Even if you are a pro-English writer, it is very unlikely that your writing will be 100% flawless. You are bound to find mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, or structure. Here we are going to look at the most common mistakes that you may encounter in your writing and learn how to fix them.

Run-on sentences

It is a very common grammatical mistake. It occurs when two thoughts are not joined properly. Fused sentences and comma slices fall in this category. These sentences make it difficult for the readers to see from where the sentence had started and in which direction it was progressing. For example,
'John loves ice cream it's his favorite.'
This is a run-on sentence that confuses the reader. You can place a 'semi-color' after ice cream, to make more sense out of the sentence.
Comma slices are another way you get a run-on sentence. Here the writer uses a comma inappropriately between the independent clauses. Coordinating conjunctions, like 'and', must be used here to show the connection between the two sentence fragments.

Passive voice

It is better to avoid the use of passive voice as it makes sentences complicated. When you use passive voice, the receiver of the action becomes the main focus of the sentence instead of the subject or the person performing it. So, use active voice, instead. For example,
'The car was bought by him.' – Passive voice
'He bought the car'. – Active voice
When you focus on the subject, the sentence turns out to be easily understandable.

Subject-verb disagreement

Understanding subject-verb agreement in a sentence is very easy; however, writers often make mistakes when using it. Logically, a singular subject will be followed by a singular verb. A plural subject, on the other hand, will be followed by a plural verb. As 's' is often included in the singular verb, the writer may get confused about it.

Just remember that when you have a third-person singular subject in the present tense, you will add an 's' at the verb's end. For example, 'John eats an apple'; not 'John eats an apple'. However, don't add 's' to the verb when the subject is 'I', 'we', or 'they'. For example, instead of using 'I eat popcorn', it will be 'I eat popcorn'.

Incorrect choice of word

Some words can be very confusing; especially those that sound alike but have a different meaning and spelling. For example, 'whether' or 'weather'. You must know the meaning of these words to use them properly in sentences. If you don't know the correct meaning of the word, then you will be conveying the wrong message to the readers.

Dangling modifiers

These are phrases or words that describe a different part of a sentence. For example, After playing, Alice went to bed'. Here, 'after playing' modifies 'Alice'. However, if the subject is not in the correct position in the sentence, then the modifier can end up describing the wrong thing. This may alter the meaning of the sentence. For example, when standing in the yard, a report about the weather worried Stephen. Here, 'when standing in the yard' is supposed to modify 'Stephen'.

The right use of apostrophes

The most common use of apostrophes is to show ownership and to contract a word. In case of contraction, it can be confusing to put the apostrophe in the right place. For example, instead of 'you're' it should be 'you're' to replace 'you are'. Sometimes the writer may miss the apostrophe. You should learn the right use of apostrophes to avoid making these mistakes.

The best approach to avoid making these mistakes is to learn about the correct usage of subject-verb agreement, apostrophes, and words. You can read books and magazines to notice how the authors have used these the right way.