The most common grammatical error that I notice is perhaps the pettest of my pet peeves, misuse of apostrophes.
A missing or misplaced apostrophe isn't just a misspelling but can change the entire meaning of a sentence. The subject is addressed by one of my most favorite lenses of all time, The Care and Feeding of Apostrophes.
1) General spelling errors 2) missing comma after an introductory statement 3) vague pronoun references 4) confusing a wrong word--affect vs effect, for example 5) missing or misplaced possessive apostrophe 6) Shifting tense wrongly--this is why it's good to read aloud what it is that you've written 7) wrong tense or verb form 8) missing comma in a series 9) lack of agreement between pronoun and antecedent 10 its/it's confusion-- My tractor is lying on its side in a ditch. It's going to be towed very soon to the garage for repair.
I've seen them all but not not everyday! I know, I know: I should have been a grammer teacher.
I often see grammatical errors in the introduction title. It is usually an extra letter: "Fine Leatherd Goods".
ReplyDeleteThe most common grammatical error that I notice is perhaps the pettest of my pet peeves, misuse of apostrophes.
ReplyDeleteA missing or misplaced apostrophe isn't just a misspelling but can change the entire meaning of a sentence. The subject is addressed by one of my most favorite lenses of all time, The Care and Feeding of Apostrophes.
Moe has me looking at all my niche lenses now. I don't see any, that's why I need a good proofreader for my own work ;)
ReplyDeleteLazy keyboarding creates the most common mistakes I find. Not capitalizing words that should be drives me crazy!
ReplyDeleteTop 10 Grammatical errors--
ReplyDelete1) General spelling errors
2) missing comma after an introductory statement
3) vague pronoun references
4) confusing a wrong word--affect vs effect, for example
5) missing or misplaced possessive apostrophe
6) Shifting tense wrongly--this is why it's good to read aloud what it is that you've written
7) wrong tense or verb form
8) missing comma in a series
9) lack of agreement between pronoun and antecedent
10 its/it's confusion-- My tractor is lying on its side in a ditch. It's going to be towed very soon to the garage for repair.
I've seen them all but not not everyday! I know, I know: I should have been a grammer teacher.
The one I am seeing over and over again is then vs. than. "Then" should be a reference to timing (and more) and "than" is a word for comparison only.
ReplyDeleteI will drink coffee THEN read Mimi's blog. Mimi's blog is much better THAN reading the newspaper.
I see this confusion all over squidoo lenses. I just saw it in a printed book as well.