Common Grammatical and Spelling Errors

7/27/2019 Common Grammatical and Spelling Errors

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1Common Grammatical and Spelling Errors(Miscellaneous Resources)

Accept/ExceptAffect/Effect

All right (not alright)Altar/alterAssure/Insure/EnsureBreath/breatheComplement/ComplimentCounsel/CouncilEmigrate/immigrateLead/LedLoose/loseMoot/MuteIts/ItsPast/passedPrincipal/PrincipleRein/reign

Shutter/shudderThan/ThenThere/Their/TheyreYoure/Your

Use of semi-colon (use it to separate two full sentences: The house is too hot; turn on the airconditioning.)

Comma before conjunction (use when second part of sentence after conjunction could stand on its own:The

house is too hot, and the garage is too cold.)

Agreement theirhis or her:Be sure to watch that subjects match their possessive pronouns and prepositional phrases.

Wrong: Christians need to experience healing in their life.

Right: Christians need to experience healing in their lives.

Wrong: The believer is responsible for the strategic investment of their time.

Right: The believer is responsible for the strategic investment of his or her time.

Use of me, myself, and II went to the store. She told me to go to the store. I said to myself, I must go to the store.Wrong: Jack told Suzie and myself to go to the store.Right: Jack told Suzie and me to go to the store.

Use of that and who (use that for things, who for people). He is the one whocame.


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2Common Spelling Errors and misused Wordshttp://www.genwriters.com/pdf/spelling.pdf

Top 10 Spelling Errorshttp://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol5/html_no9.htm

Common Spellin g Errorshttp://www.oup.com/uk/booksites/content/0199296251/essentials/commonspellingerrors/

Common Errors in Student Research Papershttp://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reporterror.html

Common Term Paper Problemshttp://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/almstrum/classes/cs373/general/term-paper-probs.html

Finding Common Errorshttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/02/______________________________________________________________________________________ Proofreadingfor Common SurfaceErrors: Spelling, Punctuation, andGrammar http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/proofing_grammar.shtmlWhataresomeofthemorecommonsurfaceerrors?Hereisalistingofsomeofthemorecommonsurfaceerrors,brokendownbycategory.Eitherselectthelinkyouwouldliketovieworscrolldowntotheappropriatetopic. Spelling Punctuation Commas Apostrophes

Periods Verbs Subject-verbagreement

Pronouns Othergrammaticalerrors Sentencefragments Misplacedordanglingmodifiers

______________________________________________________________________________________ Common Grammatical Errorshttp://www.ece.msstate.edu/academics/writing_resource/grammatical_errors.htmlHere is a list of some of the more commonly committed grammatical errors. You may click on any ofthese errors to view an example of each as well as a discussion of the grammatical rule in question

Adjective/Adverb Errors Apostrophe Misuse Article Errors Awkward Phrasing or Idiom Capitalization Errors Comma Omissions Comma Splice Contractions Double Negatives

Failure to use Possessive before a Gerund Faulty Coordination Fragments Fused or Run-On Sentence Misplaced or Dangling Modifiers Misused Semicolons Mixed Construction Parallelism Past Tense Errors Plurality Errors-Nouns


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3 Pronoun Case Errors Pronoun Errors-- Ambiguous, Redundant, etc. Pronoun Reference Shifts in Person or Number Shifts In Tense Subject-Verb Agreement Unnecessary Commas

Verb Errors (wrong form)

The content of these pages was, in part, taken from the following sources:

Harbrace College Handbook (Revised Thirteenth Edition), Horner, Webb, and Miller. Harcourt Brace,1998.Digital Design, M. Morris Mano. Prentice Hall, 1984.Physics: Principles and Problems, Zitzewitz and Neff. McGraw-Hill, 1995.

