If you want to polish your prose—whether you’re writing a blog post, an email, or a report for your team—the next time you get to typing, consult this checklist of common writing mistakes. It’ll help you communicate more clearly and put the focus on what you’re saying rather than on stray commas or needless words.
10 Writing Mistakes People Make All the Time and How to Fix Them
As an editor, I see errors of grammar, spelling, usage, and punctuation nearly everywhere the English language has been committed to writing. Unless these errors are in content that I’m editing (or, worse, that I previously reviewed), they don’t bother me at all. I expect to encounter linguistic quirks constantly because, well, language is complicated.
It’s so complicated that the words we hear in our minds or speak aloud can stop seeming so perfectly clear as soon as we’ve written them down. Without context such as tone of voice, body language, and nonverbal vocalizations (sigh), our meaning can become obscured if our sentence structure, punctuation, or word choice in any way lends itself to ambiguity.
That’s why it’s crucial to mind the grammar that underpins our shared language: It’s a rulebook that, when followed, assures mutual understanding. But we’re rebels, and most of us bend or break the rules at least some of the time. The problem is, if we ride our rule-flouting motorcycles roughshod over our content, we’ll alienate our readers who want clear information now.
So we need to know the rules (and when they can safely be broken) in order to maximize our content’s clarity. The first step is awareness, meaning knowing how to spot the grammar and punctuation errors that persistently arise and muddy our meaning. The next step is understanding why they tangle our text so badly. Finally, we need strategies for eradicating the errors. Read on for the top 10 errors that writers make all the time and how to go about fixing them.
The Most Common Major Writing Mistakes
When approaching a piece of writing, most editors first check for the big picture to do "macro edits." Here, we’re dealing with the content of the story—how it flows, if it all makes sense, if the tone is appropriate, and if there are any questions we didn’t answer that readers might have. I like to call this "defensive editing," much like defensive driving.
1. The Intro Is Unnecessarily Long
Get to the point. The example above isn’t as bad as my initial attempt at the lede (the first couple of paragraphs that introduce an article), but, at 152 words, it’s long by most web content standards.
1. When you sit down to write, there is only one important person in your life. This is someone you will never meet, called a reader. 2. You are not writing to impress the scientist you have just interviewed, nor the professor who got you through your degree, nor the editor who foolishly turned you down, or the rather dishy person you just met at a party and told you were a writer. Or even your mother. You are writing to impress someone hanging from a strap in the tube between Parson’s Green and Putney, who will stop reading in a fifth of a second, given a chance.
The lede is one of the most challenging parts of writing an article, report, blog post, or even an email or memo—and also one of the most important. Advice from all the writers and editors I talked to? Just write the thing and then after the piece is done, rewrite it as much as needed, which might be several times.
[Re: Writing the lede first or last:] I usually write it first, then delete it, then write it last, then delete it, then delete everything, then drink some tea and contemplate my life choices, then I write something else entirely, and then I write it first again. So. first, then rewrite later.
— Joe Yaker (@joeyaker) March 12, 2018
Questions to ask as you’re writing or editing the lede: Does the lede make sense—explain briefly what’s to come? Is it supported by the rest of the document? Does it quickly hook the reader to continue reading? Bonus if you write for the web: Does the lede have the keywords you’re targeting for SEO?
2. Explanations Are Handwavy or Lacking Backup
That same editor who introduced me to "throat-clearing" ledes also taught me the word "handwavy," which according to NVIDIA’s Jack Dahlgren comes from "the magician’s technique of waving their hands to draw attention away from the actions behind the magic trick." It’s not that we’re trying to fool the reader when we’re handwavy, it’s that we haven’t provided the reader all the facts or steps they need to understand what we’re trying to explain.
So, for example, if I’m writing an article for the general public about transferring files between computers over the internet, I should explain what SFTP is when first mentioning it, since most people might not know that SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol and that it’s a way to transfer and manage files between computers over a secure connection. In the same vein, here at Zapier, we try not to assume the reader knows what Zapier is when they first come to our blog or what "Zaps" (our word for automated workflows) are.
Similarly, you need details to prove your point. If I state that exercise helps prevent colds, I’d best link those statements to research proving that point or to experts, such as doctors, who would back up that claim.
It’s about being clear to your readers and also making sure your content doesn’t have any "holes," so you can establish trust. As Radford writes: "If in doubt, assume the reader knows nothing. However, never make the mistake of assuming that the reader is stupid. The classic error in journalism is to overestimate what the reader knows and underestimate the reader’s intelligence."
Questions to ask as you’re writing or editing: Are terms most people don’t commonly use explained or linked to definitions? Are claims all linked to relevant research or backed by authoritative sources? If you were the target audience for this content, would it make sense to you?
