{"id":28792,"date":"2015-02-17T15:48:06","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T21:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicityhound.com\/?p=28792"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:32:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:32:42","slug":"the-top-9-writing-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/marketing\/content-creation\/the-top-9-writing-mistakes-and-how-to-fix-them\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 9 Writing Mistakes and How to Fix Them"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Wimpy<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blog posts. Articles. Ebooks. Ezines. Case studies. Slidedecks. Stories. Your bio. Press releases. White Papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need to create content but you can\u2019t write well, spend five minutes<\/strong> on this crash course. Follow my advice, and you\u2019ll improve your writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I worked as a writing coach at a daily newspaper 20 years ago, I introduced reporters to my list of the Top 9 Writing Mistakes.<\/strong> Within minutes, and with a little practice, they improved their writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You will too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the most common mistakes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Wordiness<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This occurs most often among people in academia<\/strong> or in the corporate suite<\/strong>. They think $25 words make them sound smart or important. But $5 words make it easier for people to understand them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you came from either world, don\u2019t let bad habits learned there creep into your writing. It should be so easy to read<\/strong> that a tenth-grader can understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are wordy phrases you can shorten: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

after the conclusion of = after<\/p>\n\n\n\n

at the present time = now<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in accordance with = by<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in view of the fact = since<\/p>\n\n\n\n

on a timely basis = fast<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the necessary funds = money<\/p>\n\n\n\n

signage = signs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

roadway = road<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in lieu of = instead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

due to the fact that = since<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the exception of = except<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Overusing any form of \u201cto be\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It includes \u201cis,\u201d \u201care,\u201d \u201cwas,\u201d \u201cwere\u201d and \u201cwould be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After you write something, print it. Underline every verb.<\/strong> If you see any of those lazy words or phrases, try to replace them with stronger verbs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Weak verbs followed by prepositions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Instead of saying \u201cget up,\u201d you can use verbs like \u201cawaken,\u201d \u201cstand,\u201d \u201crise\u201d or \u201cclimb.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong verbs that mean the same as \u201cfall down\u201d include \u201ccollapse,\u201d \u201ctrip,\u201d \u201cfumble\u201d and \u201cstumble.\u201d They help paint a visual picture<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Lack of details<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Describing the girl as \u201c6 feet, 2 inches\u201d beats saying \u201cshe\u2019s tall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At night, in the middle of the forest, you can\u2019t see the wolf in the dark. But describing the forest as \u201cpitch black\u201d<\/strong> makes readers feel as though they\u2019re there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying \u201cThe temperature inside the car reached 120 degrees<\/strong>\u201d helps readers better understand the severity of the problem. It\u2019s more specific than saying, \u201cIt was hot inside the car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Vague or abstract words and phrases.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA large number\u201d of babies born out of wedlock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe type of exercise\u201d people hate most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201cthing,\u201d as in \u201cThere\u2019s this thing he does that annoys me\u201d or  “She placed the things in the box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Writing in the passive voice instead of the active voice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Active voice describes a sentence in which the subject performs the action<\/strong> stated in the verb. In passive voice sentences, the subject is acted upon<\/strong> by the verb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passive voice: The book was placed on the table by the boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Active voice: The boy placed the book on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can find many more examples of the active and passive voice here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Overworked words. Also known as empty words or wimpy words.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially
\n Absolutely
\n Basically
\n Very
\n Really
\n In essence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Business Jargon<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This mistake deserves its own article!<\/strong> It includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

End-user perspective
\n Pushing the envelope
\n Thinking outside the box
\n At the end of the day
\n Throwing anyone under the bus
\n Heavy lifting
\n Kept in the loop<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026ad nauseum<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See this Forbes article on The Most Annoying, Pretentious and Useless Business Jargon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Rambling Sentences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I plucked these samples from online press releases. All include business jargon, industry lingo and $25 words that make my eyes glaze over.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merex specializes in logistics, distribution and supply of spare parts, in-house product engineering and specialty manufacturing, FAA and military repair and overhaul capability at its ALCO Services subsidiary, repair management, and overall project management.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This approach that has led to a strong strategic partnership and $100 billion in two-way trade by growing bilateral investments, increasing cooperation in defense, and building a shared knowledge economy \u2014all of which will continue to create much needed jobs in both countries for years to come.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reynolds and his team at SupplyPro designed SupplyScale to take full advantage of SupplyPro\u2019s software, SupplyPort\u2122, which delivers automated inventory management and vendor integration; comprehensive reporting; superior ease-of-use; enterprise-wide administration; and the flexibility to adapt to customer work flow and business processes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want an accurate tool that identifies bad writing and shows you how to fix it, try the Hemingway App.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Hemingway<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, highlight all the text already on the page and hit Delete. Click on \u201cWrite\u201d and start writing. Or click on \u201cEdit\u201d and paste your text into the window. The app will give you a color-coded critique.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yellow highlights long, complex sentences and common errors. Red identifies dense, complicated sentences like the ones from the press releases above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue shows you adverbs that you can remove and replace with more forceful verbs. Purple points out $25 words. Green flags you to the passive voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll love this tool!<\/strong> When you arrive at the site, highlight all the copy you see on the screen and delete it. Thne either start writing or paste the article you’ve already written onto the page and click “Edit” in the upper right corner. I pasted this entire post into the app before publishing it. I saw lots of colors on the screen and corrected my errors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hemingway app also ranks the readability of your copy. This post scores \u201cGrade 6\u2033 which means children in the sixth grade can understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My grade will horrify the college professors. But I\u2019m not writing for them. I\u2019m writing for you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What writing mistakes have I missed? Which ones do you hate most?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Cheat<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I share writing tips and lots of lots of advice on how to get publicity in my snack-size publicity tips delivered every Tuesday and Saturday. To thank you for subscribing, I’ll send you my two cheat sheets “89 Reasons to Write a Press Release” and my “Top 10 Free Tools for Free Publicity” a few minutes after you subscribe. Join more than 6,000 other readers and subscribe here<\/a>. Enjoy your cheat sheets.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog posts. Articles. Ebooks. Ezines. Case studies. Slidedecks. Stories. Your bio. Press releases. White Papers. If you need to create content but you can\u2019t write well, spend five minutes on this crash course. Follow my advice, and you\u2019ll improve your writing. When I worked as a writing coach at a daily newspaper 20 years ago,\u2026 Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","iawp_total_views":4,"wds_primary_category":603,"footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-content-creation","7":"entry"},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Joan Stewart","author_link":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/author\/jstewart\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42920,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28792\/revisions\/42920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purelysupp.com\/publicity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}