______________________________________________________________________________________ Common Grammatical Errorshttp://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~sustain/bio65/Common_Grammatical_Errors.htm

1.Noun-verbmismatch,e.g."Aherdofhorsesarebetterthanaflockofsheep"(herdissingular).TheCityfeelsthatthisisabadidea.(Acitycan tfeel)2.Adjectiveusedasadverb,e.g.andespecially"Ididgoodinthiscourse"3.Splitinfinitive,e.g."IurgeyoutonotsupportthisBill".4.Misplacedmodifier,e.g."Weneedtostopdumpingwasteintotheenvironmentwhichkillsthefish".TOavoidthismistake,putthemodifierascloseaspossibletothenounitismodifying.Repaired:"Weneedtostopdumpingwaste,whichkillsthefish,intotheenvironment".5.Dangling(ormisplaced)participleAparticipialphraseatthebeginningofasentencemustrefertothegrammaticalSUBJECTofthesentence.Wrong:"Asthelargestreptilesevertohavelived,smallmammalscouldnotcompetewiththedinosaurs".Thissuggeststhatsmallmammalswerethelargestreptilesevertohavelived.Repaired:"Beingsmallanddefenseless,smallmammalscouldnotcompetewiththedinosaurs".Moreexamples).6.Endingasentencewithapreposition,e.g."Thisissomethingweneedtoworkon".7.Startingaparagraphwithaconjunctionthatshouldrefertotheprevioussentence,e.g."Furthermore,...","However,..."8.Run-onsentences(twocompletesentencesjoinedbyacommaratherthanaperiodorsemicolon)Thelabisadangerousplace,youshouldwearalabcoat.(couldberepairedbytheadditionofso.9.Incompletesentences,includingthosewithnoverb,e.g."Theseanimalscouldbeharmedbyvariousthings.Pollution,forexample."10.Mixingupthe"notoriousconfusables"(confusibles?)(e.g.theirvs.there)Otherusefulsitesifyouwanttoimproveyourwritingskills:GuidetoGrammarandWritingPleonasms,redundanciesandtautologies(needlessrepetitionofwordsoverandoveragainmultipletimes)______________________________________________________________________________________ Common GrammaticalErrors &How to FixThem http://www.arc.sbc.edu/grammar.html Dangling Modifiers


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4Adanglingmodifierisaphraseorclausethatbecauseofitsproximityseemstomodifyaworditcouldnotlogicallymodify.Oneofthemostcommondanglingmodifiersoccursinthefollowingsentence:"Hopefully,theprojectwillsucceed.""Hopefully"isanadverbthatappearstomodifythenoun"project,"thesubjectofthesentence.Buthowcanaprojectbehopeful?Tofixthesentence,weneedtoshowwho'sreallydoingthehoping:"Wehopethattheprojectwillsucceed."Anotherverycommondanglingmodifierappearsinthefollowingsentenceconstruction:"Basedonourobservations,theprojectwillsucceed."Again,themodifier"based"cannotlogicallymodifythenountowhichitisattached"project.""Theproject"isnot"basedonourobservations."Tofixthesentence,weneedtosay,"Onthebasisofourobservations,webelievetheprojectwillsucceed."Inconsis tent VerbTenses Makesureyouusepasttenseconsistentlythroughoutasentenceandusepastperfecttensewhenitiscalledfor.Forexample,inthefollowingsentencethereisalackofconsistencyintense;itshiftsfrompasttopresent:"Governmentofficialssaidthattheyarecorrectingtheproblem."Sincetheverbinthemainclauseisstatedinthepasttense"said"theverbinthesubordinateclause"arecorrecting"shouldalsobestatedinthepasttense.Thesentenceshouldread"Governmentofficialssaidthattheywerecorrectingtheproblem."If,however,theactionofthedependentclausewascompletedbeforetheactioninthemainclause,usepastperfecttenseinthedependentclause.Forexample,"Governmentofficialssaidthattheyhadcorrectedtheproblem.NounStringsTrytoavoidlongstringsofnouns,suchasthefollowing,thatshownogrammaticalrelationshipsamongthemanynouns:"ArmyFiscalYear1990ApacheHelicopterSpareandRepairPartsBudgetRequest."Addpossessivecaseandprepositionstoclarifyhowthenounsrelatetoeachother.Revision:"TheArmy'sFiscalYear1990BudgetRequestforSpareandRepairPartsfortheApacheHelicopter."FaultyAgreement in NumberOneofthemostcommonpronounagreementproblemsoccurswhenonetriestoavoidthesexistuseofpronouns.Forexample,thefollowingsentenceisinconsistentinnumber:"Eachstudentmustcleantheirownroom."Thepluralpronoun"their"doesnotagreeinnumberwiththesingular"Eachstudent"andthesingular"room."Tofixthesentence,youcouldsay"Eachstudentmustcleanhisorherownroom."Ifyoufindthe"hisorher"constructionawkward,makeallpronounsandassociatednounsinthesentenceplural:"Allstudentsmustcleantheirownrooms."UnclearAntecedents for"This ,""Which," and"It"An"antecedent"isthenounapronounrefersto.Whenusing"this,""which,"or"it,"makesurethereisnoquestionaboutwhatthepronoun'santecedentis.Inthefollowingcase,theantecedentfor"this"isunclear:"Thecompanyneedsaccuratedataforitsestimates.Thisisthepurposeofthetaskforce."Similarly,theantecedentfor"which"isinclearinthispassage:"Thecompanyneedsaccuratedataforitsestimates,whichisthepurposeofthetaskforce."Tomakethepassagesclearer,changethemto:"Thecompanyneedsaccuratedataforitsestimates.Providingsuchdataisthepurposeofthetaskforce."Inthefollowingsentence,theantecedentfor"it"isunclear:"Whenthegovernmentworkerswhoshouldbeclassedasadministratorsareenumerated,itreachesstaggeringproportions."Revisetoeliminatethevaguepronoun

