Editing For Squidoo Lenses And Common Writing Mistakes To Look For

: ? ; ! . ( ) , " -- ? ' ! : "Missing commas: When writing a list, whether it be a list of nouns, adjectives or verbs, the items should be separated by commas. I often see commas omitted.

• Wrong: I love cats dogs horses and birds.
  
• Right: I love cats, dogs, horses, and birds.

Commas should also be used after most introductory phrases. If left out, it can sometimes cause confusion, like in these sentences:

• Wrong: In time capsules accounted for 50 percent of sales.
  
• Right: In time, capsules accounted for 50 percent of sales.
  
  
• Wrong: Those who can teach the rest of us.
  
• Right: Those who can, teach the rest of us.

The overused comma: Sometimes, people stick commas in where they don't belong.

• Wrong: My parents gave me, a sweater, a necklace, and a scarf for Christmas.
  
• Right: My parents gave me a sweater, a necklace, and a scarf for Christmas.
  
  
• Wrong: The astronaut gave, detailed instructions to the ground crew.
  
• Right: The astronaut gave detailed instructions to the ground crew.

The missing or misused apostrophe: An apostrophe is used to indicate ownership (the possessive form of a word). It's not for plural nouns. Also, apostrophes are used in contractions.

• Wrong: Dont ~and~ cant
  
• Right: Don't ~and~ can't
  
  
• Wrong: Check out my lense's. (This is supposed to be the plural form of "lens.")
  
• Right: Check out my lenses.
  
  
• Wrong: Those are my sisters earrings. (This is supposed to indicate ownership.)
  
• Right: Those are my sister's earrings.

The misplaced quotation marks: Now, I've heard there are some differences in this area when it comes to American English and English as written in other parts of the world. But here in the U.S. at least, periods, commas, and exclamation points go inside end quotation marks. (When it comes to question marks ... well, it depends on whether the question is part of the quote or being asked by the one doing the quoting.)

• Wrong: She said, "I made Giant Squid". ~and~ "I made Giant Squid", she said. (Note that the period and comma are outside the end quotes.)
  
• Right: She said, "I made Giant Squid." ~and~ "I made Giant Squid," she said. (Note that the period and comma are now inside the end quotes.)

The missing hyphen:

• Wrong: mother in law
  
• Right: mother-in-law
  
  
• Wrong: twenty one
  
• Right: twenty-one
  
  
• Wrong: loose packed fibers
  
• Right: loose-packed fibers

Sp?
Homonyms: These are words that sound alike or almost alike but have different spellings and different meanings. Oftentimes, it's not a matter of not knowing the difference but rather errors due to speed or just plain ol' goofs. Spell-checkers won't catch these mistakes, because they essentially aren't misspellings, and, no matter how many times we proofread our own work, we may not see them.

Here are some examples of frequently misused homonyms:

Your and you're: "Your" is possessive, while "you're" is the contraction for "you are."

• Wrong: Your my best friend.
  
• Right: You're my best friend.

There, they're and their: "There" is a location. "They're" is the contraction for "they are." And "their" is possessive, describing ownership.

• Wrong: There my brothers.
  
• Right: They're my brothers. (As in, they are my brothers.)
  
  
• Wrong: Go over their.
  
• Right: Go over there. (location)
  
  
• Wrong: These are there tickets.
  
• Right: These are their tickets. (ownership)

It's and its: "It's" is the contraction for "it is," and "its" is possessive.

• Wrong: Its mine.
  
• Right: It's mine. (As in, it is mine.)


• Wrong: It's fur is so shiny.
  
• Right: Its fur is so shiny. (possessive/ownership)

Affect and effect: Affect is the verb (think of "a" for "action") and effect is the noun.

• Wrong: How will this effect my credit score? (used as a verb)
  
• Right: How will this affect my credit score?
  
  
• Wrong: What will be the affect on my credit score? (used as a noun)
  
• Right: What will be the effect on my credit score?

More Common Errors

Misspelling verbs ending in "e" when adding an "ing.": Drop the "e" when adding an "ing."

• Wrong: Haveing, ageing, raceing, makeing
  
• Right: Having, aging, racing, making

Seen versus saw: This is a grammatical error I've noticed quite a bit.

• Wrong: I seen this movie.
  
• Right: I saw this movie. ~~or~~ I have seen this movie.

If you would like me to proofread your lens, I'll look it over, and, if there are only a small number of goofs, I'll email you a list of corrections. If there are more than a handful, I'll copy and paste the text, make corrections in red print, and email it back.

A Picket Fence in Pawpaw is my second novel, now available from Amazon's Kindle store.

My first novel, I. Joseph Kellerman, was published in 2004 by Gardenia Press, currently available in paperback from Amazon.com.

Signed copies are also for sale on my website, DebraLauman.com.

 
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