English Grammar and Usage€¦ · English Grammar and Usage: A Guide for Students Grant Harris, Vicky Young & Barbara Harker Language and Learning Development Unit

English Grammar and Usage:A Guide for Students

Grant Harris, Vicky Young & Barbara HarkerLanguage and Learning Development Unit

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English Grammar and Usage: A Guide for Students

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Table of Contents

Part One: Introduction ..............................................................................................................................5

Part Two: Sentence structure .................................................................................................................6

Building sentences ..............................................................................................................................7

Independent and dependent clauses ...............................................................................................8

Sentence fragments .......................................................................................................................... 11

Run-on sentences .............................................................................................................................. 13

Faulty comparisons ........................................................................................................................... 15

Dangling modifiers............................................................................................................................ 17

Misplaced modifiers ......................................................................................................................... 21

Parallel sentences .............................................................................................................................. 23

Part Three: Punctuation ........................................................................................................................ 26

Commas ............................................................................................................................................... 27

Semicolons .......................................................................................................................................... 34

Colons .................................................................................................................................................. 36

Question marks ................................................................................................................................. 37

Quotation marks ............................................................................................................................... 40

Apostrophes ....................................................................................................................................... 42

Hyphens ............................................................................................................................................... 46

Capitalisation ..................................................................................................................................... 48

Abbreviations and acronyms .......................................................................................................... 51

Part Four: Parts of speech ..................................................................................................................... 54

Pronouns: Pronoun-antecedent agreement ........................................................................ 55

Pronouns: Ambiguous or incorrect pronoun ............................................................................... 56

Pronouns: Shift of person ................................................................................................................ 57

Pronouns: Case ................................................................................................................................... 58

Reflexive pronouns ........................................................................................................................... 60

Demonstrative pronouns ................................................................................................................ 63

Subject-verb agreement .................................................................................................................. 65

Shift of verb tense ............................................................................................................................. 70

Adjectives/adverbs ........................................................................................................................... 72

Part Five: Faulty usage ........................................................................................................................... 75

Faulty usage: like/as ......................................................................................................................... 75

Confusables and appropriate word choices: ............................................................................... 78

Some of the most common spelling errors ................................................................................ 79

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Part One: IntroductionThis book is not meant to frighten you! Many other books have been written about English grammar and the thousands of rules in English usage. This book is not really concerned with knowing all the rules and the technical terms; its main aim is to help you to communicate clearly with your reader.

In the business world, you could be writing memos, executive summaries, policy documents, manuals and reports. These might be for your team mates, your team leader/line manager, your CEO, clients, government officials, and other business professionals. It is very important that these readers can easily understand what you are trying to tell them. It is also important when they read your communication that they gain a good impression of you; your reader should imagine you as someone who is professional, articulate and careful with detail. Sloppy writing, poor spelling, bad grammar and ambiguity (unclear meaning) can all give an impression that you don’t know how to communicate; even worse, it might give your reader the impression that you don’t know what you’re writing about or that you just don’t care!

We hope that the explanations we give in this book clarify your thinking about communicating effectively in writing. The book is divided into the following sections:

• Sentence structure

• Punctuation

• Parts of speech

• Faulty usage

The general format used in each section is an explanation of basic points on each topic with examples; wherever appropriate, some examples will be given for you to practise on. You can check your responses against a corrected version of the practice set.

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Part Two: Sentence structure

clauses

nouns

verbs

subject

prepositions

conjunctions

In the same way that we might use wood, bricks and other materials to build a house, when writing a sentence we use the basic materials of words and punctuation marks. The words group together as sense units (which might be called clauses). We need to think about choosing the most appropriate word, and then think about the order in which we want to place the words so that our meaning is clearly and strongly stated.

In this section of the book we look at the idea of sentence building – sentence structure. We look at the basic building units (in dependent and dependent clauses) , and then at common sentence faults:

• writing fragments that try to look like real sentences but are missing vital information

• building run-on sentences that lack proper punctuation to separate ideas from each other, and

• misusing commas as a mark of separation when some other form of punctuation is needed (comma splices).

Some useful tips for writing effective sentences:

Don’t try to pack too many ideas into one sentence. Give your reader one clear message at a time to think about. To begin with, develop one idea per sentence; later, when revising what you’ve written, you can look at different ways of joining the separate sentences if it seems helpful to do this.

Vary your sentence length a little. Sometimes a short sentence of five or six words is effective; sometimes a longer sentence of 16 - 20 words might add variety to your writing. As a general rule, watch the length of the sentence, make sure the main idea is clear, and cut any unnecessary words that confuse the reader or do not add to the meaning of the sentence.

Vary your sentence structure. Look for different ways to put your sentences together so that they don’t all start in the same way or follow the same pattern. Doing this will add interest to your writing.

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Building sentences

Teaching point 1: Sentences

A sentence is a group of words usually containing a subject and a verb, and ending in a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. A sentence is a complete sense unit.

(subject = the main ‘actor’ in the sentence and could be a person, animal, thing or idea, etc.)

(verb = a word that expresses action, such as “purred”, “laughed”, “intended”, etc., or a state of being, such as “are”, “was”, etc.)

Examples:

The cat is purring.

My friend was laughing.

Peter tickled me.

The cross-eyed, stupid marmalade cat jumped over the bed and crashed to the floor.

Tess felt very ill on Friday night. Her parents rushed her to the hospital.

The builder will decide how to fix the problem.

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Independent and dependent clauses

Independent clauses.

a) with an intransitive verb

SubjectVerb (Intransitive verb so needs

no object)

Sue laughed.

This is an independent clause – it makes complete sense on its own.

Subject:Verb (Intransitive verb so needs

no object)

Sue, Janice and the rest of their team chatted.

SubjectVerb (Intransitive verb so needs

no object)

Birds fly.

This is also an independent clause – it makes complete sense on its own.

(Blue birds fly. Young birds fly once they have fully developed wing feathers. Migrating birds fly over long distances. Adding to the subject or the verb does not alter the fact that these are all independent clauses based on a subject and an intransitive verb,)

b) with a transitive verb

SubjectVerb(threw what? Throw is a transitive verb so it

needs an object)Object

Jerry threw the ball.

This is an independent clause because it makes sense on its own.

SubjectVerb (drove what? Drove is a transitive verb so it

needs an object)Object

Ben drove his BMW.

NOTE: All these examples end in a full stop. Independent clauses nearly always end in a full stop or in a form of punctuation that includes a full stop, such as a semi-colon a colon or a question mark.

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Dependent clauses

Dependent clauses lack either a subject, or a complete verb, or both.

