How to Improve Your Writing: Avoid These Common Grammar Mistakes

Grammar

Attachment: List-of-Common-English-Prepositions.pdf, Difference-between-other-and-another.pdf

How to Improve Your Writing- Avoid These Common Grammar Mistakes

Today, we continue our series on ways to improve your writing by examining another major problem
we found in our client’s writing. After style issues, grammatical errors comprised 21% of all writing
errors! In this post, let’s look at what mistakes were most common and how to fix them. We also
provide you a curated list of additional resources that will help you proofread and revise grammatical
mistakes and strengthen your writing skills!

What are the most common grammatical errors in writing?

While there are kinds of grammar problems, we will focus on the top 5 most common mistakes.

Determiners: words that come before a noun or noun phrase and tells us if the noun is general or
specific and often specifies quantity. This category includes articles (a, an, the) and words such as
this, that, every, each, which, and that. The most common issue concerns knowing which determiner
to use or omit and when to do so.

Prepositions: words that precede a noun or pronoun and shows that word’s relationship to another
word in the same sentence or clause. The hardest part about prepositions is that there aren’t many
rules. When in doubt, use the tools we list below to double-check expressions!

Subject-Verb Agreement: a concept that requires a subject and verb to agree in number
(singular/plural). Problems most commonly arise when the subject is a noun phrase that contains a
prepositional phrase.

Verb Form: Six typical verb forms exist: the base (dictionary form), the infinitive (to+base), the 3rd
person singular (verb+s), the present participle (verb+ing), the past simple, and the past participle.
Some verbs have fewer forms while the verb “be” has eight! The main sources of verb form
confusion come from using the wrong participle and overusing the present participle (verb+ing
form).

Verb Tense Shifts: a problematic situation where we talk about one topic at a particular point in time
but use two or more tenses to talk about it in the same clause. The rule is we should always use one
tense or start a new clause or sentence to avoid verb tense shifting.

The following is a graph depicting the frequency of all grammatical errors surveyed during our study.

Common English Grammar Errors in Writing

As you can see from the bar graph above, determiner-related problems constitute almost 60% of all
the grammatical errors we found! In particular, an overwhelming majority of the issues involved
article use.
Why is article usage the most common grammatical writing mistake?

Articles such as “a,” “an,” and “the” are tiny words, and, yet, they play a significant role in telling us
the specificity of a noun. For many of you who are ESL speakers, your native language might not have
articles, so we can understand why it would be difficult to decide which article or determiner to use
when writing in or speaking English. Article use can be tricky, but, hey, we do have some good news:
at least the English language doesn’t have gender specific articles like many romance languages!

Apart from not understanding the role of an article because it may be absent in your native tongue,
another reason for article misuse is uncertainty about whether a noun is countable. While there are
many exceptions to article use rules, the ones the English language does have largely relate to a
noun’s countability. For additional information about how to use articles correctly, check out our
detailed article and visual flowchart [click the link for the full article]!

English Article Use

Why is using the correct article important?

Articles denote specificity and introduce context for a noun. That’s a lot for a word that has only one
to three letters, right? To illustrate the importance of articles, let’s look at the following scenario.

Let’s say you’re talking to someone and you want to tell them you desire a car. You can say one of
two statements: “I really want a car” or “I really want the car.” But do you want a car (any car) or do
you want the car (a specific one you’ve seen or heard about)? Perhaps you want the latter, so you
say, “I really want the car.” However, what if the person you’re speaking to doesn’t know about this
dream car you’ve wanted for as long as you can remember? You would have confused the other
person with your statement because you provided no details to clarify which car is “the car.”
Likewise, if you had simply said, “I really want a car,” your listener would still be uncertain about
which car unless you provided further details.

So, how do you fix this problem? You can correct this mistake in two ways: (1) start with “a car” and
then explain it by using “the car” in a subsequent sentence that elaborates on which one or (2) use
“the car” followed by a restrictive clause that precisely identifies the car you want. For example:

(1) I really want a car. In fact, I want one exactly like the car I saw parked in front of Joe’s house
yesterday.

(2) I really want the car I saw parked in front of Joe’s house yesterday.

How can I fix the following common grammatical errors?

1. Determiner Misuse

Articles

To decide which article to use, first decide if you have a countable or uncountable noun. Then follow
the rules in the attached flowchart and article. In short:
If you have a noun + prepositional phrase that pinpoints one specific noun, use “the” in front of the
noun.

