Errors to Avoid

(Keep in mind that these are my pet peeves and exceptions to a number of these rules exist; however, students often use these phrases and words incorrectly.)

  1.  Don’t use though or although when you really mean however.

  2.  Do not use both but and yet together.  Use one or the other.

  3.  Never use these phrases in a sentence:

4.  Always use a d in the phrases supposed to and used to.

5.  There is no such word as alot.  Make it into two separate words: a lot.

6.  Two complete sentences are separated in only three ways:  1) by a comma and a conjunction  [  , and ], 2 ) by a semi-colon  [ ; ], or 3) by a period [ . ], a question mark [ ? ]or an exclamation point [ ! ]. Notice that punctuation that ends a sentence has dot with it.  The only way a comma can end a sentence is by adding a conjunction to replace the dot.

  7.  A colon (:) MUST have a complete sentence in front of it.  It can be followed by sentences and non-sentences.  A semi-colon (;) must have a complete sentence on BOTH sides of it.  Both colons and semi-colons have dots:  they have to end a sentence.

  8.  Unless you know what you're doing with noun clauses, sentences starting with which, where, or who must be in the form of questions.

  9.  Who(m) is for people.  That is for animals and things.

10.  Write out all numbers that can be written as one word and without a hyphen.

11.  Pronoun agreement:  If you write about a person or a student, you must later refer to that person or student as he or she or s/he, not they or them.

12.  NEVER start sentences with like or plus.

13.  The words would, could, should, must and might are never followed by the word of.  They are followed by either 've or have.

14.  Where is a place (Where? Here!).  Were is a verb.  Do NOT use them interchangeably.

15.  Two = 2                To = toward                 Too = also or very

16.  Don’t confuse throw and through.

17.  There is a place and can be replaced by the word here.  Their can be replaced by the word his.

18.  Than is a comparison (replace it with as compared to/with).  Then is a time (at that time).

19.  If you could use sit or sitting, you can replace it with lie or lying.
            If you could use set or setting, you can replace it with lay or laying.

 20.  Whom can be replaced by him or them.  Who can be replaced by he, she, or they.

21.  Do not use I, me, my, mine, you, your, or you’re in any formal paper that is not specifically about you or your opinion.

22.  Avoid using "there is" or "there are" or "there was" or "there were". These phrases create boring sentences.

23. Try to limit the number of sentences using linking verbs (is, are, am, was, were, be, being, been) to 10% of the sentences in your paper.

24.  The word "this" can refer to only ONE word.  You should always be able to answer "this what?" with one word--a word that occurs earlier in that same sentence or just a few sentences previous to "this".

25. NEVER make reference to your own paper or your own writing.  Your paper is NOT a speech, so don't directly announce your plans.  In other words, DO NOT write things such as "I'm going to tell you about. . . ." or "This paper is about. . . ." or "As I mentioned earlier. . . ." or "As you can see from the examples I've listed . . . .", etc.  

26.  Avoid using "hopefully".  Chances are, you really mean "I hope"--and if you can use "I hope", you would have used "hopefully" incorrectly.

27.  Be careful in using would and could. In general, use would only when you REALLY want to express customary action.  DON'T use it when you just need to be in past tense.  In other words, if you can leave would out, you probably should!  The same holds true for could.  Be deliberate in your use of those words.

28.  If you use the phrase not only, you must follow it with but also somewhere in the same sentence.

29.  You can only use myself if you have already used the word I earlier in the SAME sentence.

30.  If something has been completed, it is finished--it is not "done".  Remember, cakes are done; people are finished.

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