage:"Thecompanyneedsaccuratedataforitsestimates,whichisthepurpose
ofthetaskforce."Tomakethepassagesclearer,changethemto:"Thecompanyneedsaccuratedataforits
estimates.Providingsuchdataisthepurposeofthetaskforce."

Inthefollowingsentence,theantecedentfor"it"isunclear:"Whenthegovernmentworkerswhoshouldbe
classedasadministratorsareenumerated,itreachesstaggeringproportions."Revisetoeliminatethevague
pronounasfollows:"Whenthegovernmentworkerswhoshouldbeclassedasadministratorsareenumerated,
thetotalisstaggering."

Fail uretoUsePo s ses s i v eCasewi t haGerund

Agerundisthepresentparticipleoftheverb(theverbalformendingin"ing")whenusedasanoun.The
possessivecaseshouldbeusedformodifiersofagerund:"Iwouldappreciateyourattendingthemeeting.""Itis
allcontingentonthePresident'ssigningthebill."If,however,youfindthisconstructionawkwardor
impossible,rewordthesentence.Forinstance,toavoidawkwardconstructionsuchasthefollowing,revise:
"ThisisoneofseveralstepstakenbytheSecretarytopreventtheceilingonexpenditures'beingbrokenagain

5
nextyear."Revision:"ThisisoneofseveralstepstakenbytheSecretarytopreventtheceilingonexpenditures
frombeingbrokenagainnextyear."

M i s u seof"That"and"Wh ich"
Thekeytodeterminingwhentouse"that"andwhentouse"which"isindecidingwhethertheclauseorphrase
thatfollowsisessentialtodefiningwhatyoumean(it's"restrictive")orissimplyparentheticalinformation
(it's"nonrestrictive").Use"that"withrestrictivephrasesorclausesand"which"withnonrestrictivephrasesor
clauses.Forexample,ifIamholdinguponlyonebookandsay"I'llgiveyouthisbook,whichexplains
grammaticalrules,"youdon'tneedtoknowthatthebookisaboutgrammartoknowwhichbookImean.IfI'm
holdingupahistorybookandagrammarbookandIsay"I'llgiveyouthebookthatexplainsgrammatical
rules,"youneedtoknowthatthebookexplainsgrammaticalrulestoknowwhichbookImean.

Asaruleofthumb,use"which"andsetthephraseorclauseoffbycommasiftheinformationthatfollowsis
parenthetical,orunessentialtothemeaningofyoursentence.Use"that"anddon'tsetyourphraseorclauseoff
bycommaswhentheinformationthatfollowsisessentialtothemeaningofyoursentence.

AcademicResourceCenter
SweetBriarCollege
SweetBriar,VA24595
http://www.arc.sbc.edu/grammar.html
(804)381-6278

________________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

TopTenLi s tofC o m m o nGram ma t icalError s

http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?noframes;read=1029

B ySue-teacher

10.Theuseofsexistlanguage.GibaldistatesintheMLAHandbook,"Becausegoodscholarshiprequires
objectivity,carefulwriters...avoidlanguagethatimpliesunsubstantiatedorirrelevantgeneralizationsabout
suchpersonalqualitiesasage,economicclass,ethnicity,sexualorientation,politicalorreligiousbelief,race,or
sex"(37).Inotherwords,don'tuselanguagethatcouldbedeemedinsultingorignorant.

9.Donotchangeverbtensewithinasingleparagraph.

8.Usetheactivevoiceinallyourwriting.Itwillmakeyourpaperthatmuchmoreexcitingtoread.For
example,"Thereasonheleft220wasthathishealthwasimpaired,"isapassivesentence.Thesentencebecomes
morevigorousintheactivevoice:"Failinghealthcompelledhimtodrop220."Noticethatitisalsoashorter
sentence.Whichbringsustopointnumber7.

7.Neverusemorewordsthannecessary.Thisdoesn'tmeanthatyoushouldabandondetailandcolor,spitting
outshort,staccatosentenceslikewatermelonseeds,onlymakesurethateverywordcounts."Very,"forexample
isafluffywordthatisonlyRARELYneeded.Anotheroverworkedandmushyphraseis"thefactthat."Inall
situationsthisphrasecanbetransformedintoatighterpackage,forexample:
owingtothefactthatsinceorbecause
inspiteofthefactthatthoughoralthough

Isuggestthatyourevise"thefactthat"outofeverysentence.

