Essay Writing Mistakes: The 3 Ss and How to Correct Them

Guest Post by Jennifer Frost, LoroCreative

“To write is human, to edit is divine.” — Stephen King

You’ve probably already read and heard the tips on how to write an essay, from developing a thesis statement to crafting an unforgettable conclusion. But you may still dread showing your work to others because you are not sure if you’ve missed some errors or failed to follow a rule. Maybe you don’t have a teacher, an editor, or a friend beside you all the time to identify the parts of your writing that you need to correct or improve. So today, we will help you become your own editor and share with you a checklist of common writing mistakes based on the key areas of an essay, the 3 Ss: Substance, Structure, and Sources.

SUBSTANCE

Common Mistake # 1: Too Many Topics

Having too many topics in your essay would defeat the purpose of your thesis statement, the main point of your essay. Have you ever been asked about your dream job and you end up talking about your summer vacation, your mother’s fight with her boss, or your trip abroad next month? If so, then you’ve got to narrow it down

What to do


Use these guide questions to help you craft a focused thesis statement: What is the essay question? What are the requirements? Do all your paragraphs support your answer to the essay question? Are you expected to inform, argue, narrate, or persuade your readers?

Focus on the question. Focus on your answer. When you’re asked to describe your mother, don’t talk about how naughty your sister is or how busy your father is. Describe how your mother takes care of you, your sister, and your father.

Common Mistake # 2: Lack of Evidence Caused by Obsession with Adjectives and Adverbs

You might be always describing people and how they do things: “My teacher is beautiful. She teaches us excellently.”

But your readers might ask: “What made you say your teacher is beautiful? Why is she an excellent teacher? How does she teach?”

You can write all the adjectives and adverbs that sound good to the ears but your point remains unclear.

What to do

Don’t describe people; explain your description of them. Don’t describe how they do things; show how they do things. You can also use examples, evidence, or information from scholastic documents.

Take a look at this sentence: “Aside from her blue eyes and good posture, my teacher’s beauty shines when she encourages us to read and act the stories in class.”

Isn’t this clearer than the previous sentence?

STRUCTURE

Common Mistake # 3: Comma Splices, Run-on Sentences, and Missing Commas

A comma splice happens when two independent clauses are joined together by a comma. A run-on sentence is a combination of two independent clauses with no proper punctuation. Commas are necessary when there are three or more items that appear in a list and when separating clauses from one another.

What to do

When in doubt, check a grammar book when evaluating your use of commas. There are several ways to fix a comma splice and a run-on sentence. Keep in mind that commas are used not only for the structure of a sentence but to distinguish ideas and elements.

Common Mistake # 4: Passive Sentences The passive voice occurs when in a sentence, the subject is not the doer of the action but is being acted upon by the verb. According to Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab, using the passive voice might lead to awkward sentences, but it is acceptable when the information being delivered needs more attention than the doer or carrier of that information. One example is the result of a study where “the writing appears to convey information that is not limited or biased by individual perspectives or personal interests.”

What to do

Changing passive into active voice starts with recognizing the subject and turning the tense of the verb into the same tense as the helper, and ending the sentence with the receiver of the action. Here is an example from the Language Portal of Canada:

Passive: The novel Obasan was written by Joy Kogawa. Active: Joy Kogawa wrote the novel Obasan.

SOURCES
 Common Mistake # 5: Plagiarism

Common Mistake # 5: Plagiarism The Harvard Guide to Using Sources defines plagiarism as the practice of not crediting an idea or any language to its original source, such as un-cited quotation and un-cited or inadequate paraphrase. Committing plagiarism has serious consequences. Moreover, it may be easy to copy-past information from the Internet nowadays, but you know what’s the most difficult here? This habit teaches you to be lazy and become a thief.

What to do

Style Guides, such as APA, MLA, and Chicago, are accessible online and in the nearest libraries. The topics and rules are organized in a way that it would be easy for you to find the instructions you are looking for. Remember that citing your sources properly is not only a way of respecting others but it can also boost your credibility and commitment to keeping your work professional.

