Good grammar is essential for students who actively engage in job searching. It serves as a key factor in creating polished and professional resumes, cover letters, and communication with potential employers, ultimately influencing their chances of securing employment opportunities. Take the words of Cathleen Smalls, an experienced editor and business owner.

“Grammar matters because without it you get cringeworthy errors,” she explains.

“But my more serious answer is that using proper grammar in your communications sets you apart from the rest. Even if the person reading your correspondence doesn’t actively think, ‘Wow, nice use of grammar!’ they certainly notice.

If two people with similar qualifications submit a résumé and cover letter for an open job, and one has a flawless cover letter while the other one has some grammatical errors, I guarantee the error-free, grammatically correct one will get the first call.”

Avoid obstacles by polishing your grammar skills. You should certainly use a spell check, grammar check, and even AI, but those tools are not a substitute for knowing the rules. Knowing grammar rules may differentiate you as the go-to AI grammar training expert at your next internship or job.

If you were blessed with a natural gift for language or an amazing English teacher, grammar may come easily. If it does not come easily, you’ll have to work harder. If English is not your native language, you may need additional help and tutoring. This chapter briefly explains 18 common grammar errors. We want to help you avoid these common pitfalls.

Syntax and Word Choice

1. Write complete sentences

Competent writers understand the difference between phrases and clauses and between independent and dependent clauses. A clause contains both a subject and its verb. A dependent clause cannot stand alone, but an independent clause can stand alone because it is a complete sentence. A phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject. A phrase may contain nouns and verbs but not a subject and its associated verb.

Take a look at the example below.

Dependent clause: When she speaks without hesitation

Independent clause: She speaks without hesitation.

Phrase: Speaking without hesitation

2. Mind your modifiers

Adjectives and adverbs modify (describe) other words, phrases, and clauses. Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns while adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. You cannot use them interchangeably.

Additionally, always be aware of misplaced modifiers. They cause confusion because they are separated from the words, phrases, or clauses they describe or modify.

Take a look at the example below.

Incorrect: ProQuest published the article, which provides innovative research to the public.

Correct: ProQuest, which provides innovative research to the public, published the article.

3. Correctly use pronouns

Using the correct pronoun starts with identifying the point of view, case, number, and gender. Be aware that the case of the sentence strongly changes the type of pronoun you're using.

Take a look at the sentences provided below, and observe how, despite consistently employing a first-person point of view, the pronoun used is altered depending on the case.

Subject: Devon and I are going to the barbecue.

Object: Please come to the company barbecue with Devon and me.

Possessive: The car you saw in the parking lot is mine.

Reflexive/Intense: I plan to study for the exam myself.

4. Agree with antecedents

Pronouns must agree with their antecedent—the noun they are replacing. The pronoun must match the antecedent in number, singular or plural, and gender, male or female. Sometimes you might be confused if a noun is singular or plural. Take the word team. In business, a team is composed of a number of individuals. However, because the team is an entity distinct from its individual members, use a singular pronoun and verb when referring to the team as a whole.

For example:

Incorrect: The sales team achieved their target.

Correct: The sales team achieved its target.

5. Avoid ambiguous pronoun references

Pronouns must not only agree with their antecedents in gender and number but also refer to only one antecedent.

Take a look at the example below.

Ambiguous reference: John's manager said he wasn't allowed to go.

Clear Pronoun Reference: John's manager said John was not allowed to go.

6. Create parallel expressions

Parallelism means using the same word patterns—the same syntax—for similar parts of a sentence. When these similar elements aren’t parallel, they sound awkward and out of place. Writers most often violate the parallelism principle in three situations: a list or series, vertical lists, and parallel connectives.

Take a look at this example below.

Items in a series.

Not parallel: Our exhibition booth will feature product giveaways, instructional videos, and we'll be especially pleased to raffle off a Hawaiian vacation.

Parallel: Our exhibition booth will feature product giveaways, instructional videos, and a Hawaiian vacation raffle.

7. Choose the right word

Have you ever been confused about whether to use affect or effect? If so, you are in good company. Many words are commonly confused. Take, for example, the words every day and everyday. Every day means daily. Everyday means commonplace.

Incorrect: For my new exercise regimen, I do yoga everyday.

Correct: For the company picnic, I wore my everyday jeans.

If you don't understand the difference between any of the pairs, review this alphabetized list of common word-use errors: Easily Confused Words.

Punctuation and mechanics

8. Confidently place commas

Remember to place commas around nonessential (restrictive) words or phrases, e.g. "Helga Karlsson, who is from Denmark, has been hired as a financial advisor."

Use commas after introductory words, phrases, and clauses, e.g. "When selecting an organization to donate to, CEO Kent uses a personalized vetting model."