6.Thewaytoformapossessivesingularofnounsistoadd-'s-totheendnomatterwhatthelastletteris,thus,
Marx'sprecepts
Burns'spoem

6
thewitch'sbroom.

Pluralnounsuseonlythe-'-:
Vanderbilts'estate
theWoodsons'crazydog.

Youdonot,however,useanapostrophetoformthepluralofanabbreviationoranumber:

PhDs
1990s.

5.Donotmistakeitsforit's.Thefirstisapossessive,thesecondisacontractionof"itis."Itisbest,actuallyto
spurnallcontractionsinformallanguage.Justsayno.

4.Playsareconsideredliteratureandthusarealwayshappening.Youwriteaboutthem,then,inthepresent
tense.Productionsofplaysareephemeralandsingular.Youwriteaboutthem,then,inthepasttense.

3.AllpartsofMLAstylepapersaredoublespacedincludingtheworkscitedandoff-setquotes.Marginsare
oneinchandyoushouldusefontnobiggerthantwelvepicaandnosmallerthanten.

2.Justbecauseyouspellcheckdoesnotmeanthewordwillbespelledcorrectly.Whenindoubt,lookitup.The
moralofthisisPROOFREAD!PROOFREAD!andthenPROOFREAD!Tryreadingyourworkbackwards
sentencebysentence,thiscanhelpyoulookatthewordsandnotautomaticallymoveintomeaning.

1.PlaytitlesareALWAYSunderlinedoritalicized.

Moreat:http://herbergeronline.asu.edu/the220/notes/notes.html
________________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Common Grammar & Usage Errors
h t t p : / /www.webgram mar.com /co m m o n m i s takes.ht m l

AandAnbeforeawordbegi n n i n gwi t h"h":"Anhistoricalbook"isnotidiomaticinAmerican

English.Beforeaprono u ncedh,theindefinitearticleshouldbea.Ahotel;ahistorical.Therefore,precedea
wordbeginningwitha"breathy"hwithana.

D uetoorBecauseof?Duetom o d if iesno u n sandisgenerallyusedaftersomeformoftheverbtobe

(is,are,was,were,etc.).Jan'ssu ccessisduetotalentandspunk(duetomodifiessuccess).Becauseof
shouldmo d if yverbs.Tedres i g nedbecauseofpoorhealth(becauseofmodifiesresigned).

I tsorIt ' s?Its :Thepossessiveformofthepronouni tisneverwrittenwithanapostrophe,e.g.,...readthe

book."It stitleis..."or,"Whatisi t svalue?"It' s :contractionsofiti sandithas.It ' stimetogo.It ' sbeen
great.(AHD3)

M yr iadAsanou n,myr i admeanstenth o u sand,oragreatnu m ber(amyr iadofaircraft).

Inthiscase,you'renotusingmyriadtomodify:it'sthesubject.Asanadject i ve,myr iadmean s
"hav i n gi n n u merableaspectsorelemen t s "(th o sem yr iadchal lenges-them yr iadact i v i t y
ofthepeop le-myr iadbu t terf l ies).Thesedays,thedistinctionisblurred,andweseequiteabitof"...a
myriadof..."

7
Their,They 're,orThere?Their:possessiveformofthewordthey,e.g.,TheirWebsiteisfulloftypos.
They 're:Contractionofthewords"they"and"are,"e.g.,They 'redoingagreatjobontheirWebsite.There:
atorinthatplace,e.g.,"NowthereisastunningWebsite.

Youroryou 're?You 're:Contractionofthewords"youare,"e.g.,"You 'reupforanaward.Someonesaid

y o u 'releaving."Yourisapossessiveformofapersonalpronoun,e.g.,"IlikeyourWebsite.Tom,thanksfor
givingyourtimetothiseffort."Both:"YourknowledgeofHTMLshowsthatyou 'readedicateddesigner."

