I am busy busy busy working on lots of lovely lovely lovely projects. I’m critting; I’m beta reading; and I’m doing some paid work as an editor. In all of these projects (and in published books generally), I see people making the same grammar mistakes over and over again. So here is a brief tutorial on the top five grammar mistakes I see when editing:
1. The comma splice: a comma splice is where you connect two independent clauses with a mere comma. “I ate a hot dog, it was delicious” is a comma splice.
How you correct it: You can either add a conjunction. So: I ate a hot dog, and it was delicious. Or you can add a semicolon: I ate a hot dog; it was delicious.
2. Coordinating conjunction errors: When conjunctions (represented by the acronym FANBOYS–for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) link together two independent clauses, then you always put a comma before the conjunction.
So instead of: I can make a cup of tea or I can eat ice cream. You should write: I can make a cup of tea, or I can eat ice cream.
3. Using contractions for things that aren’t contractions: The contractions she’s, he’s, etc. translate to ‘she is,’ ‘he is,’ etc. They do not translate to ‘she has,’ ‘he has.’
So this is wrong: She’s got a date tonight. And this is right: She has got a date tonight.*
4. Sentence parts that are out of order: This happens when the parts of your sentences do not appear in the order that they occur. For instance, ‘I dropped my hand from the stove when I felt it was hot.” The action of this sentence can be felt more naturally if it comes in chronological order. So this becomes: When I felt that the stove was hot, I dropped my hand.
5. Using too many words: Most people (me included) are guilty of this. It’s when what we are saying can be said much more concisely. Here are some examples.
Instead of: I watched as he folded his napkin. Write this: He folded his napkin.
Instead of: He lifts the chair off the ground and takes it to the table. Write this: He takes the chair to the table.
Can you think of any other common grammar mistakes?
*Note: The former may be correct if your goal is to represent someone’s speech as it sounds rather than how it is spelled, just like ‘going to’ becomes ‘gonna.’ So a character may say ‘she’s’ for ‘she has’ but a narrator probably won’t.
These are great and you are scaring me (nervously bites nails.) Grammar has never been my strong suit and – just like when I play Canasta and avoid nines – I have an aversion to semicolons. I know it’s weird, but I just don’t like the way they *look*. I am going to be lame and fall back on the old standby: I went to art school, that’s why.
Seriously, awesome post!
I never thought I would read the words “Canasta” and “semicolons” in the same sentence. There, you did it!
In any case, I don’t think you should be nervously biting your nails. Most people don’t know this stuff. I’m just a crazy grammar freak. For what it’s worth, I really like semicolons and the way they always seem to be winking at me, like they know a secret I don’t.
But I’m glad you found it helpful.
Awesome tips! I often have a feeling that something isn’t right but not sure why, so thanks for explaining these. I didn’t realise using “she’s” in that way was wrong, but I would add that using it to sound natural in speech could also apply to one, especially if it’s a child speaking.
Agreed. In speech, it’s definitely okay to replace ‘she has’ with ‘she’s’ because that’s how we talk.
Glad you found it helpful! Feel free to add to it if there’s any other errors you see a lot of.