Download Common Mistakes in English Grammar

… And How to Avoid Them
A sentence fragment does not contain a subject,
complete verb, and lacks meaning and can be
misunderstood.
Examples:
Made the shot. (Lacks subject, such as, the basketball
player.)
The basketball player scoring well. (Lacks complete
verb, such as, “is scoring” or “was scoring.”
These are really “subordinating conjunctions,”
such as if, when, after, because, although,
unless, until, and many more. They are used
properly to show relationships, typically, in
time, place, or cause and effect, between ideas.
See final slides for more examples.
Like all of these nemesis words, a
subordinating conjunction like although
can ruin a perfectly fine sentence and make
it unable to stand alone, like a two-legged
stool.
Read this:
It rarely rains in Yuma.
That’s a perfectly fine sentence.
But put a subordinating conjunction in front
of it, and it falls right over. “Although it rarely
rains in Yuma.” That is a sentence fragment,
for it needs something else to give it
meaning, such as, “Although it rarely rains in
Yuma, the washes can flood.”
It is a hot day in Yuma it has not rained in
four months the wind blows in the sand it
gets everywhere.
This sentence has no punctuation. It could
be improved by breaking it down into
several sentences.
In each complete sentence, there is a
subject, the person, thing, or idea that is the
cause of the action, and a complete verb,
that is the action word.
Read these two sentences:
The basketball player sinks the foul shot.
Her team wins the game.
In the first sentence, basketball player is the
actor, and sinks is the verb.
In the second, team is the actor, and wins is
the verb.
The subject and its verb need to agree in person
and number.
There are three persons in English nouns: first, second, and third.
There are two number in English nouns: singular and plural, as in
this chart:
Person
Singular
Plural
First Person
I
We
Second Person
You
You
Third Person
He, she, it
They
The basketball player sinks the foul shot.
Her team wins the game.
In the sentences above, basketball player
and team are both third person, meaning
she or it, and singular in number.
In the sentence, We win the game, we is
first person, plural in number.
All verbs sinks, wins, and win agree in
person and number with the subjects.
In the following sentences, the subjects and
verbs do not agree in person and number.
The basketball player sink the foul
shot.
Her team win the game.
We wins the game.
The third person singular is the odd person
out, as in this chart.
Person
Singular
Plural
First
I sink, win
We sink, win
Second
You sink, win
You sink, win
Third
He, she, it
sinks, wins
They sink, win
The third person singular is the odd person
out in other tenses as well.
Present Progressive Tense
I am winning
You are winning
He, she, it is winning
We are winning
You are winning
They are winning
Present Perfect Tense
I have won
You have won
He, she, it has won
We have won
You have won
They have won
This is an incorrect attempt to join together
two or more sentences, sometimes called
independent clauses, by using only a
comma.
For instance:
It is a hot day in Yuma, it has not rained in
four months, the sand blows in the wind, it
gets everywhere.
Comma splices can be corrected by:
periods
coordinating conjunctions
subordinating conjunctions
semicolons
adverb conjunctions
Periods
It can easily be corrected, like run-on
sentences, by breaking it down into
two or more sentences. For instance:
It is a hot day in Yuma. It has not
rained in four months. The sand
blows in the wind. It is everywhere.
Common coordinating conjunctions are
and so
but or
yet nor
for
For example:
It is a hot day in Yuma, for it has not rained in four
months. The sand blows in the wind, and it is
everywhere.
Examples of subordinating conjunctions,
otherwise known as “nemesis” words, can
be found in the final slides.
For instance:
It is a hot day in Yuma because it has not
rained in four months. Because the sand
blows in the wind, it is everywhere.
In the example above, because is a
subordinating conjunction.
Notice that only the second sentence has a
comma in the middle. Only if the SC begins
the sentence, do you use a comma after the
subordinating clause it begins.
Semicolons can be used to join sentences,
if they are closely related, such as, a cause and an
effect.
For example:
It rained in Yuma, the washes flooded.
It rained in Yuma; the washes flooded.
WARNING LABEL:
THE GRAMMARIAN GENERAL HAS DETERMINED THAT
OVER-USE OF SEMICOLONS CAN BE DANGEROUS TO
YOUR WRITING.
This is a proper use to categorize a list: She went to the grocery
and bought chicken, beef, and pork; potatoes, carrots, and
onions; and peaches, pears, and apples.
This is an improper way, like comma splices: She went to the
grocery; bought meats; vegetables; and fruit.
Adverb conjunctions
These are the coolest part of grammar.
Using them correctly improves your writing
tremendously and impressively.
Some common conjunctive adverbs are
nevertheless and therefore. Others frequently
end in –ly, like consequently or subsequently.
To use adverb conjunctions correctly, one
must
1. Use a semicolon before the word,
2. Use a comma after the word, and
3. Use the adverb conjunction to join
two independent, stand-alone
sentences.
For example, these are two complete
sentences:
It rained. It flooded.
They can be joined with an adverb
conjunction. Try therefore; it shows a
relationship of cause and effect.
It rained; therefore, it flooded.
after
although
as
as if
as long
as soon as
because
before
if
even if
in case
once
since
so that
unless
until
when
whenever
whenever
whereas
whether or not
while
accordingly
anyway
besides
certainly
consequently
currently
desperately
definitely
finally
furthermore
hence
however
incidentally
indeed
initially
instead
instantly
lately
likewise
meanwhile
moreover
namely
otherwise
particularly
precisely
nevertheless
nonetheless
similarly
undoubtedly
therefore
thereafter
specifically