The phrase "a common alternative" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing options or choices that are frequently used or accepted in a particular context.
Example: "When considering ways to improve productivity, using time management tools is a common alternative."
Alternatives: "a frequent option" or "a typical substitute".
Merengada (fruit pulp, ice, milk and sugar) is a common alternative to coffee.
Three of four trials of the herb black cohosh, a common alternative treatment for menopausal symptoms, showed no improvement, but the studies suffered from poor methodology.
Massage is a common alternative treatment for chronic low back pain, but most recent studies have found little evidence that it works.
Plain wheat flour is the most popular choice, although buckwheat flour is a common alternative, especially in Brittany, the home of the savoury galette bretonne, and Caroline Conran gives a recipe for crepes made with chestnut flour in her award-winning Sud de France.
PD is a common alternative to haemodialysis for patients with end-stage renal disease.
A common alternative to random call is to ask for students to volunteer to share their thinking.
As expected, training and education programmes that are not part of a full-time study programme are a more common alternative.
Last weekend, the sisters also made extra pie for 200 people: a wedding pie, an increasingly common alternative to wedding cake.
However, it is important to note that some evolution experts continue to use an adaptive vs. non-adaptive model of evolutionary change in their research programs (e.g., Orr 1998), and so it is possible that an adaptive + non-adaptive model is simply a less common, alternative framework for experts within evolutionary biology.
The use of highly conforming ultracongruent (UC) polyethylene insert is bone-preserving and became a relatively common alternative to the conventional posterior stabilized total knee arthroplasty (TKA) design.
This may be partly due to the availability of methods that allow for more than two group comparisons simultaneously, given that a more common alternative approach is somewhat tedious and it requires several steps; namely, it involves pairwise comparisons among all group pairs.
