1) Mind Apostrophes:
Possessive case or contractions: its VS it’s, they’re VS theirs.
2) Always use a comma after an introductory or prepositional phrase:
“After a hard day at work, Maya loves to relax at the balcony.”
3) Memorise homophones and endings:
too VS two, your VS you’re, accept VS except.
–able when a whole root word is used: fashionable.
–ible if a word doesn’t make sense without the ending: divisible.
4) Articles, definite or indefinite:
For general ‘a/an’: Someone call a doctor.
For specific ‘the’: Someone called the doctor living next door.
5) Appositives: These dependant clauses modify the subject and often add non-essential information – offset with commas:
“The popular sitcom Brian O’Brien was cancelled after seven years.” (Essential)
“Brian O’Brien, the popular sitcom, was cancelled after seven years.” (Non-essential)
6) That, who and which – use commas for non-essential information:
“No one trusts politicians who lie.” (Essential)
“Mr. Khan, who is wearing a red shirt, is the CEO of the company.” (Non-essential)
7) The semicolon replaces a period and links two independent clauses:
“The family had never seen Mrs. Baker so mad ; everyone thought that the maid was going to have a heart attack.”
8) Countable and non-countable nouns:
for countables (dress, car, house)
much/a lot and little/few for and non-countable (money, snow, time)
9) Vocabulary building techniques:
Read books, magazine articles and newspaper columns.
10) Spell checking and proofreading:
Use online spellchecker like www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck and quietly read the text aloud to catch more mistakes.