Top 10 Grammar Mistakes Students Make in Essay Writing
Why Is English Grammar Important?
To an English learner, one of the most difficult aspects of learning English is learning correct English grammar.
The more you learn English, the more you will begin to understand how each part of the English language works and function together.
English is not the only language in the world that has grammar. However, English grammar is the most widely used in modern-day English, as it is taught at schools and is used in a huge number of works of literature, as well as for communication in business, trade, and academia.
Top 10 Grammatical Mistakes
Grammar mistakes are those which can cost you a lot of time and money. You can’t deny the fact that they can have a negative impact on your written communication and can also reflect your overall understanding of the language. So if you are interested in finding out, here are the top 10 grammar mistakes in English. These mistakes are the most common of them all. As a general rule, avoid these mistakes whenever you can.
Number 10: Passive Voice
In English, the passive voice of the sentence uses to describe people or actions. You can use the passive voice to create sympathy, create objectivity, or avoid responsibility. Passive voice is very common in legal writing. But it can also have a negative impact on your communication.
Number 9: Using the wrong preposition
A preposition is an optional particle that links nouns and verbs. They can also act as a complement, helping the verb to make a statement. In some languages, the preposition in “I love English because it is my favourite language.” is the subject, “English” is the object and “love” is the verb.
In English, “to love” is more a verb, and the “love” in the sentence is the object.
Number 8: Mixing of prepositions and conjunctions
Prepositions are used before the words to which they belong. Prepositions such as “by” and “in” go with a noun. But a lot of people use the conjunction “and” to connect the noun with the preposition.
Example: “She is a teacher.”
“She is a teacher and a mother.”
In the above example “and” means the same thing as “and.” But “and” is used as a conjunction when the next part of the sentence begins with “and” or “but.”
“She is a teacher, but she is also a mother.”
Number 7: Sentence Fragment
The sentence fragment is just what it sounds like, you got it punctuated like a complete sentence, but it’s not. Maybe it’s missing a verb, or maybe it’s missing a conjunction. So it’s wrong to say, “After I finished my homework,” because that sounds like you’re missing something. So you need to say, “the teacher offered bonus points,” or “because the teacher offered bonus points.” Comma, I did something
Number 6: Mixing pronouns
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are used to refer to people. They have a singular form, an “I,” “me,” or “you” and a plural form, “we,” “us,” and “you.” They can be combined with prepositions, adverbs, and other pronouns to refer to people and things.
Personal pronouns are used more often than they should be. They should be used as seldom as possible because they don’t mean anything in English.
Number 5: Unnecessary shifts in tense.
So this is probably another proofreading error. Maybe you go back in and change up a sentence or two in a paragraph, and then you don’t reread the whole paragraph to make sure that it still works. So if you start off in the past tense, keep it in the past. So it’s wrong to say the snake hissed at the cat, and the rat ran away in panic.
Number 4: Apostrophes
So the general rule is that you add the apostrophes to show possession. If the word already ends in s, you just put the apostrophe at the end. If it’s a name, like Socrates, then you still add the apostrophe s. Socrates’ three do not add an apostrophe to personal pronouns, so if it’s something like “hers,” you know it’s yours.” So these are all exceptions, you know, even the one with a name, so if they say “just put the apostrophe,” you know it’s their choice to do that.
Number 3, the comma splice.
This is a very common error indeed, all the way up to number eight. So what’s wrong with saying the elevator is broken? Take the stairs. Sounds okay, but if you listen carefully, you need an extra word there. You can also use the phrase “so take the stairs.” You can also use it to make two separate sentences, but you can’t just have the common one by itself.
So here is another one of those rules that you just have to memorise a list basically. So here is another one of those rules that I tend to see a lot in my own students’ writing. So here we have two, which is the number. I have two apples, which also means or too much. I have too much on my plate, or I like you too.
So here are some wrong prepositions. So again, this happens when you revise, so you go back in, you change up some stuff, and you might accidentally put the wrong verb in this slot; so, for example, the painter applying the techniques she learned in Venice should be the painter using the techniques she learned in Venice, so again, you have to be very mindful when you’re revising to go back and proofread to make sure that you haven’t put the wrong verb ending on some of your verts.
Number 2: Missing commas in a compound sentence
So if you have two sentences that you combined, remember that you need two things to do that. One is the comma. Two is the coordinating conjunction, aka the fanboys, so let’s look at the example.
So the girl likes oatmeal, but her brother prefers toast. It’s missing the comma, so the girl likes the Haute male comma, but her brother prefers toast. Now, if you’re not sure about this, look at the separate parts of the sentence and see that a complete sentence is a complete sentence. Do you have coordinating conjunction? One of the fans is always in between them. If so, you know you need to have the comma there.
Number 1: Pronoun Mistakes
Now remember the pronoun he, she, everybody, whatever it is, you need to make sure it’s clear to the reader what that pronoun stands in for what it’s substituting for, so usually no problem. So if you have a demonstrative pronoun, so these are words like this, these, and those, and then the relative pronouns who whom, who’s which in that, so those are the ones that are so you’re always going to double-check if you use a word like this or which or these, go back and look again, make sure it’s obvious what it goes with, and if you don’t know, ask somebody Sarah Julie Dakota and Wynonna arrived last night.
She forgot her passport at home, so you see, you got all those girls there, and you say she is not. I know the reader has no idea who it was, so take it out. She put the name there, another error. The embargo shut down shops, raised inflation, and bankrupted businesses. So again, you have a list of three different things, and then you say, “This damaged the King’s reputation.” So let’s look at some examples.
According to my watch, it is now six o’clock. So when you hear that little gap, it should be a clue that you need to put something there. In this case, a comma. However, I agree that you make some excellent points. So again, if you read it out loud and listen, you will hear that there’s a slight pause, so you need to put a comma there. However, comma placement is up to you.
I agree that you make some excellent points all right, so those are the 20 most common errors.