Mistakes Which Can Turn Your Post in Nonsense

Even the best essay does not score 100%. There are common mistakes that will make your blog post or academic paper less competitive and lower your performance. According to MyCustomEssay proofreaders, these mistakes are common to a wide range of people.

Some mistakes are easy to predict and are even expected by some students. For instance, some students will confuse between ‘this’ and ‘these.’ Others mix-up ‘their’ and ‘there,’ leaving the reader wondering what the writer intended to say. It is interesting to review some of the mistakes because of the impact they have on the meaning of the essays that the students have written. Here are common funny mistakes you expect to find in student essays.

1. Spelling Errors

A slight spelling error could change the entire meaning of a phrase or topic. Students using autocorrect on word processing software are likely to face this problem. It is also common for the mistake to appear on essays that have not been edited.

An example of spelling mistakes and the distortion that results from such a mistake is “I got to the house and got a message on the phone’. The sentence is grammatically correct, but the meaning is lost. The teacher is left to assume that the ‘a’ in massage was a replacement for ‘e’ in the message. Avoid writing your essays in a hurry so that you will get sufficient time to edit out all the mistakes that may arise out of autocorrecting.

For example, “My mother worked hard to provide me with whatever I needed in my life, a good home, a fairly stale family and a wonderful education”.

2. Missing Punctuation

Punctuation marks bring an essay to life and enable the reader to understand your message. For instance, a paragraph without commas or periods will be difficult to understand. Other exclamation marks are used to emphasize a point.

While some punctuation marks may be used, they must be placed correctly. An example is the Oxford comma. A sentence like, “I ate eggs, toast, and juice’ will have a different meaning from “I ate an egg, toast, and juice.’ The comma before ‘and’ differentiates between individual components of the meal to indicate that the writer ate three items. In the absence of the comma, the meal only had two components, one of which had toast and juice.

A little hyphen can turn a casual man-eating chicken into an awful monster called man-eating chicken. Beware of it!

3. Wordy Descriptions

The best-written essay does not waste words. In fact, academic writing has been compared to writing a poem. Words should only be included in the essay if they have meaning. Any additional word on your essay turns into filler material.

Avoid wordy descriptions by mastering vocabulary and choosing a topic whose scope has sufficient material for use in writing. A narrow topic causes the writer to add unnecessary words in order to meet the requirements of set pages or words. Wordy descriptions are likely to confuse the reader or even derail the point you are trying to put across.

Let’s compare:

1. For all intents and purposes, the reason Mr. Henderson arrived late for work was due to the fact that he stopped at very many traffic lights that were red in color.
2. Mr. Henderson arrived late for work because he stopped at many red lights.

Same sense and 19 words difference.

4. Misuse Of Comas

Keep commas on your sentence to a bare minimum. In fact, you should only use commas where necessary. If a sentence can stand and make sense without a comma, this style of writing is recommended.

Commas are used to separate two ideas that must go into a single sentence. They are also used to add words like ‘therefore,’ that are used for emphasis. The meaning of your sentence may be lost if too many commas are used. The commas also open your sentences to multiple interpretations.

Let’s see some examples:

“Let’s eat grandma” and “Let’s eat, grandma”

“I find inspiration in cooking my family and my dog” or “I find inspiration in cooking, my family, and my dog”

But it depends on your family traditions, of course.

5. Missing The Point On The Topic

A writer must understand the topic before commencing on any writing. The topic will determine the perspective that the writer will be taking on a subject. For instance, students may confuse analysis with description. While the resulting write-up may be factual, it does not meet the requirements set in the title. Anyone reading through the paper will discover that the topic or title does not agree with the body. Such confusion affects your performance.

6. Wrong Format

The format that your paper takes will depend on instructions provided by your teacher or the department. The title may also determine the structure of your essay. For example, a ‘compare and contrast’ paper will take a different structure from analysis or description. One will come in two sections while the other features one continuous section.

The best way to get the format or structure of your essay writer is to use templates, examples, and samples. These resource materials should come from your supervisor or a credible database recommended by your teacher. Poor choice of samples or examples will also mislead you into using the wrong format.

7. Wrong Choice of Tense

Writing is very specific to the tense to use. The topic, type of document you are writing, and the chapter will determine the tense to be used. A topic like ‘My most memorable holiday,’ demands that you write in the past tense. If the topic wants you to imagine the future, the tense you use will also change.

Different sections of an essay will also take different tenses. A clear example is the Research Methodology that is always written in the future tense for a proposal and past tense for the actual paper. In case you have any doubts about the tense to use, it is recommended that you consult your teacher. Samples and examples will also assist you in getting the tenses right.

8. Missing Subheading Or Subtopics

Nobody likes plain text with no eye-catching separation.

Each chapter and section of your essay must have a heading or subheading. The beginning of a chapter and the subheadings used will affect your numbering system. The conventional essay has an introduction, body, and conclusion. The body must have several chapters and sections like data analysis, literature review, and discussion, among others. If these sections or subtopics are missing, the reader is unaware of the area he or she is dealing with. It will also be impossible to determine where a discussion on an idea begins or ends.

While it is impossible to eliminate all mistakes in an essay, a student has the responsibility of reducing these mistakes to a bare minimum. Dedicate sufficient time to the assignment so that you will not be writing in a hurry. Engage a professional editor upon completion of your essay to review the paper and correct any mistakes that may be present. It ensures that the reader understands your point, and the essay fetches the best score.