Editing a paper may seem tough for it requires a fresh pair of eyes and the willingness to grow as a writer. However, it’s good to remember that revisions are signs of growth and respect for your readers, and they can always be turned into better visions for your future writings.

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Jennifer Frost — Jennifer is a blogger, writer, mother, wife, and English teacher located in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She’s an open-minded person who loves to travel, while exploring new places, foreign cultures, and learning new languages.

Grammarly Scholarship Rules

Scholarship prompts:

• How are reading and writing interconnected?
• How has reading improved the way you write?

Who is eligible to participate? Participants in Grammarly’s scholarship contest must be residents of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico). In addition, each participant must either be:

• Currently attending an accredited college or university, and enrolled in a two year, undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree program
• Planning to attend an accredited college or university, and to be enrolled in such a program within one year after the scholarship is awarded

Grammarly will award the scholarship directly to the accredited institution.

Detailed instructions about what an entrant must submit, where, and how. Entrants must submit a concise, grammatically accurate 5-10 paragraph essay in response to the writing prompts provided by Grammarly (listed in the “Scholarship prompts” section above). The essay must be between 500 and 1,000 words.

All entries must be submitted prior to February 24, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. PT by emailing scholarship@grammarly.com.

Please submit only one entry per person.

The start and end (date and time) of the competition. Deadline for receipt of entries. Grammarly’s scholarship competition will begin on January 23, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. PT. Entries will be accepted through February 24, 2014 at 12:00 p.m. PT.

The available prizes. One grand prize winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship to be awarded directly to the accredited institution that the student attends.

List the criteria by which the winner will be selected and how the winner will be notified. The grand prize winner will be notified by email by March 24, 2014.

No purchase is necessary.  Essays will be reviewed by the Grammarly team, who will be judging the entries based on:

• Essay format (typical five-paragraph essay with thesis and supporting ideas)
• Length (between 500 and 1,000 words)
• Creativity of responses
• Introduction of unique ideas or arguments

Winners will be chosen at the sole discretion of the Grammarly team.

The number of entries permitted for each entrant. One

Any restrictions on eligibility or the award of prizes. Submitting an essay for consideration to Grammarly’s scholarship contest constitutes permission for Grammarly to use your name, your entire essay or excerpts from your essay, and other information relating to your participation publicly.

How and when a list of winners may be obtained. The winner will be announced on March 24, 2014, or by submitting a request by email to scholarship@grammarly.com.

The corporate name and physical address of the sponsor.

Grammarly, Inc. 548 Market Street #35410 San Francisco, CA 94104

Into or In To—How Do I Use Them?

A common error is to confuse into, spelled as one word, with the two words in to. When deciding which is right for your sentence, remember that into is a preposition that shows what something is within or inside. As separate words, in and to sometimes simply wind up next to each other.

A preposition is a word that shows a relationship, usually in terms of space or time, between words in a clause or phrase. Put simply, a preposition is a positioning word. Prepositions such as before, after, and since position elements in time; one thing happens before another, after another, etc. Some prepositions that position elements in space are over, under, around, through, on, off, in, and of course, into.

Generally speaking, into places something physically inside something else. The thing that does the containing may be concrete or it may be abstract.

Please put the cat into his carrier so we can go see the vet.

She placed her letter into a pink envelope and sealed it with a kiss.

Fred touched the amulet and was whisked off into another dimension.

Felicia neatly sorted all her files into separately labeled folders.

Confusion regarding into vs. in to really only arises because in our mind’s ear, the two sound exactly the same. But the decision about which one to use is usually a simple one to make. Does something wind up within something else by the end of your sentence, whether it be within something concrete, like a box, or something abstract, like a timeframe? If the answer is yes, you need to write into as one word.

Feeling more confident? Naturally, there is an exception to this rule, just to mess you up.

