agreement,
nouns,
pronouns
The number of nouns and pronouns and the person of pronouns must remain consistent within a sentence. Standardized examinations will present questions that contain agreement shifts, making instant recognition of these errors essential.
All of my friends want to be a rock star.
"All of my friends" is a noun phrase that is plural. "Rock star" is a singular noun. All of my friends cannot be one rock star. The sentence has an agreement shift in number. To correct the sentence, make both nouns either singular or plural.
Each of my friends wants to be a rock star.
or
All of my friends want to be rock stars.
"Each" is a singular indefinite pronoun and agrees with the singular "rock star." "All" is an indefinite pronoun …
agreement,
pronouns,
pronouns: indefinite
A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun or a noun phrase. Pronouns are classified into 6 types: personal pronouns; demonstrative pronouns; indefinite pronouns; relative pronouns; interrogative pronouns; and reflexive and intensive pronouns.
Indefinite pronouns refer to unspecified people or things. These pronouns can be singular or plural; some are always singular, some are always plural, and the number of some depends on the object of the preposition associated with the pronoun.
These are singular indefinite pronouns:
- each, either, neither, one
- no one, nobody, nothing
- anyone, anybody, anything
- someone, somebody, something
- everyone, everybody, everything
A singular indefinite pronoun takes a singular verb.
- Everyone is happy.
- No one knows what to do in this situation.
When a singular indefinite pronoun serves as an antecedent in …
case,
pronouns,
who+whom
"Fatherhood only changes you if you allow it to change you. I kind of avoided changing me for a while. I just know that I have somebody who, for the first time in my life, I'm in love with, and it's going to last." - Colin Farrell, in OK Magazine
Colin has made two pronoun errors. He has also used a colloquialism that is considered to be an error by the writers of standardized examinations.
This entry continues with an analysis and description of errors in the quote.
colloquial,
pronoun antecedent agreement
"I have, like, huge enclosed cages all around in the backyard everywhere, so everyone has, like, their own space." - Paris Hilton, describing her collection of animals
This quote contains a redundancy, an error in pronoun/antecedent agreement, and two instances of superfluous colloquialisms.
This entry continues with an analysis and description of errors in the quote.
Proper diction requires an understanding of words and terms in context. Understanding diction errors can make it easier to identify and avoid them.
"I shaved my head when I was 17. I sold it for $500 to a famous Broadway wigmaker. My mother and my brother were so thrilled because my hair had always been so greasy and I always wore it in my face." - Chloe Sevigny, in US Weekly
Chloe has made a confusing statement. She has used a pronoun without clearly stating its antecedent. While it is easy to infer the meaning of her statement, it is instructive to examine this quote to illustrate the importance of clearly defining antecedents when using pronouns.
This entry continues with an analysis and description of errors in the quote.
parallelism,
pronouns,
who+that
Proper diction requires an understanding of words that are commonly misused. Understanding grammar errors can make them easier to identify and avoid.
"I was not the kind of artist that had my mommy hold my hand and my daddy managing my career." - Christina Aguilera in GQ
This sentence contains two errors: an error in pronoun choice and an error in parallelism.
This entry continues with an analysis and description of errors in the quote.
contractions,
couldve+could of,
shouldve+should of,
wouldve+would of
Proper diction requires an understanding of words that are commonly confused.
I could of earned a better grade in the class. I should of studied more. I would of been able to raise my grade point average if I had.
The terms "could of," "should of," and "would of" are incorrect. These are nonstandard homophones of contracted verbs and should never be used in standard written English.
The contractions "could've" ("could" + "have"), "should've" ("should" + "have"), and "would've" ("would" + "have") sound like the nonstandard terms "could of," "should of," and "would of." The latter set of terms should not be used in writing that is meant to conform to the rules of standard written English.
I could have …
adjectives,
adverbs,
modifier confusion
Proper diction requires an understanding of words that are misused.