Also, use the Oxford comma to separate all items in a series—a list that contains three or more items.

9. Follow three rules for using semicolons

1. Punctuate independent clauses. For example, "Travis’s expertise is local government; Dave’s is finance."

2. Separate series that contain internal commas. For example, "Irwin visited Vienna, Austria; Paris, France; and Prague, Czech Republic."

3. Punctuate independent clauses joined by conjunctive adverbs. For example, "The Testing Center closes at 9 p.m.; however, you may take the online exam until midnight."

10. Use colons only after complete sentences

A colon introduces a list or series, example, quotation, or subtitle. It also separates time expressed in narrative writing.

Take a look at the example below.

The company's profits are trending in a positive direction:a 10% year-over-year increase for five years.

11. Differentiate Dashes from hyphens

Dashes (—) are not hyphens (-).

Hyphens express standalone fractions, join compound adjectives that appear before the noun, and connect prefixes to their root words. For more help with hyphens, check out this site: How to Use a Hyphen.

Dashes are split into two main groups: em dash (—) and en dash (–). The em dash indicates a break in thought, emphasizes a point, or separates parenthetical information from the sentence; the en dash indicates a range or connection between items like numbers, dates, times, or locations.

12. Master apostrophes and quotation marks

Apostrophes indicate contractions (e.g., it's) and possession (e.g., the CEO's leadership).

Use quotation marks to indicate someone is speaking, to enclose a direct quote from a secondary source, or to indicate titles of short works.

Correctly place punctuation marks inside or outside quotation marks. For example, semicolons always appear outside quotation marks, while question marks appear outside the quotation marks when the quotation is not a question.

13. Capitalize correctly

For the most part, capitalization rules apply across languages: capitalize the first word of every sentence and capitalize proper nouns. Difficulty arises when writers are trying to determine whether a noun is proper or common. Take the example of educational degrees. The common rule is to capitalize the formal title of a degree but not the general reference.

Take a look at the example below.

Cary Lewis is earning a Master of Public Administration (MPA).

Camila Antivilo is working on a degree in business administration.

14. Know your numbers

The following basic rules are consistent with the Chicago Manual of Style, but you should consult your company’s style guide to learn the differences. Generally, spell out single-digit numbers one through nine. Express large numbers—larger than one million—with a combination of decimals and verbal descriptors. For example, use 2.9 billion, instead of 2,943,000,000. Generally, use the cardinal—1, 2, 3—number to express dates in writing. Ordinal numbers—1st, 2nd, 3rd—are allowable only if the date precedes the month.

Verb tenses and moods

15. Make subjects and verbs agree

In a sentence, the subject is the actor and the verb is the action or state of being. Proficient English speakers often claim they instinctively know the correct verb form to use because it sounds right. However, intervening prepositional phrases can cause confusion. Intervening means the phrase comes between the subject and the verb. To avoid this common mistake, make sure the verb agrees with its subject.

Take a look at the example below.

Incorrect: The range of skill requirements provide for upward growth potential.

Correct: The range of skill requirements provides for upward growth potential.

The subject, range, is singular, so the verb should be singular.

16. Match indefinite pronouns and verbs

The Syntax and Word Choice section discusses indefinite pronouns in their function as pronoun antecedents. A similar issue arises when choosing whether to use a singular or plural verb with indefinite pronouns. For example, these indefinite pronouns always take a singular verb: anybody, anyone, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, and nobody.

However, indefinite pronouns can also take a plural verb, e.g. both, few, several, or many. Here’s a handy tip: If the quantity is countable, then the indefinite pronoun takes a plural verb; if the quantity is not countable, use the singular verb.

17. Use the right verb tense

Make sure that you reduce double auxiliary words. Writers occasionally reference an event that could have happened in the past but didn't, so they use the phrase would have followed by another verb. Consider this example:

I would have liked to have seen the movie.

However, that sentence uses double auxiliary verbs—have liked and have seen.

The second have is unnecessary. Changing it to the infinitive—the base verb plus to—more clearly and concisely conveys the same meaning:

I would have liked to see the movie.

18. Use the correct mood

Verbs can express a variety of moods, which indicate whether the writer is stating a fact, issuing a direct command, expressing a condition, implying uncertainty or doubt, or giving a subtle command. The most common English verb moods are indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and conditional. If you can differentiate the moods from each other, it will be easier for you to consider the level of formality, the power dynamics, and the desired tone of the communication and be aware of the social and cultural norms that may influence the choice of language in a given context.

In Conclusion

Awareness is the first step toward mastery. This section covered 18 syntax and word choice, punctuation and mechanics, and verb tenses and mood rules. If you struggle with any of these errors, keep studying, practicing, and getting feedback. Your writing and speaking will continue to improve until these fundamentals become second nature to you.

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