If you introduce a specific noun for the first time, use “a” or “an,” followed by “the” for subsequent
mentions.

If you mean “any” of that noun, use “a” or “an.”

If you mean “all” members of that noun class (each and every one, generally), then, for countable
nouns, use the plural + no article. For uncountable nouns, use the singular + no article.

If you mean a category as a whole (and not each and every member of that category), use “the.”

Countable nouns:

✗The apple is delicious. → ✓Apples are delicious.

✗I read the new book. The book was fascinating. → ✓I read a new book. The book was fascinating.

Uncountable nouns:

✗The water is healthy for you. → ✓Water is healthy for you.

✗I bought the water yesterday, and now I will put the water in the fridge. → ✓I bought water
yesterday, and now I will put the water in the fridge.

Demonstratives (This/That/These/Those)

Be careful about using demonstratives by themselves to start a sentence. If the context is unclear,
make sure to add the noun after the demonstrative.

Rule

this + singular noun (something nearby or recently mentioned)

that + singular noun (something “over there”)

these + plural noun

those + plural noun

Examples

✗This is good for you. → ✓This exercise is good for you.

✗We should adopt a new policy. That policy would help us streamline operations. → ✓We should
adopt a new policy. This policy would help us streamline operations.

✗That would make her happy. → ✓That promotion would make her happy.

✗Cats are feisty. Those animals are very independent. → ✓Cats are feisty. These animals are very
independent.
✗What do you want to do with these boxes over there? → ✓What do you want to do with those
boxes over there?

Other vs. Another

The words “other” and “another” to refer to alternatives, more of something or a different thing.
Click on the image below to see a flowchart showing how to use these words. Essentially, the
difference between “other” and “another” depends on the number of choices or possibilities you
refer to.

✗I have two books left. Take this one. Thanks, but I want the another. → ✓I have two books left.
Take this one. Thanks, but I want the other one.

Diagram explaining grammar rules about "other" and "another"

For additional resources, please click on the following links:

Education First: http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/determiners/

Pearson Edurite: http://english.edurite.com/english-grammar/determiners.html

2. Incorrect Prepositions

Prepositions in the English language are tricky. The good news is that if you are trying to reduce
wordiness, you can often replace verbal and prepositional phrases with strong verbs! When you need
to use relation-building words, however, here are a few tips:

Prepositions in idiomatic expressions are fixed. They may not follow the normal use patterns for a
preposition, so when in doubt, double-check a dictionary like Merriam-Webster’s.

Never use two prepositions back-to-back. We often do so in speech, but in writing, this bad habit
should be avoided. For example, “I had to get off of the train.” → “I got off the train.”

Though we have few rules about choosing the right preposition, click on the attachment listed at the
top of this page to see a list of commonly used prepositions (general meanings and example
sentences included).

Below is an infographic prepared by Grammar.net, which highlights the differences between 14 pairs
of commonly confused prepositions.

Grammar.net infographic on commonly confused prepositions

You can use sites like Google Book’s N-gram Viewer, which scans text in books published from 1800
to 2000. It then plots how often a phrase occurs. If you are debating about which preposition to use,
type in the various versions of the phrase you want (separated by commas) and hit “enter.” The
frequency of the phrases will be plotted on a graph, and you should choose the phrase with the
highest occurrence as of 2000 (unless you want to use language specific to an earlier time!). As you
can see from the sample search result below, the phrase, “to conduct research on,” use the correct
verb-preposition combination.

Using Google Books N-gram to check prepositional phrases

For additional resources, please check out the following links:

Englishgrammar.org: https://www.englishgrammar.org/commonly-confused-prepositions/

Grammar.net: http://www.grammar.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Prepositions700x1150.png

Google Book’s N-gram Viewer: N-gram Viewer

3. Subject-Verb Agreement

Keep in mind that verbs must agree in number with their subjects. The most common error involving
subject-verb agreement arises from using prepositional phrases. Remember that the verb must agree
with the noun before the preposition.

✓Noun1 + Preposition + Noun2 + Verb that agrees with Noun1

✗The way in which we communicate with others have changed dramatically. → ✓The way in which
we communicate with others has changed dramatically.

For additional resources, please check out the following links:

Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (OWL): https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/

Grammarbook.com: http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp

4. Verb Form Confusion

The two most common errors associated with verb form are using the wrong participle and overusing
the present participle.

