How to write articles free of grammatical blemishes

Table Of Contents

Common errors in writing

• Wrong Use of Words

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

• Rules of Concord

Dangling Modifiers and Misuse of Apostrophe

• Misuse of Apostrophe
• Dangling Modifiers

Common Errors with the use of Comma

• No Comma in a Compound Sentence
• Comma splice

Sentence Sprawl, Sentence Fragments and Lack of Parallel Structure

• Sentence Sprawl
• Sentence Fragments
• Lack of Parallel Structure

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement and Awkward Shift in tenses

• Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
• Awkward Shift in Verb Tense

Random Writing Tips

Having worked on over a hundred and sixty blog posts/articles, I can boldly say I am not an amateur blogger.

I just want to show you basic things you need to know and bear in mind whenever you are writing to eliminate typos, pass your message across clearly and make your work glow.

Welcome on board as we get started.

Common errors in writing.

The Majority of the ones I'll share are ones I've encountered in the course of editing clients' manuscript or the ones I see randomly on social media, movies, etc.

I'll keep them short so you don't get bored. 🤗😉

For today, it is...

Wrong Use of Words

Some words or phrases are wrongly used either out of carelessness or lack of patience on the writer's part to stop and think through his/her choice of words before using them. This is particularly seen with words that sound alike.

I'll illustrate:

Example 1

Wrong: I was supposed to *right* you a note but I forgot.

Correct: I was supposed to *write* you a note but I forgot.

Example 2

Wrong: I have been denied *assess* to my account.

Correct: I have been denied *access* to my account.

Example 3

Wrong: I love *circular* music.

Correct: I love *secular* music.

Example 4

Wrong: *Ones* you see him, tell him I want to see him.

Correct: *Once* you see him, tell him I want to see him.

Example 5

Wrong: I'm *living*. (When you mean to say you're exiting a place).

Correct: I'm *leaving.*

The list is endless.

Subject-Verb Agreement (Concord)

Concord is simply the agreement between a subject and its verb. That explains why it is called subject-verb agreement.

A subject is the 'person' that performs an action in a sentence. A verb on the other hand is the action being performed in a sentence. There are a lot of rules of concord. We'd take them one at a time.

Rule 1: As a general rule, singular subjects take singular verbs, while plural subjects take plural verbs.

Also note that most singular verbs have an 's' whereas plural verbs don't. E.g. words like comes, goes, preaches, writes, edits, am, has, does, proofreads, etc, are singular verbs while verbs like come, go, preach, write, edit, are, have, do, proofread, etc, are plural verbs.

Example

1. Kemi *likes* watching football.

It would be wrong to say...

"Kemi *like* watching football" because the subject is singular and hence should take on a singular verb (likes).

If the subject changes to two or more people (making it plural), then it should take on a plural verb.

2. Kemi and Bola *like* watching football.

3. I *am* coming.

4. They *do* web designing.

5. She *does* tutorial classes for JAMB students.

6. You *like* watching football.

7. I *have* an umbrella.

8. You *have* a sonorious voice.

(Please note that examples 6, 7 & 8 are exceptions to the rule; even though their subjects sound singular, they take on plural verbs).

Rule 2

Pronouns such as each, everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody, somebody, nobody, someone, none, and no-one all take singular verbs.

Example

1. Everyone *is* on lockdown.

It would be wrong to say, "Everyone *are* on lockdown."

2. No one *is* listening to the teacher.

Rule 3: Two singular subjects connected by 'nor' or 'or' take a singular verb. Either/or and neither/nor also take singular verbs.

Example

1. Tea or Pap *is* fine for breakfast.

2. Either Tea or Pap *is* fine for breakfast.

3. Neither James nor John *is* responsible.

Rule 4:

If the subject is separated from the verb by words such as "along with", "as well as", "besides", ignore these expressions when determining whether to use a singular or plural verb and stick with a singular verb.

Example

1. Mike, as well as Steve, *was* relieved of his duty.

2. Mr Joseph, along with Bola his wife, *was* seen leaving the village yesterday.

PS: what this means is that these phrases do not behave like "and" and hence take singular verbs.

