Grammar and Writing Do's and Don'ts

Modified No-No list Revised Fall 2010
This is a list of the most common errors found in your writing. Don't lose it; you may use it every time you write something in class or at home. Proofread! Use a dictionary.

1. Avoid these words: "Nice," " a lot," "very," "I think."
2. Maintain verb tense. Use all past tense, all present tense, or all future tense. Avoid using “had + verb”. This means that of two things that happened in the past the one with the “had” came first. You can only use this tense if you have two verbs in the same sentence.20. Wrong: “He had gone to the store.” Right: “He went to the store.” Wrong: “He had walked home.” Right: “He walked home.”
3. "Good" is an adjective. "Well" is an adverb.
4. Don't use the expression "Being that"; it's slang for the word "since".
5. Avoid the conversational "you." Don't directly address your reader if he/she is not part of your story or essay.
6. All pronouns must have antecedents and all pronouns must agree with their antecedents in number.
7. Avoid run-on sentences and sentence fragments. Remember sentences must have subjects and verbs. Dependent clauses can't be written by themselves. Independent clauses may be written by themselves. Make sure each sentence expresses a complete thought.
8. Remember these homonyms:
to (direction)
too (also, excessive)
two (2)

there (place)
their (possession)
they're (they are)

know (to have knowledge)
no (negative)

through (to pass by)
threw (tossed, passed)

its (possession)
it's (it is)

your (possession)
you're (you are)

9. Do not confuse these words:
quiet (opposite of loud) and quite (rather or very)
then (a time in the past) and than (comparative)
lose (fail to win) and loose (not tight)
accept (to take as it is) and except (to leave out)
10. People are referred to as "who" or "whom" and not "that" or "which."
11. Avoid redundancies such as "The reason why is because . . ."
Correct: "The reason is . . ."
12. "Of" is never a verb. There is no correct expression as "He would of. . ." You may use: "He would've. . ." where "would've" is a contraction meaning "would have."
13. When you write the title of a novel, underline it. The Color Purple by Alice Walker is a great book. Titles of plays, short stories and poems should be placed in quotation marks.
14. In spelling, remember: "I" before "e" except after "c", or when sounded like "a", as in "neighbor" and "weigh." These words are spelled correctly: "relieve" and "receive."
15. Past tense of the verb “to use” is “used”: I used to go to PS 321.
17. Avoid using the conditional tense: The character would be considered a hero.
16. ALWAYS USE PARAGRAPHS. Every paragraph should have a topic sentence followed by supporting details. Indent the first line of each paragraph.
17 Events occur, they aren’t a time period. “Another example is when…”. Instead write: another example occurs when..
18. When writing decades don’t use an apostrophe: 1970s not 1970’s
19. People get hanged, pictures get hung.