MAJOR ERRORS IN GRAMMAR

Wyrick, Jean. Steps to Writing Well. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

College Publishers, 1993

ERRORS WITH VERBS

Faulty Agreement

S-V Agr

E.g. Annie hate her family so much

Subjunctive

V Sub

E.g. If it were his plant, he would

Tense Shift

E.g. Annie says that she had sold the chair because
Split Infinitive

Sp I

E.g. Annie hates to live, in a way, in her parents house.

Double Negatives

D Neg

E.g. Mr. Thomson said he didnt want to live no more.

ERRORS WITH VERBS

Passive voice

Pass. V.

Structure after verbs like suggest and recommend

E. g. Bobs mother suggested Bob and Annie to live in her house.
ERRORS WITH NOUNS

Possessive with -ing Nouns

E.g. Because of him wanting to find out more about that
woman, he looked up her name and address and wrote to her.
Misuse of Nouns as Adjectives
E.g. Mr. Thompson told them he knew they wanted him death.

ERRORS WITH PRONOUNS

Faulty Agreement

Pro Agr

E.g. As he had seen all the people drinking his coffee, he believed
she didnt want to give him coffee.

Vague Reference

Ref

E.g. Mr. Thompson told him he wanted him dead.

Shift in Pronouns

P Sh

E.g. Mrs. Thomson suggested they move to Dover street and live with
she and her husband
Incorrect case

Ca

E.g. Mr. Thompson got to know that Bob Had talked to her sister

ERRORS WITH ADVERBS AND ADJECTIVES

Incorrect Usage

Adv Adj

E.g. The publics response to her book was terrible good.

Faulty Comparison

Comp

E.g.
Misuse of adjectives as nouns
E.g. He spent his days sitting in silent.

ERRORS IN MODIFYING PHRASES

Dangling Modifiers

DM

E.g. Standing in line for sometime, the girl at the coffee shop told

him there was no more coffee.

Misplaced Modifiers

MM

E.g. Annie, not wanting to leave with her family anymore,

accepted the offer.

ERRORS IN SENTENCES

1) FRAGMENTS

Frag

A complete sentence must contain a subject and a verb. A fragment

is an incomplete sentence; it is often a participial phrase or
dependent clause that belongs to the preceding sentence. To check
for fragments, try reading your prose, one sentence at a time,
starting at the end of your essay. If you find a sentence that makes
no sense alone, its probably a fragment that should either be
rewritten or connected to another sentence.

Incorrect
Also, because he has to stand up for ten hours during the night
pushing a cart which make his legs hurt.

Correct
Mr. Johnson does not like his job because he cant get used
to sleeping in daytime and because he has to stand up for
hours pushing a cart that makes his legs hurt.

Incorrect
This tape recording of the symphonys latest concert is so clear you
can hear every sound. Including the coughs and whispers of the
audience.
Incorrect
At Lizs most recent wedding, the photographer used an instant
camera. Because her marriages break up so fast.
You can also try this test to see if a group of words is a fragment: say
the phrase It is true that in front of the words in question. A
complete sentence will still make sense, but a fragment wont.

2) COMMA SPLICE

CS

A comma splice occurs when two sentences are linked with a

comma. To correct this error, you can (1) separate the two
sentences with a period, (2) separate the two sentences with a
semicolon, (3) insert a coordinating conjunction (such as and,
or, nor, so, yet) after the comma, (4) subordinate one
clause.

Incorrect
Mr. Johnson was at the coffee shop in the line waiting for a coffee,
he didnt notice that there was a white girl at the urn.

Correct 1

Correct 2
Grover won a stuffed gila monster at the church raffle; his mother
threw it away the next day while he was in school.
Correct 3
Grover won a stuffed gila monster at the church raffle, but his
mother threw it away the next day while he was in school.
Correct 4
Alghough Grover won a stuffed gila monster at the church raffle, his
mother threw it away the next day while he was in school.

3) RUN-ON SENTENCE R-O

Don`t run two sentences together without any punctuation. Use a period,
a semicolon, a comma plus a coordinating conjunction (if appropriate), or
subordinate one clause.
Incorrect
She wrote it with passion and a lot of love thats why people wanted to
know every single detail of her book.
The indicted police chief submitted his resignation the mayor accepted it
gratefully.

