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WorkKeys^®

Examples of Common Writing Errors

Sentence Structure	Fragments	Because he is here Monday. Supervisor waiting main office.
	Run-on sentences	Come to the shop we have a sale. He came to the meeting he brought the report.
	Comma splices	Gustavo wrote the customer a letter, Catalina mailed it.
Mechanical	Misspelled words	detrimentel instead of detrimental
	Incorrect or missing punctuation	dont Aren't you going to go.
	Extra capitalization (or none)	she called the secretary about the Meeting.
Grammatical	Incorrect verb tenses	Yesterday she work on the budget.
	Shifts in tense	He dropped off the letter and drops the package. She hired John and hires Maria.
	Incorrect subject-verb agreement	Rajni and her supervisor is going to training.
	Unclear pronoun references	I listened to Robert's and Bill's ideas and I liked his better.
	Missing words	Mary vacation.
Word Usage	Improper word choices Use of symbols not appropriate for a business setting	cause instead of because; too instead of to & instead of and; + instead of plus
Tone/Language	Rude, slang, or casual language not appropriate for a business setting/not consistent with standard business English	Please exercise good judgment when extending credit. We do not want to be ripped off.
Style	Sentences may be awkward, repetitive, and/or choppy with little or no variety. Response may read like a list.	The clock has been repaired. It can be picked up. The repair shop is closed on Sunday. It can be picked up any other day.
Organization	Illogical grouping of information	The details in the message may not be grouped together logically; e.g., the first name of a person may be at the start of the message and the last name may be at the end.
Organization	Incorrect or simple transitions	The transitions are often incorrect: He said he left early to get to the meeting on time so he arrived late instead of ...but he arrived late. The transitions may be simple: but, also