When “Into” Denotes Transformation

The only time when into does not involve a sense of within is when some kind of change or transformation has taken place.

The caterpillar changed into a butterfly and left its cocoon behind.

In developing countries, ceramic filters are often used to transform dirty water into clean, drinkable water.

Predictably, Cinderella’s coach turned into a pumpkin at midnight.

”In” and “To” as Neighboring Words

In and to are both prepositions or adverbs in their own right (and in may sometimes be an adjective). When they fall logically next to each other in a sentence, you may find yourself having to resist the temptation to squish them together typographically.

One pitfall appears when you use in as part of a phrasal verb. Many verbs join forces with in to form a completely new meaning. For example, to drop and to drop in are radically different actions. When an inhat is part of a phrasal verb falls next to a to, accidents happen.

I dropped into say hello.

I dropped in to say hello.

Is say hello a place you can drop into and land inside of? No, it isn’t. So in and to should be written as two words. Dropped in is a phrasal verb in this case, and to is part of the infinitive to say.

Phrasal verbs used as prepositions in combination with to also cause frequent problems.

Ethan turned into the driveway and shut off the car’s engine.

Did Ethan magically transform into a driveway, and in the throes of his flatness, turn off his car’s engine? No, he didn’t. He simply maneuvered his car in to the driveway.

Ethan turned in to the driveway.

In the early days of radio, a common error was to write about tuning into a favorite station. Today, in cyberspace, the most common misstep is to write about logging into a program, operating system, app, or website.

I like to tune into the classical radio station on Sunday mornings.

I like to tune in to the classical radio station on Sunday mornings.

Please log into our website by clicking on the red icon.

Please log in to our website by clicking on the red icon.

Check Your Answers for Grammar Skills Test—Master

So, you want to know what your English grammar level is? You’ve come to the right place. This post will cover the answers and additional learning resources for “Grammar Skills Test—Master.” The Master test covers reported speech, conditionals, prepositions, tenses, adverbs vs. adjectives, the irrealis mood, and restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.

Correct answers are highlighted. Links go to additional learning resources to help you continue improving.

Fill in the blanks to complete the sentences:

1 If you wait a minute . . .

• I’d go with you.
• I’d have gone with you.
• I will go with you.

Subject(s) Tested: Conditionals

2 All my life, . . .

• I’ve loved going to the movies.
• I loved going to the movies.
• I have loved to go to the movies.

Subject(s) Tested: Past perfect form

3 ___________ Richard, I believe he has finally made a decision.

• Having spoken to
• Speaking to
• Had spoken to

Subject(s) Tested: Past perfect form, Introductory clauses

4It was really nice ___ you to invite me.

• for
• of
• with
• to

Subject(s) Tested: Prepositions

5Tom said, “I want to visit my friends this weekend.” What did Tom say?

• Tom said he wants to visit his friends that weekend.
• Tom said he wants to visit his friends this weekend.
• Tom said he wanted to visit his friends that weekend.

Subject(s) Tested: Reported speech

6The class is ___ loud today.

• terrible
• terribly

Subject(s) Tested:

Two-minute Grammar: The Bare-bones Basics of Adjectives and Adverbs

7I didn’t understand at first, but then ___ and the answer was clear.

• he explained it to me
• he explained me
• he explained it me
• he explained me it

Subject(s) Tested: Word order

8 He used to be married to an actress, ____.

• wasn’t he?
• didn’t he?

Subject(s) Tested: Word choice and idiomatic language

9 Which word is the direct object?

“He gave his coat to Jane.”

• Jane
• coat
• his

Subject(s) Tested: Direct object

10Which sentence is most natural?

• At this time tomorrow, I take my driving test.
• At this time tomorrow, I will be taking my driving test.
• At this time tomorrow, I will take my driving test.

Subject(s) Tested: Future continuous tense

11Which sentence is correct?

