Common English Mistakes

Brackets, sometimes called parentheses, are easy to overuse. Their overuse will result in sentences that are confusing and difficult to read. They should be used only in the following situations.

To add a small amount of extra information to help the reader understand something:

• The planned walk (see map below) is approximately 12 kilometres.
• A cow will produce an average of 8000 litres (1800 gallons) per annum.


To show plural options:

• Any student(s) interested should contact me after the lesson.
• Your bag(s) can be left in reception until 1pm.


To show new abbreviations:

Write the words to be abbreviated out in full the first time they are used and put the abbreviation in brackets after them. Next time only use the abbreviation without the brackets.

• The European Union (EU) will eventually collapse. This collapse of the EU will be long and slow.


They shouldn’t be used instead of commas:

• I ate the whole cake. (And now I am full.)
  I ate the whole cake, and now I am full.
• The hiking trail (which is located just outside the city) offers breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains.
  The hiking trail, which is located just outside the city, offers breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains.


Take a look at my page English Punctuation Quiz.


Do the quiz to see which common English punctuation mistakes you need help with.

Don’t use quotation marks ('') when nothing is being quoted. If you want to highlight a specific part of the text, use italics or bold.

• Any orders ‘over £500’ will receive a 10% discount.
  Any orders over £500 will receive a 10% discount.
  Any orders over £500 will receive a 10% discount.
• The dog was barking all day.


Take a look at my page English Punctuation Quiz.


Do the quiz to see which common English punctuation mistakes you need help with.

A question needs an answer and a question mark (?) at the end. A request doesn’t need an answer, so it isn’t a question. Don’t use question marks for requests.

Decide if you want or need an answer.

Compare:

• Can you please give me five copies of this article.
  (request)
• Did you write this article?
  (Question, so I need an answer.)
• Would you kindly fill out this application form.
  Do you have any application forms?

Take a look at my page English Punctuation Quiz.


Do the quiz to see which common English punctuation mistakes you need help with.

When we use more than one adjective before a noun, which are one idea, we connect them with a hyphen (-).

• He is a good-looking man.
  (The meaning is not good man and looking man. The meaning is a man that looks good. They are one idea.)
• The slow-moving train arrived late.
  (A train that is slow moving – it is one idea.)
• I have a 500-year-old tree.


When the adjectives before the noun are different ideas we don’t use a hyphen.

• A black plastic cooking utensil.
  (The utensil is black, the utensil is plastic, the utensil is for cooking. They talk about different parts of the utensil and so they are different ideas.)
• A large smooth Chinese ceramic pot.
  (A pot that is large, is smooth, is Chinese and is ceramic – different ideas.)
• A large yellow T-shirt.


When the adjectives come after the noun, we don’t use a hyphen.

Compare:

• The blue-eyed cat has just had a bath.
  (adjectives/blue-eyed, noun/cat)
• The cat with blue eyes has just had a bath.
  (noun/cat, adjectives/blue eyes)
• The slow-moving train arrived late.
  The train was slow moving, so it arrived late.


Which of these sentences is correct?

• An overly long speech.
• An overly-long speech.


Take a look at my page Never use hyphens with very nor adverbs ending in -ly to see if you were correct.

You always need an introductory sentence which ends with a colon (:).
If the text after a bullet point is a complete sentence, it should be punctuated like a normal sentence.
What to take on holiday:

• Some of my students use commas, hyphens, and full stops incorrectly.
• Some of my students use commas, hyphens and full stops incorrectly.

Take a look at my page English Punctuation Quiz.

Do the quiz to see which common English punctuation mistakes you need help with.