Writing well means more than just putting words on a piece of paper—or, in this case, typing on a computer. It means mirroring a world and an offer to another person. In this regard, how to get better at writing means more than correcting the most common grammar mistakes or learning to line edit your own writing.
Writing is not a science but a craft. You can become better at it by practicing it daily. This means that you need to set time aside to write and consciously improve it. Still, to do that, you need to separate the right from the wrong. You need to know what makes good writing good, as well as when you are in error.
We have written in the past about the most common English grammar mistakes. For this article, we want to bring up for discussion the most common grammar mistakes made by aspiring writers. Even if you have a better understanding of the language than the average person, you may still want to consider some linguistic aspects that you might be guilty of. Or, maybe, you are simply aware of these mistakes; this article thus helps you to become more aware of them.
Good writing is also important for content marketing. If you run the content for a website or a company, then good, concise, error-free content is vital. A small online business can become successful or fall into anonymity just by the content it provides to its prospects.
In what follows, we will go through some of the mistakes that you, or any aspiring writer for that matter, might be making. Let us know in the comment section if you did not give much thought to some of the things that we are discussing here.
The Comma-Splice Trap: A Common Grammar Mistake Made Often
Many inexperienced writers—especially nonnative English speakers—often forget to end the sentence when they should. Lost in a trail of thought, they go on with their ideas, waiting for one idea to end and when another begins.
Let’s take a simple example to highlight what the actual issue is.
“I loved the book, it had a great ending.”
Can you spot the English grammar errors? It should be obvious. Here, you have two distinct propositions united as one. They are united using a minor punctuation sign, a comma, instead of a period, a semicolon, or a colon.
If you were to write this sentence, you should correct it as follows.
“I loved the book. It had a great ending.”
Or
“I loved the book; it had a great ending.”
Now, the two thoughts are linked properly, and you can be sure that the reader doesn’t get confused about your message.
Another way that you can correct the error is by making it into a complex sentence.
“I loved the book, although it had a great ending.”
Can you see how it reads better? Can you see how it has a better flow?
Why does it matter to correct the comma splice?
In the sentence above, you understood the idea completely, even with the comma splice in place. However, this English grammar error can affect the flow of the reading when we are dealing with large chunks of text and wider sentences. It is a disservice to the reader and to you as a writer if you go on making comma splices in your writing. If you want to know how to get better at writing notes, then correcting the comma splices in your texts is one of the first things you must do as an aspiring writer.
Misplaced Modifiers: The Funny Part of English Grammar Errors
What do these sentences have in common?
“Going to the bathroom, the piece of soap was lying on the floor.”
“Barking loudly, he ran away from the dog.”
“In pain and agony, the car seriously injured the man.”
If you read them out loud, you might tell yourself that you understand their meaning. You think that there are no grammar mistakes in them. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
On closer inspection and rigorous analysis of the sentences, you should realize that
> The piece of soap was going to the bathroom (while, somehow, lying on the floor).
> The man who was running away from the dog was the one who was actually barking.
> The car was the one in pain and agony, not the person injured.
The error is called the dangling modifier, and it is the funniest grammar error that one can make in the English language.
As a rule, a phrase should be placed closest to what it modifies. So, if you were going to the bathroom, and not the soap, then you should have written
“As I was going to the bathroom, the piece of soap was lying on the floor.”
Now, the sentence is clearer than the previous version.
Also, the second sentence should be
“Barking loudly, the dog was chasing him.”
Now, the phrase “barking loudly” is next to what it modifies, “the dog.”
Also, you could write
“The man was chased by the barking dog.”
For our third sentence, you should write instead
“Seriously injured by the car, the man was in pain and agony.”
Remember that the phrases should be as close to one another as one possibly can conceive them.
Why do dangling modifiers matter?
In the business world, ambiguity can be costly.
Imagine a manager sending this update regarding a sensitive termination or a contract negotiation:
“After reaching a settlement, the office was finally closed.”
The phrase “After reaching a settlement” is a dangling modifier. Technically, it describes the subject that follows it—which, in this sentence, is “the office.”
1. The Literal Interpretation: The office itself reached a settlement. (Impossible).
2. The Legal Risk: If this were part of a formal report, it remains unclear who reached the settlement. Was it the CEO? The legal team? The opposing party?
