Student resources
Patrons, in addition to being tutored by center staff, are welcome to use our computer laboratory (19 PCs, 1 Mac) and our many resources — dictionaries, handbooks, style guides and more. Patrons are also able to print up to 25 pages daily, free of change. Technicians and tutors are on hand to assist with computer-related questions.
Given below are sentences illustrating the most common errors in student writing. The formal name for the problem is stated. In each case, samples of tutor descriptions of the error have been added; such descriptions can be more helpful for writers at times than formal names.
Adjective/adverb confusion
- The statement means the mechanism that allows you to feel is broken.
- feel, smell, taste — the word following these verbs describes the subject ( a noun or pronoun), not the verb.
- “Badly” here refers to the verb “felt,” which implies that John’s ability to feel is impaired.
Pronoun case
- Mary and me — me is the object of the preposition between; prepositions are followed by the object form of pronouns
- You should be able to take out the words “Mary and” and still be able to read the sentence.
- Cut out the name; would you use I or me?
Subject-verb agreement
- One is singular; are is plural.
- A singular subject (one) should be followed by a singular verb (is, not are)
- Prepositional phrases (of the many students) are not an important part of the sentence when looking at verb agreement; the main idea (S + V) is One is enrolled.
Double negative
- two negatives in a row—can’t hardly
- “Hardly” is already negative—either He can hardly or He can’t.
- The sentence literally (or mathematically) means that Trygve can easily get out of bed; two negatives = a positive
Dangling construction
- It sounds like “the smell of fresh pastries and coffee” is “entering the bakery.”
- As a reader, I am unclear as to what was entering the bakery — a woman or a smell?
- The actor of the sentence must be at the beginning of the independent clause.
Verb tense shift
- Pick a verb tense and stick with it; present tense is the standard for writing about literature.
- Avoid verb tense changes—The woman pays/ The woman sleeps.
- Verb tenses should stay consistent within a sentence.
Sentence fragment
- Although indicates that the segment following should be joined to the main clause.
- Things that sound like afterthoughts or additions are rarely complete sentences.
- These two ideas can be combined to form one complex sentence; otherwise, the second clause is a fragment.
Wrong verb form
- This sentence should read “should have” because “of” is a phonetic way of saying “have” in spoken English.
- Should’ve = should have
- “Of” is a preposition while “should have” is a helping or auxiliary verb.
Comma splice
- A comma doesn’t correctly join two sentences (or two independent clauses).
- You have two complete sentences here; use a semicolon or a period rather than a comma.
- There is no putting two sentences together with just a comma.
Run-on sentence
- A new subject and a new verb after “vacation” — a new sentence
- There are two complete sentences here not separated by punctuation.
- This sentence contains two complete thoughts without the necessary punctuation.
Lack of parallel construction
- If you want to use not only … but also, the word group following each part (phrase or clause) must be parallel in construction.
- Because + Prepositional phrase is grammatically different from because + S + V.
- Match the form of items joined by coordinating conjunctions or phrases.
From Rich Carr, former director, UAF Writing Center and Computer Laboratory