Top 10 Student Writing Mistakes: Finals Edition

The Grammarly Editor has reviewed thousands of essays, term papers, and short stories from students of all ages. As a result, we’ve been able to collect data on the most common types of mistakes that student writers are making. As finals season approaches, take a look at the errors on the list below to brush up on your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Good writing habits will not only serve you well in school, but written accuracy benefits professionals throughout their careers.

1Spelling mistakes

Many spelling mistakes occur when incorrect homophones (words with the same pronunciation, such as “right,” “rite,” and “write”) are used in a sentence.

Watch you’re words! Spell-check may not sea words that are miss used because they are spelled rite!

Watch your words! Spell check may not see words that are misused because they are spelled right!

2Run-on sentences (no comma before a coordinating conjunction)

A coordinating conjunction connects two clauses that could be sentences on their own. You can use the acronym FANBOYS to remember the most common coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Unless the clauses are very short and closely related, you need a comma before the conjunction. If you forget to put a comma before the conjunction, it becomes a run-on sentence.

My dog barks at the mailman but she’s too lazy to chase him.

Solution: Check to see if the clauses before and after the conjunction could be sentences on their own. If so, insert a comma before the conjunction.

My dog barks at the mailman, but she’s too lazy to chase him.

3Sentence fragments

A sentence fragment is a sentence that’s missing a subject (the thing doing the action) or a verb (the action).

An epic all-nighter!

Solution: Add a subject or verb to the fragment, as needed.

I pulled an epic all-nighter!

4No comma after an introductory phrase

An introductory phrase provides some background information and is usually followed by a comma. The comma is optional when the phrase is very short.

While a Thanksgiving commercial played on the TV she was at the library trying to study for her final exams.

While a Thanksgiving commercial played on the TV, she was at the library trying to study for her final exams.

At long last I made it home. OR: At long last, I made it home.

5Wordiness

A sentence is wordy if it uses more words than necessary to convey meaning. Wordiness often makes writing unclear.

Jessica ended up having to walk all the way home due to the fact that she missed the last train leaving Central Station.

Solution: Identify long phrases that can be replaced with a single word. Eliminate words that have the same meaning. Eliminate weak words, such as “basically” and “sort of.” Eliminate nonessential information.

Jessica walked home because she missed the last train.

6Comma splicing

A comma splice occurs when you use a comma to connect two clauses that could be sentences on their own.

He bought back-to-school clothes, his mom bought a scarf.

Solution: Add a coordinating conjunction (remember: FANBOYS) after the comma, or change the comma to a period, semicolon, or colon.

He bought back-to-school clothes, and his mom bought a scarf. OR: He bought back-to-school clothes. His mom bought a scarf.

7Comma misuse (inside a compound subject)

A compound subject uses a conjunction to connect more than one noun phrase.

My roommate, and his brother, went to see a movie.

My roommate and his brother went to see a movie.

8No commas around interrupters

Interrupters are phrases that break the flow of a sentence to provide additional detail. Put commas around interrupters.

It was unfortunately the end of winter vacation.

It was, unfortunately, the end of winter vacation.

9Squinting modifiers

A squinting modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that could modify the word before it or the word after it.

Students who study rarely get bad grades.

Solution: Put the modifier next to the word it should modify.

Students who rarely study get bad grades. OR: Students who study get bad grades rarely.

10Subject-verb agreement

Singular subjects take singular verbs and plural subjects take plural verbs.

Michael study at the library every day.

Michael studies at the library every day.

There you have it: the top ten student writing mistakes, just in time for finals. The writing skills that come from identifying common errors will help you make clearer points in your writing now and in the future. I encourage you to print out this post and take it to class with you next semester. You never know when a teacher might assign you a back-to-school essay on the first day. Happy writing and stay tuned for more tips designed to take your writing to the next level!

Quotation Marks: Rules How to Use Them Correctly

• We use quotation marks with direct quotes, with titles of certain works, to imply alternate meanings, and to write words as words.
• Block quotations are not set off with quotation marks.
• The quoted text is capitalized if you’re quoting a complete sentence and not capitalized if you’re quoting a fragment.
• Commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks in American English; dashes, colons, and semicolons almost always go outside the quotation marks; question marks and exclamation marks sometimes go inside, sometimes stay outside.
• In American English, single quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.

When to Use Quotation Marks

Quotation marks are for when you want to use someone else’s words in your writing. Let’s say you want to write about something you heard your friend say. You could do it like this:

John said, “I really hate when it’s hot outside.”

You can write about the same thing without using the quotation marks, with a couple of changes:

John said he hated when it was hot outside.

The first sentence contains a direct quote, a quote in which you report the exact words John used. The second sentence contains an indirect quote, which is a paraphrased version of what John said. Quotation marks are used only with direct quotes.

This rule isn’t just for speech. If you’re quoting a written source, you should still put the quote between quotation marks unless you plan to paraphrase it.

