5 Common Writing Errors (And How to Fix Them)
If you're learning English as a second language, there's a good chance you've made some errors in your writing.
That's perfectly normal!
However, it's still important to try to avoid making common mistakes so that you can communicate more effectively.
Here, we cover five of the most common writing errors made by English language learners and how you can fix them.
1. Incorrect use of articles (a/an/the)
One of the most common mistakes made by English language learners is using articles incorrectly.
Articles are words like "a," "an," and "the" that are used before nouns.
They are used to signal whether the noun is specific or unspecific.
For example, if I say "I saw a dog on the street," I am referring to a specific dog that I saw.
On the other hand, if I say "I saw the dog on the street," I am referring to a dog that you already know about.
If you're having trouble with using articles correctly, one helpful trick is to think about whether the noun is countable or uncountable.
Articles are not used with uncountable nouns (e.g., milk, information).
However, they are always used with countable nouns (e.g., cup, news).
2. Mixing up adjectives and adverbs
Adjectives describe, identify, and quantify people or things and usually go in front of a noun.
They don't usually change if the noun is plural.
For example: "I have two red apples."
Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs and usually come after the verb.
For example: "He drives slowly."
A common mistake made by English language learners is using an adjective when they should be using an adverb or vice versa.
Pay close attention to whether the word is describing a verb or a noun/pronoun and use the correct form of the word accordingly.
3. Forming possessives incorrectly
Another common error made by those learning English is forming possessives incorrectly.
To form the possessive form of a singular noun, add an apostrophe + s ('s).
For example: "That cat's toys are under the bed."
To form the possessive form of a plural noun that doesn't end in s, add an apostrophe (') + s at the end.
For example: "That kid's bike is in the yard."
And to form the possessive form of a plural noun that does end in s, just add an apostrophe after the s (').
For example: "Those kids' bikes are in the yard."
4. Using too many prepositions
Prepositions are words that indicate position or direction and usually come before a noun or pronoun (e.g., under, below, over).
While there are many different prepositions in English, beginners tend to rely too heavily on just a few of them, such as "in," "on," and "at."
As a result, their writing sounds repetitive and dull.
If you find that you're using too many prepositions in your writing, try replacing them with other words or phrases where possible.
Instead of saying "I'm at home on my computer," you could say "I'm sitting in front of my computer at home."
Or instead of saying "I put my book under my pillow," you could say "I hid my book beneath my pillow."
By varying your vocabulary, you can make your writing sound much more natural and interesting to read.
5. Non-parallel structure
When two or more ideas are listed together but aren't grammatically parallel, it's called a non-parallel structure.
This is another mistake that can make your writing sound repetitive and boring because you're essentially saying the same thing multiple times using different grammar structures.
It can also be confusing for readers because they have to pay close attention to figure out what you're trying to say.
For example:
"He likes swimming, running, and to play soccer."
In this sentence, all three verbs should be either gerunds (swimming, running, playing) or infinitives (to swim, to run, to play).
As it stands, two of them are gerunds while one is an infinitive, which makes it incorrect.
To fix this problem, simply make sure that all of the ideas being listed together use parallel grammar structures. So, in our example sentence above, it would become:
"He likes swimming, running, and playing soccer."
Much better!
Conclusion
These are just five of the most common mistakes made by English language learners when writing in English.
However, if you pay close attention to your grammar and sentence structures, you can avoid making these mistakes and improve your writing skills significantly.
By doing so, you'll be able to communicate more effectively with others both in writing and speaking.