Professors' Writing Pet Peeves

Sweating the Small Stuff: Professors' Writing Pet Peeves

I've been teaching writing for a living since 2000, and before that I tutored fellow students at my university's writing center.  That adds up to about 16 years of teaching so far, and in that time I've developed a long list of grammatical, stylistic, and rhetorical pet peeves--my own, and those of other editors, writers, and writing teachers.  The full list of peeves would fill a War and Peace-sized volume, so for now I'm just going to focus on ten of the most bemoaned errors.  Make these mistakes, and expect some red ink on your paper.

#1: "People who" vs. "people that."  Human beings aren't objects, so "people who" is always correct (as are "students who," "patients who," and "participants who"). 

Wrong:  People that don't return their grocery carts to the corral drive me crazy.

Right:  People who don't return their grocery carts to the corral drive me crazy.

#2: "Data is" vs. "data are."  The word "data" is plural, so it takes a plural verb.  

Wrong:  The data shows that...

Right:  The data show that...

#3: Misusing "I" and "me."  Many people erroneously think that "I" is always correct in a sentence where you're doing something with someone else.  If you're stuck, here's a trick to help you.  Take the other person out of the sentence, and determine whether "I" or "me" is appropriate.  For example, you wouldn't say "That photographer took a gorgeous portrait of I," so it's incorrect to say "That photographer took a gorgeous portrait of James and I."  The correct pronoun here is me:  "That photographer took a gorgeous portrait of James and me."  More examples:

Wrong:  Tia and me are going to dinner; would you like to come with us?

Right:  Tia and I are going to dinner; would you like to come with us?

(Here's our check on the example above:  "Me am going to dinner..." nope.  "I am going to dinner..." yep.)

Wrong:  I wish you and Annalise could come to the Bahamas with Sam and I.

Right:  I wish you and Annalise could come to the Bahamas with Sam and me.

(Here's our check:  "I wish you and Annalise could come to the Bahamas with I"?  Nope.  "I wish you and Annalise could come to the Bahamas with me"?  Yep.)

Pro tip:  When "me" is the correct pronoun," put the other person's name first.  "Asher and me" just sounds nicer than "me and Asher."

#4: Using "myself" in place of "I" or "me."  These words are not interchangeable.  

Wrong:  Would you like to go to the movies with Chris and myself?

Right:  Would you like to go to the movies with Chris and me?

#5: Using redundant or wordy phrases.  Here are some of the more common, more irritating examples.

The phrase "very unique."  This is redundant.  The word "unique" means "one of a kind," so something cannot be "very" unique.  Unique is as unique as it gets.  In general, be wary of words that end in "ly."  These are often just filler; they can make your writing redundant.  Choose stronger adjectives instead of shoring up boring ones with an "ly" adverb.  Examples:  Instead of "extremely important" say "crucial."  Instead of "absolutely necessary" say "essential."  Instead of "really interesting" say "fascinating."  Crack open that thesaurus, folks!

The phrase "in order to."  This one is wordy.  Off the top of my head, I can't think of an instance where you couldn't shorten "in order to" to "to" without losing meaning.

The phrase "due to the fact that."  Again, wordy.  Shorten this to "because."

The phrase "for the purpose of."  Wordy.  Shorten to "to."

The phrase "a total of."  "A total of 42 students participated in the survey" is redundant.  "Forty-two students participated in the survey" is concise.

For more on redundancy and wordiness (and how to avoid them), see my "Writing Resources" Blackboard page.

#6: Misusing semicolons.  There is a whole post devoted to these little darlings elsewhere on my "Whitney's Writing Tips" blog, so I'm just going to give a thumbnail sketch here.  There are two main points to remember about semicolons.

*First, you can think of them as interchangeable with periods.  Just as periods separate complete sentences, so do semicolons.  Use a period when you want a firm break between two complete thoughts, and use a semicolon when the two complete thoughts are closely related.  Example:

"It was so hot yesterday.  I spent most of the afternoon shopping."  These are two separate thoughts.  They aren't closely related, so I've separated them with a slightly stronger barrier, a period.

