Common+Language+Errors+and+Fixes

Common Language Errors and Fixes
It is self-evident that people judge intelligently written messages more likely to be correct than poorly written ones. How seriously do you take messages that are sprinkled with misspellings, grammatical errors, and improper word choices? Poorly written messages, whether they appear in electronic format or hard copy, on a billboard or a sweatshirt, are often difficult - if not impossible - for readers to understand. They also reflect poorly on the one - or the organization of the one - who crafted them. How we are perceived as well as how well we are understood depends on how well we write and speak. Following a few examples in this introductory narrative, you will find listings by topic. Reading through them, you may recognize some of your favorite "errors." Few people manage to avoid all grammatical errors all the time. Neither must we succumb to a foolish consistency, creating stilted narrative simply to, for instance, avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.

In a typical modern workday, many of us send and receive dozens of e-mail messages. Do you see the error in the following short e-mail message?

From: Bossman, Bill (bossmabi) Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 10:50 AM To: [distribution list: undisclosed recipients] Subject: Application Support Meeting I’d like to schedule our first meeting of the year for March 24 or March 31, please let me know your availability on those dates. BB

The body of this message is a “**run-on sentence**.” Two separate sentences are spliced together with a comma. You will sometimes hear this particular variety of run-on sentence error called a comma splice.

What's the fix? Either use a semi-colon in place of the comma or rewrite the sentence as two sentences. That is, you could write either:

I’d like to schedule our first meeting of the year on March 24 or March 31; please let me know your availability on those dates. - or (better) -

I’d like to schedule our first meeting of the year on March 24 or March 31. Please let me know your availability on those dates.

The next example presents an error that may be a bit harder to spot - by someone in the UC community, anyway.

He needs to supply Blackboard with some information about its use at UC.

The sentence makes sense to anyone who knows that the company and its software product have the same name. However, the sentence is not correct because 'its' refers back to Blackboard meaning the company, and the author actually means the software. No doubt about it; pronouns can be tricky! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 * Dangling Participle (& subject-verb agreement)**

- present participles end in "ing" (gerund) - past usually end "ed"

A participle is a form of a verb that can function independently as an adjective, as the past participle 'baked' in the sentence: We had some baked apple pies. It can be used with an auxiliary verb to indicate voice, aspect, or tense, as in the sentence: The apples were baked too long.

When the participle is left "dangling," the meaning of a sentence is unclear or absurd. For example, consider the following sentence:

Having finished coding the program, the newsletter article was now true.

Obviously, today's newsletter articles, however clever, do not code programs. Identifying the appropriate subject is usually the "fix" for such a situation. Consider:

Having finished coding the program, Leslie was satisfied that the newsletter article was now true. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 * IF-THEN**

Correlative conjunctions are used in pairs to show relationship. Examples include both/and; either/or; neither/nor. The IF/THEN pair is used in programming, but in almost all constructions of proper English grammar, "THEN" can be eliminated.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 * Singular THEY**

The singular use of the plural, they, is a creeping inexactitude in the English language.

For instance:

When the student gets an account they log on.

This is a no-no! When the student gets an account, he or she (does not become PLURAL but) logs on (remaining singular).

(By the way, log in is not a verb! If it were, the gerund would be logining!) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 * What to do when Singular is Plural!**
 * //Faculty is --- or Faculty are?//**

Many words that mean a group of things, such as faculty, class, majority, herd, family, and number, can be singular or plural. Usually, if you see "the faculty" you will see "The faculty are - " whereas if you see "a faculty" you will see (for example) "a faculty vote is."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


 * Commonly Confused Words**

Accept/Except | Affect/Effect | Continual/Continuous | its/it's | Farther/Further Feel/Think/Believe | Lay/Lie | Less/Fewer | Much/Many | Stationary/Stationery | Who/Whom

