<p>4.ERROR IN MODIFICATION AND WORD ORDER
A modifier is a word or a phrase that describes something else. You should place it as close as possible to what it describes. If you don’t, your intended meaning may not be clear. Consider the unintentional meanings in the following:
o The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.
o The dog was chasing the boy with the spiked collar.
You can see what’s wrong. The dog isn’t “in a short skirt” and the boy doesn’t have a “spiked collar.” Because the modifier is misplaced, we have to think for a minute before we get the intended meaning. The correct versions are:
o The young girl in a short skirt was walking the dog.
o The dog with the spiked collar was chasing the boy.
See how the proper placement clarifies the meaning?
You also need to watch the placement of modifiers such as almost, even, hardly, nearly, often, and only. A couple of examples should be enough:
- Big Dog almost ran around the yard twenty times.
- He nearly ate a whole box of treats.
In both sentences–when he “almost ran” and “nearly ate”–nothing happened! He didn’t quite get around to doing either thing. What is intended is: - Big Dog ran around the yard almost twenty times.
- He ate nearly a whole box of treats.
dangling modifier
these are present in sentences where the subject of the verb is unclear.
Eg.With the dog at the neighbours, the vacation became worry-free.
Here the subject of the phrase is unclear.
Hence we
1.Check for modifying phrases at the beginning of the sentences
then either 2. put the subject of the phrase after the comma at the end of the phrase.
Eg.with the dog at the neighbours, my vacation became worry-free.
Or 2. add a noun or pronoun subject into the modifying phrase.
Eg. With my dog at the neihbours, my vacation became worry-free. - ERROR IN IDIOMS
A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases. Consider the professor’s desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while talking about it.
You may have learned that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. It doesn’t take a grammarian to spot a sentence-ending preposition, so this is an easy rule to get caught up on.</p>
<p>Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in
We use at to designate specific times.
The train is due at 12:15 p.m.
We use on to designate days and dates.
My brother is coming on Monday.</p>
<p>We use in for nonspecific times during a day, a month, a season, or a year.
She likes to jog in the morning.</p>
<p>Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on
and No Preposition
IN</p>
<p>the bedroom
the car</p>
<pre><code>AT
</code></pre>
<p>home
the office
work ON</p>
<p>the ceiling
the floor
NO PREPOSITION
downstairs
downtown
inside
outside
upstairs
uptown</p>
<p>Prepositions of Time: for and since
We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years).
He held his breath for seven minutes.
We use since with a specific date or time.
He’s worked here since 1970.
.
Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs.
Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS
approval of
awareness of
belief in
concern for
confusion about
desire for fondness for
grasp of
hatred of
hope for
interest in
love of
need for
participation in
reason for
respect for
success in
understanding of
ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS
afraid of
angry at
aware of
capable of
careless about
familiar with fond of
happy about
interested in
jealous of
made of
married to proud of
similar to
sorry for
sure of
tired of
worried about
VERBS and PREPOSITIONS
apologize for
ask about
ask for
belong to
bring up
care for
find out give up
grow up
look for
look forward to
look up
make up
pay for Prepare for
study for
talk about
think about
trust in
work for
worry about
Other prepositional phrases
according to
because of
by way of
in addition to
in front of
in place of
in regard to
in spite of
instead of
on account of
out of
Prepositions in Parallel Form
When two words or phrases are used in parallel and require the same preposition to be idiomatically correct, the preposition does not have to be used twice.
You can wear that outfit in summer and in winter.
The female was both attracted by and distracted by the male’s dance.
However, when the idiomatic use of phrases calls for different prepositions, we must be careful not to omit one of them.
The children were interested in and disgusted by the movie.
It was clear that this player could both contribute to and learn from every game he played.
He was fascinated by and enamored of this beguiling woman.</p>
<li>ERRORS IN DICTION
.Diction-choice of words
Do not use affect and effect or disinterested and uninterested interchangeably.
Also do not say the same thing twice-more better.</li>
</ol>
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TIPS
The subjunctive mood is used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin with if and express a condition that does not exist (is contrary to fact); 3) begin with as if and as though when such clauses describe a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with that and express a demand, requirement, request, or suggestion. Use the verb were.
She wishes her boyfriend were here.
If Juan were more aggressive, he’d be a better hockey player.
We would have passed if we had studied harder.
He acted as if he were guilty.
I requested that he be present at the hearing.
For sentences which have strong expressions which are legal or binding in any way, should, have to, would , should be omitted.
Eg. The law requires that public places should be non-smoking places.
Punctuation
Use a semicolon [ ; ]
to help sort out a monster list:
There were citizens from Bangor, Maine; Hartford, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; and Newport, Rhode Island.
OR
We had four professors on our committee: Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics; Ronald Pepin, Professor of English; Cynthia Greenblatt, Professor of Education; and Nada Light, Professor of Nursing.
to separate closely related independent clauses:
My grandmother seldom goes to bed this early; she’s afraid she’ll miss out on something.
Use a colon [ : ] before a list or an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself. Think of the colon as a gate, inviting one to go on:</p>
<p>do not use use and, but after a semi colon.
Use like only to compare two nouns
use as to compare two verbs/actions.
The test could have pay compliments written as pay complements to lead the test takers to believe that the sentence contains no errors
One uses fewer only for the countable and lesser for the uncountable.
Eg. Fewer calories, lesser milk
The degrees of comparison are known as the positive, the comparative, and the superlative. (Actually, only the comparative and superlative show degrees.) We use the comparative for comparing two things and the superlative for comparing three or more things. Notice that the word than frequently accompanies the comparative and the word the precedes the superlative</p>
<p>WE USE AN APOSTROPHE [ ] TO CREATE POSSESSIVE FORMS, CONTRACTIONS, AND SOME PLURALS. The apostrophe shows where a letter or letters have been left out of a contracted verb:
I am = I’m you are = you’re she is = she’s it is = it’s
do not = don’t she would = she’d he would have = he would’ve
let us = let’s who is = who’s she will = she’ll they had = they’d </p>
<p> s is added after singular nouns, irrespective of their ending in s .
eg. The princesss diary, Charless pen
Most plural nouns already end in s. To create their possessive, simply add an apostrophe after the s:
The Pepins’ house is the big blue one on the corner.
The lions’ usual source of water has dried up.
The gases’ odors mixed and became nauseating.
The witches’ brooms were hidden in the corner.
The babies’ beds were all in a row.
With nouns whose plurals are irregular (see Plurals), however, you will need to add an apostrophe followed by an s to create the possessive form.
She plans on opening a women’s clothing boutique.
Children’s programming is not a high priority.
The geese’s food supply was endangered.
(But with words that do not change their form when pluralized, you will have to add an -s or -es.)
The seaweed was destroyed by the fishes’ overfeeding</p>
<p>Use who for humans and which for animanls, insects .
Never use: kind of a, sort of a ,type of a : only use
Type of, kind of, sort of…</p>