• The woman was arrested and charged with murder.
• The woman was arrested and charged because of murder.
• The woman was arrested and charged for murder.

Subject(s) Tested: Prepositions

12They would have found out if you ___ them.

• wouldn’t have told
• hadn’t told
• haven’t told
• didn’t tell

Subject(s) Tested: Verb conjugation, conditionals

13If I _______ a cat, I’d lie in the sun all day.

• were
• was

Subject(s) Tested: Irrealis (subjunctive) mood

14What type of phrase is “which is about 20 years old”?:

“My car, which is about 20 years old, still runs remarkably well.”

• nonrestrictive
• restrictive

Subject(s) Tested: Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses

15What kind of error is in this sentence?

“He make me laugh.”

• subject-verb disagreement
• pronoun-antecedent disagreement
• incorrect word order
• tense error

Subject(s) Tested: Subject-verb agreement

Learn more: Reported speech Past perfect form Adjectives and adverbs Future continuous tense Prepositions Verb conjugation Conditionals Irrealis (subjunctive) mood Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses

Get more English grammar resources on our Grammar Day page.

3 Apps to Save You Time on Work Chat

Do you often find yourself scrambling to get everything done? The good news is that taking a few short seconds to install an app can save you hours. If you use Slack to communicate at work, learn how to make this collaboration tool work most effectively.

Apps for Slack

Reacji Channeler

Imagine that you want to send the same message to various people on a regular basis. In the past, you might have tediously copied the message from one channel to another. Now, you can use one command to choose an emoji and designate it to a specific channel. Anytime someone uses that emoji in a public channel, the message will instantly be shared on the channel you chose. For example, you can tell your team to share new insights in the Ideas channel by using the lightbulb emoji in any channel they are using. Or, you can instantly send kudos to an Employee Appreciation channel for deserving team members by adding the thumbs up emoji to a congratulatory comment. Not only do you save time switching back and forth, but also you can rest easy that all the right people will see all the important messages.

MailClerk

One of the biggest time wasters is switching between programs and applications. Enter MailClerk, described as “the email bot.” A bot is a software application designed to perform a task quickly. MailClerk allows you to form an email group of people who don’t use Slack. Without leaving Slack, you can receive and reply to emails from your external email account. What’s the benefit? Consider this scenario: With MailClerk, you can set up a team inbox for your Customer Support employees. Not only can they exchange emails from clients needing help, but they can also receive alerts, notifications, and newsletters in one convenient channel! No more minimizing screens and logging into separate email accounts for those team members. Instead, they can jump right into helping the client. It’s like coordinating all the features of a help desk within Slack. Think about your company. Would this app enhance its ability to serve your clients promptly and efficiently?

Screenhero

Do you sometimes struggle to get your colleagues to share your vision? Screenhero can make things easier than ever to illustrate your ideas. With this add-on, you can simultaneously share your screen with multiple members of your team. While you do so, you can use the voice chat feature to communicate, and everyone can use their mouse cursors to manipulate items on the screen. How does it work? Simply set up a Screenhero account for yourself and each member of your team. Then, in Slack, type /hero@username for each workmate you would like to invite to view your project. Which project? You can write code with your partner in Tokyo, design marketing with a specialist in Dubai, and get feedback from your best friend in the office next door! You are limited only by your own imagination.

Even if you have a lot of messages to send at work, there’s no reason to panic. By choosing the right apps, you can customize Slack to meet your communication needs. Screenhero, MailClerk, and Reacji Channeler are just a few of the apps that are available to Slack users. Why not visit Slack’s app directory to peruse what they have to offer? Besides apps to streamline communication, there are more than fifteen other categories of extensions, such as office management, customer support, and even travel, social, and fun. Just imagine how much more your company can accomplish with the time you will save!

6 Grammatically Questionable Epitaphs

Gravestones are meant to live on long after the person they represent has passed. It’s important to make sure they’re both well-deserved celebrations of life and completely accurate, since correcting these stones can be an arduous and expensive process. In honor of “Plan Your Epitaph Day,” which took place yesterday, here are six famous examples of epitaphs with grave spelling or grammatical errors.