Wrong Verb Participle

Be careful with irregular verbs. When in doubt, use a dictionary like Merriam-Webster to confirm the
correct spelling.

British and American English may have different spellings for certain verb participles. For example,
“learned” is used in the US, while “learned” and “learnt” are both accepted in the UK.

Present Participle Overuse

Generally, use the present simple tense to discuss general facts, habits, and the state or condition of
something.

✗The sun is always rising in the east. → ✓The sun always rises in the east.

Present progressive (verb+ing) is used for temporary actions and to express intent to do a future
action. It is used when you want to point out that something is happening during the progression of
another action.

✗I visit my sister this week. → ✓I am visiting my sister this week.

For additional resources, please click on the following links:

Grammarly verb tense review: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-tenses/

Grammarly verb forms: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-forms/

EF Education First verb tense review: http://www.ef.com/english-resources/english-grammar/verbs/

John Jay College, CUNY’s overview of English verb tenses:

http://resources.jjay.cuny.edu/erc/tutoring/pdfs/27.pdf

University of Victoria’s guide to simple present vs. present continuous:

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/simcon.htm

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) verb tense overview:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01/

5. Verb Tense Shifting

When talking about a topic, verbs in the same clause should use the same tense. Mixing tenses can
confuse the reader about the time covered by the sentence.

✗Joe watched the movie and laughs out loud. [Joe finished the movie and is now laughing? This
sentence doesn't make sense, right?] → ✓“Joe watched the movie and laughed out loud,” [Joe
completed these actions, and logically, did so at the same time] or “Joe is watching the movie and is
laughing out loud” [Joe is currently performing these actions simultaneously].

While talking about a specific subject, double-check tenses in consecutive clauses or sentences.

✗Joe eats chocolate whenever he got upset. → ✓“Joe eats chocolate whenever he gets upset,” [Joe
currently has this habit] or “Joe ate chocolate whenever he got upset” [Joe no longer has this habit].

Of course, sometimes it makes sense to mix tenses, particularly when you are showing a progression
of actions.

✓I am editing the book that I wrote. [Naturally, to edit a book, it must already be written.

For additional resources, please click on the following links:

Grammarly: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/verb-tense-consistency/

Daily Writing Tips: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/beware-the-shifting-tense/

We hope that the above information provides you with a good overview of how to correct the
grammar issues in your writing. Don’t feel overwhelmed by the long list! It’s impossible for us to
remember all these rules each time we write. Rather, focus on one aspect until you perfect it, then
move onto the next. Also, feel free to check out our language editing services to help you clean up
these types of errors and more!

About Wordvice US
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of researchers, students, writers, and businesses maximize the impact of their writing.

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Spell proble.

Humanities › Languages

Spelling Problems in English

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by Kenneth Beare

Updated December 29, 2017

Spelling words in English is challenging work. As a matter of fact, many native speakers of English
have problems with spelling correctly. One of the main reasons for this is that many, many English
words are NOT spelled as they are spoken. This difference between pronunciation and spelling
causes a lot of confusion. The combination "ough" provides an excellent example:

Tough - pronounced - tuf (the 'u' sounding as in 'cup')

Through - pronounced - throo

Dough - pronounced - doe (long 'o')

Bought - pronounced - bawt

It's enough to make anyone crazy! This feature provides a guide to the most common problems
when spelling words in English.

Swallowed Syllables - Three Syllables Pronounced as Two Syllables

Aspirin - pronounced - asprin

Different - pronounced - diffrent

Every - pronounced - evry

Swallowed Syllables - Four Syllables Pronounced as Three Syllables

Comfortable - pronounced - comfrtable

Temperature - pronounced - temprature

Vegetable - pronounced - vegtable

Homophones - Words That Sound the Same

two, to, too - pronounced - too

knew, new - pronounced - niew

through, threw - pronounced - throo

not, knot, naught - pronounced - not

Same Sounds - Different Spellings

'Eh' as in 'Let'

let

bread

said

'Ai' as in 'I'

sigh

buy

either

The following letters are silent when pronounced.