Rule 5

Collective nouns such as "team" or "staff," can be either singular or plural depending on the rest of the sentence. But most of the time, they take the singular form, as the collective noun is treated as a cohesive single unit.

Example

1. The Church *is* marching on.

2. My team *is* winning.

Rule 6

Use a singular verb if the two subjects separated by "and" refer to the same person or thing as a whole.

Example

1. The Principal and English Teacher *is* addressing the students.

PS: This shows that the Principal is the same person as the English Teacher.

If an article is introduced before "English Teacher", it then implies that they are different persons. Hence you'll have "The Principal and the English Teacher *are* addressing the students."

2. Bread and Tea *is* ideal for breakfast.

Note; As an adjunct to rule 5, it is very important that consistency is maintained if one chooses to use a plural verb with a collective noun.

For instance, it would be right to say "The police *were* seen beating the man who disobeyed *their* order."

And not, "The police *was* seen beating the man who disobeyed *their* order."

Rule 7

The word "were" replaces "was" in sentences that express a wish or are contrary to fact.

Example

1. If *Sarah* *were* to be around, she would have handled the situation better.

2. If *today* *were* to be Monday, I would have gone for rehearsals.

Rule 8

If one subject is singular and one is plural, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

Example

1. Neither the fans nor the television *is* working.

2. Neither the television nor the fans *are* working.

Dangling Modifiers and Misuse of Apostrophe

Misuse of Apostrophe

First, I'll tell you what apostrophes are used for.

Apostrophes are used to indicate missing letters in contractions. For example, "can’t" is the short for "cannot", while "don’t" is the short for "do not". "It's" is the short for "it is", while "you're" is the short for "you are".

Apostrophes are also used to show possession or ownership. For example, "the girl's sandals" or "the Pastor's wife".

A misuse of apostrophes occurs in any of these instances:

a. An apostrophe is added to a plural form of a noun. E.g. two umbrella's, three cat's, four dog's, etc.

b. Confusing it's and it is.

E.g. Its going to rain today (wrong).

It's going to rain today (right).

The cat hit it's leg on a stone (wrong).

The cat hit its leg on a stone (right).

c. Confusing you're and your.

E.g.

Can I borrow you're pen (wrong).

Can I borrow your pen (right).

Your not treating me well (wrong).

You're not treating me well (right).

Dangling Modifiers

A dangling modifier (otherwise known as a dangling participle, hanging modifier, floater, floating modifier, or misrelated participle) is a word or phrase that doesn't actually modify the word it was intended to modify.

To modify means to either change, alter, limit, or add more info to something else in the sentence.

A modifier is considered dangling when the sentence isn't clear about what is being modified. Adverbs and adjectives serve as modifiers in a sentence, giving more information about the verbs, adverbs, adjectives, nouns or pronouns in a sentence.

Let's get on illustrating with examples and see how they'll help drive home my point.

Example

1. While driving to work, a car accident caused a traffic jam on the highway.

In the above sentence, the reader is left wondering who was driving to work.

Hence, rephrase thus:

While James was driving to work, a car accident caused a traffic jam on the highway.

2. At the age of twelve, my brother took me to the cinema.

This leaves the reader with the question: who was twelve, the writer or the brother?

Rephrasing, we have:

When I was twelve, my brother took me to the cinema.

OR

My brother took me to the cinema when I was twelve.

OR

When my brother was twelve, he took me to the cinema.

I hope these are clear enough.

 Common Errors with the use of Comma

1. No Comma in a Compound Sentence

A compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses. A comma separates each of the independent clauses separated by a conjunction.

The comma goes after the first clause and before the coordinating conjunction that separates the clauses.

Example

Simple sentences contain one clause and compound sentences contain at least two. (wrong)

Simple sentences contain one clause, and compound sentences contain at least two. (right)

Hint: there should be a comma before the conjunction "and". This has some semblance with error number 2 but are different.

Follow me...

2. Comma splice

A comma splice occurs when two independent clauses are joined with a comma rather than a period or semicolon.