> > Accept is a verb that means "to take in." > > e.g., Did he accept the gift? > > Except is a preposition that means "other than." > > e.g., I know everyone except for the woman at the podium. > > Affect is usually a verb meaning to "have an influence on." > > For example: The president's decision affected how we scheduled our student workers. > > Affect can also mean to make a display of, or deliberately cultivate. > > For example: He affected an air of sophistication. > > But affect can also mean emotion, and be used as a noun. > > For example, a social scientist might say, "The patient presented with flat affect." > > Effect can be a noun or a verb. The more common is the noun, as in the following sentences: > > When we released the program, we were surprised by the effect on our users. > > The professor had removed all of his personal effects from the laboratory. > > Here's an example of using effect, the verb: I'm determined to effect the way we go about choosing program names. > > When you affect a situation, you have an effect on the situation. > > Continual means "repeated again and again" and continuous means "uninterrupted." > > Examples: > > My concentration was continually interrupted by my coworkers' conversations. > > It rained continuously for twenty-four hours. > > > We simply have to memorize this one: its is the possessive form and it's is its contraction. > > Farther applies to physical distance, further to metaphorical distance. > > You travel farther, but pursue a topic further. > > Some writers use 'feel' in place of think or believe, as in "I feel that everyone should have this software." (These writers tend to be the same ones who use 'wish' wherever they mean 'want.') > > Good writing is in large measure finding the appropriate word to convey meaning. > > Lay is a transitive verb. It takes a direct object. > > e.g., Please lay the report on the desk. > > Lie is an intransitive verb, so it cannot take a direct object. > > e.g., I'm tired and need to lie down. > > The reason these verbs cause us such confusion is that the past tense of "lie" is identical to the present tense of "lay." > > e.g., The child lay abed all day. > > The most common verb forms of lie are: > > lie (present), lay (past), and lain (past participle). > > The most common verb forms of lay are: > > lay (present), laid (past), and laid (past participle). > > Remember: "lie, lay, lain (to recline); lay, laid, laid (to place or put down)." > > Fewer refers especially to a number. > > e.g., Fewer than 500 accounts remained active. > > Less refers especially to amount, value, or degree. > > e.g., Undergraduate tuition is less than graduate tuition. > > Many refers to a number. > > e.g., Many of the students agreed to attend the rally. > > Much refers to an amount. > > e.g., How much flour do we need for this recipe? > > Although often confused, principal and principle have no meanings in common. > > Principal is an adjective meaning "most important" or a noun designating "the main or chief one." > > Principle can never be an adjective. It is a noun only. It refers to a fundamental law or concept, or to a code of conduct as in "the principle of the thing," or "moral principles." > > Stationary means not moving. > > Stationery means paper used for writing letters. > > Who is used as a subject, e.g., Who is making the presentation? > > Whom is used as an object, e.g., The code was written by whom? To whom shall I give the report? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 * Accept/Except
 * Affect/Effect
 * Continual/Continuous
 * its/it's
 * Farther/Further
 * Feel/Think/Believe
 * Lay/Lie
 * Less/Fewer
 * Much/Many
 * Principal/Principle
 * Stationary/Stationery
 * Who/Whom
 * non sequitur**

Probably the worst of all errors in grammar is the "bad logic" error, the non sequitur. Non sequitur is dervied from the Latin for "it does not follow." The Merriam-Webster Dictionary gives us the following definitions for non sequitur:

1: an inference that does not follow from the premises; //specifically//**:** a fallacy resulting from a simple conversion of a universal affirmative proposition or from the transposition of a condition and its consequent;

2: a statement (as a response) that does not follow logically from or is not clearly related to anything previously. For example, I recently came across a statement in a write-up that "this software is not available for the Macintosh because Apple does not design to run it." Generally, people do not design hardware for software, but vice versa.

On TV news the other day I heard: "Two men and two women died in the crash, one of which was a 12-year old girl." This sentence has more than one problem. For one thing, a child is not a crash. Even fixing that structural problem does not clear up the non sequitor, because, generally speaking, a girl child is not typically considered a man - nor a woman.

Harvesting from the web an actual article about the accident, I discovered that five people - two men, two women, and a 12-year old girl - had died. But you certainly could not tell that from the sentence on the TV news!