Basic Grammatical Problems for English 1113 Writers

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1. An overuse of TO BE.
2. Run-on sentences (a/k/a comma-splices).
3. Switching to second person (the informal, intimate "you").
4. Punctuating direct quotations.
5. Faulty paraphrasing.
6. Lack of sentence subordination. Sentences become too simplistic and "choppy."
7. Mixing up verb tense.
8. Referring to the wrong pronoun.
9. Problems detecting homonyms (they’re/their, it’s/its, etc.)