Top
10
Common Mistakes
in Writing
1. Titles--do I underline or put the title in quotation marks?
2. Its, it's--when do I use the apostrophe?
3. Documentation/citation--how do I follow the MLA format?
4. Who, which, that--which one do I use?
5. Pronoun agreement--how do I make pronouns and their nouns agree?
6. Passive voice/active voice--what's the problem and how do I solve it?
7. Accept/except, affect/effect, all ready/already, a lot--what's the difference?
8. Apostrophes--what are the most common rules?
9. Commas--I put a comma in when I take a breath reading my paper aloud. Are there rules?
10. Quotation marks--punctuation inside or outside?
Further detail . . .
1. Titles--do
I underline or put the title in quotation marks?
(Hacker 298-99, 269-70)
1. Underline or italicize titles of books, plays, pamphlets, magazines, movies, television shows, paintings, major musical works such as operas or symphonies, collections of poetry (Hacker 298-99).
Do not underline the Bible, books of the Bible, or titles of legal documents such as the Constitution.
2. Quotation marks enclose titles of articles, essays, poems, short stories, chapters or sections of books, unpublished works such as theses and dissertations (Hacker 269-70).
General rule: underline long works, use quotation marks around short works. NEVER do both.
Do not underline OR put quotation marks around the title of your paper.
1. It's is ONLY the contraction for it is. Unless you mean it is there is NEVER an apostrophe in its.
Example: It's (it is) only a month until prom.
The store has the dress in its box, ready to be mailed.
Note: the possessive pronoun its shows possession without needing an apostrophe.
1. In the body of your paper, document direct quotations by including in parentheses the author and page number(s) with no comma in between (Hacker 326-347).
Example:
The narrator captures Gatsby in a moment of isolation: "A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host" (Fitzgerald 56).
2. To make a Works Cited page, each entry follows this pattern: author's name (last name first); title (underlined); place of publication; publisher; date (Hacker 326-31).
Example:
Tannen, Deborah. The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue. New York: Random. 1998.
Alphabetize the list by author's last name; use title if there is no author listed.
Do not indent the first line, but indent all subsequent lines of the entry (see above ex.)
Special notes:
Use the most recent copyright date.
Use the location geographically closest to you when there is more than one.
Electronic sources follow the same format as above, but add date of access and the URL (Hacker 339-343).
Sample research paper: Hacker 351-60.
1. Use who to refer to persons.
Example:
The teacher who is most interesting is my English teacher.
NOT: The teacher that is most interesting...
2. Which refers to nonliving objects or to animals, NEVER to people.
Example:
The woman who was waiting alone stood outside a cafe which (or that) was closed.
3. Though generally used to refer to things, that may be used to refer to a group.
Example:
The team that scores the most points in this game will win the tournament.
Be sure pronouns agree with their antecedents (what the pronoun refers to).
Example:
The doctor finished her rounds.
The doctors finished their rounds.The logger in the Northwest relies on the old forest growth for his living.
In this class everyone performs at his or her (not THEIR) fitness level.
When someone has been drinking he or she (not THEY ARE) is more likely to speed.
Or, revise the sentence: Someone who has been drinking is more likely to speed.
Why is your teacher freaking out about passive voice? Because active voice expresses meaning more vigorously than passive voice; we all seek lively, vigorous writing.
Examples:
Passive: The fly ball was caught by Hernando.
Active: Hernando caught the fly ball.Passive: The transformer was struck by lightning, plunging us into darkness.
Active: Lightning stuck the transformer, plunging us into darkness.
Quick ID: If you've got a helping verb (was caught, was struck), revise your sentence to get rid of it. Watch out for is, are, was, were--the "to be" verbs.
7. Accept/except,
affect/effect, all ready/already, a lot...what's the difference?
(Hacker 125-139)
1. Affect-verb-to influence or act
upon
Effect-noun-result
Example:
The drug did not affect the disease, and it had terrible side effects.
Effect can also be a verb-to bring about
Example:
Spending the weekend studying rather than watching TV had a dramatic effect on Sally's grades.
2. All ready-2 words-means completely
prepared
Already-means previously
3. All right-2 words
Alright-is incorrect
4. A lot-2 words
Alot-is incorrect
5.Accept-verb-to receive
Except-verb-to exclude
Example:
I will accept all packages except that one.
8.
Apostrophes--what are the most common rules?
(Hacker 264-67)
1. To show ownership, add 's. To show ownership with a plural noun ending in s add '
Example:
Student's desk
Students' desks
Sometimes ownership is loosely implied.
Example:
tree's roots or a day's workSolution: When in doubt turn it around. If roots of the tree or the work of the day makes sense, include the apostrophe.
2. In the case of joint possession, the apostrophe goes with the last noun only.
Example:
It is Joyce and Greg's project.
NEVER, NEVER use an apostrophe with "its" unless you mean, "it is."
1. Use a comma before and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet joining two independent clauses.
Example:
I walked down the stairs into the EHS cafeteria, and there I saw the love of my life.
2. Place a comma after an introductory phrase of five or more words.
Example:
When I learned of my next essay, I jumped for joy.
3. Place a comma between items in a series including the last two.
Example:
I enjoy reading poetry, drama, and fiction.
1. Inside the quotation marks--periods, commas, question and exclamation marks, unless they apply to the sentence as a whole
Outside the quotation marks--colons and semicolons
2. Longer quotations: When a quotation runs more than 4 typed lines, set it off by indenting 10 spaces (2 tabs). Usually these quotes are introduced by a sentence ending with a colon (Hacker 268-9). Do not use quotation marks in addition to the indentation.
3. Poetry: (Hacker 268-9) Quotations of 1-3 lines may be run on as part of the text. Place a slash (/) between the lines with a space on each side. Line numbers are placed in the parentheses.
Example:
Robert Frost begins his famous poem "Stopping by the Woods" with the lines, "Whose woods these are I think I know / His house is in the village though" (1-2).
Quotations of 4 or more lines are set off by indenting 10 spaces.
Copyright 2003 Edina Public Schools