Examples of Common Business Writing Errors
| Sentence Structure | Sentence fragments |
Because she works Wednesday night. Client waiting reception area. |
|---|---|---|
| Run-on sentences | Go to the cafeteria we need some cream we need some coffee. He came to the meeting he brought the report. | |
| Comma splices | Gerhart prepared a summary for the clients, Sophie presented it. | |
| Mechanical | Misspelled words | mite instead of might |
| Incorrect or missing punctuation | dont What are you going to do. | |
| Extra capitalization (or none) | she stopped for printer paper at the Office-supply store. | |
| Grammatical | Incorrect verb tenses | He starts a new project yesterday. |
| Shifts in tense | He gets a signature and delivered the package. She talked to Jamie and chats with Miguel. | |
| Incorrect subject-verb agreement | Roger and his co-worker is going to lunch. | |
| Unclear pronoun references | I listened to Betty's and Martha's opinions and I agreed more with hers. | |
| Missing words | Luke the tractor. | |
| Word Usage | Improper or poor word or symbol choices that interfere with communication | there instead of their; to instead of too; & instead of and |
| Style/Tone/Language | Rude or casual language not consistent with standard business English used in written correspondence | messing up the manager's mind |
| Organization | Little or no organization; unclear focus or logic | The main points of the writing may be random or grouped in a disorganized fashion; the details of the writing may be disjointed or not grouped together logically. |
| Incorrect or simple transitions | Incorrect transition: She said she left early to get to the meeting on time so she arrived late instead of ...but she arrived late. Simple transitions: words such as then and also | |
| Development | Simple, repetitive, and/or general development | The development or depth of ideas is limited to simple, repetitive, and/or general statements. |