After editing over 200 academic articles, theses and books, I’ve noticed some mistakes that pop up again and again. Every piece is unique, but these common errors seem universal. I thought I’d share them to help you with your next writing project.
1. Capitalisation Confusion
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen random Words capitalised For No apparent Reason. Most editors report this frustrating trend, which is especially noticeable in corporate communication and business writing. The major style guides (APA, Chicago, AP) also emphasise this issue and discourage capitalising a term to make it seem more important, but I’m not sure if writers are taking notice because all I can see is an increase in this annoying habit.
Unless you are writing in German, there is no need to capitalise a common noun just because you think it is an important term. There are other and better ways to emphasise a word, which I discuss later in this blog post.
The capitalisation rules are actually quite simple, and they haven’t really changed much since the 19th century.
In general, there are only two instances where a capital letter is required:
- at the beginning of a sentence, including at the beginning of a direct quote
- to indicate a proper noun, such as names of countries, organisations, personal names and nationalities.
Examples
- The teacher said, “Your essay is due at the end of the week.”
- Vincent van Gogh, France, World Health Organization, Turkish
Confusion often arises with titles and compass points.
- Captain Sparrowbut: The captain thanked the crew before disembarking.
- South Africabut: the south of England
The term government also often leads to confusion. It should be capitalised as part of a formal title, but when referring to a government in general, use lowercase.
- The New Zealand Government
- Leisure centres are the responsibility of the local government.
2. Run-on Sentences Gone Wild
You’re on a roll with your ideas, and before you know it, you’ve written a sentence that spans half a page without a single period in sight.
Example
“The alarm buzzed at 7.00 am John rolled out of bed immediately reaching for his phone to check messages he stumbled to the bathroom he had a quick shower and threw on the clothes he’d laid out the night before he hurried to the kitchen made toast and coffee gulping them down while packing his lunch he glanced at the clock realised he was late grabbed his keys and rushed out the door.”
Over the years, I have seen a gradual decline in punctuation, which is probably the result of the rise of digital communication, where brevity and speed are important, so punctuation goes out the window. I also blame the education system for emphasising creative writing over structure and correct grammar.
Give your reader a break. The purpose of your writing is to communicate your knowledge and ideas to the reader, and punctuation plays a critical role in making your writing clearer.
3. The Dreaded Comma Splice
This happens when you join two independent clauses with just a comma, it’s surprisingly common. See what I did there? That was a comma splice!
An independent clause is, as the name suggests, a clause that can stand on its own. More specifically, it contains at least a subject and a verb, and therefore, it can stand alone as a sentence—it is independent.
Independent clauses are usually separated by a full stop, but when the two clauses are closely related, a semicolon might be a better choice. Alternatively, insert a linking word.
Example
“My brother loves tea, I prefer coffee.”
Both sentences are independent, so this should be:
“My brother loves tea. I prefer coffee.”
Or
“My brother loves tea; I prefer coffee.”
Or
“My brother loves tea, but I prefer coffee.”
4. Thesaurus Overload
Formal and academic writing should be clear and concise. Choose commonly used words over the unusual or complex ones. Shorter and less wordy sentences improve clarity and readability.
Using “utilise” instead of “use” doesn’t make you sound smarter; it often just adds unnecessary complexity. Big, impressive words will probably put your readers off, or if you’re writing an assignment, put the marker to sleep.
Here are a few examples of the most common offences:
| Avoid | Write instead |
| as well as | and |
| a number of | some |
| attempt | try |
| utilise | use |
| convene | meet |
| enumerate | count |
| exhibit | show |
| in order to | to |
So, if your assignment exceeds the allowed word count, follow Mark Twain’s advice.
“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”
5. Never-ending Sentences
Closely related to word choice is sentence length. I often edit sentences so long that by the time I reach the end, I’ve forgotten what the beginning was about! If your reader has to reread your sentence to follow your train of thought, your sentence is too long.
Aim for an average of 20–25 words per sentence for maximum readability. Any longer, and consider splitting it into two or following Mark Twain’s advice and cutting out redundant words.
6. Pronoun Puzzles
“They discussed this in their paper, which contradicts it.”
What do “they”, “their” and “it” refer to? Vague pronouns leave readers scratching their heads.
Clarity should always be at the forefront of your mind. Readers naturally assume a pronoun refers to the last noun mentioned. If the pronoun is too far removed from its antecedent or if there is more than one possibility, clarity is compromised. As a result, your reader may have to reread the sentence to figure it out, which you want to avoid.
7. Dangling Modifiers
The dangling modifier is one of the most complicated concepts in English writing and is often misunderstood.
Simply put, a modifier is dangling because it has nothing to attach to.
Let me explain with an example from one of my favourite books by Bill Bryson, Bryson’s dictionary of troublesome words: A writer’s guide to getting it right.
“As reconstructed by the police, Pfeffer at first denied any knowledge of the Byrd murder” (cited by Bernstein in Bryson, 2002, p. 51).[1]
It was obviously not Pfeffer who was reconstructed by the police, but the implied story.
“The explosive was found by a security man in a plastic bag” (example cited in Jarvie, 2007, p. 77).[2]
Was the man in the bag, or was it the explosive?
What or who was in the bag? The man or the explosive?
Ensure your modifiers connect to the right subject.
