Being a writer for over 4 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with various clients who need content writing, ghostwriting, or copywriting, across the globe. Some of them were amazing, while others were not so amazing. Nevertheless, regardless of the type of client I write for or the topics assigned to me, I’m always extra mindful of my grammar. Sometimes — even if the piece itself is failing, good grammar will help its reputation. On that note, here are some grammar mistakes that can create a bad reputation for any writer.
Comma Usage
One of the most irritating errors in English Language is the wrong usage of a comma. For most clients, the usage is the make-or-break element in writing. Below are the common mistakes in comma applications.
Introductory Phrase: It is a phrase that introduces the reader to the actions of the subject.
Incorrect: After drinking too much alcohol Troy needed a nap.
Correct: After drinking too much alcohol, Mike needed a nap.
Compound Sentence: Two complete sentences merged by a comma are called a compound sentence.
Incorrect: The keeper dived to his left and he punched the ball away.
Correct: The keeper dived to his left, and he punched the ball away.
Unnecessary Comma Use: This is the usage of commas where they don’t belong
Incorrect: The roof, on top of the building, was damaged by the storm.
Correct: The roof on top of the building was damaged by the storm.
Wrong Word Usage
Here are some of the top word usage errors. If you get these wrong, you can forget landing that important writing project.
There vs. their vs. they’re
Its vs. it’s
Affect vs. Effect
All together vs. Altogether
Farther vs. further
Than vs. then
Amount vs. number
Vague Pronouns
Have you ever been in a conversation where you get lost because you can’t specify about whom they’re speaking? If you haven’t, I can assure you that there is nothing more frustrating and it kills conversation faster.
For example, “The Company prohibited social media use which the employees couldn’t stand.”
In the sentence above, it’s hard to determine what the “which” is describing. Is it the Company or the prohibited social media use? However, the writer could have saved us the stress of trying to identify the defined pronoun by saying, "The Company prohibited social media use which was a policy that the employees couldn't stand".
Title Capitalization
The major reason why capitalization can destroy the reputation of a writer is because it is one of the easiest grammar rules to remember. A content writer needs to stick to the core rules of capitalization and forget all the so-called disparities on the rules.
Capitalize the first and the last word of the title.
Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinate conjunctions should be capitalized.
Capitalize prepositions, coordinating conjunctions, and lowercase articles (“a,” “an,” “the”).
Lowercase the ‘to’ in an infinitive
Proofread Your Work
As a
content writer, the best way to avoid grammatical error is to become your own proofreader. You can also hire the services of a professional editor, or use online tools such as Grammarly to proofread your write-up for you.
When you double check your write-up and catch your oversights, you will have the ability to write contents at a consistently high level while building your reputation as an amazing writer. Your proficiency in your chosen language and your ability to produce write-ups that are free from grammatical mistakes will attract high profile buyers.
