12 Common Grammar Mistakes in Essay Writing

Modern students often get assignments like essay writing. What kind of paper is this? An essay is a written work (250-350 words), in which the author expresses and argues his point of view, feelings on the topic. Here is the list of criteria that are taken into account when assessing such paper by a tutor:

• Compliance with the topic;
• Argumentation;
• Composition and logic of reasoning;
• The quality of writing;
• Literacy.

Therefore, it is very important to write an essay correctly in order to get a high rating. It should not contain lexical, orthographic, punctuation, and, of course, grammar errors. Taking this into account, students often seek help from online services that assist them in essay writing. However, it is very important not to make a mistake when choosing specialists and to find a reliable company. Such, for example, is an online essay writing website WriteMyPaperHub, since its specialists have been successfully helping schoolchildren and students with writing their papers online over the years. 

Nevertheless, it is important for a modern student to learn to write essays without any help and avoid mistakes, in particular, grammar ones. In this article, we will talk in detail about common grammar errors in essay writing, their causes, and give tips to avoid them.

Some Typical Grammar Mistakes in Essay Writing

First of all, we should note that a grammar mistake is an error in the structure of a language unit: in the structure of a word, phrase or sentence; this is a violation of any grammatical norm — derivational, morphological, syntactic.

Typical grammar errors in essay writing are represented below:

1. Errors in the formation of personal verb forms;
2. The incorrect use of tense verb forms;
3. Disruption of the relationship between subject and predicate;
4. Errors in the formation of word forms of different parts of speech;
5. Unjustified omission (ellipsis) of the subject;
6. Incorrect construction of a compound sentence;
7. Errors associated with the use of particles, for example, the separation of a particle from the component of the sentence to which it relates (usually particles are placed before those members of the sentence that they should isolate, but this pattern is often violated in essays);
8. Mistakes in word formation;
9. Errors associated with constructing sentences with homogeneous members;
10. The mixing of direct and indirect speech;
11. Grammar errors related to the construction of sentences with indirect speech;
12. The violation of the sentence`s boundaries.

So, we have listed the 12 most common mistakes in essay writing. Now it is necessary to consider the causes of their occurrence.

Causes of Grammar Errors in Essay Writing

The main causes of mistakes in essay writing include the following:

• Insufficient knowledge of the level of communicative competence of the English language;
• Ignorance of the characteristics of different types of speech activity;
• Inability to use the well-known strategies for extracting information from the text;
• Inadequate compensatory knowledge;
• Insufficiently high level of cultural outlook and cognitive abilities;
• Inability to concentrate and overcome stress.

Consider Essay Writing Tips from Experts

In order to avoid grammar mistakes in essay writing, try to take into account the following recommendations:

• Determine your attitude to the topic, that is, do you share the point of view expressed in the text. It is necessary to briefly record the arguments for and against in different columns. It is important to decide on the main position on this issue;
• You should select the appropriate style (formal style that does not allow abbreviated forms, everyday phrases, exclamations, etc.) and remember the restrictions on design, etc.;
• Try to remember the speech models that will help to express your agreement/disagreement, doubt, etc.;
• Separate text into paragraphs. Each paragraph presents a new idea or aspect in accordance with the content and begins with a key sentence that reflects its essence to the maximum;
• Use not only simple sentences but also complex ones, different means of logical connection, as well as a variety of lexical rules and grammar means of expressing thoughts;
• At the end of the work, you should check the essay and correct all the mistakes.

So, essay writing is a rather complicated process that requires a lot of knowledge and effort. Try to bring attention to all the above information and put the knowledge into practice!