MostCommonEnglishWritingErrors

2016AnnualReport

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WordviceAnnualReport

DearLoyalCustomers,

12,000,000wordsandover9,000clientsmeansthat2016wasayearofimprovedqualityandgrowth,andwehaveyoutothank!

Forour2016annualreport,wethoughtwe’dsumupourgreatestachievements,yourimprovedwritings!Weexaminedsamplepaperstoidentifyfrequentspelling,grammar,punctuation,andstyleerrors.Andafteranalyzingseveralmillionwords writtenbyyou,ourclients,wehavecompiledaseriesofusefulfactsandtips!

Ourreportwillshowyouthemostcommonerrorsfoundinyourworksand,betteryet,howbesttoavoidthosemistakes!Wehopethisreportwillhelpyouhaveamoresuccessful2017writingyear!

Sincerely,

Wordvice

“It'smuchmorehelpfulthanIexpected.TheeditoreliminatedalltheChinglishandrespondedtomequickly.Youcanlearnalotifyoucomparethedraftbeforeandaftertheedits.ItgetshardertoimproveEnglishwhenyoureachacertainlevelbecauseit'snolongerbasicgrammarproblemsbutnativewritingstyleissues.That’swhenit’sbettertohaveprofessionalsguideyouthrough.”

-- ChenHsi Lee

ErrorsbyTypeSpelling14%

Grammar21%

Punctuation9%Sentence

Structure2%

Style32%

WordChoice22%

*Onepageisapproximately250wordsTOTAL:12.03errors/page

Whatdothesepercentagesmean?

• Style:3.8errors/page• VocabularyEnhancement:2.6errors/page• Grammar:2.59errors/page

Onaverage,wefound:

• ContextualSpelling:1.69errors/page• Punctuation:1.1errors/page• SentenceStructure:0.25errors/page

“Thepreciserevisionsandcommentswereveryinformativeandhelpful.Additionally,therevisionsfocusedonnaturalsentenceflowandeditingtoensureappropriatewordusageforthegivencontext.”

- YongRaeC.,Researcher,ScienceandTechnologyPolicyInstitute

1.Style

Definitions§ Passivevoice:agrammarstructurethatuses“tobe+past

participle”toshowasubjectreceivingtheactioncausedbysomethingelse.

§ Wordiness:extremelylongsentences(morethan20-30words)orunnecessarilylongphrasesthatcouldbereplacedbyfewerwords.

§ Unclearreference:whenthenountowhichapronounoradeterminer(e.g.,“this”and“that”)refersisunclear.E.g.“JoegaveMarkhisbook.”“His”couldbeJoe’sorMark’s.

§ Politicallyincorrectoroffensivelanguage:Gender-specificwordsor“clinical”wordsregardingrace,religion,genderandsexualitythatcouldbeoffensiveinsomecultures.

§ Inappropriatecolloquialism:informalwordsorphrasesthatarenotsuitableforformal/academicwriting.

Mostcommonstyleerrors:

1. Passivevoice§ While29.5%ofallresearchpapersweexaminedoverused

thepassivevoice,awhopping56.4%ofadmissionsessaysusedtoomuchpassivevoice!

§ Researchwritingoftenrequiressomepassivevoicestructurestoemphasizetheresultsratherthantheactionscausinganoutcome.Nonetheless,thepassivevoiceislessengagingtoreadthanactivevoice.Foradmissionsessays,avoidpassiveconstructions.

§ Torevisethepassivevoice,identifythetruesubjectandreorderyoursentencetoestablishanactivesentencethatcontainstheclassic“Subject+Verb+Object”orderasshownintheexampleontheright.

2. Wordiness§ Themajorsourcesofwordinessinyourpaperswere

unnecessarilylongphrasesandnominalizations.Wehavepreparedaspecialarticleonthis.Youcanclickheretoreadthearticleandothertipstohelpreducewordiness!

3. Repetition(asubsetofwordiness)§ Unlessyouareusingadefinedterm,youshouldnot

repeatthesamewordsorphraseswithinafewlinesofeachother.Choosesynonymsorconsidervaryingsentencestructureslikecompoundsentences.Becareful,however,tousesubstitutewordsthatfitthetoneandcontextofyourwriting.Forexample,wewouldnothavechosen✗“surrogatewords”toreplace“synonym”intheprecedingsentence!

