Hawley Center

Common Writing Problems

Commonly Misused Words

Students often depend on spell check to make sure that they do not have any spelling errors in their papers. However, spell check does not catch everything, most notably words that are spelled correctly but do not mean what you want them to mean. The following is a list of words that are commonly misused in student writing:

affect--to have an influence on

(My studying is really affected by all the noise in the dorms.)

effect--result

(What was the effect of studying with a partner for that last test?)

there--opposite of here (standing over there)

or an expletive (There are too many mice.)

their--possessive of they (their house)

they're--contraction of "they are"

(They're gone for the weekend.)

except--to leave out or take out

(I wanted all of the classes I got except English.)

accept--to receive willingly

(I would accept an offer from that company.)

then--time organization (one thing happened, then another)

than--difference in amount (He is more popular than she is.)

two--number (one, two, three)

to--preposition (to the store)

too--also (I wanted to go, too.) or degree

(He ate too much.)

who--if question is about a subject (about the person or people who performed the action in the sentence) (Who was speaking?)

whom--if question is about an object (about the person or people who receive the action in the sentence)

(To whom was he speaking?)

who's--contraction of who is (Who's that stranger?)

whose--possessive of who (Whose bike is it?)

your--possessive of you (your problem, not mine)

you're--contraction of you are (You're the most insufferable person I know.)

Correcting wordiness

We've all been guilty of being too wordy. Sometimes we do it to make a paper longer. Other times, we are not even aware that we have done it. However, cutting out unnecessary words from your writing focuses the reader's attention on your most important points and gives the reader a clearer idea of your meaning. The following list includes 28 common wordy expressions and corrections for them.

 

Expression

Correction

absolutely essential

essential

at this point in time

at this time, now

audible to the ear

audible

combine together

combine

commute back and forth

commute

completely eliminate

eliminate

completely unanimous

unanimous

in the vicinity of

near

in the modern world of today

today

in this day and age

today

in view of the fact that

because, since

large in size

large

personally, I believe

I believe

red in color

red

due to the fact that

because, since

final outcome

outcome

four different times

four times

four in number

four

important essentials

essentials

in my opinion, I believe

I believe

in the event that

if

repeat again

repeat

round in shape

round

true facts

facts

usual custom

custom

very unique

unique

visible to the eye

visible

with the exception of

except for

Finding typos

When checking your paper for typos, remember the following tips:

1. Try to give yourself at least several hours away from your paper so that you can go back and check for proofreading errors and typos with a fresh eye. If you can give yourself at least 24 hours, that is ideal.

2. Do not rely on spell check or grammar check programs as your only form of proofreading.

3. Check for spacing between words and after punctuation marks.

4. Check for accidentally repeated words (He read the the book).

Last Updated: 4/22/09