COMMONLY MADE MISTAKES IN COLLEGE PAPERS



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The following mistakes are made frequently by writers, and you will not only polish your writing by learning the correct rules, but you will make the job of the person reading your papers much easier. Showing your familiarity with rules of standard written English will strengthen your readers’ sense of your competence and credibility, helping you not only in your written work for classes, but in whatever career you choose.

• affect vs. effect: in general, affect is the verb form we use; it is the action of affecting something, the result of which is the effect. For example:

“Her campaign strategy affected the outcome of the election.”

“The study examined the effects of sugar on children’s behavior.”

One exception: effect can be used as a verb when it means to bring about, as in “to effect a change.”

• possessives: if you wish to show possession, as in “my father’s car,” use an apostrophe. For plural possession, the apostrophe comes at the end of the word: “the students’ papers.” Watch out for plural nouns like children, which don’t have a final s: “the children’s toys.”

• The one time you DO NOT use an apostrophe is when you are talking about something belonging to it: “The dog wagged its tail.” “It’s” is a contraction for “it is.”

• TO MAKE PLURALS, YOU NEVER NEED AN APOSTROPHE!!! “We saw many things,” NOT “thing’s.”

• amount vs. number and less vs. fewer: amount and less can only be used with uncountable quantities-- you refer to the “amount of peanut butter,” and you have “less peanut butter.” For countable things, use number and fewer-- “the number of peanuts” and “fewer peanuts.” Saying “amount of peanuts” or “less peanuts” is incorrect.

• between vs. among: use “between” to show a relationship between two things, and “among” to show relationship among more than two.

• there/ their/ they’re: “there” refers to a place; “their” means belonging to them, as in “their shoes”; “they’re” is a contraction for “they are”.

• your/ you’re: “your” describes something belonging to you; “you’re” is a contraction for “you are.”

• than/then: “than” is used to make comparisons, as in “She is taller than you are.” “Then” refers to time: “You were younger then.”

• Each, everyone, somebody (and all the other “ones” and “bodies”) are SINGULAR, and the verb which follows should be singular: “Each student takes the exam.”

• Etc., not ect.: etc. is short for et cetera, and the abbreviation takes the order of the first three letters.

• “Due to” can only be used following the verb “to be.” For example, “It was due to the storm that the game was canceled.” You should not say, “She was late due to the fact that her car broke down.”

• Watch agreement when you use a singular noun: “A student can find his or her information in the library.” (NOT “their information”). Also avoid using the outdated words "mankind" or "man" to mean humankind or humans.

• Avoid contractions and slang in formal papers.

• To avoid comma splices: To separate two independent clauses, like “he went to the store,” and “he bought some milk,” choose one of the following options:

1) Make them two sentences: “He went to the store. He bought some milk.”

2) Use a semicolon: “He went to the store; he bought some milk.”

3) Use a conjunction and a comma: “He went to the store, and he bought some milk.”

If you have an independent clause (meaning that it has a subject and verb and can stand alone as a sentence), you must have the comma before the conjunction (other conjunctions with which this might be an issue: for, nor, or, but, yet).

4) Eliminate the second subject and use a conjunction WITHOUT a comma: “He went to the store and bought some milk.” NEVER put a comma before the conjunction if there is not a second subject.

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COMMONLY MADE MISTAKES IN COLLEGE PAPERS

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