As an editor I’ve often shuddered at some of the very common, glaring mistakes that writers make. While a number of these mistakes might be mere typos or caused by speech patterns, they still need correction before appearing in print. When you are first writing your story you should be more concerned with getting the words down – don’t stumble over corrections while thoughts should be flowing – but afterwards, please, please, self-edit.
Yes, the most obvious mistakes are spelling, punctuation and run on sentences. Using spelling and grammar checks built into your word processing program MAY be useful but they certainly should not be the final word. One recent experience I came across was an organization’s meeting minutes. The typist inadvertently misread notes and wrote “the town’s angina” when it should have been “the town’s agenda” – the minutes went through spell check and the incorrect word, which was spelled correctly, made it to the final copy. Very embarrassing for the typist…
Some writers tend to not only spell but to write “phonetically”. One of the more frequent errors like this that I have come across is using “should OF” instead of the proper “should HAVE” (or should’ve). Another word that is often ill-used is “gonna” – while this version may be appropriate in actual dialogue (remember the dialogue should reflect the way your character actually speaks) it has no place in the narrative.
Words may sound like one another or are at least similar enough to cause confusion. TOO many writers confuse TWO or more words TO express a thought. Make sure that even though it may sound RIGHT, you WRITE the correct meaning. We are talking about homonyms, not homilies. Other words that sound similar, even if not exact, and are often confused are shudder and shutter, synonym and cinnamon, break and brake, your and you’re, feud and food, our and hour, flower and flour, but and butt, there and their, etc. Make sure that the word you use is the one you intended.
Keep the number consistent. Take my line from above: “One of the more frequent errors”, I am talking about ONE so the correct verb to use is IS; however if I were writing about “frequent errors” the correct verb would be ARE since I am talking about multiples. If there seems to be some confusion as to the number you are talking about (as in my line above), make sure that you know what the number of the SUBJECT is and keep it consistent. The teachers and Mary ARE; Each of the teachers IS – “teachers and Mary” is two or more, but “each” is singular.
Finally watch those typos. Transposing two letters, leaving out a letter or adding an extra one will not only be misspelled but may change the entire meaning of your sentence. Look at some of these simple typos: angel or angle, good or god, united or untied, friend or fiend, main or man, and so on.
A suggestion that was once made to me to help in self-editing is to read one sentence at a time starting from the back. If you read your article or story in the order it was meant to be you may not “see” these mistakes because your mind is telling you what you meant to say instead of what is really written there. By breaking up the logical order you may also break up the automatic thought process and the mistakes may suddenly pop into your vision. Asking a friend to read your story through is also a good idea since the fresh eyes will not be anticipating what you meant to say.
Writing exercise: Write separate sentences using write, right, read, red, lead, led, mail, male, made, maid, plain, plane, suffer, sofa, daze, days, shudder, shutter, through, and threw. Make sure you are using the correct meaning.
Writing prompt: Without going into the “room next door” or another place you’ve been previously, try to describe the setting and include as many details (like art of the walls or color of the furniture) – Now go into the room you described and see how accurate you were.
Yes, the most obvious mistakes are spelling, punctuation and run on sentences. Using spelling and grammar checks built into your word processing program MAY be useful but they certainly should not be the final word. One recent experience I came across was an organization’s meeting minutes. The typist inadvertently misread notes and wrote “the town’s angina” when it should have been “the town’s agenda” – the minutes went through spell check and the incorrect word, which was spelled correctly, made it to the final copy. Very embarrassing for the typist…
Some writers tend to not only spell but to write “phonetically”. One of the more frequent errors like this that I have come across is using “should OF” instead of the proper “should HAVE” (or should’ve). Another word that is often ill-used is “gonna” – while this version may be appropriate in actual dialogue (remember the dialogue should reflect the way your character actually speaks) it has no place in the narrative.
Words may sound like one another or are at least similar enough to cause confusion. TOO many writers confuse TWO or more words TO express a thought. Make sure that even though it may sound RIGHT, you WRITE the correct meaning. We are talking about homonyms, not homilies. Other words that sound similar, even if not exact, and are often confused are shudder and shutter, synonym and cinnamon, break and brake, your and you’re, feud and food, our and hour, flower and flour, but and butt, there and their, etc. Make sure that the word you use is the one you intended.
Keep the number consistent. Take my line from above: “One of the more frequent errors”, I am talking about ONE so the correct verb to use is IS; however if I were writing about “frequent errors” the correct verb would be ARE since I am talking about multiples. If there seems to be some confusion as to the number you are talking about (as in my line above), make sure that you know what the number of the SUBJECT is and keep it consistent. The teachers and Mary ARE; Each of the teachers IS – “teachers and Mary” is two or more, but “each” is singular.
Finally watch those typos. Transposing two letters, leaving out a letter or adding an extra one will not only be misspelled but may change the entire meaning of your sentence. Look at some of these simple typos: angel or angle, good or god, united or untied, friend or fiend, main or man, and so on.
A suggestion that was once made to me to help in self-editing is to read one sentence at a time starting from the back. If you read your article or story in the order it was meant to be you may not “see” these mistakes because your mind is telling you what you meant to say instead of what is really written there. By breaking up the logical order you may also break up the automatic thought process and the mistakes may suddenly pop into your vision. Asking a friend to read your story through is also a good idea since the fresh eyes will not be anticipating what you meant to say.
Writing exercise: Write separate sentences using write, right, read, red, lead, led, mail, male, made, maid, plain, plane, suffer, sofa, daze, days, shudder, shutter, through, and threw. Make sure you are using the correct meaning.
Writing prompt: Without going into the “room next door” or another place you’ve been previously, try to describe the setting and include as many details (like art of the walls or color of the furniture) – Now go into the room you described and see how accurate you were.
