Questions for Those Who Regularly Read the Work of Others

[queenoftheskies]

I've been reading through some submissions posted to the various groups I belong to...OWW, Critters, QnI...and thinking.

I wanted to get opinions of others who read and critique/review.

What writing errors do you most commonly see in the work you read and critique/review? If you wouldn't mind, you could further break that down between beginning writers and those who have been writing a while.

What do you most balk at when you read to review/critique?

Do you often find errors that you have in your own work? Do you find errors you didn't realize you had until you see them in someone else's work and said, "Ah-oh, I do that too"? And, along the same lines, what do you think you learn the most from critiquing/reviewing?

Just curious.

Thanks. :)

Comments

[deannahoak.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this is what you mean, but the most common grammatical error I see in good, grammatically competent writers is the misuse of subjunctive when conditional is called for: Many writers seem to think that any sentence with "if" in it requires subjunctive, when that isn't the case. Thus you should have, "If I were a king, I would..." but "If that fire was caused by the stove malfunction, I will sue the manufacturer."