William Gaddis, Writer

For a celebrated author, grammatical or spelling mistakes can be the kiss of death. That’s why it’s both perplexing and unfortunate that the gravestone of renowned author William Gaddis, two-time winner of the National Book Award, includes a spelling error. Gaddis’ epitaph includes not only his birth and death dates, but also an excerpt from his first published novel, The Recognitions. Unfortunately, the engraver misspelled the novel’s title as The Recongnitions. Many suspect that the author’s family members may have overlooked the mistake in this familiar title.

Ed Koch, Politician

Like many men who want to retain control over their legacy, Politician Ed Koch designed his own gravestone. The only pieces of information that the one-time mayor of New York City left out of the final design were the dates. While the finished product included a correct death date, the engraver transposed the numbers within Koch’s birth date. Instead of December 12, 1924, his epitaph reads 1942, shaving about 20 years off his life.

Zora Neale Hurston, Writer

Though she is a beloved writer today, Zora Neale Hurston was originally buried in an unmarked grave. When this misfortune was discovered, and her resting place was moved to a more prestigious burial ground, the engraver unceremoniously misspelled her middle name. Admirer and fellow writer, Alice Walker, arranged for the tombstone to be corrected to read “Neale” instead of “Neil.”

Isaac Bashevis Singer, Writer 

When celebrated writer Isaac Bashevis Singer died, his wife included the title “Noble laureate” in his epitaph. While Singer may have been noble, he actually won the 1978 Nobel Prize for literature. When family members brought the error to his wife’s attention, she requested that the epitaph remain unchanged. It wasn’t until many months later that a new gravestone corrected both Singer’s title and his misspelled middle name.

Stephen Hemlin, Family Man

While the blame for grammatical epitaph errors often lies with grieving and distracted family members, some are clearly the fault of the engraver. The family of British family man Stephen Hemlin designed a gravestone with a customized epitaph, only to find that the engraver inserted both a grammatical error and additional language. Instead of the family’s desired and correct phrase, “too dearly loved,” the epitaph unfortunately read as the cringe-worthy phrase, “to dearly loved to be forgotten.”

Elvis Presley, Crooner 

Fascination and intrigue perpetually surround Elvis Presley’s life and legacy, and his gravestone is no exception. While there’s no argument about the spelling of the singer’s first and last names, his middle name has a history of confusion and botched official documents. Presley’s parents intended for his middle name to be spelled “Aron,” which is how his name appears on his birth certificate.

Later in life, Presley attempted to change the official spelling to the more familiar “Aaron,” only to find that poorly handled documents already listed his name that way. When he passed away, Presley’s father made sure that the name was spelled the way his son intended: “Aaron.” Though this story continues to baffle diehard Elvis fans, rest assured that this apparent spelling mistake is actually correct.

Despite unhappy mistakes, these stories can teach us an important lesson. Even when you’re distraught at the loss of a loved one, be sure to edit thoroughly before finalizing an epitaph. Have you seen any poignant or ironic gravestone errors?

7 Star Wars Leadership Lessons

May the Fourth be with you!

Today may be a day dedicated to puns, fandom, and a galaxy far, far away, but it probably doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly learned a Jedi mind trick to keep your manager from asking for that project, presentation, or report. If you’re like me, you’re trapped at work, wishing you could be cosplaying The Force Awakens with your family or baking an R2-D2 cake.

Unfortunately, Star Wars Day has yet to be recognized as a national holiday. In better news, both the Dark Side and the Light Side have a lot to teach marketers about life, love, and the pursuit of the target demographic. Let’s see what the Jedi (and the Sith) have to say about marketing leadership.

Kylo Ren Is the Ultimate Counterexample of Disaster Response

via GIPHY

What do you do when the rebel scum hits the fan? Let’s use Kylo Ren as a counterexample for marketing leadership: he’s impulsive, hot-tempered, and incapable of inspiring his team.