"I sing to myself and my sister looks at me weird." - Dakota Fanning in BOP
This quote contains an error in modifier form.
Dakota used an adjective to modify a verb, and only adverbs can modify verbs.
"Weird" is an adjective used, in this sentence, to describe how Dakota's sister looks at her. Since "looks" is a verb, an adverb should modify this action. Change "weird" to "weirdly."
"I sing to myself and my sister looks at me weirdly."
Note that the verb "look" can function either as an action verb, as in this sentence, or as a linking verb. A linking verb can connect a subject with an …
pronouns,
subject+verb agreement
Proper diction requires an understanding of words that are commonly misused.
"There's only two people in the world you should lie to: the police and your girlfriend." - Jack Nicholson in In Touch Weekly
This sentence contains an error in subject/verb agreement and an error in diction.
The subject in this sentence is "two people," which is plural. The verb (the contraction form of "is") is singular. Change the number of the verb to plural ("are") to correct this error in agreement.
Jack refers to two people in this quote. However, while "your girlfriend" is a person, "the police" is not a person. "The police" is a group of people. "Police" is a special kind of collective noun, …
pronouns,
who+that
Proper diction requires an understanding of words that are commonly confused.
"I always thought I'd be that girl that lives with no regrets. I have regrets." - Courtney Love
Courtney has used an incorrect relative pronoun.
In the noun phrase "girl that lives with no regrets," the relative pronoun "that" refers to "girl." This is incorrect because "that" should be used to refer only to animals and things. The subjective relative pronoun "who" should be used to refer to a person.
This version of Courtney's statement corrects the pronoun error:
"I always thought I'd be that girl who lives with no regrets."
Note: In the first instance of "that," the word is a demonstrative adjective modifying "girl."
adjectives,
dangling participles
A dangling participle is a participle or a participial phrase that does not clearly and logically modify any word or phrase in a sentence.
Reading the question carefully, it was obvious that there was a grammatical error.
When you encounter a participial phrase ("Reading the question carefully"), ask yourself, "Who is doing the action?" and then find the subject in the sentence. If the subject is doing the action, the sentence is correct. If not, you must correct the dangling participle.
In the example, the subject is "it." "It" was not reading - a person has to do the reading.
This entry continues with an explanation of how to correct dangling participles.
colloquial,
irregardless,
paradox
Proper diction requires an understanding of words and terms that are not considered to be standard American English.
Irregardless of what anyone may say to the contrary, "irregardless" is not a word.
This paradoxical sentence contains an error in diction and a fundamental concept that may help you answer questions on standardized examinations and improve your speech and writing.
pronouns,
pronouns: reflexive
"What luxury item would I take to a desert island? A mirror. It's true. I'd miss me." - Simon Cowell, in In Touch
Simon has used an incorrect pronoun. He chose the pronoun "me" to refer to the subject "I." When the subject and the object in a sentence are the same, a reflexive pronoun should be used. Since the subject is in the first person, the proper pronoun to use in this case is "myself."
This version of Simon's quote features a reflexive pronoun that refers to the first person subject:
"I'd miss myself."
colloquial
Proper diction requires an understanding of words and phrases that are not standard American English.
The word "because" is a conjunction that means "for the reason that."
The reason I am hungry is because I did not eat lunch.
While this sort of diction is common in colloquial speech, it contains a redundancy according to the rules of standard American English. It is not necessary to have two words that the convey the same meaning in one sentence. Replace "because" with its definition to illustrate the redundancy.
The reason I am hungry is for the reason that I did not eat lunch.
To correct the original sentence, either replace "because" with "that" or remove …
colloquial
Proper diction requires an understanding of words and terms that are not standard American English.
Being that the weather was sunny, we went to the beach.
This sentence contains an error in diction. "Being that" is a colloquial phrase that should not be used in formal language or standard written English. Use "because" or "since" instead.
