By Samantha Segan
You could write a brilliant essay–only to have an admissions officer spot an error in the first sentence and toss it in the discard pile. You can’t entirely trust Grammarly software, either; it often doesn’t spot mistakes in complex sentences. As a former admissions officer and a former copyeditor, I’ve seen these mistakes time and again.
- Misplaced modifiers.
“As a tenth-grade student, my art teacher made a huge impression on me.”
The modifying phrase “as a tenth-grade student” comes right before “my art teacher,” so this sentence makes it seem like your art teacher is the student–not you! You could change the sentence so it doesn’t contain a modifier: “My tenth-grade art teacher made a huge impression on me.”
- Comma splices.
“I leapt up from my desk, I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.”
Two independent clauses (you can think of those as full sentences that can stand alone) can’t be connected by just a comma. The sentence would correctly read: “I leapt up from my desk–I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.” You have other options, too. You may also connect two independent clauses with a semicolon (;) a colon (:), a comma plus a conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), or–of course–a period.
- Using “however” instead of “but.”
“I like pears, however, I dislike plums.”
The word “however” isn’t a conjunction like “and” or “but.” It isn’t one of the words that can link two independent clauses. Instead, you’d want to write: “I like pears, but I dislike plums.”
- Idiom errors.
“My coach complemented my throw, but I still felt inadequate.”
In this case, the correct word should be “compliment,” not “complement,” which means “to go well with; to enhance.” Make sure you know the difference between “loose” and “lose,” “compliment” and “complement,” “lie and “lay,” and more! Further, don’t fall into the trap of using a big word just because it sounds impressive to you. Make sure you know what every word you use means.
- Passive voice.
“The test was done. Physics class was harder than I thought it would be.”
The passive voice involves some form of the verb “to be”: “The test was done” instead of “I finished the test.” It’s not strictly grammatically wrong to use the passive voice, but you should avoid doing so. When you cut passive phrases, you’ll write more vividly and descriptively, and you’ll emphasize that you are an active participant in your own story. See the difference? “My heart thumped in my chest when I saw the number on top of my first physics test: a 74.” With the passive voice removed, the sentence has become much more vivid and compelling. I tell all of my essay students to find and replace as many instances of the word “is,” “are,” “was,” and “were” that they can.
