How to Avoid Amateur Writing Mistakes

by Carla Douglas
@CarlaJDouglas

Image by mortimer? (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Never kick a gift horse in its mouth. Nip it in the butt. Failure to prune careless language from your writing can make you look like an amateur.

What happens when you come across a word or phrase that just doesn’t sound right?

The other night I was watching The West Wing (I know – only about 15 years after everyone else), and the White House press secretary used the term test balloon to describe the political tactic of floating an idea to see how people will react. Then she said it again: test balloon.

Cue interior monologue:

Test balloon? I thought the expression was trial balloon. Obviously they mean the same thing. A trial balloon is a test. But I’m sure it’s called a trial balloon. Or maybe they call it a test balloon in the US and we call it a trial balloon in Canada. What about in the UK? What do they call it there? And where does the expression come from? The weather? A weather balloon sent up to check atmospheric conditions? That would make sense. When was it first used in a government/politics context? And on, and on, and on.

The result?

This small detail interrupted my train of thought. I lost the thread of the plot, and I had to go back and review what happened, then try to pick it up again. (Not to mention the ensuing search, both online and on my bookshelves, to find answers to the above questions. If you’re interested, I’ll outline my search in a future post.)

I’ve described this at length because this is what happens to readers, too, when they encounter words and expressions that aren’t quite right. Fiction readers especially read for an experience – through reading they’re taken somewhere, and tripping over errors unfortunately brings them abruptly back to this world.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the historical accuracy of phrases and how getting it wrong can cause your readers distraction, or worse, irritation. Here are a few more examples of usage mistakes that can jar the reader:

• A character in a novel has a penchant for free trade coffee. What? The expression is fair trade. Free trade might be creeping into the language, just as the expression third wheel is often used where fifth wheel belongs.
• A character reports that her son is doing very well. The doctor changed the dose of his medication and he’s improving incrementally. Oops. Wrong word. She means exponentially.
• A malapropism is also an instance of using a wrong but similarly sounding word but with humorous effect. Here’s one example: Rather than laying people off, the company plans to reduce its workforce through nutrition. Hmm. Attrition?
• And here’s my favourite: Never kick a gift horse in its mouth. This is a good example of an overused and badly mangled idiom. Best avoid these entirely, but if you find one, eliminate it.

Checking for language and usage errors

Making errors like these can become a bad habit, but there are ways to check your word usage and in the process become a better writer.

Here’s how:

You probably do your best to turn off your inner editor when you’re in the draft stage of writing. Good idea – but eventually you need to turn that editor back on. Checking your work for mistakes like those I’ve listed above is difficult, grinding work. If you knew a word or phrase was wrong, you wouldn’t have used it in the first place, right?

But carefully reviewing what you’ve written and looking for possible errors is part of developing an ear for language, and it takes practice. There are no set instructions for this – you have to focus on the smallest details and question yourself and your word choice over and over.

Tip: As you reread your work, look especially for words, phrases and expressions that have a familiar ring. If you had to search for the right word, be suspicious. You may have settled for a confusable sound-alike word, such as evade instead of invade, for instance. If you are using metaphor and simile, are they original and fresh or do they sound imitative? Be honest with yourself. Read your work out loud and ask: Does this sound right? What does this expression really mean? Is there another way to say it? Is this a cliché?  Mark all the instances where there’s room for doubt, then look up these words and phrases.

Here’s where:

Google - A good place to start if you’re unsure about a phrase or expression. Place your query in quotation marks and see what comes up. For instance, search for the phrase “nip it in the butt” and the first hit is an article titled 5 Sayings Most People Get Wrong. Never underestimate the power of Google.

Grammarist - Search this site for explanations about everything language-related, including easily confused words, difficult words, idioms, grammar, punctuation, and more.

Daily Writing Tips - Search for tips and instructions about all aspects of writing, including punctuation, dialogue, capitalization, idioms, colloquial expressions, and more.
   

Google Ngram Viewer - A word-search database that charts the frequency of words and phrases found in books published between the years 1500–2008. Read about how to use it here.

The Free Dictionary – Idioms - One of many online idiom sites where you can check the exact wording and meaning of familiar phrases.

The Phrase Finder - Another excellent site on the meanings and origins of phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions, it also has a discussion forum and extensive Q & A.

Spend time at these sites and explore what they offer – there’s a wealth of free writing instruction available online. An editor will also catch many or most of these mistakes, but you owe it to yourself to present the best finished draft possible. You’ll save money on editing and you’ll develop a better writing sense.  

Here’s why:

You want readers to take you seriously, and mistakes like these will gradually erode their confidence in your writing. It is also possible that you will look foolish and be pegged as an amateur.

I read an academic writing blog recently in which the author stressed – repeatedly – that a single grammar error or typo can cause a graduate school committee to throw out an application. In other words, submit work with errors and you will not be taken seriously. Wow. Granted, it’s a grad school application review committee, where they’re tasked with reducing a list of maybe 200 applicants to about 20. So they’re ranking and pruning. Judging and eliminating.

But keep in mind that readers are also executing a version of this. In this Goodreads review, for example, the reviewer explains that she subtracted one star from her rating because of the number of typos, word usage errors, and spelling and punctuation mistakes she came across in the book.

It’s true that the average reader will tolerate a number of errors, but how many will they forgive before giving up on the book and the author, too? Best not take that chance.  

Related Posts

Use Google’s Ngram Viewer to Craft Authentic Fiction

How to Proofread your eBook Like a Pro

Five Reasons Readers Will Bail on a Book