As an avid reader, I often notice writing or grammar mistakes in professionally published works. Quickanddirtytips.com surveyed editors at Macmillan Publishers and asked them to rank the most common writing and grammar mistakes they see.  With the writer being so close to his/her work, the editors are who catch most of these common mistakes:

1.       Misplaced Commas – Commas are overused.  They are not necessary for every pause you would take while speaking.

2.       Wordy Sentences – It’s always wise to use as few words as possible.  Sentences that go on an on lose the reader.

3.       Run-on Sentences – If a sentence seems too long, it probably is.  Use commas as necessary, but most often it’s best to split into two sentences.

4.       Lack of Parallel Structure – Do you remember this from grade school?  We often forget about it. When listing items, they should all have the same grammatical structure.  For example, “I like to read about generosity, sympathizing, and empathy” is incorrect.  The correct structure would be “I like to read about generosity, sympathy, and empathy.”

5.       Passive Structure – Passive structure can weaken your writing.  Try to avoid it.  For example “The dog chased the squirrel” is much stronger than “The squirrel was chased by the dog.”

6.       Wrong Word Choice – Be careful when writing words with different spellings such as, lose vs. loose or their vs. there.

7.       Sentence Fragments – Be sure that all your sentences are complete sentences. If you use a fragmented sentence purposefully, consider using an en dash or em dash to connect it to the prior sentence.  When in doubt, convert it to a complete sentence.

8.       Vague Pronoun References -   Sometimes the way a sentence is written makes the pronoun too vague.  For example, “When Sara found the dog she was very happy.”  Who was happy, Sara or the dog?

9.       Overused Ellipses & Em Dashes – Many writers overuse these.  Use them sparingly.

10.   Improper Use of Quotations – Quotations should not be used to emphasize a word.  Instead, use bold or italics.  Save quotation marks for direct quotes. 

Hopefully these tips will help you for your next writing project.  I find them to be great reminders.