• finding the joke so funny.

This makes no sense on its own. Who was finding the joke so funny? It needs to attach to the independent clause in order to provide a subject for the verb participle finding and to make sense.

Sue laughed, finding the joke hilarious.

Finding the joke hilarious, Sue laughed.

• because he was in a hurry.

Again, this makes no sense on its own: what happened because he was in a hurry? Again, this dependent clause needs to attach to an independent clause in order for us to understand the full sense.

Ben drove his BMW at top speed because he was in a hurry.

Because he was in a hurry, Ben drove his BMW at top speed.

• even in his best paper.

What happened even in his best paper? When we attach this dependent clause to an independent clause, the whole sentence makes sense.

Chris never earned an A+ grade even in his best paper.

Even in his best paper Chris never earned an A+ grade.

finding the joke so funny, because he was in a hurry, and even in his best paper are all examples of sentence fragments.

In formal writing, always write in full sentences. Attach the dependent clause to an independent clause to form a complete sentence, or develop the dependent clause into an independent clause by making sure that it has its own subject and verb and that it can stand alone.

Ways to join a dependent clause to an independent clause

a) Simply join the dependent clause to the independent clause.

• Sarah caught the bus to work because it was a rainy day. = independent clause + dependent clause

(Try putting the dependent clause at the beginning of the sentence for some variety: Because it was a rainy day Sarah caught the bus to work.)

b) In a longer sentence, or where you are using particular structures (for example, participial phrases or prepositional phrases) you might need to use a comma between the independent and dependent clauses. In the examples below, the independent clause is underlined.

Examples:

• Sarah caught the bus to work, knowing it would rain later in the day.

• Knowing it would rain later in the day, Sarah caught the bus to work.

• Having no money to finance further expansion, the partners looked for more shareholder investment.

• By securing more investment from stakeholders, the partners were able to finance further expansion of their business.

• Sherryn finally reached Auckland after a 20-hour flight from London, worn out and ready to sleep for a week.

• Worn out and ready to sleep for a week, Sherryn finally reached Auckland after a 20-hour flight from London.

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Ways to join two independent clauses

If there is little linkage between the ideas in the two clauses, then you would use a full stop. If, however, there is a strong link between the two, then you might want your reader to read the two structures together to gather the full sense at once.

a) Join the two clauses with a coordinating conjunction (so, and, but, etc.)

Frank’s employees were delighted when he won the award for “Employer of the Year”. They had nominated him for the award.

Frank’s employees were delighted when he won the award for “Employer of the Year” for they had nominated him for the award.

Frank’s employees thought that he was an exceptional boss. They nominated him for the award of “Employer of the Year.”

Frank’s employees thought that he was an exceptional boss so they nominated him for the award of “Employer of the Year.”

b) Join the two independent clauses with a semicolon; this construction is often very useful when you are providing additional information, or when you are providing strongly contrasting information.

Tina had a sweet tooth; she loved ice cream and she was addicted to chocolate.

Levi drove a Ferrari; his brother, Chris, drove a Maserati.

c) Join the two independent clauses with a semi-colon followed by a transitional expression (however, therefore, for instance, for example, etc.) followed by a comma. Note that such as can never be used in this way.)

Levi drove a BMW; however, Chris drove a Maserati.

Christina received an A Bursary; therefore, she decided to apply for Medical School.

I have travelled to many countries in Europe; for example, I have visited France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. (BUT, I have travelled to many countries in Europe, for example France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. Here, the second part of the sentence is a dependent clause because it has no subject or verb so it has to attach to the independent clause with a comma).

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Sentence fragments

A sentence fragment is a group of words punctuated like a sentence but without either a subject or a verb, or without both. Fragments do not make sense on their own.

/ The rugby game was cancelled. Because of the wet weather.

/ Although he is a successful banker. He wants to train as a teacher.

/ Having known her for three years. I would be happy to recommend Karen for the job.

- The rugby game was cancelled because of the wet weather.

- Because of the wet weather, the rugby game was cancelled.

- Although he is a successful banker, he wants to train as a teacher.

- I would be happy to recommend Kate for the job, having known her for three years.

- Having known Kate for three years, I would be happy to recommend her for the job.

A fragment often introduces the main (independent) statement:

• Although she felt very ill, Tess managed to finish her work.

• Feeling very ill, Tess phoned the hospital.

• Having beaten both their English and Australian opponents, the Silver Ferns felt they had had a great season.

• Kicking to the corner, the half-back chased after the ball and scored a try under the goal posts.

• After I’ve finished this job, I will be happy to assist you.

Note that the second, third and fourth examples here also examples of dangling modifiers.

A fragment may also come after the main statement:

• Tess managed to finish her work, although she felt very ill.

• Tess phoned her boyfriend, begging him to drive her to the hospital.

• The Silver Ferns felt they had had a great season, having beaten both the English and Australian teams.

• The half-back chased after the ball and scored a try under the goal posts, after kicking to the corner.

• I would be happy to assist you, after I’ve finished this job.

Teaching point 1 practice:

Identify whether each example is a correctly punctuated sentence or whether it contains a sentence fragment:

• A car is an expensive item. Even when it is not being driven.

• Despite the wet weather, the game continued.

• We didn’t make it to the test match. Couldn’t get any tickets.

• Barry works very slowly, but does a thorough job.

• Gene said he would never buy an SUV. Too expensive to keep on the road.

• I believed the evidence, since it came from a reliable source.

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• The Waipa Delta used to travel up and down the Waikato River, providing an enjoyable experience for tourists.

• I really enjoy one summer activity. Going surfing.

• You could choose either fish or chicken, both being high in protein.

• Her parents married in New York in 1986. Nearly 30 years ago.

Teaching point 1 practice corrected:

• A car is an expensive item. Even when it is not being driven. Fragment /

- A car is an expensive item, even when it is not being driven.

- Even when it is not being driven, a car is an expensive item.

• Despite the wet weather, the game continued. Correct -

• We didn’t get to see the test match. Couldn’t get any tickets. Fragment /

- We didn’t make it to the test match because we couldn’t get any tickets.

- We couldn’t get any tickets so we didn’t make it to the test match.

• Barry works very slowly, but does a thorough job. Correct -

• Gene said he would never buy an SUV. Too expensive to keep on the road. Fragment /

• Gene said he would never buy an SUV because they are too expensive to keep on the road.

• I believed the evidence, since it came from a reliable source. Correct -

• The Waipa Delta used to travel up and down the Waikato River, providing an enjoyable experience for tourists. Correct -

• I really enjoy one summer activity. Playing tennis. Fragment /

- I really enjoy one summer activity: playing tennis.