[1] Bryson, B. (2002). Bryson’s dictionary of troublesome words: A writer’s guide to getting it right. Broadway Books.
[2] Jarvie, G. (2007). Bloomsbury grammar guide: Grammar made easy (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing.
8. Acronym and Abbreviation Avalanche
Although acronym and abbreviation both describe shortened versions of a term, there is a small difference between them.
Both are formed from the first letters of the spelt-out term, but acronyms are pronounced as words, while abbreviations are not.
All acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms.
For example, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is an acronym because we don’t pronounce each letter separately; we read it as a word.
On the other hand, EU (European Union), USA (United States of America) and UK (United Kingdom) are abbreviations because we pronounce each letter separately.
Using too many unexplained abbreviations and acronyms (TMUAA) in your writing can confuse readers who aren’t familiar with specific terminology (WAFST) 😊 Even though the abbreviation may be crystal clear to you, you should not assume that your reader is familiar with the commonly used terminology in your field.
In formal and academic writing, different house style guides have different rules relating to the use of acronyms or abbreviations, but the following usually applies:
- All but the most well-known abbreviations and acronyms should be defined the first time they are mentioned in the text. If an abbreviation appears in the abstract and the main body of the text, define it on first use in both places. After you define an abbreviation, use only the abbreviation.
- If you only use a term once or twice, spell it out and omit the abbreviation.
- Terms widely known in their short form, such as NATO and WHO, do not have to be defined.
- When referring to a pluralised term by its abbreviation, the abbreviation should also be pluralised. For example,
- PC – PCs (personal computers)
- CV – CVs (curriculum vitae)
- CEO – CEOs (chief executive officers)
- TV – TVs (televisions).
I have written a separate blog post dedicated to acronyms alone. Check it out: Go Easy On The Acronyms.
9. The Apostrophe Under Attack
Nothing irks me more than a missing or misplaced apostrophe. The apostrophe rule is actually quite simple, yet no other punctuation mark causes more confusion.
However, this confusion is entirely unjustified.
The apostrophe has two main uses:
- to mark a missing letter (hasn’t = has not)
- to indicate the possessive form (the cat’s tail = the tail belonging to the cat).
It gets trickier when the noun ends in an ‘s’ (sometimes!), but there’s an easy solution. If you’re ever unsure whether to add an extra ‘s’ to form the possessive, say the phrase out loud. If you say an extra ‘s’, write it; if you don’t say an extra ‘s’, don’t write one.
Here are two simple examples:
- my parents’ house (not: my parents’s house because we don’t add an ‘s’ when we say it)
- James’s car (not: James’ car because when we say it out loud, we add an ‘s’, so in writing, you should do the same).
Because of the confusion the apostrophe causes, some educators and language specialists have proposed scrapping it altogether. Apostrophes have already been dropped from street names in some places in the UK (shock, horror!), and in digital communication, they are often skipped to speed up texting.
But before we send the apostrophe into early retirement, let’s consider what we’d lose. Linguists, editors, teachers and many writers argue that the apostrophe plays an important role in writing and that it is necessary to ensure clarity and meaning.
In 2001, John Richards even started the Apostrophe Protection Society in the UK. After a brief closure in 2019, it was revived in 2022 by its current chairman, Bob McCalden, to continue the founder’s mission of protecting the use of the apostrophe. You may find their website an interesting read, even if you don’t consider yourself a grammar nerd.
10. Consistency
Inconsistencies can easily creep into your writing without you realising it, especially when you’re working on a large document like a book or thesis. Also, when you’re writing, you naturally focus on the content, not grammatical correctness.
However, inconsistencies make your work look sloppy and unprofessional, even when the content is brilliant, so it’s important to identify and fix them.
Inconsistencies are commonly caused by the following:
UK vs. US spelling
There is no right or wrong here, but it is important to be aware of the differences so you can apply the rules consistently. Which spelling convention you should follow is usually determined by the country you live in, the in-house style guide of the publisher you’re submitting your article to or the style guide your university wants you to follow.
The most common differences between US and UK spelling are as follows:
| UK | US | |
| -our vs. -or | favour | favor |
| -re vs. -er | metre | meter |
| -ise vs. -ize | organise | organize |
| -ogue vs. -og | dialogue | dialog |
| -ll vs. -l | modelling | modelling |
| -amme vs. -am | programme | program |
| c vs. k | sceptic | skeptic |
Hyphens
Hyphenated words can cause inconsistencies because, honestly, the rule is rather complicated, and there are enough exceptions to make your head spin. I will probably write a separate blog on the hyphen alone, but for now, the key point I am trying to get across is to be consistent. If you’re not sure if you should hyphenate a word, look it up, but stick with one dictionary, or you may get even more confused.
Emphasis
While it is OK to emphasise certain words to draw the reader’s attention to them, pick one method and stick with it. The following is an exaggerated example of what NOT to do:
It was absolutely unbelievable how the “winner”—yes, the so-called ‘champion’—managed to SCREAM his way to ‘VICTORY’!
The recommended method is italics. Quotation marks are also OK, but keep in mind that these are also used for quoted material. You don’t want to end up with too many quotation marks, as they can make your writing look messy and cluttered.
Remember
Writing is easy if you follow a few basic rules. Keep it simple, aim for clarity and be consistent.
If you need help with your writing, email me at info@proofpal.co.nz.