Sometimes people and writers make little mistakes and errors in their writings. It can just be careless spelling errors or great big sentence structure problems. But with the technologies we have today, those mistakes can be easily fixed with Microsoft Word's spell/grammar check application. Unfortunately, there are some cases where the spell check may miss some careless errors, particularly these five problems listed below.
Note that if you are a writer or you really want to be a journalist, you may want to double check your work before you submit anything. If you make one of these mistakes that's included in this list of problems, you could get yourself into a problem with accuracy, the biggest aspect in journalism. When there's a misprint, readers can easily misinterpret something. Or, readers would be left in confusion because the reading may not make any sense at all. So, take these problems into consideration and steer clear of the following errors that spell check might miss:
1.) Punctuation- The biggest problem of all of them! (which is why it's number one of the top five. Why else?)
In punctuation, you use little symbols like commas, semicolons, and periods to separate clauses and sentences, right? What if you just feel like adding a comma in a sentence because you think there are separate clauses in a tiny sentence? What about a long list that you may think it's all connected together? Made any of those mistakes before?
Just remember that unless you know a punctuation rule, leave the comma out. Think about the sentence before you add extra marks. Think- Does this sentence really need it?
Here's an example of an incorrect sentence from a textbook reading. (This is from the "Grammar Slammer" in Chapter 2: Tools for Writers)
"I like ice cream and cookies, I don't like cakes with icing." The wrong punctuation is used here; there are two distinct independent clauses that can stand alone. Therefore, there should be a semicolon used rather than a comma. Here's the correct sentence:
"I like ice cream and cookies; I don't like cakes with icing."
2.) Subject and verb agreement- Sometimes there are problems with the verb agreeing with the subject or noun. It may sound interesting or funny or cool in a song, such as Timbaland's "The Way I Are", but when writing an actual piece, you want to be careful not to run into that problem because it may confuse the reader. The phrase "Way I are" makes no sense. 'Are' is a word referring to a plural subject- they are, we are, etc. But since 'I' is singular, 'are' isn't used at all because it doesn't agree.
Example:
"Everyone in the Journalism major is required to take a course in Media Law in the third or fourth year of college." Note: When dealing with words such as each, everyone, either, neither, anyone, and anybody are considered singular subjects. So, the correct singular verb must go along with those kinds of words.
3.) Correct pronoun usage- Pronouns take the place of nouns or subjects to avoid unnecessary repetitions in a sentence. Just like in Schoolhouse Rock- "Saying those nouns over and over again really wear you down!" But whenever using a pronoun, make sure that it agrees with the subject that the pronoun is taking place of, known as an antecedant.
Example:
"Not only does the LeaderShape program help students strengthen leadership abilities, it can help them strengthen relationships with other people and have more school pride."
4.) Sentence structure- This is a tough problem that many writers face, myself included. I have made quite a few mistakes with this one before when writing an essay or short story. This is the problem where run on sentences happen and lists aren't agreeing with the rest of a statement. When writing something, sentences must be written in parallel structure- the lists and phrases must be parallel in form.
Example: (From Grammar Slammer, page 28 of Chapter 2)
Wrong: The mayor said the parade would feature the homecoming queen, the marching band will play, and as many floats as possible.
Correct: The mayor said the parade would feature the homecoming queen, the marching band, and as many floats as possible.
Notice the difference between the two italicized phrases?
5.) Word usage- Distinguish between words that may have almost the same spelling or sound, for each word has a different meaning. Some may be confused with words like affect and effect, bore and boar, compliment and complement, and so on.
Example:
Flare means to burn or a flash of something. "There was a flare of bright light in the kitchen and the oven caught fire." But flair refers to style or talent, as in "creative flair".
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