- The one summer activity I really enjoy is playing tennis

• You could choose either fish or chicken, both being high in protein. Correct -

• Her parents married in New York in 1986. Nearly 30 years ago. Fragment /

- Her parents married in New York in 1986, nearly 30 years ago.

- Her parents married in New York nearly 30 years ago, in 1986.

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Run-on sentences

Run-on sentences run on and on, without either the necessary punctuation to separate complete sense units or the appropriate words to join them. Run-ons are confusing to the reader and need to be rewritten.

Example:

/ Tess felt very ill on Friday night her parents rushed her to the hospital

Here the two complete sentences (independent clauses because each has its own subject and verb Tess felt and her parents rushed) are pushed together, without any adequate way of joining or separating them. Separate if the ideas are not closely linked, but join if the ideas are connected in some way.

• One way to join two independent clauses is with a conjunction (and, so, but, or, for, nor, yet):

- Tess felt very ill on Friday night so her parents rushed her to the hospital.

• A second way to join two independent clauses is with punctuation – a semi-colon.

- Tess felt very ill on Friday night; her parents rushed her to hospital.

• A comma is not strong enough to join two independent clauses.

/ Tess felt very ill on Friday night, her parents rushed her to the hospital.

• A third way to join two complete sentences is with a transitional expression (however, nevertheless, moreover, furthermore, for example, for instance, consequently, subsequently, therefore)

If joining two statements with a transitional expression, put a sem-icolon at the end of the first complete sentence, and then put a comma after the transitional expression.

Only use these transitional terms with the semi-colon before and the comma after if you are joining two separate complete sentences – check that each has its own subject and verb.

/ Tess was rushed to the hospital on Friday night; consequently, an operation. “an operation” is not a complete sentence, so cannot be linked to the first sentence in this way.

- Tess was rushed to the hospital on Friday night; consequently, doctors performed an operation.


Identify whether each example is a correctly punctuated sentence or a run-on:

• Alsatians are one breed of dog fox terriers are another.

• Finn’s sister is moving to London because she wants to study at the London School of Economics.

• Coal, a fossil fuel, was used to produce steam for steam-powered machinery.

• Cal drives a Mazda Toni drives a Honda Vince prefers American cars.

• The driver turned left, forgetting to indicate his intention.

• Please give me some assistance I can’t find my keys.

• The position was advertised last Wednesday so far we have received four applications.

• Taina wanted to study at Victoria University; however, her parents persuaded her to enrol at Canterbury.

• He worked very hard on the paper, yet he still received a low grade.

• Coming from a small high school, Maika found it hard to settle to university life.

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• Serena isn’t very keen on sports she prefers less active hobbies.

• My cell phone rang I got such a surprise I drove onto the footpath.


Alsatians are one breed of dog fox terriers are another. Run-on /

- Alsatians are one breed of dog. Fox terriers are another.

- Alsatians are one breed of dog; fox terriers are another.

- Alsatians are one breed of dog and fox terriers are another.

Finn’s sister is moving to London because she wants to study at the London School of Economics. Correct -

Coal, a fossil fuel, was used to produce steam for steam-powered machinery. Correct -

Cal drives a Mazda Toni drives a Honda Vince prefers American cars. Run-on /

- Cal drives a Mazda, Toni drives a Honda, but Vince prefers American cars.

- Cal drives a Mazda; Toni drives a Honda; Vince prefers American cars.

- Cal drives a Mazda and Toni drives a Honda; Vince prefers American cars.

The driver turned left, forgetting to indicate his intention. Correct -

Please give me some assistance I can’t find my keys. Run-on /

- Please give some assistance. I can’t find my keys.

- Please give me some assistance; I can’t find my keys.

- Please give me some assistance because I can’t find my keys.

The position was advertised last Wednesday so far we have received four applications. Run-on /

Taina wanted to study at Victoria University; however, her parents persuaded her to enrol at Canterbury. Correct -

He worked very hard on the paper, yet he still received a low grade. Correct -

Coming from a small high school, Maika found it hard to settle to university life. Correct -

Serena isn’t very keen on sports she prefers less active hobbies. Run-on /

- Serena isn’t very keen on sports; she prefers less active hobbies.

- Serena isn’t very keen on sports because she prefers less active hobbies.

My mobile rang I got such a surprise I drove onto the footpath. Run-on /

- When my mobile rang, I got such a surprise I drove onto the footpath.

- My mobile rang; I got such a surprise I drove onto the footpath.

- My mobile rang, giving me such a surprise that I drove onto the footpath.

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Faulty comparisons

Teaching points

The two objects within a comparison must be of the same kind and you must also be able to compare them. Often, the use of the word “other” helps you to make a valid comparison.

Examples:

/ The lawyer’s fees were more expensive than the accountant.

Here the writer is unintentionally comparing fees with a professional person, which is impossible.

- The lawyer’s fees were more expensive than the accountant’s.

- The lawyer’s fees were more expensive than the accountant’s fees.

/ Tourism is more interesting than any subject taught in school.

- Tourism is more interesting than any other subject taught in school.

/ Abdula likes chocolate more than his son.

- Abdula likes chocolate more than his son likes chocolate.

- Abdula likes chocolate more than his son does.

/ Earthquakes are more dangerous than any natural disasters.

- Earthquakes are more dangerous than any other natural disasters.

Faulty comparisons practice:

• Current sales turnover is higher than last year.

• The cost of an Audi is greater than a BMW.

• My score in this test is higher than last time.

• The price of the shares will be lower, after the takeover in July, than in May.

• Mr Anderson likes dogs more than his wife; she prefers cats.

• Some people believe that swimming increases the heart rate more than skipping.

• Sydney attracts more tourists than any Australian city.

• Otago University offers a wider range of Social Sciences papers than any New Zealand universities.

• Compared to June’s rainfall, May was a much drier month.

Faulty comparison practice corrected:

• Current sales turnover is higher than it was last year.

• Current sales turnover is higher than last year’s.

• The cost of an Audi is greater than the cost of a BMW.

• An Audi costs more than a BMW costs.

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• My score in this test is higher than it was last time.

• My score in this test is higher than my score in the last test.

• The price of the shares will be lower, after the takeover in July, than it was in May.

• After the takeover in July, the price of the shares will be lower than it was in May.

• Mr Anderson likes dogs more than his wife does; she prefers cats.

• Some people believe that swimming increases the heart rate more than skipping does.

• Some people believe that swimming is more likely to increase the heart rate than skipping is.

