GRAMMAR CORNER - A Quick Review of Common Grammar Mistakes
The wrong tense or verb form - a common mistake that will get you noticed, but not in a good way. Don't shift tenses mid-sentence. Look up irregular verbs if you're unsure of the correct tense.
Incorrect: When the hunter shot the animal, he done it a favor.
Corrected: When the hunter shot the animal, he did it a favor.
Run-on sentences - insert a period, comma and conjunction, semi-colon or word to seperate the thoughts.
Incorrect: Snakes are comfortable in temperatures as high as 100 degrees high temperatures aid in digestion.
Corrected: Snakes are comfortable in temperatures as high as 100 degrees. High temperatures aid in digestion.
Missing commas - Commas should be used to insert a pause, to separate items in a list and to isolate descriptive phrases.
Incorrect: We ate turkey sandwiches apples and bread for dinner.
Corrected: We ate turkey sandwiches, apples and bread for dinner.
Parallellism - Sentence structures containing lists should present the items in the list in a similar format.
Incorrect: To correct a run-on sentence, insert a period, insert a comma and conjunction, semi-colon, or a word to seperate the thoughts.
Corrected: To correct a run-on sentence, insert a period, comma and conjunction, semi-colon or word to seperate the thoughts
Sentence fragment - a sentence that is not complete.
Incorrect: I don't feel like eating candy. Too sweet.
Corrected: I don't feel like eating candy because it's too sweet.
Subject and verb agreement - the subject and verb must refer to the same number of items.
Incorrect: The idea of carrying three identical bags are to confuse the potential thief.
Corrected: The idea of carrying three identical bags is to confuse the potential thief.
Remember that subjects joined by AND require a plural verb
With compound sentences joined using EITHER ... OR, NEITHER ... NOR, etc, the verb agrees with the closest subject.
Amounts are singular if they are the subject. (Six days is...)
Most indefinite words require singular verbs. (Anyone, anybody, etc.)
A few can use singular or plural, depenidng on the overall subject (All of his thougts are, All he thinks is)
A phrase requires a singular (Snapping the propeller onto the front of the airplane is...)
Titles are singular (The Lord of the Rings is a great film.)
With THERE IS and THERE ARE, the verb tense depends on what follows. (There is one person who
...)
Incorrect apostrophe - Use an apostrophie to show possession
Add 's for singular words (castle's briodge).
Adds 's for plural words that don't end in "s" (sheep's wool)
Add only a ' to words that are plural and already end in "s" (Novel writers' grammer skills)
Remeber that "it's" only has an apostrophie if it is being used as "it is".
A little saying that helped me remember where to put the apostrophie: If the word is plural, there is not enough room for the apostrophie, and so it flows over the "s", ending up on the other side.
Dangling modifier - if you put a modifier in the wrong place, it will create a confusing sentence.
Incorrect: Laughing and clicking his heels, the crowd roared while the quarterback celebrated his touchdown.
Corrected: The crowd roared while the quarterback celebrated his touchdown, laughing and clicking his heels.
Vague pronoun reference - resulting in something similar to the above
Incorrect: Some referees do not use miniatures, which can reduce their appeal to players.
Correct: Some referees do not use miniatures, a practice which can reduce their appeal to players.
I vs. Me - To determine the correct word to use, just remove everything in the middle.
Incorrect: When the writer failed to capitalize The Korean War, it surprised my wife and I. (Remember to capitalize historical events!)
To fix it, remove the other part of the clause: When the writer failed to capitalize the Korean war, it surprised ...... (Me or I?)
Corrected: When the writer failed to capitalize The Korean War, it surprised my wife and me.