Five Fatal Flaws: Avoid / correct these errors when writing.

Five Fatal Flaws: Avoid/correct these errors when writing.

Run-Ons A run-on occurs when a writer attempts to join two independent clauses without punctuation, or without a coordinating conjunction.

Example:Deelra ran the hurdles in record time Shawnaplaced second. Solution:Deelra ran the hurdles in record time. Shawnaplaced second. (Make two sentences out of the run-on sentence by adding a period.) Solution:Deelra ran the hurdles in record time, but Shawna placed second. (Add a coordinating conjunction FOR, AND, NOR, BUT, OR, YET, SO after the comma. Solution:Deelra ran the hurdles in record time; Shawnaplaced second. (Separate the independent clauses with a semicolon.)

Comma SplicesA comma splice results from joining two independent clauses only by a comma.

Example: I don’t know where the oil paints are, they were over by the easel. Solution: I don’t know where the oil paints are. They were over by the easel. (Make two sentences by separating the first clause from the second with end punctuation, such as a period or a question mark, and start the second sentence with a capital letter.) Solution: I don’t know where the oil paints are, but they were over by the easel. (Add a coordinating conjunction after the comma.) Solution: I don’t know where the oil paints are; they were over by the easel. (Place a semicolon between the main clauses of the sentence.)

FragmentsA fragment is an incomplete sentence starting with a capital letter and ending with a period or other end forms of punctuation. Fragments lack a subject or a verb or both.

Example: He enjoys flowers and shrubs. Which help screen his yard from the street. (Note: “which” will never start a sentence, but it may begin a question. Solution: He enjoys flowers and shrubs. They help screen his yard from the street.

Example: Having driven across the desert. We enjoyed the cool weather. Solution: Having driven across the desert, we enjoyed the cool weather.

Subject/Verb AgreementAgreement means that if a subject is plural, the verb must have a plural form, and if the subject is singular, the verb must have a singular form.

Singular: The rose in the vase is beautiful. (“rose” is the subject and needs the singular verb “is”) Plural: The roses in the vase are beautiful. (“roses” is the subject and needs a plural verb “are” – Note: “in the vase” is a prepositional phrase – subjects won’t be found inside prepositional phrases!)

Singular: The student needs attention. (“student” is the subject; “needs” is the verb) Plural: The students need attention. (“students” is the subject; “need” is the verb)

Singular: A zinnia blooms best in the sun (“zinnia” is the subject; “blooms” is the verb) Plural: Zinnias bloom best in the sun (“Zinnias” is the subject; “bloom” is the verb)

Apostrophe errors:Apostrophes show possession—ownership—for nouns and some indefinite pronouns.

The apostrophe marks omissions in contractions and numbers. Examples: don’t; they’ll; can’t; won’t; class of ‘11

Depending on the editing of the times, the apostrophe and -s form the plural of some lower-case letters referred to as words and upper case letters representing specific information and in numbers indicating periods of time or years—the preference in this classroom follows. Examples: his p’s and q’s; too many F’s; allof the ifs and ands; his 7s; the 1990s

Personal pronouns and plural nouns that are not possessive do not take an apostrophe.ours, yours, hers, theirsIts motor is small. Its name is Spot.

Misspelled Words/ HomonymsSpelling problems are highly visible, and misspellings may make a reader doubt whether the writer can present information clearly and correctly.

Examples: always, all ways; break, brake; choose, chose; desert, dessert; fair, fare; hear, here; lead, led; lose, loose; passed, past; plain, plane; sense, since; than, then; there, their; they’re; threw, through, thorough; to, too, two; weather, whether; were, where, ware; who’s, whose; your, you’re; quiet, quite, quit

Abbreviations, Slang, and E-mail Speak

Abbreviations are usually marked with periods. • "Some abbreviations are acceptable within sentences because they have come to function as the full equivalent of words.” • This is the case when the abbreviation has become a word in its own right or when it substitutes for words from another language.

An example would be “Dr.” as a title. Never use the symbol “&” for “and,” “b/c” for “because,” “w/” for “with,” or “OMG” for “oh, my, God!” these show laziness, not correct or modern language, and they’re not formal. Never use made-up spellings of words like “plz” for “please” or “cuz” for “because.” Never use slang or e-mail speak when writing a formal paper.

Five Fatal Flaws: Avoid / correct these errors when writing.