• Some people believe that swimming, more than skipping, increases the heart rate.\

• Sydney attracts more tourists than any other Australian city does.

• Otago University offers a wider range of Social Sciences papers than any other New Zealand university does.

• Otago University offers a wider range of Social Sciences papers than does any other New Zealand university.

• Rainfall in May was much less than it was in June.

• More rain fell in June than it did in May

• Less rain fell in May than fell in June.

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Dangling modifiers

Teaching points

If a sentence starts with a participial phrase (that is, if a phrase contains an “ing” or an “ed” verb with no subject, the reader looks past the comma to see what the subject of the verb is:

Noticing the day was sunny, (who was noticing?) Cliff and Fiona decided to go for a picnic at Raglan. (Cliff and Fiona form the subject – they are doing the noticing).

If some other word that is not the true subject of the verb attaches to the participle, then we have created a sentence around a dangling modifier (called in some grammar books a misrelated participle), as in Noticing the day was sunny, it was ideal for Cliff and Fiona to go for a picnic at Raglan (“it” cannot possibly “notice).

Examples:

/ Turning the corner, a mountain appeared. The mountain cannot turn a corner; we need to rethink the sentence and find another subject for the participle.

- Turning the corner, the trampers suddenly saw a mountain.

/ Having seen the movie, Brad Pitt acts very well.

Brad Pitt is not the subject of the verb in this sentence – he did not see the movie.

- Having seen the movie, I think that Brad Pitt acts very well.

/ Looking out the window, the sun was shining.

The sun is not able to look out the window!

- Looking out the window, Rob saw that the sun was shining.

/ Placed at the end of the row, it was difficult for Jennifer to see the performers on the stage.

The reader has no idea what it refers to; it is not capable of being placed at the end of the row; Jennifer is the true subject of the participle.

- Placed at the end of the row, Jennifer found it difficult to see the performers on the stage.

/ I advertised in the newspaper for information about my car, stolen over the weekend.

Here, the participial phrase comes near the end of the sentence, but there is still a problem: What was stolen? The car, not I.

- Having had my car stolen over the weekend, I advertised about it in the newspaper. OR, I advertised in the newspaper for information about my car which was stolen over the weekend.

/ Compared to London, I believe that Hamilton has a warmer climate.

I am not being compared to London.

- Compared to London, Hamilton has a warmer climate, I believe.

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/ After studying for a year at polytechnic, it was not difficult for Jason to succeed at university.

It cannot be the subject of the participle “studying”.

- After studying for a year at polytechnic, Jason found it easy to succeed at university.

/ Coming from an expert scientist, the jury was convinced by the technical information.

The jury (a group of people) could not possibly come from an expert scientist; it is the technical information that comes from the expert scientist.

- Coming from an expert scientist, the technical information convinced the jury.

/ Having seen the damage caused by water pollution, it is essential to protect the world’s rivers and oceans.

The reader has no idea what it could be; it is not capable of seeing damage.

- Having seen the damage caused by water pollution, everybody should help to protect the world’s rivers and oceans.

/ Assisted by the wind, the men’s world 100m sprint record was broken at the Olympic Games by a Kenyan sprinter.

the men’s world 100m sprint record cannot be assisted by the wind, so the men’s world 100m sprint record cannot be the subject of the verb participle Assisted.

- Assisted by the wind, a Kenyan sprinter broke the men’s world 100m sprint record at the Olympic Games.

/ Knowing how to run a small business, it was easy for Karina to manage her father’s store.

- Knowing how to run a small business, Karina found it easy to manage her father’s store.

/ Looking over the cliff, the sea seemed a long way away.

- Looking over the cliff, Simiona thought the sea seemed a long way away.

/ After eating such a large meal, my stomach felt full.

- After I had eaten such a large meal my stomach felt full.

- Having eaten such a large meal, I felt full.

/ Made from organic ingredients, we recommend this healthy snack food.

- Made from organic ingredients, this healthy snack food is recommended by us.

- We recommend this healthy snack food which is made from organic ingredients.

/ Transported by train and then ship, our clients did not receive their order until July.

- Transported by train and then ship, their order did not reach our clients until July.

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/ Situated in the centre of town, you will find our new premises very convenient.

- Situated in the centre of town, our new premises will be very convenient for you.

- You will find our new premises, which are situated in the centre of town, very convenient.

/ Speaking on behalf of our group, this proposal has no merit.

- Speaking on behalf of our group, I feel that this proposal has no merit.

/ Developed by Swedish experts, customers will be eager to buy this new cell phone.

- Developed by Swedish experts, this new cell phone will be eagerly sought by customers.

Dangling modifiers practice: Try to correct these sentences on your own:

1. Being from Germany, it took some time for Greta to get used to life in New Zealand.

2. Swept down the river by the strong current, it was difficult for the horse to reach the riverbank

3. Broken by the falling tree, Dad had to repair the window.

4. Falling from the roof, Stella’s arm was broken.

5. While walking in icy conditions, it is easy for older people to fall over.

6. “Compared to Mandarin, I find English is more difficult to learn,” said Glyn.

7. Coming after the heavy rain, the region of New Orleans was devastated by the floods.

8. When playing contact sports such as rugby, it is easy to suffer a serious injury.

9. Based on the market survey, the drug company will develop a new drug.

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Finding the questions simple, it was easy for Brad to finish the exam in an hour.

1. Based on his exam results, Karl chose accounting as his major.

2. Parked in the city carpark, Sally had her car broken into.

3. Considering the state of the apartment, repainting and re-carpeting will be necessary.

Thinking about the size of the order, it will be necessary to order fresh supplies of raw materials.

1. After being repaired and repainted, I was able to ride my bike again.

Dangling modifiers practice corrected:

1. Being from Germany, Greta found that it took time to get used to life in New Zealand.

2. Swept down the river by the strong current, the horse had difficulty reaching the riverbank. OR Because of the strong current, the horse had difficulty….

3. Broken by the falling tree, the window needed to be repaired by Dad. OR Dad needed to repair the window which had been broken by the falling tree.

4. Falling from the tree, Stella broke her arm. OR When Stella fell from the tree, she broke her arm.

5. While walking in icy conditions, people are likely to fall over easily. OR When you walk in icy conditions you are likely to fall over.

6. “Compared to Mandarin, English is more difficult to learn, I find,” said Glyn. OR “I find that, compared to Mandarin, English is much harder to learn,” said Glyn.