Correct 1
She wrote it with passion and a lot of love. Thats why people wanted to
know every single detail of her book.

The indicted police chief submitted his resignation. The mayor accepted
it gratefully.

Correct 2
The indicted police chief submitted his resignation; the mayor
accepted it gratefully.
Correct 3
The indicted police chief submitted his resignation, and the mayor
accepted it gratefully.
Correct 4
When the indicted police chief submitted his resignation the mayor
accepted it gratefully.

4) FAULTY PARALLELISM //
Parallel thoughts should be expressed in similar constructions.
Awkward
Mr. Johnson felt like punching her in her face and spread her lipstick
all over it.
Boa constrictors like to lie in the sun, to hang from limbs, and
swallowing small animals.
Better
Mr. Johnson felt like punching her in her face and spreading her
lipstick all over it.
Boa constrictors like to lie in the sun, to hang from limbs, and to
swallow small animals.

Awkward
Whether working on his greasy car, fist fighting at the hamburger joint,
or in bed, my brother always kept his hair combed.
Better
Whether working on his greasy car, fist fighting at the hamburger joint,
or lounging in bed, my brother always kept his hair combed.

5) FALSE PREDICATION Pred

This error occurs when the predicate (that part of the sentence that
says something about the subject) doesnt fit properly with the
subject. Illogical constructions result.
Incorrect

The meaning of the sermon deals with love. (A meaning cannot deal
with anything; the author, speaker, or work itself can, however.)
Correct

The sermon deals with love.

Incorrect
Energy is one of the worlds biggest problems.

(Energy itself is not a problem.)

Correct
The lack of fuel for energy is one of the worlds biggest problems.
Incorrect
True failure is when you make an error and dont learn anything from
it.
(Avoid all is when and is where constructions. The subject does
not denote a time, so the predicate is faulty.)

Correct
(Her comment wasnt exciting; her feeling was.)
You have truly failed only when you make an error and dont learn
anything from it.
Incorrect
Her first comment after winning the lottery was exciting.
Correct

Her first comment after winning the lottery expressed her

excitement.

6) MIXED STRUCTURE Mix S

Mixed structure is a catchcall term that applies to a variety of
sentence construction errors. Usually, the term refers to a sentence
in which the writer begins with one kind of structure and then shifts
to another in midsentence. Such a shift often occurs when the
writer is in a hurry, and the mind has already jumped ahead to the
next thought.
Confused
By the time one litter of cats is given away seems to bring a new
one.
Clear
Giving away one litter of cats seems to tell the mother cat that its
time to produce a new batch.

Confused
The bank robber realized that in his crime spree how very little fun
he was having.
Clear
The bank robber realized that he was having very little fun in his
crime spree.
Confused
The novel is too confusing for what the author meant.
Clear
The novel is too confusing for me to understand what the author
meant.

Confused
Children with messages from their parents will be stapled to the bulletin
board.
Clear
Children will find messages from their parents stapled to the bulletin board.

Practicing what youve learned

Correct the following sentences; skip the ones that are correct.

1)If it were his plant, he would manage to give the money to each
employee, at their work spot. So that people would not waste time
and arrived late at home.
2) The incident that led Mr. Thompson speaking his mind was that he
realised Bob and Annie were trying to get rid of him.
3) After waiting for a long time to get coffee, the waiter told him
that there was no more coffee.
4)The girl said there was no more coffee. The way she said it was
what made him angry. As a result, he thought that it was because he
was african american man.

5) Annie accepts because she wants to leave her house and live in a place
well managed.
6) It would give her the possibility to work outside the house in order to earn

faster the money to buy their own house.

7) The book had such succeed!
8) Mr. Thompson realised Annie and Bob wanted him death.

9) Mrs. Thomson suggested that Bob and Annie married and live in Dover
street with she and her husband so that they could have a house where they
could live. Annie accepted, although she wanted her own house in order to
decorate it with her own furniture, because she wanted the house when
Bobs parents were dead, she thought that they would own the house when
Mr and Mrs Thompson had passed away and she wanted to get rid of her own
family.

1) My father told me never to ask people Correct where theyre from

because if theyre from Texas theyll tell you, however, if theyre not,
dont embarrass them.
2) The mother of the triplets got rid of her headache by following the
advice on the aspirin bottle of taking two pills and keep away from
children.
3) Americans forget how large the blue whale is, for example, it has a
heart as large as a Volkswagen Beetle
and can hold an elephant on its tongue.
4) The new baby kept the textbook author awake all night. Thus causing
her to conclude that people who say they sleep like a baby dont have
one in the house.

