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Activity:

The following activity is concerned with writing with good style. In order to write with good style, you need to avoid a number of commonly used stylistic errors. Below is a list of those that are among the most commonly used types of errors and examples of each of them.

In the left hand column below, we have provided a list of the 12 most common types of style errors. In the next column, there are 12 examples of errors of style. However, the examples (in column 2) are not necessarily matched with their correct style errors types (in Column 1).

Your task is to correctly match all 12 examples with their corresponding error type. There is only one correct match for each example. To do this task, you need to read through the list of style errors and the list of examples. Having done that, start with the first example and identify the type of style error of which it is an example. Next to each example is a pull down button with the numbers 1 to 12. You should select the number that corresponds with the style error. You will receive immediate feedback regarding your match, that is, whether it is correct or not. If it is not correct, you will receive a hint to help you identify the correct answer. When you have correctly identified the first style error example, you should then repeat that process, working your way through each of the examples.

Note: when you get to the later examples, you may have to scroll back up the screen to read the feedback.

  Errors of style   Examples of style error Error number:

Hints

1 Excessively long compound   Children and large animals should not be left alone together. They can inflict serious wounds.
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Preview or print out the correct order

2 Wordy phrase   Men eat more meat than women
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3 Oxymoron   The other alternative

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4 Excessively long sentence   Most people take leave on a yearly basis
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5 Non-specific referents   The Body Image Importance Subscale asked participants to respond to the same items as in the previous scale, but this time to indicate the importance of their appearance on a five point Likert scale as compared to other things in their life (extremely important to not at all important).
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6 Run-on sentences   He is not fast enough to seriously challenge the champion
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7 Tautology   The study by Smith (1969) showed that men were faster than women. The study by Harris and Jones (1972) also showed that men’s navigation was faster than that of women. Also, the study of Brown (1986) found that women’s and men’s speeds were different.
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8 Poor use of relational words   The bush fire hazard scale index is on most major highways
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9 Inappropriate use of comparatives   A preliminary conclusion
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10 Poor literary variation   It is important to think carefully about the person you want to be married to
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11 Split infinitive   The weather has been relentlessly hot, however we are expecting rain within a few days
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12 Poor preposition position   There are less dogs than cats kept as pets in Australian homes
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