Some common writing problems Overall, the most common problem was awkward construction: strange, overly formal or overly vague constructions. Strive for clarity. Don't use two words where one will do. Other problems: Agreement http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html Antecedents http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/a.html Citation http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/c.html Dangling participle http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/d.html Obfuscation http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/o.html Passive voice http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/p.html Precision http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/p.html#precision Punctuation and quotation marks; also double vs. single quotation marks - keyboards routinely require a shift for double quotes, making single quotes the lazy person's default, but in American English double quotes are what are most commonly needed. http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/p.html#punctuation Commas and semicolons! These were common problems. I often saw commas where there should be none; no comma where there should be one; one comma where there should be two; and a comma where there should have been a semicolon. http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/c.html http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/s.html#semicolon That vs. which http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/t.html