This document provides information on common writing mistakes seen in first-year college writing, including issues with voice, agreement, clauses, and comma usage. It defines active and passive voice, discusses subject-verb agreement and examples, identifies independent and dependent clauses, lists common subordinating conjunctions, and outlines rules for comma use with clauses and between independent clauses. Examples are provided and corrected to illustrate concepts.

1. *

2. * While there is a lot to learn when it comes to
grammar and mechanics, this presentation
focuses on the most common mistakes and
issues seen in first-year college writing.
* Here you’ll find information covering voice and
agreement, types of clauses, and correct
comma usage.
* Along with this presentation, you’ll also find
helpful handouts on Bb that cover much of this
material.
* Let’s get started with voice and agreement.

3. * When it comes to writing, “voice” describes
the subject’s relationship to the verb in a
sentence:
* Passive: The verb form when the subject names
the receiver of the verb’s action.
Ex: The ball was kicked by John.
* Active: The verb form when the subject names
the performer of the verb’s action.
Ex: John kicked the ball.
Although passive voice is technically
grammatically correct, it is unnecessarily wordy
and unclear. Use ACTIVE voice when writing.
*

4. * It is important to ensure subjects and pronouns or
subjects and antecedents agree in your sentences.
Let’s look at a few examples:
* A police officer deals with a lot of challenging
situations, and they have to put up with many
difficult people.
* In this example, “a police officer” is singular, but the
writer uses the pronoun “they,” which is plural.
* To revise, we must make them match, changing
either the subject or the pronoun like this:
Police officers deal with a lot of challenging
situations, and they have to put up with many
difficult people.
* Let’s practice
*

5. * Correct the following
error in agreement:
A. People need to
understand the
consequences of their
decisions, and you
must think critically to
do this.
* WARNING: Along with not agreeing, this sentence uses
the second person POV. Remember, we want to write
our papers in THIRD PERSON POV (he, she, they, one,
etc)

6. * A clause is any group of words that contains both a
subject and a predicate. There are two kinds of
clauses, and the distinction between them is very
important:
* Independent (Main) Clause: Very simply, this type of
clause is a sentence, a complete thought that can stand
on its own.
EX: John bought a dog.
* Dependent (Subordinate) Clause: This is not a complete
sentence. It requires additional information to be clear,
making it “dependent” or “subordinate” to another part
of the sentence.
EX: Because he was lonely
Learn to recognize independent and dependent clauses.
They play a large role in correct comma usage.
*

7. After Once
* Although Provided
As Rather
Most dependent/subordinate clauses
As if Than
begin with something called a As long as Than
subordinating conjunction. These
words indicate that the clause requires As though That
additional information to be complete.
Here you’ll find a list of the most
Because Though
common subordinating conjunctions. Before Since
Even if Unless
Even When
Now: Let’s practice! though Whenever
If Where
If only Whereas
In order Whether
That While

8. * A. I’m taking several
classes this
semester, but
bowling is my
favorite course.
Sentence “B” is the correct
answer. “Although” is a
subordinating conjunction, and the
clause “Although I like history B. Although I like
when I watch it on TV” cannot history when I
stand on its own. It must be watch it on T.V, my
combined with the independent
clause that follows. history class is not
much fun at all.
C. I like ice cream.

9. * Commas are probably the most-hated punctuation mark, but
with a few rules you’ll be able to use them easily and correctly.
We’re going to focus on identifying common errors and
correcting those errors with proper comma usage. Let’s look at
two common mistakes with clauses:
* Comma Splices: Comma splices combine two independent
clauses with a comma, and incorrect way to coordinate
ideas.
EX: I had pizza for dinner yesterday, it made me sick
* In this example both clauses are independent; they can
stand on their own. In this case we CANNOT use only a
comma to separate them.
* Fused Sentences: Fused sentences combine two independent
clauses without any punctuation at all.
EX: I had pizza for dinner yesterday it made me sick.
Recognizing comma splices and fused sentences is the first
step in correct comma usage. There are three ways we can
correct such errors.
*

10. * A. I had pizza for
dinner yesterday. It
made me sick.
1. Separate the clauses with
B. I had pizza for
a period. dinner yesterday; it
made me sick.
2. Separate the clauses with
a semicolon: ; C. I had pizza for
dinner yesterday,
3. Separate the clauses with and it made me
a comma + a coordinating
conjunction. sick.

