ENG102 Grammar Guide
The sites below can easily assist you with avoiding common grammar and usage errors.
Item
Source
URL
Top 20 Grammar Errors in
English
The University of
Texas at Arlington
http://www.uta.edu/owl/top20.htm
The Ten Most Frequent
English Errors
The Cincinnati
Enquirer
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/06/18/tem_ten_most_frequent.html
Dodge the Grammar Traps
Quality Web Content
http://www.webpagecontent.com/arc_archive/138/5/
10 Flagrant Grammar
Mistakes That Make You Look
Stupid (Even When You Are
Not)
Tech Republic
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6075621.html
A few other annoying errors frequently found in ENG102 writing:
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Periods and commas generally go inside quotation marks: “blah, blah, blah.”
Spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence: Two thousand pamphlets . . .”
Spell out numbers that are ten or under: Ten people . . .
Use apostrophes to indicate possession: The woman’s son . . .
It’s means it is; its is possessive: It’s time to go; its parts were scattered . . .
Like nouns, pronouns are singular or plural and must agree with their antecedents (the nouns they replace):
o The house was dark, and it sat in a . . . (singular house matches singular it)
o The cats sat on the sofa, all of them waiting . . . (plural cats matches plural them)
Avoid contractions in formal English writing: don’t should be do not
Avoid vague terms that add no meaning or can be interpreted in many ways: a lot of (how much is “a lot of”?)
Never say “me and Bob.” It is not all about me, me, me. List the other person’s name first. “Bob and I are going . . .”; It belongs to Bob and me . . .