Common Grammatical Errors in Student Compositions

When I was an English tutor, I've encountered my share of grammatical errors in composition papers. Many writers will make those mistakes, but it is important to understand what those mistakes are so that you can make the necessary corrections when you proofread. Here is a list of some of the most common grammatical errors in composition writing and how you can avoid them when you write your own paper.

Subject-Verb Agreements

A subject-verb agreement is a grammatical rule in which the noun and verb in a sentence must correspond with one another according to whether a noun or pronoun is singular or plural. Beginning writers often make subject-verb errors when they confuse the singularity or plurality of a subject with its corresponding verb. Examples of common mistakes and correct revisions look like this:

Incorrect: "A shipment of new book catalogues are arriving today."
Revision: "A shipment of new book catalogues is arriving today."

Incorrect: "Several recent studies about a new AIDs drug has excited the medical community about the drug's effectiveness in fighting the disease."
Revision: "Several recent studies about a new AIDs drug have excited the medical community about the drug's effectiveness in fighting the disease."

Pronoun Agreement

A pronoun agreement works in the same fashion as the pronoun-verb agreement in that a pronoun and noun must have a corresponding plural or singular agreement. Words such as anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody are all singular nouns and therefore require singular possessive pronouns. Writers often confuse the singular noun or pronoun with a plural verb or possessive pronoun. Common mistakes include:

Incorrect: "To each their own." (Each is singular)
Revision: "To each his/her own."

Incorrect: "Everybody collected their coats."
Revision: "Everybody collected his/her coat."

Incorrect: "No one in the room knew where their coats were."
Revision: "No one in the room knew where his/her coat was."

Dangling Participles