The Twenty Most Common Errors

From The Everyday Writer: A Brief Reference (St. Martin’s, 1997)

Andrea Lunsford, Ohio State University and Robert Connors, University of New Hampshire

1 Missing comma after an introductory element

2 Vague pronoun reference

3 Missing comma in a compound sentence

4 Wrong word

5 Missing comma(s) with a nonrestrictive element

6 Wrong or missing verb ending

7 Wrong or missing preposition

8 Comma splice

9 Missing or misplaced possessive apostrophe

10 Unnecessary shift in tense

11 Unnecessary shift in pronoun

12 Sentence fragment

13 Wrong tense or verb form

14 Lack of subject-verb agreement

15 Missing comma in a series

16 Lack of agreement between pronoun and antecedent

17 Unnecessary comma(s) with a restrictive element

18 Fused sentence

19 Misplaced or dangling modifier

20 Its/It’s confusion