7. Coming after the heavy rain, the floods devastated the region of New Orleans.

8. When playing contact sports such as rugby, players could easily suffer a serious injury.

9. Based on the market survey, the decision was made by the drug company to develop a new drug.

10. Finding the questions simple, Brad easily finished the exam in an hour.

11. On the basis of his exam results, Karl chose accounting as his major.

12. Parked in the city carpark, Sally’s car was broken into. OR Sally’s car was broken into while it was parked in the city carpark.

13. Considering the state of the apartment, the property agent thinks that repainting and re-carpeting will be necessary.

14. Thinking about the size of the order, we will have to order fresh supplies of raw materials.

15. After being repaired and repainted, my bike was able to be ridden again.

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Misplaced modifiers

Teaching points:

Modifiers such as only, extremely, nearly and just might seem to sit comfortably in several different places in a sentence, as these examples show:

I only caught the bus as far as Auckland.

I caught only the bus as far as Auckland.

I caught the bus only as far as Auckland.

I caught the bus as far as Auckland only.

However, depending where you place such words, they will attach their meaning to the words that are closest, and this can result in giving a wrong or impossible message. When the wrong meaning results from putting modifiers in the wrong place, then they become misplaced modifiers.

/ I only caught the bus as far as Auckland. What does “only caught” mean?

I caught only the bus as far as Auckland. Does this mean that the writer didn’t catch a horse, a train or any other means of transport, only a bus?

I caught the bus only as far as Auckland.

I caught the bus as far as Auckland only. These two versions seem to convey the writer’s idea more accurately. The writer wants to convey the message that he or she didn’t travel by bus further than Auckland.

Only I came to New Zealand last year. Tells us who came to New Zealand – I and nobody else.

I only came to New Zealand last semester. Tells us what I did – I came but I didn’t do anything else.

I came only to New Zealand last year. Tells us where I came to – New Zealand but not any other country.

I came to New Zealand only last year. Tells us when I came to New Zealand – last year, not 2007, 2008 or 2012.

Examples

/ I only work on Friday and Saturday evenings.

- I work only on Friday and Saturday evenings.

/ Rosie just got a letter from him yesterday.

- Rosie got a letter from him just yesterday.

/ I just meant to send the email to him but sent it to everyone on my mailing list.

- I meant to send the email just to him, but sent it to everyone on my mailing list.

/ In my family, we only eat turkey at Christmas and never at any other time of the year.

/ In my family, we eat only turkey at Christmas and never at any other time of the year.

- In my family, we eat turkey at Christmas only and never at any other time of the year.

/ Mrs Masters only asked the painter if he could paint the fence, not the gate.

/ Mrs Masters asked only the painter if he could paint the fence, not the gate.

/ Mrs Masters asked the painter if he could only paint the fence, not the gate.

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- Mrs Masters asked the painter if he would paint the fence only, not the gate.

- This car only runs on bio-fuel derived from corn.

- This car runs only on bio-fuel derived from corn. (meaning, this car will not run on anything else) OR

This car runs on bio-fuel derived only from corn. (the bio-fuel is derived from no other source except corn)

Misplaced modifier practice: Try these for yourself:

Their team only scored the winning goal in the last minute of the game.

Tiare only liked mussels, and wouldn’t eat any other shellfish.

Marie only had enough money to pay her telephone bill.

You will only have one chance to pass your instructor’s certificate.

Misplaced modifier practice corrected:

Their team scored the winning goal only in the last minute of the game. OR

Their team scored the winning goal in the last minute only.

(The writer wants to modify the time statement in this sentence.)

Tiare liked mussels only, and wouldn’t eat any other shellfish. OR

Tiare would eat no other shellfish except mussels.

(The writer wants to modify what Tiare eats).

Marie had only enough money to pay her telephone bill. OR

Marie had enough money to pay only her telephone bill.

(The writer wants to modify the statement about what Marie could spend the money on).

You will have one chance only to pass your instructor’s certificate. OR

You will have only one chance to pass your instructor’s certificate.

(The writer wants to modify the idea of how many chances are available).

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Parallel sentences

Teaching Points

Parallel structure means using grammatically consistent words, phrases, clauses or sentence structures to express ideas. Pattern, rhythm and repetition are all important in constructing a sentence along parallel lines. When writing parallel sentences, use the same pattern of words, such as all –ing words, all verbs in the past tense, all starting with nouns, or all active voice without changing to the passive voice.

Examples:

- I hope this course will help me to think clearly, write concisely, and convey my ideas effectively.

- The half back sold a dummy, spun to the left, and raced for the goal line.

- Rats, mice and cockroaches had invaded the apartment.

- I’ll come to the match: so will James and Matiu.

- Through the gate, down the footpath, and into the playground, the little runaway sped on his trike.

- Would you like beans, carrots, broccoli or all three vegetables?

- My partner, my mother and my three children are all travelling to Singapore.

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Poor examples, corrected

/ I remember what it was like to be young, strong and I felt full of energy.

- I remember what it was like to be young, strong and energetic. (The pattern is created by the three adjectives).

/ Women were crying, men were shouting and children were short of food.

- Women were crying, men were shouting and children were starving.

/ He was honourable, diligent, courteous and I could trust him entirely.

- He was honourable, diligent, courteous and trustworthy.

/ She likes to knit and sew, and she also enjoys cooking and gardening.

- She likes to knit, sew, cook and garden.

- She likes knitting and sewing, cooking and gardening.

/ I heard that they were planning to build a new by-pass and our access could be affected.

- I heard that a new by-pass was planned and guessed that our access could be affected.

(I heard...I guessed; a new by-pass = noun...our access = noun; was planned = passive verb...could be affected = passive verb)

/ On my birthday, I would love to hear from lots of my friends, have a few drinks, a great movie could be worth seeing, and going out for dinner at a very expensive restaurant would be nice.

- On my birthday I would love to hear from lots of my friends, have a few drinks, see a movie, and go out for dinner at a very expensive restaurant.

/ She folded all the brochures, putting them into envelopes and took them to the postal box.

- She folded all the brochures put them into envelopes and took them to the postal box.

/ The couple chose a date for their wedding ceremony, making out a menu of food and drink, hired a band and finally the invitations were sent out to guests.

- The couple chose a date for their wedding ceremony, made out a menu of food and drink, hired a band and sent out invitations to guests.

Parallel sentence practice

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See below for corrected sentences.

• I am looking forward to meeting you and to hear about your trip.

• The lecturer told the students that they should do a lot of study, that they should get a lot of sleep, and to do some relaxation exercises before the exam.

• Her book will be published in January, February, or in March.

• It’s either immoral, illegal or not good for your health.

