Writing mistakes can quickly ruin even the best-researched and well-written pieces. New writers may feel intimidated by all the grammatical, story flow and other rules whether written or unwritten.<\/p>\n
To forge ahead, understand that a handful of key tips can help avoid writing mistakes consistently. Don\u2019t repeat the same mistakes over and over; and in the process strengthen your writing work potential.<\/p>\n
First, know how contractions operate. They just combine two words, as in \u201cyou\u201d and \u201care\u201d into \u201cyou\u2019re.\u201d When in doubt about it\u2019s vs. its, or your or you\u2019re, try this.\u00a0Insert the option with the apostrophe, then say it aloud as the two words it\u2019s supposed to represent. For instance, if you wrote \u201cIt\u2019s you\u2019re game,\u201d say it without the contraction. \u201cIt\u2019s you are game\u201d indicates to use \u201cyour\u201d instead.<\/p>\n
You vs. you\u2019re, its vs. it\u2019s, and they\u2019re-their are among the most common grammatical problems with writing. Often the option without the apostrophe, such as their, your and whose, describe possession of something: like your game in the example above. But saying it aloud is an easy trick.<\/p>\n
Simple grammatical mistakes can convince readers that an article is sloppy or untrustworthy. Get comfortable that when choosing between \u201cwho\u201d and \u201cthat,\u201d go with who if it refers to a person<\/i>. Joe is a driver who<\/i> rarely speeds. Picking \u201cthen\u201d or \u201cthat\u201d? Remember than helps compare things<\/i>. You\u2019re better than that.<\/p>\n
Some little writing rules are straightforward. Never use \u201calot\u201d \u2013 a lot refers to a huge number of something, and allot means to assign or share. \u201cAlot\u201d is nothing.<\/p>\n
Beyond grammatical and spelling errors in writing, important things to avoid are sentences that are too long or have too many commas. Good, easy-to-read text is best in bite-sized pieces. Keep sentences short. If you run across a long sentence divided by a comma, consider making it two sentences.<\/p>\n
Same with too many commas in a sentence; it can break a reader\u2019s train of thought and possibly confuse. Again, consider breaking the sentence into separate thoughts, or use a semicolon instead. To delete a comma, try \u201cbut,\u201d \u201cand,\u201d \u201cif,\u201d \u201csince\u201d or \u201calthough\u201d instead.<\/p>\n
A writing mistake to avoid is clutter. If something seems to interfere with the flow of text or a reader\u2019s ability to digest content, eliminate or replace it. Examples can include too many quotation marks around words; the above-mentioned overuse of commas; and too many pronouns.<\/p>\n
Finally, a big writing mistake to avoid is disorganization. Either start from an outline or rough sketch of points you want to make and in what order, or in the end broadly review a draft from the perspective of organization. Does A lead to B which leads to C? Think of paragraphs as acts in a play.<\/p>\n
Help guide the audience along with transitional words or sentences between acts, or with formatting options like subheadings or bullet points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Writing mistakes can quickly ruin even the best-researched and well-written pieces. New writers may feel intimidated by all the grammatical, story flow and other rules whether written or unwritten. To<\/p>\n