Since the weather was sunny, we went to the beach.
pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and an object in a sentence or clause are the same person or thing. Intensive pronouns are used to emphasize their antecedents.
case,
pronouns,
pronouns: relative,
who+whom
Relative pronouns create relationships by connecting phrases and clauses to other phrases and clauses.
infinitives,
verbals
The term "split infinitive" refers to the placement of an adverb between "to" and the verb in an infinitive.
adjectives,
adverbs,
colloquial
Some words and phrases tend to weaken the effect of a piece of writing because they do not enhance the meaning of the document. Consider avoiding these vague expressions and "empty" modifiers that add little value to your writing.
everyday
The adjective "everyday" means "happening every day" and, perhaps because a routine can be perceived as relatively uninteresting, "ordinary." Remember that "everyday" is one word: it is an adjective used to describe a noun and answer the question "How is it?" It is "ordinary"; it is "commonplace"; it is "everyday."
The adverb phrase "every day" means "each day." It answers the question "When does it happen?" It happens "every day."
A common error in writing is the use of the adjective "everyday" in place of the adverb phrase "every day" to answer the question "When?"
This is an incorrect use of an adjective in place of an adverb.
If you are describing when something happens, remember that the adverb phrase …
among+between
“I play Gwen Stacy and she’s a part of a love triangle between Peter Parker and Mary Jane, and that’s all I’m going to say about it.” - Bryce Dallas Howard, on her role in Spider-Man 3
Bryce has made an error in diction. She has used the preposition "between" in an awkward manner.
A controversy exists regarding the use of the word "between" with more than two items; some believe that “among” should be used in cases involving more than two items (read about the use of "between" and "among" to avoid making errors on standardized examinations).
Bryce's use of "between" in this quote is not necessarily an issue of "between vs. among." She has simply phrased her statement …
misplaced modifiers
"Mexicans and in particular Latinos in general contribute an enormous amount to this country, and I think it's insulting to threaten deportation. The most honorable thing you can do with your life is support your family, and that's what most of these people are doing." - Eva Longoria, about her support of Hispanic protests against proposed US immigration policy changes
Eva has misplaced a modifier to create a conflicting statement.
She refers to "Mexicans and in particular Latinos in general," a noun phrase that contains two modifiers: "in particular" and "in general." However, the modifier "in particular" immediately precedes "Latinos" and appears to modify this noun, while the modifier "in general" immediately follows "Latinos" and appears to modify …
parallelism
"According to him, I have a lazy eye, a huge ear and my feet are completely deformed because of dancing." - Penelope Cruz, in People, on her brother Eduardo's list of her shortcomings
Penelope has made an error in parallelism. She has listed three things about herself, but two are noun phrases and one is an independent clause. Items in a list should have the same structure.
This is the list of what Eduardo thinks is wrong with Penelope:
a lazy eye [This is a noun phrase: the noun "eye" is modified by the adjective "lazy."]
a huge ear [This is a noun phrase: the noun "ear" is modified by the adjective "huge."]
my feet are completely deformed because of dancing [This is an …
contractions,
pronouns
Proper diction requires an understanding of words that are commonly confused.
The words "its" and "it's" are homophones: they sound alike, but they have different meanings. Keep the different definitions in mind when you spell these words.
"Its" is a personal possessive pronoun that means "belonging to it."
"It's" is a contraction of "it is" or "it has."
fragments
A sentence must contain a subject and a verb, and it must be able to stand on its own and make sense.
Bob ate the cookie.
This is a sentence. "Bob" is the subject and "ate" is the verb. "Cookie" is the direct object, but it is not required for the sentence to stand on its own; "Bob ate" is a perfectly acceptable sentence.
A fragment contains elements of a sentence, but it is not able to stand on its own and make sense.
Because Bob ate the cookie.
This is a fragment. While this clause contains a subject ("Bob") and a verb ("ate"), it cannot stand on its own because it does not form a complete thought. The subordinating conjunction "because" that introduces the …
