Wikipedia:WikiProject Fix common mistakes

The goal of this project is to reduce the number of common mistakes in the article space of Wikipedia.

The idea is that we check if the entries still contain those errors, and fix the articles if necessary.

Duplicated words!

Active Wiki Fixup Projects
Leading the charge in the War on Error! Must be active, systematic, have lists, & need help.
Writing
Articles that need to be wikified Massive backlog. Ongoing (category) Dead-end pages These pages are not wikified. Ongoing (category) Missing articles Wikipedia is not as complete as you might think. Ongoing Most wanted articles Updated February 2015 Oldest requested articles Updated November 2012
Other
Red Link Recovery Turn red links blue. Ongoing Articles needing geo-coordinates Help locate places. See WP:GEO. Ongoing (category) Articles written by a single editor Reviewing articles written by a newer editor. Updated February 2013 Check Wikipedia Fix the syntax of Wikipedia. Updated every 15 minutes Fix Common Mistakes Fix common mistakes in English grammar (e.g. "the the", "and and"). Ongoing Disambiguation pages with links Directing ambiguous links to the intended articles. Ongoing Moving free images to Wikimedia Commons Moving free images to the Commons so they are easier to find. Ongoing (categories) Orphaned articles Help link to these orphaned articles. Ongoing (category) Stubsensor Help remove stub tags from articles they don't belong on. Updated August 2011 Uncategorised articles Help categorise articles. Ongoing (category) Unreferenced articles Ensuring articles include at least one reference or source. Ongoing (category) Main Inactive Mini

So as not to duplicate work, here is a list of occurrences checked so far. When you have fixed all the instances of an error found in Wikipedia, please sign and date. In general, please repeat the search that has not been performed for the longest time. If you are using Google to search for instances of errors, it is probably best to wait six months before repeating a search. If you are using a Database dump to search, please specify the date of that dump.

• Partial work is ok, just note your username and the date worked on. Any entries not marked (done) still need work!
• The link under "Latest Database Dump" contains a listing of occurrences generated from a database dump. The date is what dump was used to generate the list. The list can be checked manually or loaded into AWB.
• The "How Long Ago" column was calculated November 24. Click to recalculate it now.

Instructions

Any help is appreciated. Contributing is easy:

1. Pick one of the errors from the table below.
2. Work through the pages in the list, fixing any errors you find.
3. Edit the list and remove any articles you have fixed.
4. Update the date you checked in the other columns as (MM), (DD), (YYYY).
5. Update the [[User:username|username]] to give credit where it's due!
6. If you finished the whole list, mark it (done)!
7. (Optional) - Return to step 1 and try another list!

If you have an idea about another pattern to search for, please add it to the relevant section of the discussion page of this project.

Log

Error	Latest Database Dump	Last Checked	How Long Ago	Last Checked By
a a	July 2015	November 14, 2015	10 days ago	Sct72
an an	July 2015	August 18, 2015	3 months ago	(done) BethNaught
and and	July 2015	August 18, 2015	3 months ago	BethNaught
are are	July 2015	August 19, 2015	3 months ago	(done) BethNaught
be be	July 2015	November 14, 2015	10 days ago	(done) Sct72
by by	July 2015	November 14, 2015	10 days ago	(done) Sct72
for for	July 2015	June 13, 2015	5 months ago	Guy Macon
from from	July 2015	August 30, 2015	2 months ago	LilHelpa
he he	July 2015	September 5, 2015	2 months ago	John of Reading
in in	July 2015	August 29, 2015	2 months ago	Sct72
is is	July 2015	September 24, 2015	61 days ago	Sct72
it it	July 2015	November 14, 2015	10 days ago	(done) Sct72
of of	July 2015	October 17, 2015	38 days ago	Sct72
she she	July 2015	November 14, 2015	10 days ago	(done) Sct72
the the	July 2015	November 1, 2015	23 days ago	Guy Macon
this this	November 12, 2014	December 14, 2014	11 months ago	(done) Guy Macon
to to	January 12, 2015	June 14, 2015	5 months ago	(done) Guy Macon
was was	November 12, 2014	December 14, 2014	11 months ago	(done) Guy Macon
were were	April 3, 2015	June 23, 2015	4 months ago	(done) Sct72
when when	November 12, 2014	December 14, 2014	11 months ago	(done) Guy Macon
with with	April 3, 2015	July 29, 2015	3 months ago	(done) Sct72
a an	November 12, 2014	December 14, 2014	11 months ago	(done) Guy Macon
an a	November 12, 2014	June 23, 2015	4 months ago	Sct72
a the	January 12, 2015	August 23, 2015	3 months ago	(done) Guy Macon

Tools

• AWB
• Language Tool Wiki Check
• Tool for finding common mistakes

See also

• Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes
• Commonly misspelled English words
• Wikipedia:Lists of common misspellings/Repetitions
• Wikipedia:Lists of common misspellings/Grammar and miscellaneous
• Wikipedia:Lists of common misspellings/Homophones
• Wiktionary:Category:English misspellings
• Common English usage misconceptions
• Wikipedia:List of spelling variants
• List of English words with disputed usage
• English usage controversies
• Hypercorrection
• Wikipedia:AutoWikiBrowser/Typos
• Category:Redirects from misspellings