Just An Idea [Writing Tips]

Grammar

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Top 5 common grammar mistakes.

#1
Subject-Verb agreement
The subject and verb of a sentence must agree with one another in number whether they are singular or plural. If the subject of the sentence is singular, its verb must also be singular; if the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural.

Example 1:

Incorrect: An important part of my life have been the people who stood by me.

Correct: An important part of my life has been the people who stood by me.

Example 2:

Incorrect: The two best things about the party was the food and the music.

Correct: The two best things about the party were the food and the music.

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#2

Dangling Participles
Avoid dangling participles because they can make your sentences awkward and give them unintended meanings.
Participles are verbs that describe a continuous action, such as dreaming, eating, and walking.

(Incorrect) Example:

1. Coming out of the market, the bananas fell on the pavement.
2. She handed out brownies to the children stored in plastic containers.
3. I smelled the oysters coming down the stairs for dinner.

In these sentences: (1)The bananas appear to be coming out of the market, (2)the children appear to be "trapped" in the plastic containers, and (3)the oysters are "coming down the stairs" for dinner.

To correct these sentences you must include the missing proper noun or pronoun, or rearranging the sentence so that the participial phrase is next to the noun, proper noun, or pronoun.

(Correct) Example:

1. Coming out of the market, I dropped the bananas on the pavement.
2. She handed out brownies, stored in plastic containers, to the children.
3. Coming down the stairs for dinner, I smelled the oysters.

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#3

Misused Punctuation
The semicolon (;) is the most widely misused punctuation mark. In its simplest form, the semicolon is used to link two related independent clauses together in one sentence. The clauses could be two separate sentences on there own. For example:

Correct: “Mark was obsessed with his hair; he used more styling products than his wife.”

If you add conjunction in there right along with the semicolon, it becomes wrong, misused. 

Incorrect: “Mark was obsessed with his hair; and he used more styling products than his wife.”

Semicolons are also commonly misused in place of commas because both can be used when a writer is making lists.
Now with commas, it is a common writing mistake to throw commas around when they aren’t necessary. In such places as before "because" and "or".  
Just as it is to add no comma in a compound sentence. In a compound sentence, the comma goes after the first clause and before the conjunction that separates the clauses.

Example:

Incorrect: The man jumped into a black sedan and he drove away before being noticed.

Correct: The man jumped into a black sedan, and he drove away before being noticed.

Another common mistake with missing commas, after an intro. A comma should be used after an introductory word, phrase, or clause.

Example:

Incorrect: Before she had time to think about it Sharon jumped into the icy pool.

Correct: Before she had time to think about it, Sharon jumped into the icy pool.

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#4

Wrong Word Usage
There are hundreds of these commonly confused words, using them incorrectly can change the meaning of the sentence. So when in doubt, always check the definition and correct spelling of the word.

Example:

Incorrect: It was a breathe of fresh air to meet someone so genuine.

Correct: It was a breath of fresh air to meet someone so genuine.

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#5

Could of/ Should of/ Would of
There is no such thing, this is not correct. What you are trying to abbreviate is:
-Could have
-Should have
-Would have

The correct way to do that is: Could've, Should've, Would've
Although they sound very similar do not write could of/ should of/ would of, it is grammatically incorrect.