How to Breakout of Misspellings, Errors, and Punctuation Errors.

Today I am going to explain common mistakes and how to stop them before they happen.

Errors: Here is an example of a simple error.

Again Vinyl Scratch waltzed the waltzed of the uncertain, retreating as if unsure, drawing closer as if to gathering courage.

~Borrowed from TheVulpineHero1's amazing Music Makes The Heart
As you can see here one word is mistakenly made into past tense, and one word is mistakenly made into a present participle. An easy way to prevent this problem is to simply look over (or have someone look over) your chapter before posting it; if words don't sound right together they probably aren't.

Pony Errors: A pony error is an error where you mistakenly use feet instead of hooves, or hair instead of mane, and so on. A pony error is another easy fix, just look over your chapter before you post it.

Misspellings: Exactly what it says on the tin, you misspelled something. This is the easiest one to fix out of all. Just use Microsoft Office Word or OpenOffice Writer to write, it will underline all misspelled words in red. Or if you don't have MOW just get OpenOffice it's free if you're stubborn and for some reason don't want to use either then use FireFox in conjunction with Google Docs, this will also underline misspelled words in red.

Punctuation Errors: I'm going to need to split this one up.
Commas: As you probably already know this , is a comma. A comma is used to separate words or sentences when making a compound sentence. You use a comma when you are making a list: My favorite ponies are Vinyl, Octavia, Twilight, and Rainbow. You also use a comma when you separate a compound sentence: Pinkie Pie threw a party, but there were no balloons! You probably knew both of those already though; now on to something harder.
Semicolons: Nobody seems to know what these are for; they are hardly ever seen or used, so let me shed some light onto a dark subject. A semicolon has almost the same use as a comma in the compound sentence situation; it is used when two sentences that you are compounding have less to do with each other than when you use a comma. Also you don't have to use a word like or, and, but, nor, for, yet,or so after a semicolon. Here is my favorite example of a semicolon: Rikki don't lose that number; you don't want to call nobody else.
Apostrophes: This ' is an apostrophe; you use it for contractions(you're) and possessives(Vinyl's), with one exception.
Sadly the only way to stop punctuation errors before they happen is lots of practice spotting them, so learn your stuff and you could become the king of punctuation.

Homophones: Ah yes, Homophones my favorite things to fix. The only preventative measure for homophone mix-ups is memorization. Fortunately for you I have a handy key present.
There: You are referring to a place, or a state of existence. (Go over there.) (There are no potatoes.)
Their: You use this when talking about something that belongs to a group of people(or ponies), or a person(or pony) whose gender you do not know (Their band's name was the Raging Infernos.) (Their eyes were a soulless blue.)
They're: A contraction of they and are.
Your: You use this when something belongs to the person(or pony) you are talking to. (I accidentally sat on your glasses yesterday.)
You're: A contraction of you and are.
To: In reference to a location or object. (I'm going to the park.)
Too: In reference to an amount, it is also a synonym for as well. (There are too many pickles on my burger.) (I like burgers too.)
Then: For use when talking in relation to times. (I ate a cheeseburger, and then I had dessert.)
Than: For use when talking about amounts. (I ate more fries than you.)
It's: A contraction of it and is.
Its: This is the exception I was talking about earlier. Its is the only possessive that doesn't use an apostrophe. Its is like that to avoid confusion with it's.

Of course the easiest fix for all of these is to get a good proofreader.
And now for my anthem.