D - sandwich, Wednesday

G - sign, foreign

GH - daughter, light, right

H - why, honest, hour

K - know, knight, knob

L - should, walk, half

P - cupboard, psychology

S - island

T - whistle, listen, fasten

U - guess, guitar

W - who, write, wrong

Unusual Letter Combinations

GH = 'F'

cough, laugh, enough, rough

CH = 'K'

chemistry, headache, Christmas, stomach

EA = 'EH'

breakfast, head, bread, instead

EA = 'EI'

steak, break

EA = 'EE'

weak, streak

OU = 'UH'

country, double, enough

CITE

FORMAT

MLA APA CHICAGO

YOUR CITATION

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problems-in-english-1212366.
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Pronunciation

glish Pronunciation Lab

Search

The Top 5 Pronunciation Problems and How to Fix Them

Mar 1st, 2011 @ 06:05 am › Heather Hansen

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pronunciation problems - how to fix themAre people having trouble understanding you when you
speak, but you’re not really sure why? The hardest part about improving your English pronunciation
is figuring out what you might be doing wrong. Here are the top 5 reasons why people might be
misunderstanding you, and some quick tips for how to fix each of these issues.

1. Stressing individual words incorrectly

If you usually speak with native English speakers, this will be the number one reason why they
misunderstand you. It’s very hard for native English speakers to ‘translate’ a word spoken as
‘caLENdar’ to the way they would pronounce it, ‘CALendar’.

Non-native English speakers don’t have as much of a problem with this, and will probably still
understand what you’re trying to say.

Quick fix: Listen carefully to the way people around you pronounce their words. If you hear a
pronunciation that is different from yours, check the dictionary (even if it’s a common word) to be
sure that you’re stressing it correctly. Some commonly mis-stressed words that I hear (with proper
stress in capitals) include: PURchase, COLleague, phoTOGraphy and ecoNOMic. You will also find a
number of commonly mispronounced words listed in the ‘How to Pronounce…’ section of this blog.

2. Stressing the wrong words in a sentence.

Remember that you can completely change the meaning of a sentence by stressing different words in
that sentence. For example, you could say this sentence in a number of different ways:

“I didn’t say we should drive this way.”

If you stress I, you emphasize that taking that route wasn’t your idea. On the other hand, if you stress
drive, you emphasize the mode of transport.

If you don’t pay close attention to the words that you stress, you could end up sending a completely
different message than the one you intended.
Quick fix:

Think about placing added emphasis on the word that is most important to your meaning. You can
add emphasis by lengthening the word, saying it slightly louder and/or changing the pitch of your
voice slightly. Listen to Part 8 of the Pronunciation Short Course for further discussion.

3. Pronouncing certain consonant sounds incorrectly

If people are misunderstanding you, it could very well be due to you confusing what we call ‘voiced’
and ‘unvoiced’ sounds. You might substitute ‘p’ for ‘b’ or ‘t’ for ‘d’, for example. These sounds are so
easily confused because their only difference is whether or not you use your voice to produce them.
If you aren’t careful, you could be making mistakes like saying ‘tuck’ for ‘duck’ or ‘pay’ for ‘bay’.

Quick fix:

Pay attention to how you use your voice when you speak. You should be able to feel the vibration of
your vocal cords when you make voiced sounds (b, d, g, v, z, r, l, m, n, ng, dge, zh, and voiced th). You
can also try to make lists of pairs of words that use the sounds you find challenging and practice
repeating those. Record yourself so you can hear whether you’re making any progress.

4. Mixing up short and long vowel sounds

Vowel sounds, like consonant sounds, can also be confused easily. The main problem with vowels
happens when you mix up long and short vowel sounds. For example, the long ‘ee’ sound in ‘seat’
with the short ‘i’ sound in ‘sit.’ If you confuse these sounds, you end up saying completely different
words. This can get confusing in conversation and forces people to draw much more from the
context of your speech than the speech itself.

Quick fix:

Make practice word lists like the ones you made for the consonant sounds and practice the sounds
that are difficult for you.

5. Forgetting to finish your words

Do you have a tendency to let your word endings drop? I often hear people drop the ‘ed’ ending off
of words in the past tense, for example. This is a dangerous mistake because not only is your
pronunciation wrong, but it also sounds like you’re making a grammatical mistake. People could
judge you based on this type of error.

Quick fix:

Do everything you can to articulate your word endings. One exercise that might help is to move the
word ending onto the front of the following word. This will only work if the following word begins
with a vowel sound. For example, try saying ‘talk tuh lot’ instead of ‘talked a lot’. Check out Part 5 of
the Pronunciation Short Course for more information on linking.