Seven Errors

1. Sentence fragment

   The professor read the papers. In her office.

   (Note: it is possible to use a fragment artistically. If, however, your motive is neither aesthetic nor conscious, eliminate the fragment.)

2. Run-on sentence

   There are three dictionaries on my shelves none of them is very new.

3. Comma splice (joining two independent clauses solely with a comma)

   I like his lectures, they always contain colorful anecdotes.

   (Correct alternatives include substituting a semi-colon for the comma or adding a conjunction:

   I like his lectures; they always contain colorful anecdotes.

   or

   I like his lectures, for they always contain colorful anecdotes.)

4. Non-agreement of subject and verb

   The reason, for the impoverished condition of Argentinian finances are

   complex.

5. Faulty pronoun reference

   Each office has their own computer and printer.

6. Misused semi-colon

   She has decided to switch majors; even though that will mean adding another semester's worth of coursework.

   He has two books that he reads every summer; On the Road and Siddhartha.

   Generally, semi-colons separate independent clauses, clauses that could stand alone as sentences. The semi-colon's other major use is as a super-comma when you are separating items into groups and using commas to separate individual items within the groups. For example:

   Here are the peer-edit groups for today's editing session: Leigh, Skip, Amy, and Michael; Laura, Elias, John, and Jessica; Rob, Lisa, Glenn, and Debbie.

7. Faulty parallelism

   Homeless people suffer because of inadequate diet, insufficient medical care, and the people around them are cruelly indifferent to their plight.

   You should use the same grammatical structure for parallel items in a series:

   Homeless people suffer because of inadequate diet, insufficient medical care, and the cruel indifference of the people around them.

   How to deal with these problems? Once again, visit

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