5) Is it true that Superman could leap tall buildings, run

faster than a locomotive, and that bullets would bounce off
his skin?

6) People always find the time to complain about how busy

they are. Despite the fact that they say they are too busy to
stop.
7) An example of his intelligence is when he brought home a
twenty-pound block of ice after ice fishing all day.
8) According to a study by the Fish and Wildlife Service,
Americans` favorite animals are dogs, horses, swans, robins,
and butterflies. Whereas their least favorites are
cockroaches, mosquitos, rats, wasps and rattlesnakes.

A GUIDE TO PUNCTUATION
Punctuation marks are used to clarify your written thoughts so that
the reader understands your meaning. It is intended to guide the
reader through your prose.
THE PERIOD

(.)

THE QUESTION MARK

(?)

THE EXCLAMATION POINT

(!)

THE COMMA

(,)

THE SEMICOLON

(;)

THE COLON

(:)

THE APOSTROPHE

(`)

QUOTATION MARKS

( and )

PARENTHESES

()

BRACKETS

[]

THE DASH

(-)

THE HYPHEN

(-)

ITALICS (UNDERLINING)

(____)

THE ELLIPSIS MARK

( OR .)

THE COMMA
1) Use a comma to separate two independent clauses joind by a
coordinating conjunction. An independent clause looks like a
complete sentence; it contains a subject and a verb, and it makes

sense by itself. To remember the coordinating conjunctions, think of

the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or , yet, so). Always use a
coordinating conjunction and a comma when you join two

independent clauses. See examples above (in this ppp).

You can bury your saving in the back yard, but dont expect Mother
Nature to pay interest.
Im going home tomorrow, and Im never coming back.

2) Conjunctive adverbs, such as however, moreover, thus,

consequently, and therefore, are used to show continuity and
are frequently set off by commas when they appear in midsentence.
She soon discovered, however, that he had stolen her monogrammed
towels in addition to her pet avocado plant.
She felt, consequently, that he was not trustworthy.
When a conjunctive adverb occurs at the beginning of a sentence, it
may be followed by a comma, especially if a pause is intended. If no
pause is intended, you may omit the comma, but inserting the
comma is never wrong.
Thus, she resolved never to speak to him again.
Thus she resolved never to speak to him again.
Therefore, he resolved never to speak to her again.
Therefore he resolved never to speak to her again.

Please note that however can never be used as a coordinating

conjunction joining two independent clauses. Incorrect use of
however most often results in a comma splice.

Comma splice
The police arrested the thief, however, they had to release him
because the plant wouldnt talk.
Correct
The police arrested the thief; however, they had to release him
because the plant wouldnt talk.
Also correct
The police arrested the thief. However, they had to release him
because the plant wouldnt talk.

3) Set off with a comma an introductory phrase or clause.

After we had finished our laundry, we discovered one sock was
missing.
According to the owner of the Laundromat, customers have
conflicting theories about missing laundry.
For example, one man claims his socks make a break for freedom
when no one is watching the dryers.
4) Set off nonessential (nondefining or parenthetical information)
phrases and clauses. If the information can be omitted without
changing the meaning of the main clause, then the phrase or clause is
nonessential. Do not set off clauses or phrases that are essential to
the meaning of the main clause.
Mr. Smith, who is a well-respected lawyer, has just retired from
active practice.

Professor James, who is an expert in Victorian poetry, will be giving a

lecture tonight.
My brother that lives in Arizona is named Pat.
5) Use commas to separate items in a series of words, phrases, or
clauses.

Julio collects coins, stamps, bottle caps, erasers, and pocket lint.
Mrs. Jones chased the burglar out of the window, around the ledge,
down the fire escape, and into the busy street.
Although journalists and some grammarians permit the o mission of
the last comma before the and, many authorities believe the
comma is necessary for clarity.

6) Use commas to separate adjectives of equal emphasis that modify

the same noun. To determine if a comma should be used, see if you
can insert the word and between the adjectives; if the phrase still
makes proper sense with the substituted and, use a comma.
She finally moved out of her cold, dark apartment.
She finally moved out of her cold and dark apartment.
I have a sweet, handsome husband.
I have a sweet and handsome husband.
He called from a convenient telephone booth.
But not: He called from a convenient and telephone booth.

