blog 6

 This post focuses on the three main grammatical errors that I frequently make while writing academic essays. After scrutinizing my assignments I have submitted so far in this module, I found out that the errors that I frequently repeat are related to parallelism, punctuation and transition.

The first recurring error is related to parallelism. The basic idea of parallelism is to maintain two or more words or clauses in the same sentence, giving them equal levels of importance. The parallel structure of the sentence can easily disappear just by mistyping a few words in a sentence. We can avoid this error by using correlative coordinators like ‘or’, ‘and’, ‘nor’ etc.

The next recurring error is related to punctuators. I always find punctuations as complications. From the tutorials, we learned that a comma is added to prevent “run-ons”. For example, “There is also a general notion that despite its environmental advantages green buildings are not beneficial from an economical perspective”, which is grammatically incorrect. The dependent clause has to be separated from the independent clause by a comma - “There is also a general notion that despite its environmental advantages, green buildings are not beneficial from an economical perspective.”

 Lastly, I have trouble with transitions. I generally tend to use inappropriate transitions, like ‘also’, which are not suitable for formal writing. Using transitions like ‘in addition’, ‘however’ and ‘furthermore’ instead of ‘also’, best suits academic writings.

I have realized that its not enough if I just identify my mistakes, I need to work on them to improve my writing skills and this can be achieved only by reading more articles, books, etc.