• Curie was a physicist, Marconi was an inventor, and Fleming was well known in the field of bacteriology.

• Curie researched radium, Marconi’s name is connected with radio, and Fleming worked on penicillin.

Parallel sentence practice corrected

• I am looking forward to meeting you and hearing about your trip. OR I am looking forward to meeting you and to hearing about your trip

• The lecturer told the students that they should do a lot of study, that they should get a lot of sleep, and that they should do some relaxation exercises before the exam.

• Her book will be published in January, February or March. OR Her book will be published in January, in February or in March.

• It’s either immoral, illegal or unhealthy. OR It’s either immoral, or it’s illegal, or it’s unhealthy.

• Curie was a physicist, Marconi an inventor, and Fleming a bacteriologist.

• Curie researched radium, Marconi researched radio, and Fleming researched penicillin. OR Curie researched radium, Marconi radio, and Fleming penicillin.

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Part Three: Punctuation

? ! - ; PUNCTUATION “” : , .The usual rules for punctuation are, on the whole, there to make the written message clearer and to avoid confusion in the reader’s mind. If readers can follow the message easily, they are not distracted from the reading; punctuation helps them in this task. Your choice of punctuation will often depend on the basic building blocks of independent and dependent clauses, how they relate to each other, and whether you are joining or separating ideas.

There is sort of hierarchy among some of the punctuation marks: commas are the weakest form, while a full stop is the strongest; semi-colons and colons, which include a full stop in their makeup, are not as weak as commas but not as strong as a full stop.

Question marks signal to the reader that a question is being asked, while speech marks (also called quotation marks or inverted commas) show that someone else’s spoken or written words are being used. Apostrophes, which indicate abbreviation or possession, sit outside this hierarchy. So do hyphens, which are used to join two words in order to create a new word with a rather different meaning.

Whenever we separate sentences with a full stop, an exclamation mark, or a question mark, we are likely to need to use a capital letter, so the uses of capital letters (upper case letters) are also considered.

Finally in this section we look at abbreviations for words, and a particular type of abbreviation called an acronym.

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Commas

Teaching point 1: Commas separate short items within a list

Examples:

** While on holiday Catherine swam, snorkelled and water skied.

The interior designer chose desks, blinds, shelving units, straight-backed sofas, and revolving chairs for the new offices.

** Karina enjoys movies, clubbing, blogging and playing netball.

On my birthday I would love to hear from lots of my friends, have a few drinks, see a movie, and go out for dinner at a very expensive restaurant.

**Note that the use of the coma before the final “and” relies on the writer’s judgement; if there is no danger of the reader running the last and the second-to-last idea together, then a comma is probably unnecessary.

Comma practice 1: Add any commas needed in these sentences:

• The sandwiches contained egg Gruyère cheese tomato iceberg lettuce and hummus.

• Have you been to Thailand Burma North Vietnam Cambodia or Laos?

• Vicki is studying western philosophy psychology Japanese language and sociology.

• My favourite takeaway foods are pizzas fish and chips sweet and sour pork and barbecued spare ribs.

• Tane’s hobbies include fishing and hunting water skiing water polo and kapa haka.

• She folded all the brochures put them into envelopes and took them to the postal box.

Teaching point 2: Commas separate ideas within the same sentence, making it easier for the reader to understand the message

Examples:

I love oysters, although they are so expensive.

You could fly to the South Island, or you could travel there by ferry boat.

She’ll never agree to marry you, no matter how many times you ask her.

Mike bought another car for just $4000, but immediately wished he had saved up for one that used less petrol.

Cameron checked words in his thesaurus, then corrected the spelling in his essay.

Joanne and Lisa took out money from the bank, before going on a shopping spree.

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Comma practice 2: Add any commas needed in these sentences:

• Harry does play tennis although he prefers to play cricket during the summer months.

• No matter how often I see that movie I still enjoy it.

• Even though their team lost the final everyone enjoyed a great game.

• The quantity of products that we can manufacture might depend on the price of raw materials while the quality of products might depend on the standard of workmanship.

• He prefers to drive his Ferrari even though it uses a lot of petrol.

• The couple chose a date for their wedding ceremony made out a menu of food and drink hired a band and sent out invitations to friends and family.

Teaching point 3: Commas also perform the important job of separating additional information from the main statement

Examples:

The film, “Hamilton Horror Story”, will be shot in the Waikato region.

He plays lead guitar in a local band, “The Hot Shotguns”.

They visited Dublin, commercial capital of modern Ireland, for a conference.

Our manager, Terri Kapua, has an MBA from Harvard, one of the United States’ most famous universities.

Professor Collins, the head of department, will speak to all students this afternoon in the auditorium.

The new auditorium, designed by the well-known architect James Davidson, will be opened by the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister, Diane Masters, who has just returned from a trip to India, will appear on television this evening.

Management has appointed Sarah Jackson to the new position, that of Sales Manager.

After the company closes for Christmas, on December 23, it will hold a special dinner for all employees.

Note: Whenever the additional information does not come at the beginning or end of the sentence, it is separated off by a pair of commas.

If the additional information comes between the subject and its verb, a pair of commas is needed: My brother, who lives in Wellington, plays indoor cricket on Thursday nights.

Comma practice 3: Fill in any missing commas and remove any unnecessary commas.

• Harry my youngest brother has just started high school.

• The school situated in Green Downs also has a kohanga reo in its grounds.

• The race was sponsored by but not connected with, the car company.

• Sir Humphrey Clark, the chairperson of the board has decided to retire.

• I showed the report, to the rest of the marketing team.

• The person responsible for training and recruitment, has drawn up a job description.

• My friend a student at Victoria University is transferring to Waikato next semester.

• Victoria Major, the star of the latest Bond movie has announced her engagement to Terry Minor.

• The CEO and his wife, travelled to San Francisco.

• The CEO Hank Vaughan and his wife travelled to San Francisco.

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• Seeing her friend Alison Tetley across the road Felicity began to call out loudly.

• The summer break beginning in December and ending in March is a great time for relaxing.

Teaching point 4: Commas in reported speech

Examples:

/ “I expect that the salary will be reviewed each year” the manager told him.

- “I expect that the salary will be reviewed each year,” the manager told him.

Comma needed between dialogue and dialogue tag (the manager told him.)

/ “Well” said the assistant “we can do that for you immediately.”

- “Well,” said the assistant, “we can do that for you immediately.”

Comma needed between dialogue tag and the incomplete sentence that has been interrupted by the dialogue tag.

/ “That will be no problem” said the assistant. “We can do that for you immediately.”

