5 Common Pet Peeves in Writing

I had the opportunity to read through Elements of Style on a red-eye flight to Alaska. It was interesting reading through it and seeing some of the things that I am guilty of in my writing. That being said, there were several things I saw, that as a content writer, really get under my skin.

1.  Misuse of Affect & Effect (pg 45)
When I was taking AP English in high school, I remember a simple mnemonic device I learned. This mnemonic device was burned into my brain to the point that misusing affect and effect is completely out of the question--even five years after graduating. The acronym R.A.V.E.N. means: remember, affect is a verb, effect is a noun.

Broken down into an example: We see that the side effects of medicine can affect your body.

2. Overusing Literally (pg 52)
I work with a girl who is 25 years old. She is a talented, creative individual, but when it comes to speaking, she is very influenced by pop culture. One of her most common and irritating habits is using the term, literally, to describe over-exaggerated states of emotion. Such as, "Oh my gosh! Did you see "Breaking Bad" last night? I literally died when I saw the end of the last episode!"

Oh really? You literally died? So this story is being told by your ghost? Because you look pretty freaking alive to me.

Here is a better way to explain how mind-blowing the episode of "Breaking Bad" was: "Oh my gosh! Did you see the episode of "Breaking Bad"? I was so surprised, I didn't see that twist coming at all!"

3. Using Qualifiers (pg 73)
This pet peeve is one that bothers me, but it's also one that I'm guilty of --Using qualifiers takes potential away from your sentence. Instead of finding descriptive words, we get lazy and use qualifiers.

For example:

Judy could feel the excitement coursing through her like a river on the first day of spring.

Judy was way excited.

Which one is more powerful?

4. Misuse of apostrophes to identify possession (pg 1)
When I was an editor for the newspaper at Taylorsville High School, our adviser spent a lot of time making sure we knew how to use apostrophes. Now, I'm pretty quick at detecting the misuse of apostrophes to identify possession. The most common ways the apostrophe is misused is when it is added to a year it in its possessive form as well as when it is added to words that end in s.

Examples:

Incorrect: The 1980's were awesome.
Correct: The 1980s were awesome.
This same rule also applies to decades. A decade is not possessive.

Incorrect: The dog wagged it's tail.
Correct: The dog wagged its tail.
"Its" is the unique instance when the only time an apostrophe is used is when it is a contraction of it and is, it's = it is; its = possessive.

Incorrect: James's car is red.
Correct: James' car is red.

5. Adding unnecessary commas in lists (pg 2)

I remember learning about commas in first grade. Mrs. Nancarrow was teaching us about putting commas in lists. She taught us to put a comma after the second to last list item that comes before the word, "and" when there are three or more items in a list.

Mrs. Nancarrow & Elements of Style teach: Judy's dress had yellow, green, orange, and pink flowers.

I'm excited for all of the other elements of style that were in the book. I know that implementing these rules will help me improve my writing.

Which of my five pet peeves are you guilty of?