What are your writing and grammar pet peeves?

Have you ever started to read a book, article or blog post only to sigh in disgust? Quite likely the author has struck a writing pet peeve of yours.

For example, I have an aversion to adverbs. …she said quietly …he walked quickly …she waited anxiously. ..

You get the picture, those dreaded ly words. Instead of talking quietly, why can’t she whisper? Why can’t he jog instead of walking quickly? Instead of waiting anxiously, why can’t she show her anxiety by tapping her toes? Yes, I understand adjectives have their place and time, however an overuse of them makes for passive writing.

Some other examples of potential writing pet peeves include redundancies.

For example, shrugged her shoulders, blinked her eyes, waved his hand. The question is…what else would they have shrugged, blinked or waved?

Of course grammar is a huge source of peeves for many. The fun and entertaining Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss is full of funny anecdotes and the correct way to use grammar to get your point across.

When writing content, we want to engage our reader, not tick them off by triggering a pet peeve, right? It’s important to be concise and learn what we can about the craft of writing and grammar to convey our message.

So…what are your pet peeves?

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