English Mistakes Commonly Made in a Dissertation | Examples
Students tend to make the same language mistakes over and over again in academic writing. Taking a careful look at these lists of mistakes that we often encounter may help you to break these habits. Avoiding them will set your writing apart and give it a more polished feel.
If you want to make sure your dissertation doesn’t contain any language errors, you could consider using a dissertation editing service.
Spelling mistakes
Although spellcheck features catch many spelling mistakes, they cannot be relied on entirely. These words are still frequently misspelled in many theses.
| Incorrect | Correct |
|---|---|
| achieve | |
| benefit | |
| conscious | |
| definitely | |
| dependent | |
| dissatisfied | |
| existence | |
| focused | |
| heteroskedasticity | |
| homogenous | |
| immediate | |
| laboratory | |
| occasionally | |
| paid | |
| possess | |
| practically | |
| procedure | |
| publicly | |
| questionnaire | |
| respondent | |
| separate | |
| skedasticity | |
| skewness | |
| specifically | |
| succeed | |
| therefore | |
| undoubtedly | |
| unforeseen | |
| whether | |
| which |
Word choice
| Incorrect | Correct | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Research was conducted. | Research is an uncountable noun. | |
| The number of variables may change. | Use number with countable nouns (e.g., changes), amount with uncountable nouns (e.g., air). | |
| An MRI, an HR directive | An abbreviation that starts with a vowel sound takes “an.” | |
| The teenagers who | Use who with people, that with things |
Adjectives
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Are similar | Although the two cases are similar, they are not identical. | |
| Political | Both economic and political factors were considered. | |
| So-called…, factor-based… | The so-called experts only conducted factor-based analyses. | |
| Especially | The authors were especially interested in inflation pressures. |
Capitalisation
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Results of the interviews or Results of the Interviews | Additional information is presented in Table 9 (Results of the interviews). |
Conjunctions and linking terms
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| First | First, all participants were given a survey. | |
| However, … | However, most theorists disagree. | |
| Such as | Northern cities such as Oslo and Helsinki have long, dark winters. |
Nouns/noun phrases
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Insights into | The results offer valuable insights into the problem. | |
| MNCs, PCs | Most MNCs purchase thousands of PCs annually. | |
| One criterion | Although many criteria were considered, one criterion stood out | |
| Research conclusions | Chapter 6 contains the research conclusions. | |
| Taxis, umbrellas | Taxis are often full of forgotten umbrellas. | |
| The child’s behaviour, the parents’ attitude | Although the child’s behaviour was aggressive, her parents’ attitude was very relaxed. | |
| Two analyses | Several analyses were conducted, but one analysis was most fruitful. | |
| Two hypotheses | This dissertation proposes many hypotheses. |
Prepositions/prepositional phrases
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| In addition to | In addition to building dams, the government also invested in roads. | |
| From…to… | The ages ranged from 18 to 24. | |
| In light of | The test was cancelled in light of the wind. | |
| By | The participants were grouped by height. | |
| To what extent | It is not known to what extent the subjects were being truthful. |
Pronouns
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| People… their… A person… his or her… |
Researchers should cite their sources. A researcher should cite his or her sources. |
|
| One… | If one reads the study, one may indeed be convinced. |
Punctuating numbers
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000.00 | The price was exactly $10,000.00. | |
| 1960s | Many styles of music emerged in the 1960s. |
Quantifiers
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A few, two/three, a handful of | A few controversial questions were also included. | |
| Many, much, several, a great deal of | Much time was spent on the test. |
Terms used in citations
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Et al. | The mutation is thought to be widespread (Han et al., 1999) | |
| Et al. have | Omar et al. have asserted that the effect is temporary. |
Verbs/phrasal verbs
| Incorrect | Correct | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Chose yesterday | The project manager chose her team before planning began. | |
| Divide into | This dissertation is divided into seven sections. | |
| Led yesterday | Although the Liberals currently lead in the polls, the Conservatives led last week. | |
| Take a photo | The time was set to take photos at 20-second intervals. | |
| Sent yesterday | The email was sent to all employees. |
Words that are commonly confused
| Which one to use? | Correct | What’s usually the difference? |
|---|---|---|
| Affect vs effect | The effect was strong; the drug affected all members of the experimental group. | Effect = noun Affect = verb |
| Personnel vs personal | The company’s personnel do not like to discuss their personal problems. | Personnel = noun Personal = adjective |
| Principal vs principle | The principal author outlined the theories and principles that arose from the study. | Principal = adjective Principle = noun |
| Were vs where | Where were you? | Were = verb Where = adjective |
| Awhile vs a while | Jack wants to rest awhile, but he has to go to work in a while. | Awhile = for a period of time A while = a period of time |
| Apart vs a part | The twins were born 2 minutes apart, and when one of them a way, it feels like a part of them is missing. | Apart = separation, distance A part = a piece |
| Use to or used to | She is used to a busy schedule, but she did not use to feel so stressed. | Used to = verb Use to = only used with “did/did not” |
| Empathy vs sympathy | I feel sympathy for Sam, but it’s hard to be empathic, because I haven’t been in that situation. | Empathy = ability to relate to the other person’s feelings
Sympathy = compassion for someone else |
| Blond vs blonde | Is Oliver a blond? Yes, and his sister is a blonde too! | Blond = noun to describe a man with golden/pale yellow hair
Blonde = noun to describe a woman with golden/pale yellow hair |
| Then vs than | I was visiting my sister then. I like her new house better than the old one. | Then = that time Than = to express comparison |
| Anymore vs any more | If you give me any more trouble, I can’t help you anymore | Anymore = adverb (any longer) Any more = determiner (quantity) |
| Who vs whom | I’m not sure who is organising the party; it depends whom you ask. | Who = pronoun (subject) Whom = pronoun (object) |
| Compliment vs complement | Vera received a compliment on her belt, because it complements her outfit. | Compliment = admiration or praise Complement = completes or enhances |
| Affect vs effect | The effect of the hidden variable might affect your results. | Affect = verb Effect = noun |
| Bear vs bare | The bear ran through the bare apartment after someone left the door open. | Bear = endure, carry, or the animal Bare = uncover, exposed |
| Breathe vs breath | Where were you? | Breathe = verb Breath = noun |
Following these tips will help you to improve your written academic English in general. The next step is to fine-tune your writing depending on whether you are using American, British, or Australian English! A grammar checker can also help you automatically fix mistakes you may have missed after proofreading.