"It was so hot yesterday; I wish we had room for a pool in the back yard."  These two thoughts are closely related.  The speaker wants a pool because it's been so hot lately. Because the second thought logically follows the first, I used a slightly more transparent barrier, a semicolon.  Note that it would not be wrong to use a period here; you can always use a period to separate two complete thoughts.  Whether to use a semicolon is a style choice, and where appropriate it can help you vary your sentence length to make a paragraph flow more pleasingly.

Remember, a semicolon separates two complete sentences.  What comes before the semicolon must be able to stand alone as a full sentence, and what comes after the semicolon must be able to stand alone as a full sentence.

*Second, you can use semicolons to separate items in a series, IF one or more of the items has its own comma.  Examples:

"We bought azaleas, Peter's favorite; hydrangeas, which will look gorgeous in the front yard; and two new drift roses."  Note that items one and two have their own internal commas.  In cases like this, we use semicolons to avoid "commapalooza" and help clarify where each list item begins and ends.

"They invited Jacob; Gemma, Cam's sister; and Ari."  This sentence illustrates another reason why it can be useful to use semicolons in this way.  Without the semicolons around item 2 ("Gemma, Cam's sister"), it would be unclear to the reader whether Gemma IS Cam's sister, or whether the author was referring to two different people (Gemma AND Cam's sister).  Look at the difference:  "They invited Jacob, Gemma, Cam's sister, and Ari."  Confusing, right?

#7:  Sentence fragments, a.k.a. incomplete sentences.  A complete sentence must have a subject and a predicate, meaning it must tell us what is being done and who/what is doing it.  It must also express a complete thought that makes sense by itself.  

Wrong:  I always read my work aloud. And use the spell check.  (The second sentence is incomplete, because it is a predicate with no subject--it doesn't tell us who is using the spell check.)

Right:  I always read my work aloud, and use the spell check.

Also right:  I always read my work aloud.  I also make sure to use the spell check.

If it's been a while since grammar class and words like "predicate" make your brain bleed, no worries--this is yet another of the many good reasons to read your work aloud. If you do this, you'll catch those sentence fragments because they won't sound right.

#8: Misused words.  Here is a list of misused words I've covered in previous posts (see my "Whitney's Writing Tips" blog for the lowdown on these):

Its/it's

Their/they're/there

To/too

Who/whom

Your/you're

Every day/everyday

Affect/effect

That/which

And here are a few new ones:

Then vs. than: "Then" refers to time, while "than" is a comparison word.  Examples:  "We went out to dinner at Bernardi's, and then we went to see Wicked."  "I wish I'd known then what I know now."  "I think Seinfeld is a funnier show than How I Met Your Mother."  "Strawberries are a little cheaper this year than they were last year." 

Breath vs. breathe:  "Breath" is a noun, meaning the air that comes out of your nose and mouth. "Breathe" is a verb, meaning to take in and expel air.  Examples:  "I'm sorry I'm so out of breath.  I just ran up four flights of stairs."  "Take a puff of this inhaler and try to breathe normally, sir."

Altogether vs. all together:  "Altogether" means "entirely" or "as a whole," while "all together" means gathered together.  Examples:  "Altogether, I thought your paper was clear and logically organized."  "It was so nice to have the family all together at Jane's bridal shower."

Definitely vs. defiantly:  "Definitely" means "certainly."  "Defiantly" means "rebelliously" or "boldly."  Examples:  "I am definitely going to get an A in this class."  "She said she would definitely be there on Friday."  "He shook his head defiantly, refusing to budge from the doorway."  "Eighteenth century writer Mary Wollstonecraft defiantly challenged the rigid gender biases of her time."

#9:  The phrase "based off of."  The correct phrase is "based on" or "based upon."  

#10:  Carelessness.  I've saved the best (or worst!) for last.  I suspect many professors (and journal editors) would list carelessness as their biggest pet peeve.  What do I mean by carelessness?

• Not proofreading carefully
• Not using the spell check
• Making the same errors in every paper, despite instructor's feedback
• Not citing sources
• Not supporting your assertions
• Errors in the references list
• Lots of APA/AMA/etc. errors
• No purpose statement (or inaccurate purpose statement)
• A phoned-in, sloppy abstract
• A phoned-in, afterthought conclusion

I hope you've found today's post helpful.