khoaanh.org

Newbie Joined: Nov 10, 2009 Posts: 5

Four Tips to Improve Your Writing Skills
And How to Avoid Common Mistakes
Below are some basic writing rules, along with an example of the rule being broken. Learn how to avoid these common mistakes.

1. Be Consistent
Sequence of Tenses After he broke his arm, he is home for two weeks.
Shift of Pronoun If one is tense, they should try to relax.
Parallelism She skis, plays tennis, and flying hang gliders.
Noun Agreement Eric and James want to be a pilot.
Pronoun Reference Several people wanted the job, and he or she filled out the required applications.
Subject-Verb Agreement There is eight people on the shore.
2. Express Ideas Logically
Coordination and Subordination Jen has a rash, and she is probably allergic to something.
Logical Comparison Joey grew more vegetables than his neighbor's garden.
Modification and Word Order Barking loudly, the tree had the dog's leash wrapped around it.
3. Be Clear and Precise
Ambiguous and Vague Pronouns In the newspaper they say that few people voted.
Diction He circumvented the globe on his trip.
Wordiness There are many problems in the contemporary world in which we live.
Improper Modification If your car is parked here while not eating in the restaurant, it will be towed away.
4. Follow Conventions
Pronoun Case He sat between you and I at the stadium.
Idiom Jack had a different opinion towards him.
Comparison of Modifiers Of the sixteen executives, Gretchen makes more money.
Sentence Fragment Abby having to go home early.
Double Negative Andie has scarcely no free time.
If you're not sure whether you're following the rules of writing correctly, be sure to ask your teachers or parents for help.

Newbie Joined: Nov 14, 2009 Posts: 9

How do I get help? My teachers are busy with their evening classes and my parents, ah.., who knows all my writing assignments have been done by them!

khoaanh.org

Language Skills

Linguistics

English Language Teaching

Literature