Forum Moderators: not2easy
In any one of these elements, you are bound to find common mistakes that both novice and experienced writers make.
By starting this thread, I hope to develop a list of common mistakes, traps and pitfalls ALL writers make. This compilation of errors can be used by writers aspiring to pinpoint and eliminate weak spots in their prose.
To start this thread, allow me to list three of my "pet peeves."
#1) Unnecesary use of the word "that."
Examples:
Bad-> "She said that he did not have to go to school today."
Good-> "She said he did not have to go to school today."
When determining if you can eliminate "that" from a sentence, say it outloud without the "that" and if it still makes sense, then you don't need it. I see this one all the time, even in college textbooks. It may not be a "big deal," but it's my biggest pet peeve (for some reason).
#2) Using the same subject or verb in the same or adjacent sentences.
Example: The City Council met Thursday with all members present. The City Council's first item for discussion was the annexation of the Harrison Subdivision. After 10 minutes of deliberation, the City Council approved the formation of committee to research and make recommendations concerning annexing the Harrison Subdivision. The committee will report back to the City Council in four weeks.
Nauseating isn't it? How about substituting city leaders, or just council or councilmembers or town council? Harrison Subdivision is also used twice too close together.
It is unimaginative and makes for feeble prose.
#3) Avoid slang, cliches, colloquialisms and catch phrases. ie, "Show me the money!" - "Ya'll come back now!" "He counted his chickens before they hatched."
This is also unimaginative and makes for weak content.
Those are my 3 to get it started. I have more but will hold back for now as I hope to get some input from others who have their own pet peeves of ain't not no good content.
Thanks,
Zapatista
Bil Gates: Do you like Microsoft?
Me: No I don't.
Actually, that should be "No, I don't", which is not a double negative. "No" answers the question asked while "I don't" is merely emphasizing your opinion.
As we all know, passive sentences ain't not no good. But what are they? How do we recognize them? When are they necessary? I've done a lot of research on this lately and put this post together.
In passive sentences, the subject receives the action. In otherwords, the receiver of the action is placed in the subject position.
Example:
He threw the ball.
In this simple subject-verb-direct object sentence, "he" is the subject, "threw" is the verb, and "the ball" is the direct object. The direct object receives the action.
Let's make it passive:
The ball was thrown by him.
The ball has now become the subject AND the receiver of the action.
Indicators of the passive voice are forms of the helping verbs "have" and "be," modals, and the word "by."
Whenever you see these helping verbs or modals, your "Passive Sentence Alert" radar should go off.
Have helping verbs include: had, have, has, has been and have been.
Be helping verbs include: is, am, was, were, are and will be.
Remember, whenever you start to use these words, you are most likely constructing a sentence in the passive voice.
Modals are those non-assertive, wishy-washy words that do not belong in business internet content. These helping verbs indicate whether the action is possible, permitted, required or desired.
The entire list of modals include: can, may, must, will, shall, could, might, ought, would, and should.
"I should be able to ship your order in two weeks." = A passive and non-assertive sentence. Just the sort of thing your customer wants to hear.
According to more of my research, the following word endings attract weak verbs and passive construction of sentences: -ion, -tion, -ment, -ance, -ancy, -ization.
An example I read and give here:
(passive) "The authorization to proceed came from the President."
(active) "The President authorized us to proceed."
I recommend writing in the active voice whenever possible. Why? Our minds work better when there is action to give us a mental picture.
A blend of the passive/active voice is needed, but passive sentences pop-up so often in our work that even if we tried to eliminate them all, there will be passive sentences that are necessary and those that evade our "Passive Voice Radar."
How do you know when the passive voice is necessary and when it isn't? Only the writer will know if the content could only work in the verb tense in which it is contructed.
You may also want to use the passive voice when you want the emphasis to be on the receiver. In the examples above,
(He threw the ball), the emphasis is on "He."
However, if you want the emphasis to be the ball, then you will have to rearrange the sentence into a passive one by writing it as: "The ball was thrown by him." Now the emphasis in on "the ball."
