| Writers often repeat
3 or 4 common types of errors. This list can help them edit.
Pair this sheet with the idea of minimal marking:
1. Missing comma after introductory element: Frankly I don’t know. (Frankly, I don’t know.) 2. Vague pronoun reference: They’re going with them in their car. (The Phillips are going with the Smiths in the Jackson’s car.) 3. Missing comma in a compound sentence: She walked but I rode. (She walked, but I rode.) 4. Wrong word: There costing us a nominal leg. (They’re costing us an arm and a leg.) 5. Missing commas with a restrictive element: Jo who’s the boss quit. (Jo, who’s the boss, quit.) 6. Wrong/missing verb ending: Yesterday, he walk the dog. (Yesterday, he walked the dog.) 7. Wrong/missing preposition: We met in Michigan Street at Chicago. (We met on Michigan Street in Chicago.) 8. Comma splice: She danced for hours, she never stopped. (She danced for hours. She never stopped) 9. Missing/misplaced possessive apostrophe: Toms mom took his two friend’s cigarettes away. (Tom’s mom took his two friends’ cigarettes away.) 10. Unnecessary tense shift: Cary was laughing until she slips and falls. (Cary was laughing until she slipped and fell.) 11. Unnecessary pronoun
shift: If a person tries, they’ll get ahead. (If a person tries,
she’ll get ahead.)
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12. Sentence fragment:
Since the last time they came. (I haven't spoken to them since the last
time they came.)
13. Wrong tense/verb form: If I saw the police, I would of drove slower. (If I’d seen the police, I would have driven slower.) 14. Lack of subject-verb agreement: The biggest part of the chores are done. (The biggest part of the chores is done.) 15. Faulty parallelism: She’ll leave after she will fire Jones, calls Newman, and has interviewed Miller. (She’ll leave after she fires Jones, calls Newman, and interviews Miller.) 16. Non-agreement between pronoun/antecedent: To each their own. (To each her own.) 17. Unnecessary comma(s) with a restrictive element: The play, Othello, moved him. (The play Othello moved him.) 18. Fused sentence: I liked it I laughed. (I liked it. I laughed.) 19. Misplaced/dangling modifier: Approaching the ship, we watched whales with binoculars. (Whales approached the ship as we watched them through our binoculars.) 20. Its/it’s confusion: Its a red car on it’s side. (It’s a red car on its side). 21. There/they’re/their confusion: Their driving they’re in there own sweet time. (They’re driving there in their own sweet time.) 22. Misplaced comma in a quotation. “I’m tired”, she said. (“I’m tired,” she said.) |
Boilerplate Comments and Questions
| To save time, make a
list of common comments and questions you use as feedback on students’
drafts. Here are examples:
Revision oriented:
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