Most Common Errors, Works Cited
1. Missing comma after introductory element:
--Frankly we were baffled by the committee's decision.
--To tell the truth I hate the Yankees.
--Because of its isolation in a rural area surrounded by mountains Crawford Notch doesn't get many visitors.
--In German nouns are always capitalized.
2. Vague pronoun references:
--Transmitting radio signal by satellite is a way of overcoming the problem of scarce airwaves and limiting how they are used.
--The troopers burned a rufugee camp as a result of an earlier attack. This was the cause of the war.
--Company policy prohibited smoking, which many employees resented.
3. Missing comma in a compound sentence:
--We wish dreamily upon a star and then we look down to find ourselves standing in mud.
--The words "I do" may sound simple but they mean a lifetime commitment.
--Tracy wore jeans and her feet were bare.
4. Wrong word.
--The Kings played there best, but that was not good enough.
--The book contains many illusions to classical mythology.
5. Missing comma or commas with a nonrestrictive element:
--Marina who was the president of the club was first to speak.
--Kristen's first doll Malibu Barbie is still her favorite.
6. Wrong or missing verb ending:
--Eliot use feline imagery throughout the poem.
--The United States drop two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945.
7. Wrong or missing preposition:
--We met in Union Street at San Francisco.
--President Richard Nixon compared the United States with a "pitiful, helpless giant."
8. Comma splice:
--I was strongly attracted to her, she had special qualities.
--They always had lasagna for Christmas, this was a family tradition.
9. Missing or misplaced possesive apostrophe:
--Overambitious parents can be very harmful to a childs well-being.
--Mark Prior is one of the Cub's most promising pitchers.
10. Unnecessary shift in tense:
--Joy laughs until she cried during The Simpsons.
11. Unnecessary shift in pronoun:
--When a person writes an essay, they must keep their thesis in mind at all times.
--Playing the game is difficult. First, the player has to decide which level to start on. Then you need to choose which weapons you are going to use.
12. Sentence fragment:
--The old aluminum boat sitting on its trailer.
--When we were kids and all we had to worry about was what we were going to do during summer vacation.
13. Wrong tense or verb form:
--By the time Ian arrived, Jill left.
--Mia Hamm has broke many soccer records.
14. Lack of subject-verb agreement:
--A central part of my life goals have been to go to law school.
--The senator and her husband commute every day from the suburbs.
15. Missing comma in a series:
--Sharks eat mostly squid shrimp crabs and other fish
16. Lack of agreement between pronoun and antecedent:
--Each of the puppies thrived in their new home.
--Neither Tom nor Andy felt that they had been treated fairly.
17. Unnecessary comma with a restrictive element:
--People, who want to preserve wilderness areas, opposed the plan to privatize national parks.
--Shakespeare's tragedy, Othello, deals with the dangers of jealousy.
18. Fused (or run-on) sentence:
--The current was swift he could not swim to shore.
--Klee's paintings seem simple they are very sophisticated.
19. Misplaced or dangling modifier:
--They could see eagles swooping and diving with binoculars.
--He decided that he wanted to be a doctor when he was ten years old.
20. Its/It's confusion
--The car is lying on it's side in the ditch. Its a white 2004 Subaru.
WORKS CITED: (see MLA Style for a list of Works Cited, The Everyday Writer, page 374)
Unpublished interview:
Person interviewed, Type of interview, date
Ruscoe, Michael. Personal interview. November 28, 2006.
Unpublished survey
Your name, Opinion survey, Date(s) conducted
Michael Ruscoe. Opinion survey. November 26-28, 2006.
posted by Michael Ruscoe at 7:08 AM
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