3. The Professional Hit: To a client or a judge, this looks sloppy. It suggests that the writer isn’t paying attention to the “who, what, and how” of the transaction.
The Fix
To omit the error, you must clearly link the action to the actor:
Correct: “After reaching a settlement, the legal team finally closed the office.”
Correct: “The office was finally closed after the board reached a settlement.”
If you are an aspiring business writer, always remember that a modifier dangling the wrong way can be costly for the organization that you represent.
If there is something that sets truly professional writers apart from their amateur counterparts, in our view, it should be tense shifting.
In English, it is extremely easy to use the wrong tense in writing. Even native speakers are guilty of always committing this error. What can we say, then, about those who want to know how to get better at writing?
Let’s work with three examples when it comes to using the wrong tense in English.
“Last quarter, our team exceeded all sales targets, and the revenue increases by 15%.”
“The technician opens the server rack and checked the wiring for any frays.”
“We reviewed your request for a quote and are sending over the documents once the manager approved them.”
These three sentences all contain grammar mistakes when it comes to tenses. Can you spot what’s wrong with them?
In the first sentence, we started in the past tense (exceeded) but switched to the present (increases) mid-sentence. This leaves the reader wondering if the 15% increase is a historical fact or a current, ongoing trend.
How do we fix it?
Like this: “Last quarter, our team exceeded all sales targets, and the revenue increased by 15%.”
Now, everything is clear.
For the second sentence, the issue lies in it beginning with a present-tense instruction (opens) but ending with a past-tense observation (checked). For a new hire, this is confusing. Am I supposed to check it now, or was this a note about what someone else did previously?
To make it clear to everyone, we can fix the sentence in the following way:
“The technician opens the server rack and checks the wiring for any frays.”
In our last sentence, the problem lies in that we have past (reviewed), present continuous (are sending), and past again (approved). The client is left unsure of the status. Has the manager already approved it, or is the approval still pending? The inconsistent “logic” of the timeline makes the sender look disorganized.
We can fix it in the following way:
“We have reviewed your request and will send over the documents once the manager approves them.”
Pro-Tip for Business Writers: The “Timeline Test”
To avoid this, pick a “Point of Origin” for your document:
While technically not a grammatical error, overusing it—or not using it in the proper context—can hurt the efforts of anyone who wants to know how to become a better writer.
What does this error look like? Let’s focus our efforts, yet again, on some examples that come from business writing.
“A significant error was made in the financial projections.”
This is a clear example of the passive voice. While technically the sentence is correct, using the passive voice acts like an accountability shield. A significant error in a financial projection sounds like something serious. Perhaps it is important that we know who made it. Using the passive voice in this context is not a wise choice. Who made the error? By removing the subject, the writer avoids taking or assigning blame.
We can fix it in the following way
“The accounting team made a significant error in the financial projections.”
Why does it matter? Active voice builds trust through transparency.
Another issue when using the passive voice has to do with status updates. Aspiring writers often use the passive voice in reports, which makes the company sound more reactive rather than proactive.
“The new safety protocols were implemented by the operations department last Tuesday.”
The problem here is that it puts the “receiver” of the action (the protocols) at the front of the sentence, making the operations department sound like an afterthought.
A proper fix can look like the following:
“The operations department implemented new safety protocols last Tuesday.”
The active voice emphasizes the department’s productivity and initiative.
Getting Better at Writing by the Day
Improving your English writing skills doesn’t happen overnight, and you probably already know that. If you’ve reached this page, you aspire to more than just learning the most common English grammatical errors. You are probably interested in how to become a better writer.
While writing and reading are a must for that, it is also important to become aware of the grammar errors that you may face throughout your journey. In this article, we presented you with what we believe to be the most common grammar mistakes made by aspiring writers.
However, don’t forget to check our blog for previous entries on writing well. We believe that our content can help you become a better writer by inspiring you to become better and offering you working knowledge to become better by the day.
Are you making some of these common grammar mistakes as an aspiring writer? Let us know in the comments section.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Freelance Writing Platforms: Traps or Great Starting Points for Beginner Freelance Writers?
Thumos Writing Services – Digital Writing Agency