LinkedIn Power Tune-Up:
18 Expert Tips for a Highly Effective LinkedIn Profile

$9.95 - learn more»

Grammar Tips for Your Writing Project

Overviews can be found at:

Sam Diener’s Stuff for Success: Can You Right Write: 10 Common Writing Mistakes to Avoid
Sam Diener’s Stuff for Success: Can You Write Right: 10 More Common Writing Mistakes to Avoid
Dr. Grammar’s FAQ
Grammarbook.com
Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians
Guide to Grammar and Style by Jack Lynch
Franklin’s Grammar Cheat Sheet
AskOxford.com
Nine Great Grammar Sites

 

Sentence Structure/Grammar

Parallel Construction/Parallelism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallelism_(grammar)
http://www.myenglishteacher.net/parallelism.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_parallel.html

Gerunds are preceded by possessives

http://grammartips.homestead.com/possessivewithgerund.html

I/me

http://theessayexpert.com/blog/2009/10/04/common-grammatical-errors-between-you-and-me/
http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #15)

http://hubpages.com/hub/Grammar_Mishaps__I_versus_Me
http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/pronoun.asp

Me/Myself

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #15)
http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#34

Who/that

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #12)

http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/whoVwhVt.asp

 

Punctuation

Commas, Semicolons

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/commas-and-semicolons-the-comma-or-semicolon-chameleon/

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_commacomp.html

Punctuation and Quotation Marks

http://theessayexpert.com/blog/2010/01/10/the-rules-of-quotation-marks/

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/marks/quotation.htm
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp

Capitalization

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp

Possessives and Plural Possessives

http://www.meredith.edu/grammar/plural.htm
http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/osa/punctuation/?view=uk

 

Vocabulary

i.e./e.g.

http://theessayexpert.com/blog/2009/12/14/common-grammatical-errors-the-difference-between-i-e-and-e-g/
http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #20)

Between/Among

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #19)

Incident/Incidence

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #18)

Irregardless/Regardless

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #14)

Less/Fewer

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #13)

Lay/Laid/Lain

http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/forum/index.pl?noframes;read=12691

 

Homonyms/Spelling

Affect/Effect

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #11)

Every day/Everyday

http://theessayexpert.com/blog/2009/12/26/common-grammatical-errors-everyday-words-we-use-every-day/
http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #5)

Here/Hear

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #8)

Its/It’s

http://theessayexpert.com/blog/2009/09/20/common-spelling-errors-its-time-to-get-straight-about-how-to-use-its-and-its/
http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #1)
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000227.htm

Know/No

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #3)

Lead/Led

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #17)
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/lead.html

Lose/Loose

http://theessayexpert.com/blog/2009/12/26/common-grammatical-errors-everyday-words-we-use-every-day/

Stand Out/Standout

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #6)

Than/Then

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #2)

There/They’re/Their

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #9)

Too/Two/To

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #10)

Weather/Whether

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #7)

Write/Right

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/01/can-you-write-right-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid/ (Tip #4)

Affect/Effect

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/affect.html

Every day/Everyday

http://iconlogic.blogs.com/weblog/2009/05/grammar-workshop-every-day-or-everyday.html

Your/You’re

http://www.samdiener.com/2010/02/can-you-write-right-more-common-writing-mistakes-to-avoid (Tip #16)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_spelhomo.html

 

Style

Be able to/Have the opportunity to

These are perhaps the most overused phrases in essays! Always ask yourself, “Do I need this phrase or would the sentence stand just as well on its own without the phrase?” You have a limited space and limited attention from your reader. Be efficient with your language!

Examples:
I was able to attend a prestigious high school.
I attended a prestigious high school. (better)

 

I had the opportunity to work in a law firm.
I worked in a law firm. (better)

 

I will always remember the day when…
My advice: Don’t use this phrase in an application essay. If you’re writing about it, you remember it. And the admissions committee reads this sentence far more times than it probably cares to remember.

 

Numbers

http://www.grammarbook.com/numbers/numbers.asp
http://www.drgrammar.org/faqs/#128