- “That will be no problem,” said the assistant. “We can do that for you immediately.”

Note: The first part of this quotation is a complete sentence, so it ends in a full stop (“That will be no problem,” said the assistant.). The second part of the quoted passage is a new sentence, so it begins with a capital letter. (“We can do that for you immediately.”)

Comma practice 4: Insert commas where needed:

The assistant in the Postshop was very helpful. “What can I do for you today?” she asked Penny. “I want to post this parcel to Greece” Penny replied “and I would also like some stamps for these three local letters.” “Airmail stamps are $1:00 each” the assistant told her “but non-airmail postage costs 50 cents per letter.” “I’m sorry” Penny said. “I don’t understand what you mean by airmail stamps.

Teaching point 5: Participial phrases and commas (this usage is related to the understanding of dangling modifiers

Examples:

/ Having had a very long lunch I returned to the office

- Having had a very long lunch, I returned to the office.

Main statement = I returned to the office.

/ According to the experts who undertook the research many customers prefer goods on display to carry a price tag.

- According to the experts who undertook the research, many customers prefer goods on display to carry a price tag.

Main statement = many customers prefer goods on display to carry a price tag.

/ The lion having roamed the city for six days was captured and returned to the wildlife park.

- The lion, having roamed the city for six days, was captured and returned to the wildlife park.

Main statement = The lion was captured and returned to the wildlife park.

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/ Seeing her friend across the road Felicity began to call out loudly.

- Seeing her friend across the road, Felicity began to call out loudly.

Main statement = Felicity began to call out loudly.

/ Seeing her friend, Alison Tetley across the road Felicity began to call out loudly.

- Seeing her friend, Alison Tetley, across the road, Felicity began to call out loudly.

Main statement = Felicity began to call out loudly.

Comma exercise 5: Fill in any missing commas

• Smelling the delicious smell of cake Mrs Austin guessed that her husband had been baking again.

• Taking all his money from his savings account Pine set off to look for a car.

• Having broken her leg Kate is now on two weeks’ sick leave.

• Throwing a large rock at the dog Steve ran back to his car.

• Following the fire on Saturday night the business will have to look for new premises.

• Being now more than 30 years old New Zealand’s abortion legislation is being reconsidered by many people.

• Kneeling in front of Kylie Brad asked her to marry him.

• Being over 2 metres tall Rashid found it difficult to sleep in such a small bed.

Comma practice 6: Insert any missing commas and remove any unnecessary ones:

• Having seen the movie at the cinema and having watched it on DVD three times I can say that it is one of the best films that I’ve ever seen.

• Picking up the bat and face guard and tossing the ball to the pitcher Patrick got ready to hit a home run.

• Two men a large dog and a flock of sheep were in the paddock.

• While trying to cross the road the elderly lady was hit by a cyclist.

• Mr and Mrs Crossan, their son and his wife their daughter and her partner and two other friends were, all staying in the beach house.

• My supervisor arranged a meeting with me after asking which day would be best.

• Phil, Kerry’s partner has a new job in Argentina starting next month.

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Corrected comma practice 1:

• The sandwiches contained egg, Gruyère cheese, tomato, iceberg lettuce and hummus.

• Have you been to Thailand, Burma, North Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos?

• Vicki is studying western philosophy, psychology, Japanese language and sociology. (Vicki is studying three subjects) or, Vicki is studying western philosophy, psychology, Japanese language, and sociology . (Vicki is studying four subjects)

• My favourite takeaway foods are pizzas, fish and chips, sweet and sour pork, and barbecued spare ribs.

• Tane’s hobbies include fishing and hunting, water skiing, water polo and kapa haka.

• She folded all the brochures, put them into envelopes, and took them to the postal box. or, She folded all the brochures, put them into envelopes and took them to the postal box. How necessary is the comma after “envelopes”? Do we need it?


• Harry does play tennis, although he prefers to play cricket during the summer months.

• No matter how often I see it, I still enjoy that movie.

• Even though their team lost the final, everyone enjoyed a great game.

• The quantity of products that we can manufacture might depend on the price of raw materials, while the quality of products might depend on the standard of workmanship.

• He prefers to drive his Ferrari, even though it uses a lot of petrol.

• The couple chose a date for their wedding ceremony, made out a menu of food and drinks, hired a band and sent out invitations to friends and family.


• Harry, my youngest brother, has just started high school.

Main statement = Harry has just started school.

• The school, situated in Green Downs, also has a kohanga reo in its grounds.

Main statement = The school also has a kohanga reo in its grounds.

• The race was sponsored by, but not connected with, the car company.

Main statement = The race was sponsored by the car company.

• Sir Humphrey Clark, the chairperson of the board, has decided to retire.

Main statement = Sir Humphrey Clark has decided to retire.

• I showed the report to the rest of the marketing team.

No comma needed.

• The person responsible for training and recruitment has drawn up a job description.

No comma needed

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• My friend, a student at Victoria University, is transferring to Waikato next semester.

• Main statement = My friend is transferring to Waikato next semester.

• Victoria Major, the star of the latest Bond movie, has announced her engagement to Terry Minor.

“the star of the latest Bond movie” is additional information about the subject, Victoria Major, so needs a pair of commas.

• The CEO and his wife travelled to San Francisco.

No comma required between the subject (the CEO and his wife) and the verb (travelled).

• The CEO, Hank Vaughan and his wife, travelled to San Francisco.

• Seeing her friend, Alison Tetley, across the road Felicity began to call out loudly.

Alison Tetley is additional information giving the name of the friend, so needs to be cut off by a pair of commas.

• The summer break, beginning in December and ending in March, is a great time for relaxing.

Main statement = The summer break is a great time for relaxing.


The assistant in the Postshop was very helpful. “What can I do for you today?” she asked Penny. “I want to post this parcel to Greece,” (comma needed between dialogue and dialogue tag) Penny replied, (see previous note) “and I would also like some stamps for these three local letters.” “Airmail stamps are $1:00 each,”(comma needed between dialogue and dialogue tag )the assistant told her, (see previous note) “but non-airmail postage costs 50 cents per letter.” “I’m sorry,” (comma needed between dialogue and dialogue tag) Penny said. “I don’t understand what you mean by airmail stamps.”


• Smelling the delicious smell of cake, Mrs Austin guessed that her husband had been baking again.

• Taking all his money from his savings account, Pine set off to look for a car.

• Having broken her leg, Kate is now on two weeks’ sick leave.

• Throwing a large rock at the dog, Steve ran back to his car.