3. The Content Was Written in Passive Voice
Passive voice is used too often by writers. Writers use passive voice too often. Active voice, as in the previous sentence, is more direct and stronger because the subject (writers) is doing something (using passive voice), rather than the subject taking a backseat.
By far, the most common thing I wind up editing out or changing is passive voice. It’s fairly simple to identify once you understand it, but it can be deceptively difficult to many writers to pick out of their own work, even if they go back and review their writing when they’re finished. If the subject isn’t clear, undefined, or you’re using verb tenses that struggle to describe the action taken by a person or party not named in the sentence, you’re probably using passive voice.
Comma Splice
A comma splice occurs when only a comma separates clauses that could each stand alone as a sentence. To correct a comma splice, you can insert a semicolon or period, connect the clauses with a word such as and/or/because, or restructure the sentence.
Pronouns typically must agree with their antecedents in gender (male or female, if appropriate) and in number (singular or plural). Many indefinite pronouns, such as everyone and each, are always singular. However, theycan be used to agree with a singular antecedent in order to use inclusive or gender-neutral language. When antecedents are joined by or or nor, the pronoun must agree with the closer antecedent. A collection noun such as team can be either singular or plural, depending on whether the members are seen as a group or individuals.
Sources:
https://blog.influenceandco.com/10-writing-mistakes-people-make-all-the-time-and-how-to-fix-them
https://zapier.com/blog/writing-mistakes/
https://hume.stanford.edu/resources/student-resources/writing-resources/grammar-resources/top-20-errors-undergraduate-writing
Writing mistakesThe phrase “i.e.” stands for the Latin “id est,” which means “that is.” The phrase “e.g.” stands for “exempli gratia,” meaning “for example.” Keep in mind that some readers will not remember the difference, and consider using plain English instead.
15 Common Novel Writing Mistakes (Beginner Writers Beware!)
Oh, and we’re going to talk a lot about mistakes in this post – but please don’t think we have anything other than total respect for new writers. I’m Harry Bingham, and I am now a successful author with a ton of novels and other books behind me. I’ve been commercially successful and the mistakes that we’re going to talk about here? Well, luckily for me, I don’t make them any more.
An ‘educational’ novel for Young Adults with reams of explanation about climate science stuffed into a creaky plot. A book for adults that features the life history of the author’s parrot. A sad story about a woman’s not-very-terrible mid-life crisis that ends with her deciding to work part-time and take up baking. None of these books stand a chance of interesting an agent. (Well, okay, if they were handled by an out-and-out genius, perhaps, but almost no one is.)
The Stats Of Doom
A Manuscript With No Discernible USP
Sometimes, a manuscript only ticks the boxes. It’s a love story with genuine warmth. It feels contemporary. The writing is fine, and perhaps it’ll be top of an agent’s slushpile – but you need to be in the top nought-point-something-percent of that pile to get taken on, and what will tip the balance in your favour is usually an angle, a concept, a pitch that’s immediately captivating.
The Stats Of Doom
Comment:
It’s a lot of work, but you can fix this. Usually, you need to take some already-extant aspect of the novel, and simply push it further than you’ve so far dared to go. Or you can take some totally new element and ram it in. (So Stephenie Meyer took ordinary teenage angsty-romance lit and rammed into it with a vampire story. Wow! Brilliant collision. The results were . . . well, you know damn well what they were. A global multimedia phenomenon.)What makes a good sentence?
1. Clarity
Ultimately, the goal of writing is communication. So, if your writing fails to communicate without confusion, then your sentences are probably lacking. An average reader can understand a good sentence without needing to re-read it multiple times, and that should be the prime goal of your writing. When readers understand what you’re saying, you can convince them to convert.
2. Flow
Flow makes your writing enjoyable to read. Getting readers to understand is the first step, but now they need to feel carried along by your writing, led into sentence after sentence. You achieve flow by connecting ideas in a reasonable order, pacing your narration appropriately, and revealing new information gradually throughout your article.
3. Vivid
Including vivid details in your writing brings it to life and keeps readers engaged. Every sentence should paint a picture in your readers’ minds, helping them visualize your ideas without too much effort. This part of writing requires real imagination, more than just putting words down.
How can writers easily write better?
The best way for writers to learn how to easily write better would be by incorporating daily reading into their writing exercises, both online and offline. This will ensure that they have a firm understanding of the written language so when they do make an error, it won’t be major or become costly in terms of time lost from the project.
