Transcript Grammar Goofs

10 Common Grammar Mistakes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Subject/Verb
Agreement
Noun/Pronoun
Agreement
Parallelism
Run On or Comma
Splice
Sentence
Fragment
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Misplaced and
Dangling
Modifiers
Wordiness
Vague Pronoun
Reference
Verb Tense Shift
Voice Shift

In a sentence, the subject and the verb must both
be either plural or singular.
◦ The boy talks on the phone. [singular]
◦ The boys talk on the phone. [plural]

A compound subject or verb can cause
confusion.
◦ Mistake: My aunt and uncle lives in Boston.
◦ Correct: My aunt and uncle live in Boston. [plural]

A prepositional phrase between the subject and
verb can cause confusion
◦ Mistake: One of the boys swim on my team.
◦ Correct: One (of the boys) swims on my team. [singular]

The pronoun and the noun that precedes it must
both be either singular or plural
◦ The drivers raced their engines. [plural]
◦ The baby ate his peas. [singular]

The most common mistake happens with the
general singular nouns one, someone, and
anyone.
◦ Mistake: Anyone who eats bugs, is out of their mind.
◦ Correct: Anyone who eats bugs, is out of his/her mind.
◦ Better: People who eat bugs, are out of their minds.

In a series, all the items must be similar parts of
speech or phrase types.
◦ Mistake: I got up, put on my clothes, and I ate some
breakfast before 8 am.
◦ Correct: I got up, put on my clothes, and ate breakfast
before 8 am.

On two sides of a compound sentence.
◦ Mistake: It was the best of times, and time were bad too.
◦ Correct: It was the best of times, and it was the worst of
times.

Between subject and object nouns.
◦ Mistake: The dogs broke off their leash.
◦ Correct: The dogs broke off their leashes.

This is when the end of a sentence is punctuated
incorrectly with a comma or not at all
◦ Mistake: That silly snake slithered away he popped the
lid off his tank. [Run on]
◦ Mistake: That silly snake slithered away, he popped the
lid off his tank. [Comma Splice]

3 ways to correct this error: end the sentence,
use a semicolon, add a conjunction.
◦ Correct: That silly snake slithered away; he popped the
lid off his tank.
◦ Correct: That silly snake slithered away. He popped the
lid off his tank.
◦ Correct: That silly snake slithered away, and he popped
the lid off his tank.

An incomplete sentence, which is usually a
dependent clause
◦ Mistake: On that sad, sad day as the rain trickled down
the window pane.

2 ways to correct it: add an impendent clause to
make a complex sentence or remove the
conjunction that makes the clause dependent.
◦ Correct: On that sad, sad day as the rain trickled down
the window pane, I waited for some news about my
friend. [complex sentence]
◦ Correct : On that sad, sad day the rain trickled down the
window pane. [remove conjunction]

An adjective phrase must be beside the noun
it describes or confusion results.
◦ Mistake: Standing in the rain, the bus showed up
late. [dangling modifier]
◦ Correct: Standing in the rain, I waited for the late
bus.
◦ Mistake: My grandmother stroked her cat while I
combed her hair. [misplaced modifier]
◦ Correct: While I combed her hair, my grandmother
stroked her cat.

To many meaningless modifiers and
repetition spoil the meaning of the sentence.
◦ Mistake: In today’s society, the people who live here
are so many times confused due to the fact that the
ones making the rules use as many words as they
possibly can think up to say again and again things
that make no good sense when you read them.
◦ Correct: People are confused by too many words
and repetition.

Happens when a pronoun is not connected to a
noun nearby (it, there, they)
◦ Mistake: It is difficult to explain what I mean sometimes.
◦ Correct: Explaining what I mean is sometimes difficult.
◦ Mistake: They say we’ll have rain this weekend.
◦ Correct: The meteorologist says we’ll have rain this
weekend.
◦ Mistake: There are too many pets without homes.
◦ Correct: Too many pets have no homes

Moving from past to present or present to
future and visa versa.
◦ Mistake: The day we went to pick up the puppy, the
rain doesn’t stop.
◦ Correct: The day we went to pick up the puppy, the
rain didn’t stop.
◦ Mistake: When the puppy gets old enough we would
take her to puppy school.
◦ Correct: When the puppy gets old enough we will
take her to puppy school.

Moving from one pronoun case to the other
without a clear reason.
◦ Mistake: We know that millions of puppies need
homes, and you also know that people keep
breeding more.
◦ Correct: We know that millions of puppies need
homes, and we also know that people keep
breeding more.

http://www.chompchomp.com/exercises.htm

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/


http://www.english4u.de/grammar_exercises.htm
http://www.englischhilfen.de/en/exercises_list/alle_grammar.htm