avoid making mistakes

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "avoid making mistakes" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when advising someone to be cautious or to take care in order to prevent errors. Example: "To ensure a successful presentation, it's important to prepare thoroughly and avoid making mistakes."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Science

Academia

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

42 human-written examples

We journalists cannot avoid making mistakes.

The Guardian

Only the most paranoid, painstaking coder in the world could avoid making mistakes".

The New Yorker

Mr. Romney: First and foremost, Mr. Romney must avoid making mistakes.

The New York Times

"We're trying to make people understand their responsibilities and avoid making mistakes and use good judgment.

The New York Times - Sports

As often happens, players chasing Woods found it difficult to avoid making mistakes.

The New York Times - Sports

There are no guarantees that we'll avoid our biases in the future, or that we'll avoid making mistakes.

The New York Times

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

18 human-written examples

In order to avoid making mistake during all breeding stages, both in the field and laboratory, rabbit meat substrate was used to feed the maggots.

Egyptian Journal of Forensic Sciences

Throughout, Alonso has avoided making mistakes or losing hope.

The New York Times - Sports

Examining the story of Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan, this article from Negotiation Briefings offers negotiation tips on avoiding making mistakes at the bargaining table that arise from a negotiator's overconfident belief in her negotiating abilities and negotiation skills.

Harvard University

A strong woman avoids making mistakes... a woman of strength realizes life's mistakes are great lessons to learn from.

Huffington Post

Understand the mistakes you made and avoid making similar mistakes again.

WikiHow

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

When aiming for accuracy, especially in professional contexts, use "avoid making mistakes" to emphasize the importance of careful execution and attention to detail.

Common error

While "avoid making mistakes" is valuable, avoid framing it as demanding perfection. It's more effective to encourage learning from mistakes as part of a continuous improvement process.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "avoid making mistakes" functions as an infinitive phrase expressing purpose. It indicates the intended outcome or goal of an action, which is to prevent errors. Ludwig AI confirms this phrase is correct and usable.

Expression frequency: Common

Frequent in

News & Media

48%

Science

24%

Academia

16%

Less common in

Wiki

8%

Formal & Business

4%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

The phrase "avoid making mistakes" is a grammatically sound and frequently used expression for emphasizing the importance of caution and accuracy. Ludwig AI confirms its correctness and usability. It appears most often in News & Media, Science, and Academic contexts. While advising on preventing errors, remember that it's better to present it as a part of continuous learning and not perfection. You can use similar alternative expressions like "prevent errors" or "ensure accuracy" depending on the situation.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

prevent errors

This alternative focuses on proactively stopping errors from happening.

steer clear of errors

This alternative suggests actively taking a course of action to dodge the creation of errors.

evade errors

This alternative indicates the action of escaping or eluding potential mistakes.

circumvent errors

This alternative means to find a way around errors.

preclude errors

This alternative suggests making errors impossible.

avert errors

This alternative denotes the action of turning away or preventing errors.

forestall errors

This alternative conveys the idea of preventing errors by acting in advance.

guard against errors

This alternative stresses the need for protection and caution to avoid errors.

minimize errors

This alternative is about reducing the number or impact of mistakes, rather than avoiding them completely.

mitigate errors

This alternative focuses on lessening the severity of errors if they occur.

FAQs

How can I rephrase "avoid making mistakes" in a formal setting?

In formal contexts, you can use phrases like "ensure accuracy", "maintain precision", or "prevent errors" to convey a similar meaning with a more professional tone.

What's a less direct way to suggest someone "avoid making mistakes"?

You could say "pay attention to detail", "double check your work", or "exercise caution" as indirect ways to encourage carefulness without explicitly mentioning mistakes.

Which is correct: "avoid making mistakes" or "avoid to make mistakes"?

"Avoid making mistakes" is the correct and more common phrasing. The structure "avoid + gerund" (making) is grammatically preferred over "avoid + to + infinitive".

How does "avoid making mistakes" differ from "learn from mistakes"?

"Avoid making mistakes" emphasizes prevention and carefulness, while "learn from mistakes" focuses on growth and improvement after an error occurs. They represent different approaches to handling errors.