Writers can write better by avoiding complicated, long words in their writing. They should also avoid overusing filler words like “very,” “really,” and “just.” These types of words are not only redundant, but they also make the text seem sloppy and inconsequential.
Writers often overlook small errors when they are proofreading their work. So, it is important to develop a clear message from the beginning and focus on making sure that your writing conveys what you want it to say in an easily understandable manner.Writers can avoid common mistakes by planning before they start writing and choosing the right tools. The best way to improve your writing is to sit down and write, but you’ll end up with a better flow for what you want to say if you plan first. Once the writer has written enough words, it’s time for proofreading: one last pass through the work that will catch all types of errors—grammar rules included!
Sources:
https://jerichowriters.com/15-common-novel-writing-mistakes-beginner-writers-beware/
https://www.jasper.ai/blog/how-to-write-better-sentences
https://www.outranking.io/errors-writing-types/
Writing mistakes
The most common mistake I see from authors of all experience levels are issues related to tense. For example, many manuscripts I read may start in the past tense and, in a moment of flashback or action, flip abruptly to present tense. – Lauren Hughes
Top Ten TOEFL Writing Mistakes (Independent Essay)
I read about a dozen TOEFL essays every day. I guess that means I’ve read about thirty thousand TOEFL essays in my life, not to mention all of the ones published in popular TOEFL textbooks and on websites. Students all over the world make the same mistakes in their essays. Interestingly, both high-level and low-level students seem to make the same mistakes in their work.
Okay, so this isn’t actually a mistake in a TOEFL essay, but it is pretty serious. In order for your TOEFL preparation to be meaningful, you need to practice with questions that look like what you will get on the real test. Sadly, a lot of popular TOEFL books have bad writing questions. Even the Official Guide to the TOEFL has a few questions that are inaccurate! So what should a student do? Well, I’ve got a collection of 50 good questions you can use. If you use all 50 of those just send me an email. I’ll make a couple more for you. If you go looking for questions elsewhere, please remember that the TOEFL no longer asks open-ended questions, it no longer asks you to “compare and contrast” anything, and it doesn’t ask you to “describe” something. For detailed descriptions of the common question types, please check out my guide to the independent writing task.
Two: Not Studying Grammar
I know, this isn’t a mistake in a TOEFL essay either. However, I really want to stress that it is important for students to study grammar. Again and again students ask me how they can improve their writing score after I send them an essay evaluation. Ninety percent of the time, my answer is to reduce the number of grammar mistakes they make. Usually, that is the only thing they can do to improve their score. Studying grammar sucks, but it helps. I really do think that students should spend as much time studying grammar as they do writing practice essays! Try using a good grammar book like English Grammar in Use.
Stop writing so much! Every day I get an essay that is 500 words long. Once a week I get an essay that is 600 words long. Sometimes I get essays even longer than that! Those essays are almost always a mess. They are full of mistakes because the students worked way too fast and didn’t have time to think about their grammar and vocabulary choices. I generally recommend about 400 words for students who want to get a high score. That is enough to get a perfect score. Actually, a few years ago ETS did a study of 14,000 essays given a score of “high” on the test, and it turned out that the average length of those essays was 401 words. Really! (source)
Faculty Articles
For more than a decade, I’ve taught fiction writing classes in New York City. A surprising variety of people have walked through my classroom doors, ranging from Broadway actors to retired English teachers to a few people unclassifiable. But oddly enough, although the students vary widely, as does the writing, the problems people run into stay remarkably the same. Nine writing mistakes crop up again and again.
Many writers start their stories before the interesting part. Way before. So instead of beginning with something intriguing, the author wallows for a few paragraphs or chapters, which causes the story to slow down. This is a particularly damaging mistake when you’re planning to send out material for publication. Anything that causes an editor’s attention to wilt is a bad thing.
Say you are writing a story about Cinderella. Here you have a vulnerable young woman whose step-family mistreats her. She longs for love, escape or a good time, depending on how you want to write the story. What should your opening paragraph say? Where are you going to begin?
This sort of opening paragraph is the literary equivalent of shouting to the reader that she’s about to read an interesting story. Later in the story you’ll explain who Cinderella is and why we should care. For now, in this type of opening paragraph, you’re just grabbing attention.
This sort of opening paragraph intrigues the reader with Cinderella’s character. Why does she have so much work? What sort of person is she that she’s not complaining? The reader suspects, from reading an opening like this, that something is going to happen that will disrupt Cinderella’s day.
This isn’t terrible, but it isn’t intriguing either. I don’t have a hint of what the plot’s going to be. Since waking up is something I do every day, so far, I’m not that excited that Cinderella’s doing it. Worst of all is that because so many writers start with someone waking up, it becomes just another waking up story to me. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule. Proust comes to mind. But if your story starts with someone waking up in bed, try cutting out the first three paragraphs. See how the story reads then. It almost always improves the story to chop out the beginning.