Tolearnmoreabouthowtoreducewordinessandimproveyourwritingstyle,pleasevisitourwebsiteat wordvice.com/blog!

PassiveVoice67%

Wordiness27%

UnclearReference

4%

InappropriateColloquialisms

1%

PoliticallyIncorrectorOffensiveLanguage

1%

QuickTips

Passivevoice:✗ Thespeech wasgivenby themayor.→✓ Themayor gave thespeech.

✗ Noun2+“be”+pastparticipleofVerb+by+Noun1→✓ Noun1+Verb+Noun2

Wordiness:✗ inadditionto→✓ also

✗ takeintoconsideration→✓ consider

Repetition:✗ Ilikethehouse. Thehouseisonahill.à✓ Ilikethehouseonthehill.

2.Grammar

CertainDefinitions• Determiners(articlesandothermodifyingwordslike

“this,”“that,”“every,”etc.).• VerbTenseShift:startingasentenceinoneverbtenseand

usinganotherverbtenseinconsistently,thusbreakingthelogicalsequenceofevents.

• Incorrectphrasing:improperuseofidiomaticexpressions.• VerbForm:thecorrectform(e.g.,pastparticiple,gerund,

etc.)foraverb.

Mostcommongrammarerrors:

1. Article/Determineruse(A/An/The/This/That,etc.)§ Anoverwhelming62%ofgrammarmistakesfoundinyour

writingrelatetoarticleuse.Thisisunderstandablewhenyournativelanguagemightnotusewordslike“a,”“an,”and“the.”Articlemisuseoftenoccurswhenpeopleareuncertainifanouniscountableoruncountable.

§ Countablenouns:Nounsthatcanbecounted(e.g.applesandideas).§ Whentalkingaboutcountablenounsgenerally,usethe

plural+NOarticle.Ifitisthefirsttimementioningacountablenoun,use“a”or“an.”Afterward,use“the,”“this,”or“that.”

§ Uncountablenouns:nounsthatcan’tbecounted(e.g.,researchandwater).§ GeneraldiscussionsofuncountablenounsuseNO

articles.Ifitisthefirsttimementioningaspecificuncountablenoun,useNOarticles.Youcanuse“the,”“this,”or“that”afterward.

§ Careful!Someidiomaticexpressionsdon’tusearticles.2. Prepositions

§ Sadly,there’snoclearcutruleaboutwhentousewhichpreposition.Worseyet,someverbsuseseveralprepositions,dependingoncontext.Whenindoubt,dowhatnativespeakersdo,checkthedictionary!

3. Subject-verbagreement§ Double-checkthatyourverbsmatchinnumberwithyour

subject.

Tolearnmoredetailsaboutarticleuse,prepositionsandothercommongrammarproblems,pleasevisitourwebsiteatwordvice.com/blog!

0% 20% 40% 60%

Determiners(a/an/the/this,…

Prepositions

Subject-VerbAgreement

IncorrectNounNumber

VerbTenseShifts

VerbForms

IncorrectPhrasing

Quantifiers

Conjunctions

MisuseofModifiers

Pronouns

ModalVerbs

Numerals

ConditionalSentences

QuickTips

Countablenouns:✗ Theappleisdelicious.→✓ Apples aredelicious.

✗ Ireadthe newbook.The bookwasfascinating.→ ✓ Ireada newbook.The bookwasfascinating.

Uncountablenouns:✗ Thewaterishealthyforyou.→ ✓Waterishealthyforyou.

✗ Iboughtthe wateryesterday,andnowIwillputthewaterinthefridge.→ ✓ Iboughtwateryesterday,andnowIwillputthewaterinthefridge.

Idiomaticexpressions:✗ Let’shave a lunch.→✓ Let’shavelunch.

Subject-verbagreement:✗ Joe andhiscatSnowlives bythelake.→✓ Joe andhiscatSnow livebythelake.

3.Spelling

ConfusedWords29%

MisspelledWords70%

CommonlyConfusedWords1%

Definitions• Confusedwords:incorrectprepositionbasedoncontext,

wrongwordsinidiomaticexpressions,confusionbetweensimilarlyspelledwordsorhomonyms.

