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**ModeratoR** · 05-18-2008, 06:49 PM

[TABLE][TR][TD][CENTER]THE TOP TEN STUDENT ESSAY ERRORS[/CENTER]
I spend a lot of time marking essays and writing comments, and a large proportion of that time and effort is spent on grammatical and stylistic errors. I keep threatening to have rubber stamps made for the more common ones, which underlines the sad fact that an awful lot of these errors are common to an awful lot of students.
This checklist, then, is an attempt to proactively treat your essay: if you look through this list and make a serious effort to avoid the errors it contains, I'll have a lot more time to look at the content of your work, your argument and insight, rather than mechanistic mistakes. This will not only make me a lot happier, it will also give you a better chance to improve your essay-writing. It will also improve your mark: you are penalised for grammatical errors in an English essay. Writing correct English makes everyone happier, especially you. And you can feel the warm glow of pride which says you are not part of that awful horde of students whose abuse of the innocent apostrophe is hastening my decline... Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.Guests cannot see links in the messages. Please register to forum by clicking here to see links.

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[URL= When I die and the autopsy is performed, they will find the words "IT'S=IT IS. ITS=POSSESSIVE" engraved on my heart. It's the favourite student error of all time, and the one for which I am definitely going to have a rubber stamp made, sometime, with bright red ink.
[*]"It's" is a contraction, it means "it is", and you shouldn't be using it in an academic essay, so that bit is easy.
[*]"Its" as a possessive (something belonging to it) is an IRREGULAR CONSTRUCTION, i.e. it does NOT follow the usual apostrophe rules. Unlike other singular possessives, "its" DOES NOT TAKE AN APOSTROPHE. "Its" means "belonging to it". [/URL][/TD][/TR]
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[TR][TD]The book does not live up to the description on it's cover. [TD]The book does not live up to the description on its cover. [/TD][/TD][/TR]
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[URL= I have included this in a little section on its own, because it annoys me. Students often seem to feel that their language needs to be more complex in order to sound academic, and they try to achieve this complexity by adding random phrases to make sentences more elaborate. "That of" is a favourite example, and its use is almost always horribly incorrect.
[*]Don't feel you have to make your language more complex, for a start. If you write simply, clearly, correctly and without slang phrases, you'll be fine.
[*]"That of" cannot simply be added to a phrase, because it is used only to be more specific about a general idea you have already introduced. If you have not already introduced the general idea in your sentence, you cannot use "that of."
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[TR][TD]I very much dislike that of over-elaborate language. [TD]A common student error is that of over-elaborate language.
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The error of over-elaborate language is linked to that of grammatical incorrectness. [/TD][/TD][/TR][/TD][/TABLE]