And yet I see stories all the time in which nothing happens. A mother sits at home with her kids and thinks about how difficult her life is. A man goes to work and thinks his job is boring. A kid thinks about how much homework he has. I’ve read variations of these stories countless times. These are all potentially great stories, but they need to be jump-started. They need to have a plot. Something has to happen.
Let’s go back to that harassed mother home with her kids. Her name is Carrie. What could happen that would set a story in motion for her? What if Carrie gets an email from a friend inviting her to meet for tea? Carrie would love to meet her. In fact, she’s desperate to get out of the house and have a normal conversation. But her toddlers are going through a difficult stage and the babysitter just quit and her mother has an important business meeting and can’t cancel it to help out Carrie. Now we’ve got Carrie in motion. We’ve made her want something. To get out of the house. We’ve given her an obstacle. Motherhood. She’s going to have to figure out a way to get a babysitter, or bundle those toddlers out of the house, or keep them quiet. The story could be funny, tragic, or somewhere in between. But something’s going to happen.
Notice, Carrie’s story is about a small thing: meeting for tea. There’s no tornado coming, or asteroid about to hit (though there could be). There’s plenty of drama in everyday life. Just make sure you ask your character what she wants, then make sure she has to work to get it.
People show the stuff they’re made of when they’re put under stress. Sometimes they rise to the occasion and become heroic. Other times they run. Part of why war stories are so compelling is because soldiers face the ultimate stressful situations. They’re putting their lives on the line. Your character doesn’t need to face death, but he should have to deal with pressure.
For example, consider Bailey. He likes to play golf, but he’s not that good at it. Then he meets a woman who’s a very good golfer. He begins to care a little more about his game. Then the woman’s father invites them on a golfing vacation. Now our friend begins to care even more because he doesn’t want to look like a fool. Then it turns out that the father has been advising his daughter to break up with Bailey because he doesn’t consider him manly enough. Now Bailey cares even more. He’s going to beat this man if it’s the last thing he does. Then, on vacation, they run into the daughter’s old boyfriend, who just won a golfing tournament.
I could go on and on, but the point is that each twist of the wheel puts this poor man under more pressure. His actions are going to have more significant consequences if someone he loves is involved. His choices will be harder to make. The reader’s going to care about him more because we know how hard he’s struggling. As a writer, I’m going to have an easier time writing a story when the stakes are higher. Is he going to crack? Or is he going to reach inside himself and find some strength of character he didn’t know he had?
Inconsistencies in names and spelling
Authors hold about thirty versions of a story in their minds. One of the mistakes that can creep in is a name or background tweak that isn’t picked up consistently throughout the story. Readers can get baffled by a new name popping in that hadn’t been there before! True, find and replace can help with this, but it’s not always accurate, as we all know. Looking at all names — and spellings — before final publication is useful. Use the Edit > Find/Replace feature to search for old names and spellings and make sure none have slipped through the cracks. – Mary-Theresa Hussey
Even for the most experienced authors, it can be difficult to maintain tense consistency throughout a manuscript. Whether past or present is a novel’s main narrative tense, stick to it even in flashbacks.
The most common mistake I see from authors of all experience levels are issues related to tense. For example, many manuscripts I read may start in the past tense and, in a moment of flashback or action, flip abruptly to present tense. – Lauren Hughes
Homonym errors and commonly confused words
We all have a few words that we never seem to be able to write correctly. It’s good to be aware of them, since a simple find and replace will often do the trick. Oxford Dictionaries has compiled a list of likely candidates here.
I come across homonym errors in nearly every novel I edit. The most common homonym mix-ups include: it’s/its, too/to, your/you’re, their/they’re/there, then/than, passed/past, waived/waved, whipping/wiping, scarred/scared, and here/hear.
Conjugating the verb “lie” also proves problematic for nearly every author. Does Jim lay down? Does Jim lie down? Was Jim lying or laying on the ground? In this post, Grammar Girl gives some terrific tips for when to use “lie” versus “lay”. – Angela Brown
These dozen common errors are the ones our editors encounter most frequently. When it comes to authoring a flawless manuscript, collaborating with a professional editor is the best way to guard against common (and not-so-common) writing mistakes.
Sources:
https://www.toeflresources.com/top-ten-toefl-writing-mistakes-independent-essay/
https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/articles/nine-common-fiction-writing-mistakes-part-ii
https://insights.bookbub.com/common-writing-errors-even-bestselling-authors-make/
