Grammar checkers that are included with word processing programs are great tools for picking up on minor issues, but they don’t catch everything. Here are 10 issues that they could be missing:

Too Many Adverbs – do you really need them all or can you use another phrase or word instead?

Slow Pacing – you need your readers to want to keep reading and if your pacing is too slow, they won’t. Do you need so much backstory or introspection?

Overused Words – there are some words that are overused, like ‘felt’, ‘could’, ‘knew’ and ‘might’. These words remove power from your writing so get rid of those you don’t need.

Sentence Structure – Are your sentences always the same length, or do you vary them? Are they too long, too short? Long sentences let you put more meaning in, but too many of them will turn a reader off. Use a variety of sentence lengths to keep readers tuned in.

Active Verbs – We use verbs to keep our writing on the move, always going forward. Passive verbs cause confusion, hidden verbs turn strong verbs into a noun and use weak verbs. Be direct; replace passive and hidden verb phrases with active ones.

Sticky Sentences – there are words in the English Language that act as glue but are nothing more than an empty space. There are about 200 of these words, like ‘of’, ‘and’, ‘the’, ‘if and ‘to’, for example. Remove some of these words and restructure your sentences so they are more direct and less sticky.

Clichés – we all know that we should never use clichés but, before we know it, there they are, popping up in our writing. Most of the time you don’t even know you’ve used one, but get rid of them and use original fresh words in their place.

Redundancy – these are something else we have all used. How many times have you used a phrase like ‘frozen ice’? Ice always is frozen, there really isn’t any need to spell it out! Others include ‘first started’ and ‘gathered together’ – get rid of them.

Inconsistencies – spelling inconsistencies are the worst. Many grammar tools will pick up on a spelling mistake but won’t pick up on inconsistencies between, say the UK and US English spellings all the time. Uniformity and consistency are key and that includes hyphenation and capitalization.

Vague Words – if your words are too vague, you don’t have a hope of getting your message across. Instead of writing that you received ‘some’ money, write ‘$50’ instead – it has far more meaning.

These are just some of the common writing mistakes that a grammar checker may not pick up on and they can leave your work looking and feeling a mess. If you don’t have a decent editor to help you find these errors, you must get into the habit of proof-reading your own work to catch what the grammar checker missed. Everything you write must be concise, clear and have an impact.