as

follows:

"When

the

government

workers

who

should

be

classed

as

administrators

are

enumerated,

thetotalisstaggering."Failure to Use Possessive CasewithaGerundAgerundisthepresentparticipleoftheverb(theverbalformendingin"ing")whenusedasanoun.Thepossessivecaseshouldbeusedformodifiersofagerund:"Iwouldappreciateyourattendingthemeeting.""ItisallcontingentonthePresident'ssigningthebill."If,however,youfindthisconstructionawkwardorimpossible,rewordthesentence.Forinstance,toavoidawkwardconstructionsuchasthefollowing,revise:"ThisisoneofseveralstepstakenbytheSecretarytopreventtheceilingonexpenditures'beingbrokenagain


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5nextyear."Revision:"ThisisoneofseveralstepstakenbytheSecretarytopreventtheceilingonexpendituresfrombeingbrokenagainnextyear."Misuseof "That"and"Which" Thekeytodeterminingwhentouse"that"andwhentouse"which"isindecidingwhethertheclauseorphrasethatfollowsisessentialtodefiningwhatyoumean(it's"restrictive")orissimplyparentheticalinformation(it's"nonrestrictive").Use"that"withrestrictivephrasesorclausesand"which"withnonrestrictivephrasesorclauses.Forexample,ifIamholdinguponlyonebookandsay"I'llgiveyouthisbook,whichexplainsgrammaticalrules,"youdon'tneedtoknowthatthebookisaboutgrammartoknowwhichbookImean.IfI'mholdingupahistorybookandagrammarbookandIsay"I'llgiveyouthebookthatexplainsgrammaticalrules,"youneedtoknowthatthebookexplainsgrammaticalrulestoknowwhichbookImean.Asaruleofthumb,use"which"andsetthephraseorclauseoffbycommasiftheinformationthatfollowsisparenthetical,orunessentialtothemeaningofyoursentence.Use"that"anddon'tsetyourphraseorclauseoffbycommaswhentheinformationthatfollowsisessentialtothemeaningofyoursentence.AcademicResourceCenterSweetBriarCollegeSweetBriar,VA24595http://www.arc.sbc.edu/grammar.html (804)381-6278______________________________________________________________________________________ Top TenLis tof Common GrammaticalErrorshttp://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?noframes;read=1029 By Sue- teacher10.Theuseofsexistlanguage.GibaldistatesintheMLAHandbook,"Becausegoodscholarshiprequiresobjectivity,carefulwriters...avoidlanguagethatimpliesunsubstantiatedorirrelevantgeneralizationsaboutsuchpersonalqualitiesasage,economicclass,ethnicity,sexualorientation,politicalorreligiousbelief,race,orsex"(37).Inotherwords,don'tuselanguagethatcouldbedeemedinsultingorignorant.9.Donotchangeverbtensewithinasingleparagraph.8.Usetheactivevoiceinallyourwriting.Itwillmakeyourpaperthatmuchmoreexcitingtoread.Forexample,"Thereasonheleft220wasthathishealthwasimpaired,"isapassivesentence.Thesentencebecomesmorevigorousintheactivevoice:"Failinghealthcompelledhimtodrop220."Noticethatitisalsoashortersentence.Whichbringsustopointnumber7.7.Neverusemorewordsthannecessary.Thisdoesn'tmeanthatyoushouldabandondetailandcolor,spittingoutshort,staccatosentenceslikewatermelonseeds,onlymakesurethateverywordcounts."Very,"forexampleis

afluffy

word

that

is

only

RARELY

needed.

