 Believe it or not, teachers love marking essays. They're often proud of the work that their students submit, but they're sometimes disappointed by the large number of grammar and other types of error that let down the quality of the students' writing. Many of these errors are easy to spot and if the student proofreads their work before submission, they can correct these errors themselves and get a better grade. Okay, let's have a look at an example, shall we? Gigi has submitted her assignment on the educational value of computer games in schools. She's organized the essay well and made some effective points, but there are a number of small and easily correctable problems. Let's look at the first sentence. Oh yes, this is common. Can you see the mistake? I'll give you a clue. Find the main verb. Now, consider the tense. Gigi has used the present tense, which we usually use for things that are generally true and don't change. But when giving background information in an introduction, you're often referring to a recent trend. The present continuous or present perfect would be more appropriate here. Alright, let's look at the next sentence. Good. Gigi's written a clear aim of the essay, but oh no, there's another common grammar mistake. This time, the tense is correct, but the verb does not agree with the subject. The subject essay is singular, so the verb needs to be in the third person form. Ames. Right, as well as grammar errors, you need to check in-text citations. Can you find the in-text citations in paragraph two? Gigi has used three different ways to cite the sources, which is effective, but are they done correctly? For the first one, you can see the author's family name, Francis, initial, and the publication year. But remember, with in-text citations, the author's initial should not be used. Let's look at the next citation. Gigi wants to quote two authors, Wang and Cheng, using according to. So far so good. But then she adds the words also agree in as well, which is wrong. She can either write Wang and Cheng, also agree, or, according to Wang and Cheng, but not both. Let's have a look at the last citation. It's non-integral, and the source is cited correctly. Just the author's family name, Watson, and the publication year in brackets. All well and good. But oh no, Gigi has made another common error. Misuse of the expression, on the other hand. On the other hand, doesn't introduce a new topic, but rather offers an alternative viewpoint on the same topic. As this paragraph is only about benefits of using computer games in schools, not drawbacks, on the other hand is misused. Here, Gigi would be better using furthermore, or in addition. OK, let's move on, shall we? Ah, can you see the mistake here? Gigi has confused there, T-H-E-R-E, with there, T-H-E-I-R. OK, it's an easy mistake to make, and Microsoft word spell check won't help, because out of context, both spellings are correct. From, F-R-O-M, and form, F-O-R-M, is another common spelling mistake that computers just can't catch. That is why you must always check the spellings yourself. OK, let's look at a few style errors, shall we? Ah, can you see this one? Look at the way the sentence ends. Gigi has used, etc., which teachers call a run-on expression. These run-on expressions should not be used in academic essay writing. You should also consider style when you're quoting someone. Gigi has used the word said to report someone's findings. There are much more precise words than that. She could have used noted or found. Let's look at the next sentence. Here, Gigi is being too certain. Can you see the word that makes that sentence too certain? She's written always. It is difficult to prove that students always ignore other important activities. If you cannot prove this, you need to hedge this claim, and a commonly used structure for doing this is might or tend to. Gigi is too certain again at the end of the essay. She's used the word easily. In this case, it's better to use expressions like has the potential to, or words like possibly. Let's move on. Look at the final point in the essay and how Gigi introduces us to it. Oh no, it's this error again. The phrase at last is not suitable here. It's not the same as lastly. When we use at last, we mean that we've been waiting a considerable length of time for something to happen. For example, what a boring lecture. At last, it's over. So in this paragraph, at last is wrong. Instead, you can use finally or lastly to link your ideas. Let's carry on, shall we? Ah, there's another common mistake. Can you see it? Gigi has used a noun, violence, where she should have used an adjective, violent. Always check carefully that you're using the right word forms. Okay, so we're finished now and the essay looks much better. All of those were simple errors which Gigi could have found easily. By spending some time to proofread her work, she would have got a better grade. A useful tool I can let you know about is the common error detector on the SIL website. Simply paste your essay into the box, click submit, and it will highlight many of these common errors. How simple is that? Here's the address for it. Okay, so remember, take pride in what you do, spend a little time to proofread your work and see if you can spot these types of error. You'll get a better grade and you'll make your teacher happy.