ENGLISH 9

Common Errors Revisited

After each assignment you complete, I like to go over the main errors that appear in more than one paper. This handout will be important as you need to use it as a reminder guide for your next writing assignment.

1. Past tense forms of “smell” and “learn” and “dream”

To make these words part of the past tense, you must add “ed” to the words. If you don’t, you have some pretty silly mistakes.

ie. Smell + t = smelt (which is a small fish)

Learn + t = learnt (which is NOT a word)

Dream + t = dreamt or dreampt (which are both NOT words)

2. The words “saw” and “seen”

The word “saw” is past tense, and so is the word “seen.” However, you can’t use the verb “seen” without its helpers, “has, have, or had.”

ie. I seen a huge flock of colorful birds fly by.

I saw a huge flock of colorful birds fly by.

I have (or had) seen a huge flock of colorful birds fly by.

3. The phrases “must of” and “could of”

Both of these phrases are WRONG. Students make this mistake because of the contractions used in speech (must’ve and could’ve). This goes to show why contractions can be dangerous. Always expand contractions and you won’t make this mistake.

I must’ve done something wrong.

ie. I must of done something wrong.

I must have done something wrong.

4. The words “but, so, and”

These words are called conjunctions. Their job is to connect two sentences together and should NEVER start a sentence. There are many other conjunctions and if used when you write, can add variety to your sentences.

ie. I wanted an ice cream. But, when I asked my friend for some money, she said no.

ie. I wanted an ice cream, but when I asked my friend for some money, she said no.

5. Languages

Any time you refer to a spoken language, it always must be capitalized.

ie. The girl on the beach spoke no English and I spoke no Chinese.

I couldn’t wait to eat at Tokyo’s most famous Japanese restaurant.

6. Numbers and use of exact times/dates.

All numbers under twenty should be spelled out. Exact times (ie. 8:15 pm) should not be used unless there is a specific reason for the exact time to be remembered by the reader. SHOW the time of day through description, don’t just list a time.

ie. I ordered 3 helpings of the fruit salad as it was so fresh and tasty.

I ordered three helpings of the fruit salad as it was so fresh and tasty.

At 8:15 am our bus came to the front of the hotel.

We just made it to the front of our hotel after our scrumptious early morning breakfast when the bus arrived.

7. Punctuation in dialogue.

Many writers missed out of some key punctuation in dialogue.

ie. “I can’t go any deeper into the ocean,” Martha exclaimed, “or I’ll surely drown.”

·  a comma is needed after the first set of dialogue.

·  a comma comes after the word that says how it was spoken because the sentence is going to continue.

“I can’t go any deeper into the ocean or I’ll surely drown,” Martha exclaimed.

·  a comma comes at the end of the dialogue before the quotation marks.

·  a period ends the sentence.

“I can’t go any deeper into the ocean,” Martha exclaimed. “If I do, I know I will surely drown.”

·  two sentences spoken by Martha with the speaker and way of speaking separating the two.

·  the comma goes after the first spoken sentence. A period after how it is spoken. Then a new set of quotation marks for the next line spoken by the SAME speaker.

8. Sentence variety – what does this mean?

Sentence variety is an issue of style. What this means is that you should have a variety of sentence types as well as a variety of sentence beginnings. If you have the same types of sentences or the same sentence beginnings back to back, the writing will sound very choppy and clarity will be sacrificed.

ie. I couldn’t wait to go to the restaurant. I knew what I wanted to order. Pancakes are my favorite breakfast. The waiter gladly took my order of blueberry pancakes. I could taste the sweet blueberries already.

I couldn’t wait to go to the restaurant and order my favorite breakfast food, which were pancakes. As the waiter approached our table, my stomach was growling with hunger. He leaned forward and gladly took my order for blueberry pancakes. With my mouth watering, I could taste those sweet blueberries already.

9. Paragraph Breaks

When writing a narrative, any time that you have a change in time, activity, location – any type of change, a paragraph break is REQUIRED.

Also, when writing about something really suspenseful, descriptive or adventurous, you can break the paragraphs any place you want to keep the reader intrigued. A paragraph break means the reader must pause – use this to your advantage. A paragraph can be as short as ONE sentence.