Common Writing

Mistakes and How to

Avoid Them

By Brian Zook

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A panda eats shoots and leaves.

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A panda eats, shoots, and leaves.

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*But certain rules still apply.
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Punctuation
 Commas
Have several uses, all related to
separating elements within a sentence
General rule of thumb: The clarity of the
sentence and ease of reading determine
the use or non-use of commas

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Commas (Continued)
Jack and Jill go up the hill.

vs.

Jack and Jill, go up the hill.

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Commas (Continued)
My brother who lives in Ohio is a
mechanic.

vs.

My brother, who lives in Ohio, is a

mechanic.
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Comma?

In 480 BC, the Greeks defeated the

Persians in the Battle of Salamis.

In 480 BC the Greeks defeated the

Persians in the Battle of Salamis.

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Comma?

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_
OVERVIEW&contentId=16440&noc=T
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Commas (Continued)
 Don’t forget to use commas before and after state
names or state codes in a city-state combination.
Consider these:
 Gwen is going to Lawton, OK to pick up the
package.
 Savannah, Georgia is on my mind.
 No need for a comma before a list
 Incorrect: “Symptoms such as, coughing, sneezing,
and high fever are associated with the flu.”

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Punctuation
 Apostrophes
Used to indicate possession
 Bob’s motorcycle

 Chris’ house

 My students’ books

 The business’ stocks

 But not “it’s” (e.g., “The tree shed its leaves.”)

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Apostrophe?

Those things are my dog’s.

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Apostrophe?
Those things are my dogs.

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What’s wrong with this picture?

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Punctuation
 Apostrophes (continued)
 Used to indicate omission
 Int’l, gov’t, etc.

 Class of ’83

 It’s (contraction for “it is” or “it has”)

 Used to indicate certain plurals

 Don’t forget to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

 But not “1960’s” or “high 40’s”

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Punctuation
 Semicolons (or, “When do you use your right pinky when you
type?”)
 Used to separate independent clauses
 He did; she didn’t.

 I like riding horses; however, horses don’t like being

ridden by me.
 Used to separate elements containing commas
 The group formed three teams: Maya, Mark, and

Brenda; Steve and Maria; and Susan, Nada, and Latrice.

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 Semicolon

http://www.bahamas.com/bahamas/island/templrgstandard.aspx?sectionid=6871
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Punctuation
 Colon
 Used to introduce lists or bullets, but only after a
complete sentence
 Follow these steps to perform the task:

 Blah

 Blah

 Blah

 Used to explain or clarify the element of the sentence

before the colon

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Punctuation
 Hyphen
 Use the hyphen between two- and three-word adjectives and
some nouns
 Context-sensitive help

 An out-of-state license

 Maria’s sign-on

 e-mail

 But not “wholly-owned subsidiary”*

*Chicago Manual, page 301

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Hyphen or no hyphen?

Andrew was attacked by a man eating shark.

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Hyphen or no hyphen?

Andrew was attacked by a man-eating shark.

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Hyphen or no hyphen?

http://www.andrewlove.org/blog/blogpics/calmed.jpg 22
Punctuation
 Hyphen
 Use the hyphen when the meaning of a word
is different without a hyphen

re-fine vs. refine

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Punctuation
 Dash
 Longer than a hyphen (two hyphens equal a
dash)
 Used to indicate an abrupt break in thought
 He was agitated—at least he appeared that way to
me.
 Used before an explanation

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Dash or Hyphen?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro_Harlem_Brundtland
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Punctuation
 Quotation Marks
 Place periods and commas inside closing quotation
marks* (Yuck!)
 We went to the opera to have a “good time.”

 “Alabama,” he answered.

 No need to use quotes for simple one-word restatements

 She said no.

*Chicago Manual, page 242

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Punctuation
 Quotation Marks (continued)
 Use single quotation marks for quotations within a
quotation
 Use ellipsis points (…) to indicate omission within a quote
 Quotations of longer than 40 words* should be indented
and no quotation marks should be used

* APA style

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Punctuation
 Brackets
 Used to enclose explanations within quoted
material

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,494064,00.html 28
www.ntimc.org/newswire.php?story_id=3975
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Final Punctuation Assignment

 Add punctuation to the following sentence

so it makes sense:
Jim where Tom had had had
had had had had had had had
had the teachers approval.

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Capitalization
 What should be capitalized?
Proper nouns, given names
The first letter of a sentence
Most acronyms and initialisms
Most words in a heading or title

…That’s pretty much it!

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Capitalization
 Do not capitalize:
Nouns that are simply “important”
Academic degrees
Job titles (unless they precede a name)
Currency names (e.g., “euros,” not
“Euros”)

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Numbers
 Spell out numbers one through nine*
Exceptions: ages*, heights and dimensions,
page numbers, dollar amounts, etc.
 Spellout numbers at the beginning of a
sentence
Exception: calendar years

*debatable (Chicago Manual, pages 380 and 302)

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Parallel Construction
 Consistent use of nouns with nouns,
verbs with verbs, adjectives with
adjectives, clauses with clauses, etc.
She came home, turned off the lights,
brushed her teeth, and then went to
bed.

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Parallel Construction

Excerpted from a robo demo of an identity verification system 35

Subject-verb Agreement
 The students are required to hand in their
homework on time.
vs.
 Each of the students is required to hand in
his or her homework on time

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Subject-pronoun Agreement
 The students are required to hand in their
homework on time.
vs.
 Each of the students is required to hand in
his or her homework on time

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Word Order
 I nearly hosted 30 people at the party.
vs.
 I hosted nearly 30 people at the party.

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Word Order (Continued)
 Incorrect: She gave me yesterday the
present.
vs.
 Correct: She gave me the present
yesterday.

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Other Considerations
 Avoid using phrases like “the reason why…”
 Avoid starting a sentence with “And…” or “But…”
 The Oxford English Dictionary has declared that
split infinitives are no longer incorrect, but…
 Know when to use similar words correctly
 e.g. vs. i.e.
 Affect vs. effect
 Beside vs. besides
 Who vs. whom
 Lie vs. lay

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Other Considerations (cont’d)
 Avoid common mistakes such as “suppose
to” and “didn’t used to”
 Avoid colloquialisms such as “gonna,”
“gotta,” “oughta,” and “shoulda”
 …And it’s “should have,” not “should of”

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Other Considerations (cont’d)
 When giving instructions, write precisely
what you mean

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Final Thoughts
 Refer to style guides such as The Chicago
Manual of Style, The AP Stylebook, or
Warriner’s English Grammar and
Composition

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