Writing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

Top 10 Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Introduction

The world today requires people who are skilled in the art of writing. The practice is carried out from an early age where young children first learn how to use the alphabet. Writing then goes on to dictate 99% of a student’s life. In later stages of life that are after education, some people opt to concentrate on the practice through jobs such as journalism, editorial work, publishing, and report writing. However, like any other issue, writers go through varying degree of challenges. We will examine some of the common errors experienced in writing.

Common Errors in Writing

Word Repetition

Repetitive use of the same words is a problem that faces most students of the current generation.

Professionals in the field of writing advice that if the sentence bears meaning without the use of such a word, then that is a clear sign that you should do away with it.

Extra Prepositions

If your writing appears to be somewhat choppy, determine the number of propositions placed within a sentence and then go on to subtract the number from half the original count. Researchers add that the effects of prepositions are weakening the quality of speech, and the more they pile up in a given sentence, the duller it becomes to read. At this point, note that keeping your reader interested and captivated is the key factor in ensuring your success in writing.

Confusing Words

Most writers confuse words which are pronounced the same. Such words include:

• Affect/Effect

•

It is essential that such modifying clauses be set to clear for all to understand. For example, it is wrong to say that, “a bucket of worms were on top of the bench.”

Bold/Italics/Underline

Use of Bold, Italics and Underline should also be kept to a minimum. It would be more beneficial to emphasize and build on your prose if you need to highlight a certain point. Using bold should only apply to headings and sub-headings. For online writers, using underline applies to hyperlinks and should not be used for other purposes lest you end up confusing your reader.

Solving These Problems

• Create a culture of reading magazines and books. By doing so, you get to learn a lot about writing from published work as well as borrowing necessary techniques.

• Go through your written work after completion. For example, once you are through writing a given article, proofread it to ensure it has met all the required aspects. Remove overused verbiage and eliminate word usage and punctuation challenges.

• Look up the meaning of confusing words before deciding on their