Run-in and Block Quotations

Direct quotations come in two different forms: run-in and block. Run-in quotations are shorter and they are formatted the same as the surrounding text. Block quotes, are long quotes that are separated from the surrounding text. Usually, they appear as a separate paragraph (or series of paragraphs) with a different font, a change in the line spacing, or a wider margin. In any case, block quotes don’t need quotation marks to set them off from the remaining text, even though they are direct quotes.

And in case you’re wondering just how long a quote needs to get for it to be a block quote, it varies from one style guide to another. If you have to follow a style guide, you should check it for best practices. If you don’t have to follow a style guide, set your own rule (like five lines of text makes a block quotation), and stick to it.

Quotation Mark Rules

The first rule of using quotations is that once they’re opened, they have to be closed. The person reading your work needs to know where the quote starts and where it ends. But that’s an easy one. What about some trickier quotation mark rules?

Quotations and Capitalization

Sometimes, the text inside quotation marks is capitalized, other times it isn’t. Capitalization of the quoted material depends on the material itself—if you’re quoting a complete sentence, you should start the quote with a capital letter, even if the quote is placed in the middle of a sentence:

The exact phrase she used was “There is no way we will get there in time.”

If you’re quoting a phrase or a part of a sentence, don’t start the quote with a capital letter:

He called them “loud, smelly, and utterly annoying,” and he closed the door.

If you’re splitting a quote in half to interject a parenthetical, you should not capitalize the second part of the quote:

“The problem with opinions,” Paula explained, “is that everyone has one.”

Quotation Marks and Other Punctuation Marks

Does punctuation go inside or outside quotation marks? This question mostly refers to the sentence-ending punctuation marks—punctuation marks that introduce a quote are never placed within quotation marks.

Sentence-ending punctuation is a whole different story. In the United States, the rule of thumb is that commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks, and colons and semicolons (dashes as well) go outside:

“There was a storm last night,” Paul said.

Peter, however, didn’t believe him. “I’m not sure that’s exactly what happened.”

Peter was aware of what he called “Paul’s weakness triangle”: he was half deaf, slept like a log, and was prone to lying.

Paul saw an argument coming, so he muttered only “But I saw it”; this was going to be a long night and he didn’t want to start it with a fight.

Question marks and exclamation points have their own rules.

If they apply to the quoted material, they go within the quotation marks. If they apply to the whole sentence, they go outside it:

Sandy asked them, “Why do you guys always fight?”

Did the dog bark every time he heard Sandy say “I’m bringing dinner”?

Quotes Within Quotes

So now you know how to deal with quotation marks and punctuation and capitalization, but what if the quote you want to take already contains quotation marks? This can happen, too. Say you want to write a direct quote in which someone is praising their favorite chapter from one of the Harry Potter books. Would you do it like this?

““The Dementor’s Kiss” is my favorite chapter in the whole series,” Tom said.

It doesn’t work, does it? You might even manage to confuse your word processing program. But if you do it like this, everything will look much better:

“‘The Dementor’s Kiss’ is my favorite chapter in the whole series,” Tom said.

See how that worked better? We use single quotation marks for quotes within quotes.

Other Uses of Quotation Marks: Titles of Short Works, Words as Words, Scare Quotes

Besides setting off other people’s words, quotation marks have a couple of other uses. Depending on the style guide you’re using, you might use quotation marks to emphasize titles of all types of compositions (AP Stylebook), or just short compositions (most of the other style guides). Titles of books, albums, magazines, newspapers, and other standalone and bigger bodies of work are usually italicized. Poems, chapters, articles—smaller bodies of work, or bodies of work which form a larger body of work—are emphasized by using quotation marks.

You can also use quotation marks to signify words used as words. For example: “inhale” means to take a breath. The quotation marks show that you’re talking about the word itself, not the action of inhaling. However, you’ll often hear that it’s better to italicize words used as words rather than put them in quotation marks—different style guides might prescribe different rules.

Some writers put quotes around words they want to distance themselves from. Quotation marks used this way are commonly called scare quotes or shudder quotes. It’s a way of implying that you’re using a term in an unusual way or that you don’t necessarily approve of it:

This article was written by a “professional” writer.

Scare quotes are sort of like air quotes, and if you know anything about air quotes, you know that they should be used in moderation. The same applies to scare quotes.

You might see quotation marks used instead of parentheses for translations. So you can write translations like this:

She told him bonjour (good day) when they met.

But you can also do it like this:

She told him bonjour, “good day,” when they met.

Single Quotation Marks

We’ve already mentioned that single quotation marks can be used for quotes within quotes. But that’s not all they can do—they can also be used instead of parentheses for translations, but in that case, they don’t have to be separated by commas:

She told him bonjour ‘good day’ when they met.

Highly specialized terms in certain fields can also be written within single quotation marks:

Many scholars still argue about Lacan’s ‘desire’ and its implications.

You can also see single quotation marks instead of double quotation marks in headlines of newspaper articles. And of course, all of these rules apply to American English—single vs. double quotation marks is a whole different story in British English.

