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Grammar Goofs

Grammar Goofs. 10 Common Grammar Mistakes. Summary of the 10 Common Grammar Mistakes. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers Wordiness Vague Pronoun Reference Verb Tense Shift Voice Shift. Subject/Verb Agreement Noun/Pronoun Agreement Parallelism Run On or Comma Splice Sentence Fragment.

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Grammar Goofs

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  1. Grammar Goofs 10 Common Grammar Mistakes

  2. Summary of the 10 Common Grammar Mistakes • Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers • Wordiness • Vague Pronoun Reference • Verb Tense Shift • Voice Shift • Subject/Verb Agreement • Noun/Pronoun Agreement • Parallelism • Run On or Comma Splice • Sentence Fragment

  3. Subject/Verb Agreement • In a sentence, the subject and the verb must both be either plural or singular. • The boytalks on the phone. [singular] • The boystalk on the phone. [plural] • A compound subject or verb can cause confusion. • Mistake: My aunt and unclelives in Boston. • Correct: My aunt and unclelive in Boston. [plural] • A prepositional phrase between the subject and verb can cause confusion • Mistake: One of the boys swim on my team. • Correct: One (of the boys) swims on my team. [singular]

  4. Noun/Pronoun Agreement • The pronoun and the noun that precedes it must both be either singular or plural • The drivers raced their engines. [plural] • The baby ate his peas. [singular] • The most common mistake happens with the general singular nouns one, someone, and anyone. • Mistake: Anyone who eats bugs, is out of their mind. • Correct: Anyone who eats bugs, is out of his/her mind. • Better: People who eat bugs, are out of their minds.

  5. Parallelism • In a series, all the items must be similar parts of speech or phrase types. • Mistake: I got up, put on my clothes, and I ate some breakfast before 8 am. • Correct: I got up, put on my clothes, and ate breakfast before 8 am. • On two sides of a compound sentence. • Mistake: It was the best of times, and time were bad too. • Correct: It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. • Between subject and object nouns. • Mistake: The dogs broke off their leash. • Correct: The dogs broke off their leashes.

  6. Run On or Comma Splice • This is when the end of a sentence is punctuated incorrectly with a comma or not at all • Mistake: That silly snake slithered away he popped the lid off his tank. [Run on] • Mistake: That silly snake slithered away, he popped the lid off his tank. [Comma Splice] • 3 ways to correct this error: end the sentence, use a semicolon, add a conjunction. • Correct: That silly snake slithered away; he popped the lid off his tank. • Correct: That silly snake slithered away. He popped the lid off his tank. • Correct: That silly snake slithered away, and he popped the lid off his tank.

  7. Sentence Fragment • An incomplete sentence, which is usually a dependent clause • Mistake: On that sad, sad day as the rain trickled down the window pane. • 2 ways to correct it: add an impendent clause to make a complex sentence or remove the conjunction that makes the clause dependent. • Correct: On that sad, sad day as the rain trickled down the window pane, I waited for some news about my friend. [complex sentence] • Correct : On that sad, sad day the rain trickled down the window pane. [remove conjunction]

  8. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers • An adjective phrase must be beside the noun it describes or confusion results. • Mistake: Standing in the rain, the bus showed up late. [dangling modifier] • Correct:Standing in the rain, I waited for the late bus. • Mistake: My grandmother stroked her cat while I combed her hair. [misplaced modifier] • Correct: While I combed her hair, my grandmother stroked her cat.

  9. Wordiness • To many meaningless modifiers and repetition spoil the meaning of the sentence. • Mistake:In today’s society, the people who live here are so many times confused due to the fact that the ones making the rules use as many words as they possibly can think up to say again and again things that make no good sense when you read them. • Correct: People are confused by too many words and repetition.

  10. Vague Pronoun Reference • Happens when a pronoun is not connected to a noun nearby (it, there, they) • Mistake: It is difficult to explain what I mean sometimes. • Correct: Explaining what I mean is sometimes difficult. • Mistake: They say we’ll have rain this weekend. • Correct: The meteorologist says we’ll have rain this weekend. • Mistake: There are too many pets without homes. • Correct: Too many pets have no homes

  11. Verb Tense Shift • Moving from past to present or present to future and visa versa. • Mistake: The day we went to pick up the puppy, the rain doesn’t stop. • Correct: The day we went to pick up the puppy, the rain didn’t stop. • Mistake: When the puppy gets old enough we would take her to puppy school. • Correct: When the puppy gets old enough we will take her to puppy school.

  12. Voice Shift • Moving from one pronoun case to the other without a clear reason. • Mistake: We know that millions of puppies need homes, and you also know that people keep breeding more. • Correct: We know that millions of puppies need homes, and we also know that people keep breeding more.

  13. Links to Practice Sites • http://www.chompchomp.com/exercises.htm • http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ • http://www.english-4u.de/grammar_exercises.htm • http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/alle_grammar.htm

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