The Most Common Grammatical Errors Part 1

Welcome to the first post of the Grammar Wednesday feature here at The Hidden Writer.  I have chosen the five most common grammatical errors in the English language to use as a series of posts for the next five weeks.  If there is something in particular that you would like to see featured in future posts please don’t hesitate to ask.  The source for this post is http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules/5-most-common.html

Once you understand the five most common errors you will be able to improve your writing and it will also make editing your own work easier.  So let’s start this week with number one in this series.

1.                  Run-on Sentence or Comma Splice

A run-on sentence is a sentence that joins two independent clauses without punctuation or the appropriate conjunction.  A comma splice is similar, but it uses a comma to join the two clauses.  Fixing this error can be done in one of five different ways:

• Create two separate sentences
• Replace the comma with a semi-colon
• Replace the comma with the correct conjunction – and, but, for, yet, nor, so.
• Replace the comma with a subordinating conjunction – after, although, before, unless, as, because, even though, if, since, until, when, while.
• Replace the comma with a semi-colon and transitional word – however, on the other hand, moreover, also, otherwise.

Examples of this are:

Incorrect:  Emma is very smart, she began writing when she was four years old.
Correct:  Emma is very smart.  She began writing when she was four years old.
Correct:  Emma is very smart; she began writing when she was four years old.
Correct:  Emma is very smart, and she began writing when she was four years old.
Correct:  Because Emma is very smart, she began writing when she was four years old.
Correct:  Emma is very smart; as a result, she began writing when she was four years old

You can use any of the corrected versions in your writing.  The most important thing is to have your sentences correct.

For more information on correct grammar usage you can visit http://www.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules

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