The Five Most Common Grammar Problems

1. Punctuation - The problem is that people don't know the rules.
ADVICE: Don't punctuate unless you know the rule.
ex. She wanted to go home, but he wanted to stay out late.
The comma is used in this sentence because it is a compound sentence that is separated by the conjunction but.

2. Subject and Verb Agreement- This problem can occur with collective subjects, certain pronouns, fractions as a subject, compound subjects, or subjects structured with either/or.
(Rule- A fraction or percentage of a whole is considered a singular subject.)
ex. Three- quarters of the pizza is left.

3. Correct Use of Pronouns- Problems people make with words like "he", "she", "you", "they", "I" or "it".
Advice: Pronouns must agree with their antecedents.

Ex. Manchester Orchestra became one of my favorite bands, after they played a show in Baltimore.

4. Sentence Structure- Problems include: fragments, run-on sentences, faulty parallelism, and modifier placement.

ex. Wrong: While dancing to the beat, the boy took his jacket off his body.
Better: The boy took his jacket off his body, while dancing to the beat.

5. Word Usage- is a problem because we have words that function similarly but not identically.
ex. RIGHT! --- Cancer affects your body.
WRONG! --- Cancer effects your body.