Examples of Writing Mistakes to Avoid

IDENTIFY at least one error in each sentence.

  1. Subject and verb always has to agree.
  2. When dangling, watch your participles.
  3. Do not use a foreign term when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
  4. If you must use a foreign term, it is de rigor to spell it correctly.
  5. Amongst other things, it behooves the writer to avoid utilizing archaic expressions.
  6. Do not use hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it effectively.
  7. Avoid cliches like the plague.
  8. Mixed metaphors are a pain in the neck, and ought to be thrown out of with the bathwater.
  9. Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct.
  10. To be sure parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
  11. Consult the dictionry frequently to avoid mispelling.
  12. Don't use tautological, repetitive, or redundant statements.
  13. Remember to never split an infinitive.
  14. Puns are for children, not for readers who are groan.
  15. The passive voice is to be avoided in order to produce formal writing.
  16. Use the apostrophe in it’s proper place, and omit it when its not needed.
  17. Don’t use no double negatives, no how.
  18. Proof read carefully to see if you have any words out.
  19. Hopefully, you will use words correctly irregardless of how others use them.
  20. Never utilize a long word when a diminutive one will suffice.
  21. Avoid colloquial stuff, totally.
  22. No sentence fragments.
  23. Remember to finish what you
  24. One will never have needed the future perfect in one’s entire life.
  25. If this were the subjunctive, I’m in the wrong mood.
  26. Unqualified superlatives are the worst.
  27. Surly grammarians insist that all words ending in "-ly" are adverbs, really.
  28. In statements evolving two word phrases, make an all out effort to use hyphens.
  29. It is not resultful to transform one part of speech into another by prefixing, suffixing, or other alterings.
  30. A preposition is something to never end a sentence with.
  31. If a dependent clause precedes an independent clause put a comma after the dependent clause.
  32. Using the rite words effects the jest of that to which you are eluding.
  33. Try to stay on topic, truth is a whole nother issue.
  34. Avoid saying that something is obviously true, especially when it isn't: It is just plain true that if you can not do something, then you cannot do something.
  35. Whether any claim is true depends ultimately on one's perspective.