Common Grammar Mistakes: A Helpful Guide
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The document serves as a guide to common grammar mistakes encountered when writing emails to clients, focusing on clarity, readability, and credibility. It covers different types of errors, including wrong-word, punctuation, usage, sentence fragments, run-on sentences, verb tense consistency, and subject/verb agreement. The guide emphasizes the importance of editing and offers strategies to prevent these errors in writing.
Common Grammar Mistakes: A Helpful Guide
- 2. • Clarity of meaning • Readability • Credibility THE PURPOSE OF GRAMMAR
- 3. TYPES OF ERRORS • Wrong-word errors • Punctuation errors • Usage errors
- 5. TYPES OF WRONG-WORD ERRORS Spelling and Typographic Mistakes • Don’t just rely on spell check! Wrong Meaning • Use a dictionary. • Be careful using the thesaurus. • Watch out for words with the wrong shade of meaning or the wrong meaning altogether.
- 6. COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS • They're / Their / There • You're / Your • You're going to be a great writer! (contraction of “you are”) • Your hair looks nice today. (possessive) • Who's / Whose • Who's on first base? (contraction of “who is”) • Whose watch is this? (possession)
- 7. COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS • It's / Its / Its’ • It’s a beautiful day! (contraction of “it is”) • Download the program, along with its readme file. (possessive) • Its’ is not a word. • Affect / Effect • The outage shouldn't affect anyone during work hours. (verb – to act on, influence) • The outage shouldn't have any effect on users. (noun – result)
- 8. COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS • To / Too / Two • I am going to the store. (preposition) • She decided to go along too. (adv. – also) • My jacket is too small. (adv. – to an excessive amount) • I have two buttons missing. (number) • A lot / Alot / Allot • The workers are worrying a lot about their jobs. (adv. – to a great degree/extent) • Alot is not a word. • We were each allotted twenty tickets. (verb – to assign/distribute)
- 10. COMMAS • Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction • (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So) to join two independent clauses. • The game was over, but the crowd refused to leave. • Yesterday was her birthday, so they went out to dinner. • Use commas after introductory clauses, phrases, or words that come before the main clause. • While I was eating, the cat scratched at the door. • To get a seat, you'd better come early. • Well, perhaps he meant no harm.
- 11. COMMAS • Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses written in a series. • The Constitution established the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. • Use commas to set apart a parenthetical phrase in a sentence. • My friend Jessica, who lives in Connecticut, is a yoga teacher.
- 12. SEMICOLONS
- 13. SEMICOLONS
- 14. COLONS • Use a colon to introduce a list preceded by an independent clause. • The application includes the following pieces: personal information, job history, and references. • Use a colon to separate an independent clause and a final phrase or clause that illustrates, extends, or amplifies the preceding thought. • They have agreed on the outcome: informed participants perform better than do uninformed participants. • Road construction in Dallas has hindered travel around town: parts of Main, Fifth, and West Street are closed during the construction.
- 16. USAGE ERRORS
- 17. FRAGMENTS A complete sentence must have three components: 1. A subject (the actor in the sentence) 2. A predicate (the verb or action) 3. A complete thought (it can stand alone and make sense) A fragment is an incomplete sentence. • It cannot stand alone and does not express a complete thought. • Some fragments lack either a subject, verb, or both. • Dependent clauses are also fragments if they stand alone.
- 18. FRAGMENT EXAMPLES • Went out of business after Starbucks Coffee opened. • One of my friends who won a contest by playing a variety of instruments. • Since I went fishing.
- 19. RUN-ON SENTENCES • A run-on sentence is sentence comprised of two or more independent clauses not properly separated. • Lack of punctuation and/or conjunctions • Incorrect punctuation • A comma splice — two independent clauses joined by a comma — is a run-on sentence. • A run-on sentence is not simply a long sentence.
- 21. VERB TENSE • Verb tenses should be consistent throughout your writing. • Correcting tense shifts: • Be consistent throughout your sentences and paragraphs. • Be familiar with verb forms and tenses.
- 22. TENSE SHIFT EXAMPLES • About noon the sky darkened, a breeze sprang up, and a low rumble announces the approaching storm. • We viewed A Caribbean Mystery and watch intently as Joan Hickson portrays Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. • I climbed out of the car, walked through the door, and prepared to meet “the parents,” but instead a large, honey-colored dog runs to meet me at the door.
- 23. SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT • Singular subjects must have singular verbs. • Plural subjects must have plural verbs. • Rule of thumb: • Subjects ending in “s” are plural • Verbs ending in “s” are singular • Correcting agreement errors: • Become familiar with irregular verb forms. • Focus on the subject, not any additional modifiers.
- 24. S/V AGREEMENT ERROR EXAMPLES • The optimization templates belongs in CRM. • What we need are more minions and Cowboys memes. • The Content Department write a lot of blogs for Enterprise clients.
- 26. EDITING YOURSELF • Learn the rules. • Plan ahead — leave yourself enough time to edit. • Know your writing weaknesses. • Read aloud or in reverse. • Don’t be afraid to delete!