Not-So-Sweet Game 5: Background Noise Nuisances vs. Should’ve Spoken IRL

In the battle for the worst call habits, we’ve had some solid contenders. Our followers overwhelmingly agreed that background noise and calling instead of chatting in person are two of the worst. Do you agree? Vote for the absolute worst below.

Background Noise Nuisances

We’ve all joined a call where the other participants sounded like they were either in an echo chamber, a wind tunnel, or the middle of Times Square. Nobody likes those calls, and nobody likes distracting background noise.

When You Should’ve Spoken IRL

Or, in an attempt to save time and energy on the team, you condense an update on a project to an email then zip it off to the stakeholders. A few hours later you’ve got an inbox full of questions and at least one very confused engineer. You’ve drastically underestimated the complexity of the update; you should have spoken in real life.

What Does Imperative Mean?

Imperative can be one of the following:

• An adjective meaning “completely necessary” or “very important,” but also “commanding.”
• A noun meaning “a necessity” or “something that is not avoidable,” but also “a command.”
• In grammar, imperative is also one of the four main verb moods.

Imperative is one of those words that shouldn’t be thrown around unless there’s a very good reason for it. Not everything in the word is imperative, or an imperative. But if you’re not sure what the definition of imperative is and what it has to do with imperative sentences, you’re in the right place. We’ll explain what imperative means, how to use it in a sentence, and how imperative sentences are different from indicative sentences.

Imperative Definition

When you define the word imperative, you should note that it can be an adjective and a noun. In both cases, imperative has two distinct meanings: one of urgency, necessity, and importance and another of trying to influence other people’s actions.

The adjective imperative means that something is of the utmost importance or necessity. It can also mean that something is commanding. Similarly, the noun imperative means “something of the utmost importance or necessity”—something imperative. It also means “a command.”

What Is an Imperative Sentence?

Imperative can be traced all the way back to the Latin word imperare, which means “to command.” This is the sense in which the word is used today in grammar, and you might have seen it going together with the words mood and sentence.

The imperative mood is one of the four main verb moods in the English language. As opposed to verb tenses, which indicate time, moods indicate states. The imperative mood indicates the state of commanding. Here’s an example of an imperative sentence:

Sit down and eat your lunch.

In this sentence, someone is giving a command. It can be easily distinguished from indicative sentences, which simply state that something has happened:

He sat down and ate his lunch.

In case you’ve noticed that imperative sentences sometimes don’t have a subject, you should know that they do, even if it’s not actually written in the sentence. You is the subject in this case, but since it’s not written, it’s called you understood, and it’s written as (you).

Imperative—How to Use It

If you’re wondering how to use the word imperative in a sentence—simply put it there when you want to describe something as very important. The place of imperative on the scale of adjectives that imply importance is debatable, but it is certain that something that is imperative is more important than something that is nonessential, trivial, unimportant, or optional. These words are the antonyms of imperative. Its synonyms include the words crucial, vital, critical, and pressing.

On the other hand, imperative can also be used to say that something is commanding. So a person who speaks with an imperative tone of voice is probably a person who is used to issuing commands.

As for the imperative mood, you make it by taking the infinitive of a verb and removing to. Use it when you want to issue commands and orders, but also when you want to make requests—just remember to add please to the sentence.

Imperative Examples

In my view, mediamacro and its focus on the deficit played an important role in winning the Conservatives the 2015 general election. —New Statesman

It was “imperative” that the rules ensured bosses could not avoid their responsibilities to pay pensions, they added. —BBC

“Acting East” is no longer just an option but an imperative for Indian foreign policy. —The Japan Times

The need for an honest evaluation of the military’s flaws and failures becomes an imperative for those with a sincere and substantive desire to “support the troops.” —Salon

Cases of Pronouns: Rules and Examples

Case refers to the form a noun or pronoun takes depending on its function in a sentence. English pronouns have three cases: subjective, objective, and possessive.

Subjective Pronouns

The subjective (or nominative) pronouns are I, you (singular), he/she/it, we, you (plural), they and who. A subjective pronoun acts as a subject in a sentence. See the sentences below for illustration:

I have a big chocolate bar.

You have some ice cream.

He has a cake.

We could have a party.

They could come, too.

Who should be invited?

Objective Pronouns

The objective (or accusative) case pronouns are me, you (singular), him/her/it, us, you (plural), them and whom. (Notice that form of you and it does not change.) The objective case is used when something is being done to (or given to, etc.) someone. The sentences below show this use of the objective case:

Give the chocolate to me, please.

Why should I give it to you?

You could give it to him, instead.

Please share it with all of us.

Do we have to share it with them?

Possessive Pronouns

There are two types of possessive pronouns. The first type is used with nouns my, your (singular), his, her, your (plural), its, their, our. The other type of pronouns are sometimes called independent possessive pronouns, because they can stand alone. They are mine, yours (singular), his, hers, ours, yours (plural) and theirs. The possessive pronouns show that something (or someone) belongs to someone (or something).

That’s my shirt.

That shirt is mine.

The house is theirs.

It’s their house.

The dog is scratching its ear.