So whether your social team makes an epic blunder, or a key executive spouts politically incorrect things in an interview, take a deep breath. Your next move will define who you are as a leader. Don’t repeat Kylo’s mistake by responding without thinking. You can make a disaster recovery plan, check for vulnerabilities, and apologize afterward, but the most important PR response will always be internal, so take care with how you handle crises with your team. Others will look to you as a leader for the appropriate mode and tone of response, so set that tone from the moment you hear about your organization’s blunder. Unlike Kylo, you can’t just slash the controls and shut everything down.

Balanced, Yoda Is

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Yoda may be an obvious choice when talking about any sort of leadership, since he has dispatched his fair share of sage leadership advice. But instead of focusing on “there is no try,” what if we looked at Yoda as a whole? Overall, this Jedi master emphasizes the psychological aspects of the Force, and marketers could stand to learn a few things. In our constant fight for eyes and ears, we sometimes forget what our target customer needs.

Does your customer really want another viral video, or are they trying to figure out how your product works? Do they need another tweet about National Pancake Day, or would they prefer a help article that answers their common questions? I believe Yoda would say, “Clear your mind, and ask them, you should.”

Admiral Ackbar Is Not a Trap(ped Leader)

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We all know this meme-worthy line, but do you know the context in which it’s said? Admiral Ackbar is managing multiple moving parts of one initiative, and he’s strapped for resources, manpower, and the skill to bring about the results his team needs (sound familiar?). Trying to balance brute force with agility and speed, he discovers that his chances of success have been slashed by factors outside his control. When he utters this now-famous line, he’s expressing the shock we all feel when things don’t pan out. But does he throw in the towel, even though he has few resources and he’s facing impossible goals? No! Ackbar pulls his team back to regroup, concentrating their energy on achievable KPIs. Once the shields are down and the time is right, they strike–ultimately winning the war.

With decreasing budgets and increasing expectations, digital marketing can sometimes feel like a losing battle. When leading a team into a difficult, resource-strapped situation, it may be time for us all to take a lesson from Ackbar. We need to identify the areas of potentially sky-high ROI, without wasting our team’s time and energy on losing battles in the interim. Although it may occasionally seem like a trap, with expert guidance and focus on the right metrics, our teams can (and will) win.

Emperor Palpatine Has No Vision

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Emperor Palpatine is ego personified for all the galaxy to see, and he’s also a great example of the overconfidence that has led to some pretty terrible marketing campaigns. Think of New Coke or the creepy Burger King mascot. You could also harken back to a number of poorly planned corporate social media blunders. When ideas like these fail so gloriously, occasionally I ask myself, “How could this have happened?” The answer: a Palpatine perspective on idea generation.

There’s a common phrase in journalism (and other highly edited writing) that you have to “kill your babies.” This infanticidal euphemism simply means that sometimes you have a great line of copy, idea, or wide shot that simply doesn’t fit in the larger piece and must be cut. Some marketers could stand to learn from this, lest our egos about having the best idea in the room become more important than the ideas themselves. It’s often prudent to take a step back; show someone else your killer campaign, press stunt, or even blog idea; and allow them to give brutal, honest feedback. After all, we don’t want our work compared to Empire.

Leia Has a High IQ–and a Great EQ

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Leia’s famously improvised line is key to the love story of Star Wars. But it also shows that she has a significant amount of emotional intelligence (EQ), since she recognizes love in a hard-to-read paramour. Although Leia clearly has a very high IQ, her EQ helps the character-driven story to progress, and it’s something we could all improve in our customers’ experiences. Knowing what your customers want is the first step to creating a great experience, but really empathizing with their pain points is the next step in that journey. Marketers are now tasked with the entire customer experience, so we should focus on understanding the emotions our customers feel when they have a negative interaction with our brand. Do your customers love you? Do you know?