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Some writing mistakes are very common and frequently seen in both printed material and online. This page details some of the most common and easily avoidable writing mistakes. By learning to recognise such errors you can improve your writing skills and avoid common writing mistakes in the future.
You should also read our Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar pages to aid your understanding of the writing process and help you avoid other mistakes.
Remember mistakes in writing can be embarrassing and costly
This page is a very brief introduction to some of the most common mistakes found in English writing.
However, you can see that the English language is unfortunately complex and most spelling and grammar checkers will not pick up subtle distinctions between some of the often-confused words above. Likewise, such checkers will not pick up mistyped words such as “fir” instead of “for”, or “if” instead of “it” or indeed spot all missing words.
It is vital that you therefore do not rely on a spell checker to proofread your writing for you.
The best advice is to read your writing or, better still, to get someone else to read it and check it for you.
Most people find it easier to spot errors when reading from a printed copy compared to reading on a computer screen, so print out a copy to read.
This page is a very brief introduction to some of the most common mistakes found in English writing.
However, you can see that the English language is unfortunately complex and most spelling and grammar checkers will not pick up subtle distinctions between some of the often-confused words above. Likewise, such checkers will not pick up mistyped words such as “fir” instead of “for”, or “if” instead of “it” or indeed spot all missing words.
It is vital that you therefore do not rely on a spell checker to proofread your writing for you.
The best advice is to read your writing or, better still, to get someone else to read it and check it for you.
Most people find it easier to spot errors when reading from a printed copy compared to reading on a computer screen, so print out a copy to read.