Another

overworked

and

mushy

phrase

is

"the

fact

that."

In

all

situationsthisphrasecanbetransformedintoatighterpackage,forexample:owingtothefactthatsinceorbecauseinspiteofthefactthatthoughoralthoughIsuggestthatyourevise"thefactthat"outofeverysentence.6.Thewaytoformapossessivesingularofnounsistoadd-'s-totheendnomatterwhatthelastletteris,thus,Marx'spreceptsBurns'spoem


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6thewitch'sbroom.Pluralnounsuseonlythe-'-:Vanderbilts'estatetheWoodsons'crazydog.Youdonot,however,useanapostrophetoformthepluralofanabbreviationoranumber:PhDs1990s.5.Donotmistakeitsforit's.Thefirstisapossessive,thesecondisacontractionof"itis."Itisbest,actuallytospurnallcontractionsinformallanguage.Justsayno.4.Playsareconsideredliteratureandthusarealwayshappening.Youwriteaboutthem,then,inthepresenttense.Productionsofplaysareephemeralandsingular.Youwriteaboutthem,then,inthepasttense.3.AllpartsofMLAstylepapersaredoublespacedincludingtheworkscitedandoff-setquotes.Marginsareoneinchandyoushouldusefontnobiggerthantwelvepicaandnosmallerthanten.2.Justbecauseyouspellcheckdoesnotmeanthewordwillbespelledcorrectly.Whenindoubt,lookitup.ThemoralofthisisPROOFREAD!PROOFREAD!andthenPROOFREAD!Tryreadingyourworkbackwardssentencebysentence,thiscanhelpyoulookatthewordsandnotautomaticallymoveintomeaning.1.PlaytitlesareALWAYSunderlinedoritalicized.Moreat:http:/ /herbergeronline.asu.edu/the220/notes/notes.html______________________________________________________________________________________ Common Grammar & Usage Errorshttp:/ /www.webgrammar.com/commonmistakes .html Aand Anbeforeawordbeginning with "h" :"Anhistoricalbook"isnotidiomaticinAmericanEnglish.Beforeapronouncedh,theindefinitearticleshouldbea.Ahotel;ahistorical.Therefore,precedeawordbeginningwitha"breathy"hwithana.Due toor Becauseof ?Due tomodifies nounsandisgenerallyusedaftersomeformoftheverbtobe(is,are,was,were,etc.).Jan'ssuccessisdue totalentandspunk(du etomodifiessuccess).Becauseof shouldmodify verbs.Tedresigned becauseof poorhealth(becauseof modifiesresigned).I tsorIt 's?Its :Thepossessiveformofthepronouni t isneverwrittenwithanapostrophe,e.g.,...readthebook."Itstitleis..."or,"Whatisi t svalue?"I t ' s :contractionsofi t i sandi t ha s.I t ' stimetogo.I t ' sbeengreat.(AHD3) MyriadAsanoun,myriadmeans ten thousand,or agreatnumber(a myriadof aircraft).Inthiscase,you'renotusingmyriadtomodify:it'sthesubject.Asanadjective, myriadmeans "having innumerableaspects or elements"(thosemyriad challenges - the myriad activity of thepeople-myriadbutterfl ies).Thesedays,thedistinctionisblurred,andweseequiteabitof"...amyriadof..."


