Common Grammatical Errors

1. Common Grammatical Errors

2. Subject – Verb Agreement • Basic Principle: Singular subjects need singular verbs; plural subjects need plural verbs. My brother is a nutritionist. My sisters are mathematicians. • The students are noisy. • The class is smart.

3. Double Negatives • A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same sentence. • Ex: • Could care less • Ain’t got no • don't need no • don't have nothing Common mistake – “Can’t hardly wait.” – What are you really trying to say? Poor word choices make the difference!

4. Sentence Fragments • Fragments are incomplete sentences. Usually, fragments are pieces of sentences that have become disconnected from the main clause. One of the easiest ways to correct them is to remove the period between the fragment and the main clause. Other kinds of punctuation may be needed for the newly combined sentence. • EX: Pope John XXIII offers many elective classes. Such as art, politics, and drama.

5. Comma Splices • A comma splice is the use of a comma to join two independent clauses. For example: It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark. (  ) How can you combine two independent clauses?

6. Run – On Sentences • A run on sentence (sometimes called a "fused sentence") has at least two parts, either one of which can stand by itself (in other words, two independent clauses), but the two parts have been crammed together instead of being properly connected. • It is important to realize that the length of a sentence really has nothing to do with whether a sentence is a run-on or not; being a run-on is a structural flaw that can plague even a very short sentence: • The sun is high, put on some sun block. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/run-on.htm

7. Capitalization of Proper Nouns • When you're trying to decide whether to capitalize a noun, you have to figure out whether it's a proper noun or a common noun because proper nouns are capitalized and common nouns aren't. • Common noun: school • Proper noun: Pope John XXIII High School

8. Sit , Sat , Set • Set – transitive verb that requires an object • Sit – doesn’t require an object – the action of sitting • Sat – past tense of sit Hint: “Sit Sparky!”

9. Their – They’re – Your – You’re – It’s – Its • Their – possessive • They’re – they are • Your – possessive • You’ re – you are • It’s – it is • Its – possessive

10. Comma after and Introductory Element • When a sentence begins with an independent clause and is followed by a dependent clause , place a comma between the two • When a sentence begins with an adverbial clause, put a comma after it. • Although we had reviewed the film twice before, we never noticed these details about the shooting. • As the day drew to a smoky end, the firefighters put out the last of the embers.

11. Parallel Structure • Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level. • Not Parallel:Mary likes hiking, swimming, and to ride a bicycle. • Parallel:Mary likes hiking, swimming, and riding a bicycle.

12. Dangling Participle • Adjectives ending in -ing (and sometimes -ed) are called participles and must be used with care. Consider the following sentences: • The robber ran from the policeman, still holding the money in his hands. After being whipped fiercely, the cook boiled the egg. Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee. • The grammatical problem here rests with the -ing and -ed words used in these sentences: "holding," "being whipped," and "flitting." They are all participles, a type of verbal form that modifies nouns. The antecedent—that is, the noun to which the participle refers—must be clear to the readers in order for them to understand what's being said. Otherwise, an action may be subscribed to the wrong player, such as "flitting" to athletes. That's called a "dangling participle," because it's left "dangling" without a clear antecedent.

13. Possessive Apostrophe • The apostrophe has three uses: • to form possessives of nouns • to show the omission of letters • to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters • Forming Possessives of Nouns • add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s): the owner's car James's hat (James' hat is also acceptable. For plural, proper nouns that are possessive, use an apostrophe after the 's': "The Eggleses' presentation was good." The Eggleses are a husband and wife consultant team.) • add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s: the children's game the geese's honking • add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s: two cats' toysthree friends' lettersthe countries' laws • add 's to the end of compound words: my brother-in-law's money • add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object: Todd and Anne's apartment

14. Commas in a series • Use a comma to separate the elements in a series (three or more things), including the last two. • EX: We need to purchase eggs , milk, butter, and bread.

15. Pronoun and Antecedent • What is a pronoun? • A pronoun takes the place of a noun and sometimes refers to a noun. • What is an antecedent? • An antecedent is a noun to which the pronoun refers. • Example #1 (Pronoun-Antecedent Disagreement - Number) • When an employee does not agree with their boss's decision, the employee should not support that decision. Reasoning: This sentence contains an antecedent and a pronoun. Since the antecedent (employee) is singular and the pronoun (their) is plural, the pronoun disagrees with the antecedent, thus containing a pronoun-antecedent agreement error. You can correct this in one of two ways: either make both the pronoun and antecedent singular, or make both the pronoun and antecedent plural

16. Restrictive and Non restrictive clauses • A Non restrictive Modifier – the clause or phrase adds information that is not necessary to the main idea of the sentence. • A non restrictive clause is set apart with commas: • Miss Burkholder , an English teacher , works at Pope John XXIII High School. • If you omit the non – restrictive modifier, the sentence has the same meaning as the original