Frequent Grammar Mistakes by High Schoolers?

Hi everyone, I am trying to brush up on my grammar. I'd like to know, what are some common grammar mistakes that we high schoolers often make? Particularly in academic papers. Thanks for any inputs!

Responding as a high school counselor:

There are quite a few common grammar errors that high school students tend to make, especially when writing academic papers. Here are a few to be aware of:

1. Incorrect verb tense: This is a frequent mistake where students switch tenses in the middle of sentences or paragraphs. Ensure that you're consistent with your verb tenses and that they make sense with the context.

2. Run-on sentences: High school students often string together multiple thoughts in a single sentence without the proper conjunctions or punctuation. Shorter, concise sentences can often improve clarity in your writing and promote more effective communication.

3. Comma splices: This mistake occurs when two complete sentences are joined with a comma instead of using a period, semicolon, or a coordinating conjunction like "and" or "but."

4. Sentence fragments: These are incomplete sentences. They're fine in casual conversation, but in academic writing, every sentence should express a complete thought. Make sure each sentence has both a subject and a predicate.

5. Incorrect use of plurals and possessives: Students often mistake 'its' (the possessive form of it) with 'it's' (the contraction of 'it is') and similar words like 'your' and 'you're', 'their' and 'they're'.

6. Inappropriate use of apostrophes: They are often incorrectly used to pluralize nouns (like "banana's" instead of "bananas"), when they should be mainly reserved for showing possession or forming contractions.

7. Homophone errors: These are spelling errors that come from words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings, like "there," "their," and "they're," or "to," "too," and "two."

8. Incorrect use or overuse of passive voice: Instead of saying "The cake was eaten by me," which is passive, it's often better to stick to the active voice: "I ate the cake."

Having a keen eye for these areas can significantly improve the clarity of your academic papers. Write a draft first, then leave it for a while (even just a couple of hours if possible), then come back to the essay for a round (or two) of revisions. This is a good way to spot any awkward phrasings or mistakes you may have overlooked in the heat of writing. When you read your work back, remember to keep an eye out for these common errors.