Recibí uno de estos errores.

Error: unexpected symbol in "<my code>"    
Error: unexpected input in "<my code>"
Error: unexpected string constant in "<my code>"  
Error: unexpected numeric constant in "<my code>"   
Error: unexpected SPECIAL in "<my code>"         
Error: unexpected '<some punctuation>' in "<my code>" 
Error: unexpected '<reserved word>' in "<my code>"        

¿Qué significa el error y cómo puedo solucionarlo?

Algunos ejemplos simples que reproducen los errores y variantes comunes:

a a
## Error: unexpected symbol in "a a"
a\
## Error: unexpected input in "a\"
a""
## Error: unexpected string constant in "a"""
""1
## Error: unexpected numeric constant in """1"
%%
## Error: unexpected SPECIAL in "%%"
,
## Error: unexpected ',' in ","
=
## Error: unexpected '=' in "="
)
## Error: unexpected ')' in ")"
else
## Error: unexpected 'else' in "else"