• Misspelledwords:wordsnotfollowingconventionalspellingsfoundinastandardEnglishdictionarylikeMerriam-Webster’s.

• Commonlyconfusedwords:basedonalistofthetop250mostcommonlyconfusedwordsintheEnglishlanguage(e.g.,thenvs.than).

Mostcommonspellingerrors:

1. Spellingwoes§ Somespellingerrorsresultedfromtypographicalerrors

(mistakesmadewhentyping)orincorrectvowels.Merriam-WebsteristheunofficialAmericanEnglishdictionary.Pleaseconsulttoconfirmthespellingofaword(usethefirstspellingiftherearemultiplechoices).

§ Hyphenatingmodifiers(amajorsourceofspellingerrors)§ Whentwoormorewordsfunctionasoneideato

describeanoun,andthosewordsdirectlyprecedethenoun,usehyphens.Iftheyfollowthenoun,donothyphenate thatdescriptivephrase.**Donot hyphenatepropernouns.

§ Youshouldusehyphenswheneveraseriesofmodifierswouldmakethesentenceunclear.

§ Somefixedphrasesalwaysusehyphens,sodouble-checkadictionary.

§ “Very”andadverbsendingin–ly arenever hyphenatedinphrases.

§ Prefixeslike“ex-,”“mid-,”and“re-,”usuallyrequirehyphens.

2. Bewarethehomonym!• Homonyms(thatis,wordsthatsoundalike)andwordswith

similarspellingaretremendouslyconfusing,right?Yourproofreadingsoftwaremightnotcatchthese,whichiswhyasecondpairofeyeswouldbehelpful!

TolearnmoredetailsaboutthemostcommonlyconfusedEnglishwordsandothercommonspellingissues,pleasevisitourwebsiteatwordvice.com/blog!

QuickTips

Spelling:CheckMerriam-Webster(m-w.com)forofficialspellings.Usethefirstspellingifmorethanoneisoffered.

Hyphenation:✗ The10yearsoldgirl likeschocolate.→✓ The10-year-oldgirllikeschocolate.

✗ Thegirlis10-year-old.→✓ Thegirl is10yearsold.

Hyphensforclarity:A“tallwindowmaker”anda“tall-windowmaker”havedifferentmeanings!Inthefirstphrase“tall”describesthemaker,notthewindow.

Homonyms:Someofthemostcommonlyconfusedpairsinclude:(1)than/then;(2)affect/effect;(3)lay/lie;and(4)they/their/they’re.

4.Punctuation

Definitions• Compoundsentence:asentencethathasmorethanone

subjectorpredicate.• Complexsentence:asentencewithatleastone

subordinateclause.• Subordinateclause:aclausethatisdependentonthe

mainclause/sentence;itusuallystartswithaconjunction.• Closingpunctuation:thepunctuationnormallyattheend

ofasentencethatisquotedorinsertedintoaparenthetical.

Mostcommonpunctuationerrors:

1. Commaswithinclauses:§ Usecommastoseparateintroductoryphrasesfromthemain

sentence.§ Don’tusecommasbefore“than”incomparisons.§ Usecommasaroundphrasesthatcouldbeputin

parentheses(i.e.,informationthatcouldbetakenoutofthesentenceandstillhavethesentencemakesense).NOTE:Youneedtwocommasifyouinsertthesedescriptivephrasesinthemiddleofasentence.Sometimes,therefore,itmightlooklikethereisacommabeforeaconjunctionwhenitwouldn’tnormallybethere.Ex:Iwenttothestore,whichwasalongtheriver,andboughtsomecookies.[Thecoresentenceis“Iwenttothestoreandboughtsomecookies.”]

§ Don’tusecommastoseparateamonthandyear.2. Compoundsentences:Don'tusecommastoseparate

compoundsubjectsorobjects.Here’saquicktesttohelpyou.§ “AandBdoC.”Foracompoundsentence,youshouldbe

abletosplitthesentencetosay“AdoesC”and“BdoesC”bydistributingthesubjectsacrosstheverb.Iftheresultingclausesmakesense,don’tusecommastoseparateAandB.

§ “AdoesBandC.”Youcansplitthesentencetoread“AdoesB”and“AdoesC”bydistributingthesubjectacrossbothverbs.Thesephrasesmakesense,sonocommaisneeded.