11. *
Semicolons function just like periods. They
indicate a separation between two
For
INDEPENDENT CLAUSES. However, semicolons
are most often used to separate two related
ideas or a specific contrast.
And
Fanboys are COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS.
Nor
When combined with a comma, they serve to
connect to INDEPENDENT CLAUSES. Know your But
Fanboys!
Or
WARNING: Be careful. These words don’t
always function as coordinating conjunctions.
Be sure to check for two independent clauses.
Yet
WARNING: Beware of weakly connective words
that appear to be CCs: however, because,
although, etc. The se are NOT Fanboys.
So
Now: Let’s practice!

12. * A. I bought a laptop
recently but not a
bag for it.
B. My dog likes ice
cream yet not her
dog food.
C. I went for a walk in
the woods, and I
*
got bit by
mosquitoes.

13. * The last comma rule we’ll cover now is the use of
commas with dependent/subordinate clauses (remember
those?). There are two rules for this:
* When the dependent/subordinate clause PRECEEDS
the independent clause, use a comma to separate
them.
EX: Because he was feeling lonely, Bob adopted a dog.
* In this example, “because he was feeling lonely” is
a dependent clause. It starts with a subordinating
conjunction and requires the second half of the
sentence to be complete. Because it comes before
the IC, we use a comma.
* When the dependent/subordinate clause FOLLOWS the
independent clause, no comma is needed.
EX: Bob adopted a dog because he was feeling lonely.
*

14. * Let’s practice:
Identify
whether the following A. Although I’m not very
examples require a good I like to play the
comma: guitar.
B. I didn’t go to class
today since I wasn’t
feeling very well.
C. While I didn’t have too
much sleep last night I
was too busy to take a
nap

15. *While spelling issues have been reduced
thanks to SpellCheck, there are still many
errors one can make that won’t be caught
by the software including commonly
confused words and homonyms.
* Homonyms are words that sound alike but are
spelled differently and have different meanings.
* The next slide contains several examples of the
most common commonly confused words and
homonyms.
*

16. It’s/Its
Your/You’re
Their/there/they’re
To/Too/Two
Than/Then
Accept/Except
Affect/Effect
Led/Lead
Breath/Breathe
Lose/Loose
Past/Passed
* Since spellcheckers often miss such confused words,
it’s important to proofread carefully for the easy-to-
make mistakes.
Let’s practice

17. * Let’s practice:Correct
the following passage: A. People who drive to
slow on the highway
are annoying because
they’re inability to use
the gas pedal gets on
We have several misused words my nerves. Let’s be
here. “To” should be “too”; honest: its not that
“they’re” should be “their”; hard.
and “its” should be “it’s.”

18. *
The following five examples have several of the common
errors we have discussed. Identify the error and correct
the sentence. Sentences may have more than one error.

19. Its not to late * This example has several
errors
to get your * “Its” should be “it’s”
tickets for the * “to” should be “too”
* “there” should be “they’re”
festival but * Finally, this is compound
there selling sentence; notice the
FANBOY (but). What comes
out quickly. before and after the
FANBOY are independent
clauses, meaning we must
add a comma to connect
them.

20. I left the party * This is an example of
incorrect comma
early, because usage. “Because I was
feeling tired” is a
I was feeling dependent/subordinat
tired. e clause. Since it
FOLLOWS the
independent clause, “I
left the party early,”
no comma is needed.

21. There is no way * There are two errors
here.
that the Cubs * First, this is a FUSED
sentence, meaning the
will win the writer has combined
two independent
World Series clauses without proper
this year their punctuation.
* “Their” should be
just too bad. “they’re.”

22. * There are three errors
While its nice to here.
* First, this sentence
talk to a friend includes a
dependent/subordinate
on the phone clause: “While it’s nice to
talk to a friend on the
it’s annoying if phone.” Since this clause
PRECEEDS the
independent clause, a
they call too comma is needed.
* The first “its” should be
much. “it’s”.
* Finally, we have an error
here in agreement. “A
friend” is singular, but the
writer uses the plural
pronoun “they.”

23. I went * While “and” is a
FANBOY, in this
shopping sentence it is NOT
being used as such.
yesterday, and What comes before
bought lots of and after the “and”
are NOT both
new clothes. independent clauses.