Writing is universally loved by all of us, but only several percent take it seriously, or even make a career out of it. Despite that, everyone should practice writing and avoid common errors to rely on what is truly in their mind. If you’re an aspiring poet, essay hobbyist, or freelance writer, writing errors are surely still in your texts. In today’s article, we venture and discover some common writing errors that you should address and avoid as soon as possible.
Tiresome text
It is normal to produce identical phrases to construct a sentence, however, it is classified as one common writer’s mistake, and you should make an effort to correct it if you have committed one in the past. The reason is that the sentence can easily be shortened by cutting down some words or even removing an entire phrase, making the text a lot easier to read.
Sentence fragments
Words and phrases should be grouped using punctuations or conjunctions to make up a sentence. Sometimes, writers fall victim to sentence fragments which are mostly phrases that are deemed independent and don’t make any sense. To avoid sentence fragments, try deconstructing the sentence you have formed and determine whether each can form a thought even when divided.
Dangling modifiers
Modifiers should be placed near the words they affect or describe. Normally, writers would omit the modified words, leaving modifiers hanging and existing without any use for a sentence. Most of the time, dangling modifiers also confuse the whole sentence, so determining if your text has one is crucial.
Omitted punctuations
The comma isn’t just the punctuation that a lot of people disregard when writing a sentence. There are optional ones including colon, semicolon, dash, and hyphen. They’re not necessarily needed at most times, but using these punctuations would allow the readers to understand the text a lot better and easier.
Unnecessary punctuations
Punctuations hold power as they modify the rhythm and flow of a sentence. That said, adding too many and unnecessary punctuations to a text would only make it more confusing. Commas are mostly the ones that are misused since people are mostly free to use them whenever they please. However, usage of commas should still be moderated, and should only be used when necessary to remain the clarity of the text.
Confusing words
Words that are identical in terms of spelling are easily confused by many writers. With different words in the English vocabulary, you can forgive yourself if you have fall victim to this mistake. To avoid this from happening, practice proofreading and edit a lot slower than usual to spot your mistakes.