The following are my 3 glaring and common grammar mistakes. The list is not exhaustive, of course.

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1^st type: Article

Article is one of the most simple grammar structures to be comprehended and used. However, I often commit mistakes related to this grammar structure, the reason being that I often overlook them when I write.

A simple example would be: "Otherwise, fuel economy of HEVs and ICVs are mainly determined by various factors and comparable to each other." (Extracted from my writing assignment 2).

In this excerpt, the article "the" must be present in front of "fuel economy", so as to show that "fuel economy" refers to that of HEVs and ICVs.

Therefore, the corrected version should be: "Otherwise, the fuel economy of HEVs and ICVs are mainly determined by various factors and comparable to each other."

I could not think of a better solution other than proof reading and edit my essays properly.

2^nd type: Prepositions

Although this type of mistake rarely turns up in my final works, there were still occasional slips related to prepositions every now and then, resulting in awkward sentence structures. I often have trouble choosing which prepositions to use because of their overlapping definition.

For instance, "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs which can only be obtained under specific environments may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless." (Extracted from my writing assignment 2 again.)

There are more than 1 mistake in this excerpt, but I shall correct the part related to preposition now and leave the other mistake for later because it is another one of my common mistake. In this excerpt, the preposition "under" should have been "in" instead, as "specific driving environments" can be visualized as a 3-dimensional noun, "in" which HEVs operate and not "under" which HEVs operate.

Hence, the corrected version should be: "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs which can only be obtained in specific environments may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless."

The solutions that I adopt were to review the use of prepositions so that I am sure I have clear understanding of how to use prepositions, and of course, careful proof reading too.

3^rd type: Punctuation

Punctuation is yet another grammar structure that is easy to understand and used properly. However, the careless me have always managed to either punctuated wrongly or forgot to punctuate my sentences. I have no problem whatsoever with the use of full-stops, as there must be a full stop at the end of every sentence. Its counterpart, the comma, however, is somewhat trickier for me to handle. I could not decide whether the commas that I intend to use in my sentences are there for cosmetic purposes, such as to improve readability and show coherence, or they should be there as dictated by grammar. Mistaking the former for the latter often led me to drop the commas and consequently, my sentences ended up grammatically incorrect.

Using the same example as above: "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs which can only be obtained in specific environments may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless."

There is a hint of digression in the sentence above owing to the presence of the adjective clause "which can only be obtained in specific environments". As this argument was already explained explicitly in earlier in my essay, this clause only serves as an emphasis on the limitations that HEVs face. The sentence would still convey the core message, with or without this clause. Therefore, the must be commas sandwiching the clause.

The final version of the sentence should be: "Therefore, it can be concluded that the limited benefits of HEVs, which can only be obtained in specific environments, may render the switch to HEVs overall pointless."

One solution that I thought off is to adopt the same train of thought as displayed above whenever I am deciding whether to drop the punctuations.

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As mentioned before, the list is non exhaustive. The three listed grammar mistakes are my most common mistakes. I personally believe that these errors are elementary mistakes that should be avoided at all cost.