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7Their, They're,or There?Their :possessiveformofthewordthey,e.g.,TheirWebsiteisfulloftypos.They're :Contractionofthewords"they"and"are,"e.g.,They'redoingagreatjobontheirWebsite.There :atorinthatplace,e.g.,"NowthereisastunningWebsite.Your or you're? You're:Contractionofthewords"youare,"e.g.,"You'reupforanaward.Someonesaidyou'releaving."Yourisapossessiveformofapersonalpronoun,e.g.,"IlikeyourWebsite.Tom,thanksforgivingyourtimetothiseffort."Both:"YourknowledgeofHTMLshowsthatyou'readedicateddesigner."Wanttodelvemoredeeplyintothecauldronofconfusingwords?HerearetwoofthebestontheWeb: CommonErrors in Engl ish :ProfessorPaul Brians Notor iousConfusables:ProfessorCharles Darling ______________________________________________________________________________________ Learning from the Twenty Most Common Errors http:/ /www.bedfordstmartins .com/lunsford/twenty.html 1Missingcommaafteranintroductoryelement2Vaguepronounreference3Missingcommainacompoundsentence4Wrongword5Missingcomma(s)withanonrestrictiveelement6Wrongormissingverbending7Wrongormissingpreposition8Commasplice9Missingormisplacedpossessiveapostrophe10Unnecessaryshiftintense11Unnecessaryshiftinpronoun12Sentencefragment13Wrongtenseorverbform14Lackofsubject-verbagreement15Missingcommainaseries16Lackofagreementbetweenpronounandantecedent17Unnecessarycomma(s)witharestrictiveelement18Fusedsentence19Misplacedordanglingmodifier20Its/It'sconfusionGrammar,punctuation,andothersentence-levelmatterswillseldomdrawmuchattentionunlesstheyinterferewiththemeaningyou'retryingtogetacross.Becausetheydogetintheway,however,theyareimportanttoyoursuccessasawriter.Whatkindsofsurfaceerrorsareyoulikelytofindinyourwriting,andhowwillreadersrespondtothem?Ourstudy

of

college

writing

patterns

revealed

that

spelling

errors

are

by

far

the

most

common

type

of

error,

even

withspellcheckers,byafactorofmorethanthreetoone.Ourstudyalsoshowedthatnotallsurfaceerrorsdisturbreaders,nordoinstructorsalwaysmarkallofthem.Finally,notallsurfaceerrorsareconsistentlyviewedaserrors.Infact,someofthepatternsidentifiedinourresearchareconsiderederrorsbysomereadersbutstylisticoptionsbyothers.Whilemanypeoplethinkofcorrectnessasabsolute,basedonhardandfastunchanging"rules,"instructorsandstudentsknowbetter.Weknowthattherearerules,butthattheruleschangeallthetime."IsitokaytouseIinessaysforthisclass?"asksonestudent."Myhighschoolteacherwouldn'tletus.""Willmorethanonecomma


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8errorlowermygrade?"asksanother.Suchquestionsshowthatrulesclearlyexistbutthattheyarealwaysshiftingandthusneedourongoingattention.Ourresearchshowssomeoftheshiftsthathaveoccurredinthelastcenturyalone.Somemechanicalandgrammaticalquestionsthatareoflittleornoconcerntodayusedtobeperceivedasextremelyimportant.Inthelate-nineteenthcentury,forinstance,instructorsatHarvardsaidthattheirstudents'mostseriouswritingproblemwastheinabilitytodistinguishbetweentheproperusesofshallandwill.Similarly,splitinfinitivesrepresentedaseriousproblemformanyinstructorsofthe1950s.Nowadays,atleastsincethestarshipEnterprisesetout"toboldlygo"wherenoonehasgonebefore,splitinfinitivesseemtowrinklefewerbrows.Theseexamplesofshiftingstandardsdonotmeanthatthereisnosuchthingas"correctness"inwriting-onlythatcorrectnessalwaysdependsonsomecontext.Correctnessisnotsomuchaquestionofabsoluterightorwrongasitisaquestionofthewaythechoicesawritermakesareperceivedbyreaders.Aswriters,wearealljudgedbythewordsweputonthepage.Weallwanttobeconsideredcompetentandcareful,andwritingerrorsworkagainstthatimpression.Theworldjudgesusbyourcontroloftheconventionswehaveagreedtouse,andweallknowit.AsRobertFrostoncesaidofpoetry,tryingtowritewithouthonoringtheconventionsandagreed-uponrulesislikeplayingtenniswithoutanet.Sinceyoualreadyknowmostoftheserules,themostefficientwaytoproceedistofocusonthosethatarestillunfamiliarorpuzzling.Toaidyouinthisprocess,wehaveidentifiedthetwentyerrorpatterns(otherthanmisspelling)thatweremostcommonamongU.S.collegestudentsinthelate1980sandlistthemhereinorderoffrequency.Thesetwentyerrorsarelikelytocauseyouthemosttrouble,soitiswellworthyourefforttocheckfortheminyourwriting.ThisareaofourWebsiteincludesbriefexamplesandexplanationsofeacherrorpattern;formoredetailandadditionalexamples,youshouldconsultyourhandbook.

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Common Grammatical and Spelling Errors