Wanttodelvemoredeeplyintothecauldronofconfusingwords?HerearetwoofthebestontheWeb:

C o m m o nError sinEng l i s h : Pr ofes s orPau l Br ian s

No t or i o u s C o nf u sab les :Pr ofes s orC har lesDarl i n g

________________________________________________________________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Learni n gfro mtheTwent yMo s t C o m m o nError s

h t t p : / /www.bedf ord s t mar t i n s.co m / l u n sf or d / twen t y.h t m l

1Missingcommaafteranintroductoryelement
2Vaguepronounreference
3Missingcommainacompoundsentence
4Wrongword
5Missingcomma(s)withanonrestrictiveelement
6Wrongormissingverbending
7Wrongormissingpreposition
8Commasplice
9Missingormisplacedpossessiveapostrophe
10Unnecessaryshiftintense
11Unnecessaryshiftinpronoun
12Sentencefragment
13Wrongtenseorverbform
14Lackofsubject-verbagreement
15Missingcommainaseries
16Lackofagreementbetweenpronounandantecedent
17Unnecessarycomma(s)witharestrictiveelement
18Fusedsentence
19Misplacedordanglingmodifier
20Its/It'sconfusion

Grammar,punctuation,andothersentence-levelmatterswillseldomdrawmuchattentionunlesstheyinterfere
withthemeaningyou'retryingtogetacross.Becausetheydogetintheway,however,theyareimportantto
yoursuccessasawriter.

Whatkindsofsurfaceerrorsareyoulikelytofindinyourwriting,andhowwillreadersrespondtothem?Our
studyofcollegewritingpatternsrevealedthatspellingerrorsarebyfarthemostcommontypeoferror,even
withspellcheckers,byafactorofmorethanthreetoone.Ourstudyalsoshowedthatnotallsurfaceerrors
disturbreaders,nordoinstructorsalwaysmarkallofthem.Finally,notallsurfaceerrorsareconsistently
viewedaserrors.Infact,someofthepatternsidentifiedinourresearchareconsiderederrorsbysomereadersbut
stylisticoptionsbyothers.

Whilemanypeoplethinkofcorrectnessasabsolute,basedonhardandfastunchanging"rules,"instructorsand
studentsknowbetter.Weknowthattherearerules,butthattheruleschangeallthetime."IsitokaytouseIin
essaysforthisclass?"asksonestudent."Myhighschoolteacherwouldn'tletus.""Willmorethanonecomma

8
errorlowermygrade?"asksanother.Suchquestionsshowthatrulesclearlyexistbutthattheyarealways
shiftingandthusneedourongoingattention.

Ourresearchshowssomeoftheshiftsthathaveoccurredinthelastcenturyalone.Somemechanicaland
grammaticalquestionsthatareoflittleornoconcerntodayusedtobeperceivedasextremelyimportant.Inthe
late-nineteenthcentury,forinstance,instructorsatHarvardsaidthattheirstudents'mostseriouswriting
problemwastheinabilitytodistinguishbetweentheproperusesofshallandwill.Similarly,splitinfinitives
representedaseriousproblemformanyinstructorsofthe1950s.Nowadays,atleastsincethestarship
Enterprisesetout"toboldlygo"wherenoonehasgonebefore,splitinfinitivesseemtowrinklefewerbrows.

Theseexamplesofshiftingstandardsdonotmeanthatthereisnosuchthingas"correctness"inwriting-only
thatcorrectnessalwaysdependsonsomecontext.Correctnessisnotsomuchaquestionofabsoluterightor
wrongasitisaquestionofthewaythechoicesawritermakesareperceivedbyreaders.Aswriters,weareall
judgedbythewordsweputonthepage.Weallwanttobeconsideredcompetentandcareful,andwritingerrors
workagainstthatimpression.Theworldjudgesusbyourcontroloftheconventionswehaveagreedtouse,and
weallknowit.AsRobertFrostoncesaidofpoetry,tryingtowritewithouthonoringtheconventionsand
agreed-uponrulesislikeplayingtenniswithoutanet.

Sinceyoualreadyknowmostoftheserules,themostefficientwaytoproceedistofocusonthosethatarestill
unfamiliarorpuzzling.Toaidyouinthisprocess,wehaveidentifiedthetwentyerrorpatterns(otherthan
misspelling)thatweremostcommonamongU.S.collegestudentsinthelate1980sandlistthemhereinorder
offrequency.Thesetwentyerrorsarelikelytocauseyouthemosttrouble,soitiswellworthyoureffortto
checkfortheminyourwriting.ThisareaofourWebsiteincludesbriefexamplesandexplanationsofeacherror
pattern;formoredetailandadditionalexamples,youshouldconsultyourhandbook.