Common writing errors and what to do about them
From our own experience and research here are our top 10 most common errors found in business writing and what to do about them.
1. Incorrect use of commas
A comma indicates a pause and should not appear between two independent clauses without a conjunction. Commas can be used to separate items on a list or mark out the less important parts in a sentence.
2. Lack of subject and verb agreement
The verb must always agree with its subject and changes depending on whether the subject is singular or plural e.g. the room (subject singular) was (verb) full or the rooms (subject plural) were (verb) full.
3. Apostrophes in the wrong place
Apostrophes are used to indicate ownership or possession e.g. the girl's hat and are also used to show the omission of letters e.g. don't.
A common mistake is the use of 'it's' instead of 'its'. A simple way to test for the correct use is to replace 'it's' with 'it is' to see if the sentence still makes sense. So "The group made it's (it is) decision" is incorrect and should be "The group made its decision".
4. Splitting infinitives
Splitting infinitives is not as frowned upon as it used to be but it is good practice to keep the infinitive whole.
An infinitive is a 'to' plus a verb e.g. "to run". If an adverb is placed between the 'to' and the verb is has been split e.g. "to quickly run". It is better to put the adverb after the verb e.g. "to run quickly".
5. Confusion between I and me
A simple way to check for errors is to take the other person out of the sentence to see if it still makes sense e.g. "Tom and me went to the cinema last week" becomes "me went to the cinema last week" which is incorrect so 'I' must be used instead.
6. Using affect instead of effect
Although there are some exceptions the general rule is that affect is a verb and effect is an noun e.g. "She was deeply affected by the news" versus "The knock on effect of the storm was significant".
7. i.e. versus e.g.
Both of these abbreviations stand for Latin phrases i.e. stands for 'id est' which translates into 'that is' and is used in place of 'in other words' or 'in essence'.