Example

I can't marry John, we don't agree on some core principles.

The above sentence is faulty. The simple reason is that each part can stand on its own as a complete sentence. Hence, a comma is not strong enough to hold them together. This type of error is called a comma splice.

A comma splice can be fixed by adding a conjunction (which can either be "and", "but", or "so") just after the comma, using a semi-colon if the two independent clauses are logically related or using a period (full-stop) to separate them.

So, to fix the above sentence, you either have:

I can't marry John; we don't agree on some core principles.

OR

I can't marry John. We don't agree on some core principles.

3. Superfluous or Excessive use of Comma

This occurs when you have too may commas in a sentence when they aren’t necessary.

Example

The book on the table, is mine. (wrong)

The book on the table is mine. (right)

James wanted to be either a journalist, or a web developer. (wrong)

James wanted to be either a journalist or a web developer. (right)

Hint: the commas are not necessary in the above sentences and should be removed.

Sentence Sprawl, Sentence Fragments and Lack of Parallel Structure

Sentence Sprawl

Sentence sprawl refers to sentences that are overly long and repetitive. A sentence sprawl can be avoided by keeping your sentences short.

A second way to avoid sentence sprawl is by expressing one or at most two main ideas in a sentence.

Illustrating:

Learning to write better sentences can be a good way to make your writing crisper and snappier, without losing the central meaning of your sentence, and still including all the necessary details that support your thought. (wrong)

This can be corrected thus:

Learning to write better sentences can be a good way to make your writing crisper and snappier. It keeps you from losing the central meaning of your sentence, and still including all the necessary details. (right)

Sentence Fragments

These are best called dependent clauses. Dependent clauses are not supposed to stand alone in a sentence.

When that happens, a sentence fragment is produced. A fragment may lack a subject, a complete verb, or both.

Example

1. Clothes and shoes scattered around the room. (wrong)

2. Clothes and shoes were scattered around the room. (right)

3. Left the room swiftly. (wrong)

The above sentence has no subject.

4. Sarah left the room swiftly. (right)

Lack of Parallel Structure

This occurs when two or more parts of a sentence are similar in meaning but not parallel (or grammatically similar) in form. This often occurs with paired constructions and items in a series.

Example

1. Her areas of interest are content writing, proofreading and editor. (wrong)

2. Her areas of interest are content writing, proofreading and editing. (right)

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement and Awkward Shift in tenses

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Pronouns must agree with or match the nouns they represent. There must be agreement in number and gender.

Example

1. The children were asked to invite her parents. (wrong)

2. The children were asked to invite their parents. (right)

3. If a student has a problem, they should contact their academic adviser. (wrong)

4. If a student has a problem, he (she) should contact his (her) academic adviser. (wrong)

5. I see men who wear necklaces as an unserious person. (wrong)

#can I get someone to correct this one? 😋😍

Awkward Shift in Verb Tense

This occurs when there are different tenses in a sentence.

Example

1. John makes my dresses, then polished my shoes. (wrong)

2. John makes my dresses, and polishes my shoes. (right)

3. John made my dress and polished my shoes. (right)

4. Sandra left the room the moment we arrive. (wrong)

5. Sandra left the room the moment we arrived. (right)

Random Writing Tips

Today, my plan is to itemize some things that writers do that discredit them.

🖋️ When I started out writing intentionally, one of my friends counselled that I do away with writing in short hand. You know them right? Words like tnks, ur, k, wen, lik, day, dey, etc.

It took time before I could stop completely. When you write like that, you present yourself as an unserious and lazy writer.

🖋️ Don't write and share immediately. Allow some minutes, hours and sometimes days in between your final draft and hitting publish button.

Believe me, some typos will become visible to you only when you drop that final draft and take a walk, nap, or engage in another different activity. It still works for me.

🖋️ We always hear Pro writers advise, "write everyday". That's a sound counsel.

But there's another one I love "if you're not writing, be reading". It's when you're reading that you get to expose your mind to different writing styles and even without your knowing it, they begin to rub off on you.

It's the end of our common errors in writing, I hope one or two grammar rules has stuck with you?