Twenty Common Usage Errors

1. No comma after introductory element

Example:

After we watched the movie we went over to the pizza joint for a bite to eat.

2. Vague pronoun reference

Example:

John Smith reported the problem to Bob Adams, and he corrected it immediately.

3. No comma in compound sentence

Example:

John Smith reported the problem to Bob Adams and Adams corrected it immediately.

4. Wrong word

Example:

Building a new fiber optic network will take less dollars then originally suspected.

5. No comma in nonrestrictive element

Example:

Contemporary animal rights groups who are using the same strategies that the civil rights movement developed in the 1960s find that non-violent civil disobedience is effectively drawing attention to their cause.

6. Wrong or missing inflected endings

Example:

Teacher representatives in the United States’ could have wrote the book themselves.

7. Wrong or missing preposition

Example:

The man to whom you were speaking to was the curator on the exposition.

8. Comma splice

Example:

In 1980, Reagan promised to balance the federal budget, however, by 1988, the federal deficit was the largest in U. S. history — until now.

9. Possessive apostrophe error

Example:

The Presidents speech was punctuated by enthusiastic applause from both sides of the aisle.

10. Tense shift

Example:

John was edgy all day. He challenged anything that anyone said to him. Once at a meeting, John looked right at me and he says, "What do you mean by that?"

11. Unnecessary shift in person

Example:

Students should register for classes early if you want to ensure that you get a good schedule.

12. Sentence fragment

Example:

Publishers today are at a loss trying to cope with the new trends in information technology. Which is not surprising actually.

13. Wrong tense or verb form

Example:

The market has responding favorably to the surprisingly strong earnings that the high-tech sector reports yesterday.

14. Subject-verb agreement

Example:

The President as well as his advisors were in meetings all weekend at Camp David. Neither the President nor his advisors is commenting on the status of the negotiations.

15. Lack of comma in a series

Example:

Forget what Wheaties tells you; the real breakfast of champions is pizza, beer and eggs.

16. Pronoun agreement error

Example:

Everyone should register early to make sure that they get the classes they want.

17. Unnecessary comma with restrictive element

Example:

Several of the guys on the team were here at the time, but the guy, who is talking to the police, is the only witness to the accident.

18. Run-on or fused sentence

Example:

Courses in entrepreneurial businesses are increasingly popular however few faculty members are qualified to teach them.

19. Dangling or misplaced modifier

Example:

While smoking a cigarette, the coffee in his cup had grown cold. He says often he smokes cigarettes.

20. Its/it's error

Example:

Its commonly assumed that any bear will defend it's offspring by attacking any human that wanders too near a cub.

 

Robert J. Connors and Andrea A. Lunsford studied 3000 college essays and how instructors responded (or failed to respond) to a variety of mechanical errors. See "Frequency of Formal Errors in Current College Writing, or Ma and Pa Kettle Do Research," (as published in The St. Martin's Guide to Teaching Writing 2nd ed. Ed. Robert Connors and Cheryl Glenn. New York: St. Martin's, 1992. page 398.)
This table below summarizes their analysis. Their research suggests areas in which students might concentrate when writing for an academic audience.

Rank by frequency of error Error or Error Pattern No. found in 3000 papers % of total errors No. found marked by instructor % marked by instructor Rank by no. of errors marked by instructor 1 No comma after introductory element 3,299     11.5% 995 30% 2 2 Vague pronoun reference 2,809     9.8% 892 32% 4 3 No comma in compound sentence 2,446     8.6% 719 29% 7 4 Wrong word 2,217     7.8% 1,114 50% 1 5 No comma in nonrestrictive element 1,864     6.5% 580 31% 10 6 Wrong or missing inflected endings 1,679     5.9% 857 51% 5 7 Wrong or missing preposition 1,580     5.5% 679 43% 8 8 Comma splice 1,565     5.5% 850 54% 6 9 Possessive apostrophe error 1,455     5.1% 906 62% 3 10 Tense shift 1,453     5.1% 484 33% 12 11 Unnecessary shift in person 1,347     4.7% 410 30% 14 12 Sentence fragment 1,217     4.2% 671 55% 9 13 Wrong tense or verb form 952     3.3% 465 49% 13 14 Subject-verb agreement 909     3.2% 534 58% 11 15 Lack of comma in series 751     2.7% 184 4% 19 16 Pronoun agreement error 752     2.6% 365 48% 15 17 Unnecessary comma with restrictive element 693     2.4% 239 34% 17 18 Run-on or fused sentence 681     2.4% 308 45% 16 19 Dangling or misplaced modifier 577     2.0% 167 29% 20 20 Its/it's error 292     1.0% 188 64% 18

For more information about these and other grammatical and usage issues, consult

• Modern English Grammar "Error Correction Terms and Abbreviations" A list of resource around the web with helpful advice on finding, editing, and correcting the twenty common usage errors listed above.
  
• Free tools! My Editing Toolbar and macros for Microsoft Word Based on the 20 most common errors above, this Word toolbar will help you insert comments into your students' documents. Scroll to the bottom of the page to download the toolbar and read the installation instructions.
  
• The Modern English Grammar HyperTextBook A thorough and rigorous review of modern English grammatical structures from the word rank to the clause rank and beyond, written by yours truly.
  
• Guide to Grammar and Writing On online usage handbook by Charles Darling at the Capital Community College.
  

The Composition Links page (click on manet) below has another wide range of useful online handbooks, style guides, and dictionaries for the writer.