What common syntax errors in SQL queries should PHP developers be aware of when interacting with a MySQL database?

One common syntax error in SQL queries that PHP developers should be aware of is not properly escaping strings in queries, which can lead to SQL injection attacks. To solve this issue, developers should use prepared statements with parameterized queries to safely pass user input to the database.

// Example of using prepared statements to prevent SQL injection
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :username");
$stmt->bindParam(':username', $username);
$stmt->execute();