7) Set off a direct address with commas.

Gentlemen, keep your sets.
Not now, Eleanor, Im busy.
8) Use commas to set off items in addresses and dates.
The sheriff followed me from Austin, Texas, to question me about my
uncle.
He found me on February 2, 1978, when I stopped for gas in
Fairbanks, Alaska.
9) Use commas to set off a degree or title following a name.
John Dough, M.D., was audited when he reported only $5.68 in
taxable income last year.

10) Use commas to set off dialogue from the speaker.

Alexander announced, I dont think I want a second helping of
possum.
11) Use commas to set off yes, no, well, and other weak
exclamations.
Yes, I am in the cat condo business.
No, all the units with decks are sold.
Well, perhaps one with a pool will do.

12) Set off interrupters or parenthetical elements appearing in the

midst of a sentence. A parenthetical element is additional
information placed as explanation or comment within an already
complete sentence. This element may be a word (such as
certainly or fortunately), a phrase (for example or in fact),
or a clause (I believe or you know).
Jack is, I think, still a compulsive gambler.
Harvey, my brother, sometimes has breakfast with him.

PRACTICING WHAT YOUVE LEARNED

Errors with Commas, Periods, Question Marks
The sentences below contain errors that may be corrected by changing,
adding, or deleting commas, periods, and question marks.
1) The father decided to recapture his youth, he took his sons car keys
away.
2) Researchers in Balboa, Panama have discovered that the poisonous,
yellow-belly, sea snake which descended from the cobra, is the most
deadly serpent in the world.
3) Yes in fact I have often asked myself why its always the last key on
the key ring that fits the lock?
4) Lulu Belle, my cousin, spent the week of Sept 1-7, 1986 in the woods
near Dimebox, Texas looking for additions to her extinct, butterfly
collection, however she wasnt at all successful in her search.

5) Tom did you realize, said Janie. That Khaki pants first gained
popularity during Queen Victorias Afghan campaigns,
unfortunately, the British soldiers traditional white uniform made
too good a target.
6) Although ice cream didnt appear in America until the 1700s
our country now leads the world in ice-cream consumption,
Australia is second I think.
7) Last summer the large friendly family that lives next door flew
Discount Airlines and visited three cities on their vacation,
however, their suitcases visited five.

THE SEMICOLON

(;)

1) Use a semicolon to link two closely related independent clauses.

Jean has been cooking Cajun-style for years without realizing it; her
specialty is blackened eggs.
Kates mother does not have to begin a jogging program; she gets all
the exercise she needs by looking after the two year-old twins.
2) Use a semicolon to avoid a comma splice when connecting two
independent clauses with words like however, moreover,
thus, therefore, and consequently.
Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting in his entire life; however, in
1987 his Sunflowers sold for almost $40 million.

3) Use a semicolon in a series between items that already contain

internal punctuation.
Last year the Wildcats suffered enough injuries to keep them from
winning the pennant, as Jake Pritchett, third baseman, broke his arm
in a fight; Hugh Rosenboom, starting pitcher, sprained his back on a
trampoline; and Boris Baker, star outfielder, ate rotten clams and
nearly died.
Her children were born a year apart: Moe, 1936; Curley, 1937; and
Larry, 1938.

THE COLON (:)

1) Use a colon to introduce a long or formal list, but do not use one
after to be verbs.
Correct
Please pick up these items at the store: garlic, mirrors, a prayer
book, a hammer and a wooden stake.
Incorrect
Jean is such a bad cook that she thinks the four basic food groups
are: canned, frozen, ready-to mix, and take-out.
Correct
Jean is such a bad cook that she thinks the four basic food groups are
canned, frozen, ready-to mix, and take-out.
Avoid needless colons.

Incorrect
At the store I couldnt find: a hammer or a wooden stake.
Correct
At the store I couldnt find a hammer or a wooden stake.
2) A colon may be used to introduce a quotation or definition.
The late statesman Hubert Humphrey once jokingly apologized to
reports about his having been born in a small apartment above a
drugstore: they were short on log cabins that year.
3) Use a colon to introduce a word, phrase, or sentence that
emphatically explains, summarizes, or amplifies the preceding
sentence.