Grammar Mistakes That Medium’s Copy Editors Really Don’t Want You to Make
By: Sloane Miller
Tags: Writing, Editing, Copywriting, Creativity, Writing Tips

Common errors

David: When a word or phrase is written by a majority of online users the wrong way: Like “everyday.” Instead of “I drink a ton of coffee every day,” they write “I drink a ton of coffee everyday.” I hate that.

Sam: A small error I see frequently is “that” instead of “who,” such as “we need a president that shows empathy.”

Tana: Using “which” when it should be “that,” like “a mindset which contributes to more incarceration” versus “a mindset that contributes to more incarceration.”

Sam: Unnecessarily capitalized words — especially when referring generally to the president of the United States.

Tana: Agreed! Unnecessarily capitalized words, particularly position or job titles, like “President of the HOA” or “Chief Security Officer for the company.”

Tiffany: I agree with Tana and Sam that unnecessary capitals are getting to me lately. Also, why are people trying to capitalize the internet!?

Tana: Comma splices, like “half of the users are police, the other half are private citizens.” Should be a semicolon.

Iris: Errors like $1 million dollars. [Ed.: This is redundant. It’s either 1 million dollars or $1 million.]

David: Hyphenated adverbs ending in -ly when modifying another word. A no-no in my book. [Ed.: AP Stylebook agrees.]

Common typos

Iris: The infamous “missing L in public” typo.

Sloane: The equally infamous its/it’s, there/their/they’re, than/then typo.

Pet peeves

Iris: Impact vs. affect. This year, “impact” as a verb is showing up a lot. Impact makes a great noun, but it can be a problematic verb or just a bit too much, particularly when the less intense “affect” can take its place. When I read impact in a context like “how the pandemic impacted the workplace,” I might even replace it with a stronger verb: “how the pandemic dismantled/altered/forever changed the workplace.” Here’s an example I just read in my local news outlet where impact shows up as an appropriately impactful noun: “the pandemic’s impacts on learning.” That said, I will sometimes leave impact as a verb when the context is especially intense, like so many things 2020.

Sloane: Language redundancies like “my own” + noun. Phrases like “my own mind” or “ my own thoughts” are redundant; “my mind” or “my thoughts” works just fine.

Iris: Definitely an online thing, but super-long in line links bug me, especially when they run onto a second or even third line. Or when stuff like quotation marks or trailing punctuation marks are linked when they don’t need to be. Tidy linking makes me happy.

Sloane: Me too! Long in-line linked copy — ugh, no. Just link the relevant word or short phrase, but not the word “here” or “said.”

Iris: Overuse of “not only/but also.”

Tana: Unnecessary commas: 1) “That a crime goes unsolved is not due to lack of effort by law enforcement, but lack of evidence.” 2) “Biases could be used to implicate someone in a crime, or in any variety of other legal but uncomfortable situations.” 3) “Thessen didn’t connect the dots at the time, but realizes now that this new bylaw was an act of subterfuge.”

Iris: Overuse of “from X to Y to Z.” Putting commas in there really gets my goat (from X, to Y, to Z).

Sloane: Overuse of the em dash kills me; however, when used well, it’s a delight. This piece by Peter Rubin is a good em-dash explainer.

Technically not wrong but try to avoid

Iris: Looooong run-on sentences for cute effect. This was a huge writing trend for a while. It’s okay and sometimes preferable in small doses, but I’ve seen a few pieces where it’s nearly every sentence. That’s asking a lot from a reader.

Sloane: Similarly, overly hyphenated word phrases are also an older trend that is still hanging on.

Tana: I’m not sure if this annoys anyone besides me, but it’s 100% a cross-platform thing [Ed.: Meaning other media publications are okay with this usage]: tucking in an unnecessary “the” before a profession and a name. Examples: 1) “The writer Maya Angelou says…” 2) “I spoke with the biologist Tedros Adhanom.” 3) “According to the scientist Jennifer Doudna.”

Bonus things we love

Sam: Love when linking is nice and tidy — not having the entire sentence linked.

Iris: I will love a writer forever when they demonstrate a solid grasp of semicolons and en dashes.

David: I love it when a writer caps the first word of a complete sentence following a colon, which is correct usage.

Sam: Also, I love when names are all spelled correctly! Like when the writer has clearly checked those.

David: I love seeing “minuscule” spelled correctly.