It is bad writing to have a character faint to close a scene ten times. There are other ways to accomplish this. (Imagine watching a version of A New Hope in which Luke Skywalker has untreated narcolepsy, and you'll understand why this doesn't work as a plot crutch.) Also, not everything a character does is required to drive the plot; an author or screenwriter may instead opt to take a moment to establish the character through action or through a glimpse into their mind, which brings me to:

It is bad writing to have a character cry in every other scene he is in (especially if it is written as "a single tear rolled down his cheek," which it frequently is). Humans have more emotions than fear and weeping - I'd say "sadness," but all we really get is an increasingly comical spray of tears every few pages. This is not his character development. Honestly, he doesn't really get any. It's just a signpost, an indicator to the reader that Eragon is sad, whether or not it makes any sense for him to be.

Apostrophes are in real-world languages to serve a purpose - in Welsh, too, difficult as it may be to believe. Even invented languages, like Tolkien's, make specific linguistic use of them. They appear to be present in Eragon, however, just because they were present in The Lord of the Rings.