Download GRAMMAR PANDA PEEVES Apostrophe Problem: Needs an

GRAMMAR PANDA PEEVES
1. Apostrophe Problem: Needs an apostrophe to show possession (children’s, woman’s) or to form a contraction
(inside your quotes only), or there is an unnecessary /misplaced apostrophe.
2. Capitalization: Incorrect lowercase or incorrect capitalization.
3. Comma Splice (Run-on): Two independent clauses (i.e., sentences that could stand on their own) connected by
a comma (He likes to exercise, his favorite activity is basketball). Revise by substituting comma with a period or
a conjunction preceded by a comma.
4. Comma Trouble: Missing or unnecessary comma.
a. Commas are most commonly used:
i. to set off an introductory adverbial phrase – “Oddly enough, he turned his work in on time.”
ii. to precede a conjunction connecting two clauses - “It is nearly half past five, and we cannot
reach town before dark.”
iii. to set off items in a list – “Billy likes to run, jump, and play.”
iv. to set off a transition word or phrase – “However, he did not like to sweat.”
5. Commonly Confused Words: it’s/its, their/they’re/there, we’re/were/where, then/than, effect/affect,
to/two/too, through/threw, past/passed, lose/loose, lead/led
6. Contraction: Do not use them in a formal essay (don’t, can’t, won’t, doesn’t, etc.)… and cannot is one word, not
two.
7. Faulty Parallelism: Equivalent grammatical elements in a sentence need to be parallel (He liked to play
basketball and riding horses).
8. Fragment: Incomplete sentence (missing a subject or main verb)
9. Fused Sentence (Run-on): Two independent clauses connected without punctuation (He likes to exercise he
likes basketball).
10. Misplaced/Dangling Modifier: Cluster of words modifying a noun or verb in the wrong place (Having been
thrown in the air, the dog caught the stick). Revise by placing modifier(s) close to what they modify.
11. Misspelling: Word is not spelled correctly – remember, spell check does not catch everything (i.e., if you intend
to spell “hat” and you type “hag” instead, your error will not be caught)!
12. Paragraphing (Coherence/Length): Paragraph needs revision for logical flow. Paragraph may also be too short
or too long.
13. Pronoun Trouble: Ambiguous reference (He gave him back his notebook), error in pronoun case
(subjective/objective; who/whom; she/her; they/them), needs gender-inclusive or gender-neutral pronoun
(one, he or she, him or her, humanity), or disagreement in number or gender.
14. Quotation Mark Woes: Check use of missing or extraneous double quotation marks or single quotation marks.
15. Redundancy/Wordiness: Revise for conciseness and fluidity. Read aloud to hear awkwardness. Decrease
repetition of “that,” “it states that,” and passive voice.
16. Slang/Colloquial/”You”/”I”: Revise for more academic tone. Avoid use of second person “you” in a formal
essay.
17. Split Infinitive: “To go” is an infinitive verb. “To boldly go” is a split infinitive, which is a stylistic no-no.
18. Subject-Verb Disagreement: Verb agrees with subject in number. “He does” versus “he do.”
19. Subject-Verb Repetition: Vary sentence structure for rhythm and emphasis. “He said… He said…. He said.”
20. Transition Words/Phrases Needed: Use pivot words and phrases such as “however,” “in addition,” “for
example,” “furthermore,” “on the contrary,” “on the other hand.”
21. Use Present Tense: For certain published texts such as literary works, refer to events in the present tense.
a. Verb Tense Drift: Don’t drift from present tense to past tense and vice versa.
22. Use Active Voice: The subject of the sentence performs the action expressed in the verb. Sentences in active
voice are also more concise than those in passive voice because fewer words are required to express action in
active voice than in passive. “The boy hit the ball.”
23. Verb Form Problem: Verb is the wrong tense, disagrees with subject, or both.
A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.
“Why?” asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda
produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
“Well, I’m a panda,” he says at the door. “Look it up.”
The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. “Panda. Large black-andwhite bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”