Common Writing Problems (from the English Dept.)

I'm a member of a committtee to foster a "Writing across the Curriculum" program, and - as such - just received a list of students' common writing problems. Generally speaking, the broader problems about formulating and communicating an argument don't usually present such great difficulties for the Honors students. Grammar, on the other hand, tends to be more difficult, since a lot of Honors students I know are instinctual writers and were therefore never really trained in the nuts and bolts of English.

So, here's the official English Department list of grammar snafus that tend to plague our students, Honors and otherwise. Needless to say, these are also the problems that we (and if you thought I was bad, you should know that it particularly inflames Johnson!) wants you to be able to banish from your writing forever by the time you finish Capstone! :-)

• Creating sentences that are grammatically correct and that exhibit variety in structure (using a combination of simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences)


• Avoiding comma splices (a type of run-on sentence in which two independent clauses are jointed with only a comma)


• Using a college-level vocabulary


• Avoiding wordiness


• Primarily using active rather than passive verbs (e.g., He ate the pizza rather than The pizza was eaten by him)


• Relating pronouns to their antecedents and making verbs agree with their subjects


• Relying on concrete diction rather than vague, general, and abstract words


• Handling punctuation correctly, especially the comma


• Spelling accurately