§ “AdoesB,andC.”First,splitthesentenceatthecomma.“AdoesB.”“C…”Wait,whatdoesCdo?Thesecond“sentence”doesn’twork,sodeletethecomma!

§ “AdoesB,andCdoesD.”Breakthesentenceatthecomma.“AdoesB.”“CdoesD.”Bothsentencesmakesense,sothecommawasusedcorrectly.

Tolearnmoredetailsabouthowusethecommaandothercommonpunctuationmistakes,pleasevisitourwebsiteatwordvice.com/blog!

CommaMisuseWithinClauses49%

Compound/Complexsentences

34%

Semicolons,QuotationsMarks,etc.

15%

ClosingPunctuation

2%

QuickTips

IntroductoryPhrases:✗ Inthebeginning Iwashopeful. →✓ Inthebeginning,Iwashopeful.

Commasin”than”comparisons:✗ Iworkharder, than Mikedoes.→ ✓ IworkharderthanMikedoes.

Settingasideinformation:✗ Iunliketheothercamperswasnotafraidtocrosstheoldropebridge.→ ✓ I,unliketheothercampers,wasnotafraidtocrosstheoldropebridge.

Monthandyear:✗ January,2017→✓ January2017

CompoundSentences:✗ Iliketoreadmanybooks,and writefantasticaltales.→ ✓ Iliketoreadmaybooksand writefantasticaltales.

5.SentenceStructure

Definitions• IncorrectWordOrder:incorrectprepositionbasedon

context,wrongwordsinidiomaticexpressions,confusionbetweensimilarlyspelledwordsorhomonyms.

• SentenceFragment:Incompletesentences(i.e.,missingasubjectorpredicate).

• NonparallelStructure: whenwords,phrases,orclausesofequalweightarestrungtogetherbutarenotinsimilargrammaticalform.

Mostcommonsentencestructureerrors:

1. Declarativesentencewordorder§ “Normal”sentencesfolloweitherofthefollowing

structures:§ Subject+Auxiliary+Negation+Verb+Direct

Object+to+IndirectObject.§ Subject+Auxiliary+Negation+Verb+Indirect

Object+DirectObject.2. Adjectiveorder:

§ Toreviewadjectiveorder,pleasecheckoutourarticleat: http://wordvice.com/how-to-order-adjectives-101/.

3. Adverborder:Adverbscanbeplaced:§ Beforethesubjectoraclause (usuallyshortcommon

adverbs,timewords,andadverbphrasesthatdescribethewholeclauseandnotjusttheverb)

§ After“tobe”§ Aftertheverbordirectobject (mostadverbs,especially

“place”and“manner”words)§ Betweenthesubjectandverb(usuallyfrequencywords)§ MiddleofVerbPhrase(usuallyfrequencywords).Ifan

auxiliaryormodalverbispresent,frequencyadverbsgoafterthatmodal/auxiliary.Ifthereisamodal+auxiliaryormultipleauxiliaries,theorderis:Subject+modal+negation+frequencyadverb+auxiliary+auxiliary+mainverb.

4. SentenceFragments:§ Makesureeachsentencehassubject(either

expressorimplied)andaverb.Ifaverbrequiresadirectobject,makesureyouincludeone!

Tolearnmoreaboutwordorder,parallelismandothersentencestructureissues,pleasevisitourwebsiteatwordvice.com/blog!

IncorrectWordOrder61%

SentenceFragments

37%

NonparallelStructure

2%

QuickTips

Normalsentencestructure:✓ Ihavenothadtogivehimmyreply.

✓ Ihavenotyetwrittenhimmyreply.

Adverbbeforesubject:✗ Iwentyesterday tothemovies.→ ✓ Yesterday,Iwenttothemovies.

Adverbafter“tobe”:✗ She alwaysislate.→✓ Sheisalwayslate.

Adverbafterverbordirectobject:✗ Ididhastily mywork.→✓Ididmyworkquickly.

Adverbbetweensubjectandverb:✗ I worklonghoursalways.→✓ I always worklonghours.

Middleofverbphrase:✗We mightnothave everbeenallowedtojointheclub.→ ✓We mightnoteverhavebeenallowedtojointheclub.

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