In the age of blogs and social media, bad writing is all too
common. Thus, the person who writes well stands out from the crowd. You can be such a person, as it is not
difficult to avoid common writing mistakes. The following are some common
mistakes, along with a suggested essay
checker to make sure your formal writing is original as well as excellent
in form.
Homonyms
In English there are a number of words which are spelled
differently, yet pronounced the same (or nearly the same.) Automatic spelling checkers will not catch
homonym errors if you correctly spelled the wrong word. Be sure to proofread your work carefully to
avoid mistakes in commonly confused words such as: affect/effect,
there/their/they’re, its/it’s, to/two/too, sow/sew/so.
Style
Avoid the use of slang and other elements common in casual
communication. Because of the abundance
of media and the decline in formal dress and language, most writers today tend
to be too casual in their more serious writing.
Writing for work or for school should be more formal. At the same time, avoid the use of
ostentatious language. Using big words when a smaller one will do impresses
nobody. Be yourself, but on your best
behavior. Your writing may be read by strangers rather than your closest
friends, so use a tone appropriate to meeting someone important (your reader)
for the first time. Show the reader you
are polite, intelligent, and articulate.
Punctuation and
Capitalization
Because people spend much time typing short text messages or
casual email responses, they tend to forget about the attributes of a complete
sentence. Formal writing requires the
use of complete sentences with subject and verb. Consult a good English
composition textbook for a complete treatment of sentence structure. Begin every sentence with a capital letter
and end each sentence with a period, question mark, or, rarely, an exclamation
point. Be sure each sentence is a single
complete thought. Several different
thoughts require several separate sentences.
Plagiarism
Of all possible writing mistakes, plagiarism is the most
serious of all. Plagiarism is the use of another’s words as your own. In other words, plagiarism is intellectual
theft. Whether inadvertent or
deliberate, it is an offense taken seriously by teachers, professors, and the
writers who have their words taken without permission. If you have relied heavily on a particular
resource for your essay or term paper, it is important to check your work to be
sure you have properly cited the resources you used and have expressed ideas
from that source in your own words, not merely copied the source while changing
a few words. Free essay checkers are
available online to help you avoid plagiarism.
Using a free essay plagiarism checker is quick and easy. Just paste your essay or other
writing into the checker. It then uses
algorithms to check word frequency and other variables against the internet and
common databases. If anything is
flagged, you will be able to correct your work and be confident your finished
writing is original.