• After the fire on Saturday night, the owner of the business will have to look for new premises. (the “business” cannot follow “the fire”)

• Being now more than 30 years old, New Zealand’s abortion legislation is being reconsidered by many people.

• Kneeling in front of Kylie, Brad asked her to marry him.

• Being over 2 metres tall, Rashid found it difficult to sleep in such a small bed.


• Having seen the movie at the cinema , and having watched it on DVD three times, I can say that it is one of the best films that I’ve ever seen.

• Picking up the bat and face guard, and then tossing the ball to the pitcher, Patrick got ready to hit a home run.

• Two men, a large dog, and a flock of sheep were in the paddock.

• While trying to cross the road, the elderly lady was hit by a cyclist.

• Mr and Mrs Crossan, their son and his wife, their daughter and her partner, and two other friends (no comma needed here because all these people form the subject of the verb) were all staying in the beach house.

• My supervisor arranged a meeting with me after asking which day would be best. (no comma?) OR After asking

33


me which day would be best, my supervisor arranged a meeting.

• Phil, Kerry’s partner, has a new job in Argentina starting next month. OR Phil, Kerry’s partner, starts a new job in Argentina next month.

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Semicolons

Teaching point 1

Semicolons join two independent clauses when no co-ordinating conjunction is used.

Examples:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer. (= Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, but Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer.)

Clifford enjoys playing golf; Dirk prefers ten-pin bowling.(= Clifford enjoys playing golf while Dirk prefers ten-pin bowling)

Kereana had many arrangements to make before her trip to Japan; the first thing she had to do, however, was book a ticket.

I enjoy studying statistics; I hope I can apply what I learn to my research papers. (= I enjoy studying statistics and I hope I can apply what I learn to my research papers.

Subjects in the first test group showed signs of the disease; subjects in the second test group were unaffected by exposure to the same levels of toxicity.

Teams from Heathcote High School, Tarawera College, Te Kura O Manuhika and St Alban’s performed in the first half of the concert; teams from Marcellin Girls’ School, Waitawheta College, Ruby Bay Area School and Martindale High took part in the second half.

Teaching point 2

Use a semicolon between two independent clauses when they are joined with a transitional expression such as “however”, “therefore”, “consequently”, “moreover”, etc.

Examples:

The company has experienced significant losses for several years; therefore, the directors resolved to wind up assets.

Ms Felton had worked for Kalman and Rosenberg for nine years; however, she felt restless and ready for a career change.

Adam Sandler has starred in many well-known films; for example, he starred in “Happy Gilmore”, “The Wedding Singer”, “50 First Dates” and “Don’t Mess with the Zohan.” (NOT Adam Sandler has starred in many well-known films; for example, “Happy Gilmore”, “The Wedding Singer”, “50 First Dates” and “Don’t Mess with the Zohan.”)

André received the highest marks in the course; consequently, he was awarded a prize

Teaching point 3

Semicolons separate items in a series when the separate items contain commas.

Examples:

Coach Johnson has introduced several new players into the team: Carlton, Fasene, Ipo and Herewini in the backs; Masa’ii, Tahere and Johannsen in the forwards.

Wanda brought back gifts for her family: French perfume for her mother, as well as a scarf; Belgian chocolate, a flag and some aftershave for her father; and some earrings for her sister

Now try these on your own; add semi-colons where they are needed:

• Jaxon drives a Ferrari Matt drives a Mercedes.

• Turner scored 670 runs during the season consequently a place in the Black Caps team.

• Ferrody conducted extensive research in 2013 his findings suggest that the disease is more prevalent now than it was 10 years ago.

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• I spent three months in the factory while there I was able to observe the whole production cycle.

• She never earns an A grade however hard she works.

• For lunch Diana bought: some sushi from the Sushi stall, the one by the Rec Centre a cherry, coconut and chocolate bar a coffee, without sugar and made from skim milk and a banana.

• The dietician suggested a high fibre diet for example she suggested lots of fruit and vegetables at all meals.

• The directors considered opening a new branch in Lima however they decided that there was not a large market in Peru for their products.

Corrected exercise:

• Jaxon drives a Ferrari; Matt drives a Mercedes. (= semicolon between two independent clauses that are linked in sense)

• Turner scored 670 runs during the season, consequently earning a place in the Black Caps team. (= no semicolon because “consequently earning a place in the Black Caps team” is not an independent clause)

• Ferrody conducted extensive research in 2013; his findings suggest that the disease is more prevalent now than it was 10 years ago. (= semicolon between two independent clauses that are linked in sense)

• I spent three months in the factory; while there I was able to observe the whole production cycle. (= semicolon between two independent clauses that are linked in sense)

• She never earns an A grade, however hard she works. (Here “however hard ” translates as “no matter how hard”; “however” is not acting as a transition between two independent clauses, so a comma is needed, not a semicolon)

• For lunch Diana bought: some sushi from the Sushi stall, the one by the Rec Centre; a cherry, coconut and chocolate bar; a coffee, without sugar, and made from skim milk; and a banana.

• The dietician suggested a high fibre diet; for example, she suggested lots of fruit and vegetables at all meals. (= semicolon between two independent clauses that are linked in sense; “for example” is acting here as a transition)

• The directors considered opening a new branch in Lima; however, they decided that there was not a large market in Peru for their products. (= semicolon between two independent clauses that are linked in sense)

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Colons

Teaching point 1

Colons come after a complete statement (an independent clause) and introduce a phrase or clause that provides an explanation or an example for the previous independent clause.

Examples:

There is only one word to describe him: unscrupulous!

Heger and Worthington (1999) identified one key element in retail success: customer satisfaction.

Carlsson (2006) summarises the reasons for the singer’s appeal: “She was sexy, she had a superb voice, and she sang about things that other performers were reluctant to deal with” (p. 42).

Teaching point 2

Colons come after a complete statement (an independent clause) and introduce a list of items.

Examples:

In preparation for the camping trip, Troy packed all his outdoor gear: his tent, a sleeping bag, tramping boots, two pots, and a fishing line.

The country store sold all sorts of goods: food, clothing, hardware, plants, even petrol.

All sorts of convenience food are available in Hamilton: fish and chips; Asian food, particularly Chinese and Indian; pizzas and pastas, which were originally Italian dishes; hamburgers; and hot roast meats with vegetables.

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Question marks

Teaching point 1

Use question marks for direct questions. The question mark replaces the full stop. If the direct question is part of reported speech, then the question mark goes before the quotation marks.

Examples

What can be deduced from this evidence?

How many states make up Australia?

Helga asked, “What time does the train arrive?”

Does Kelman’s theory have any relevance for managers?

Teaching point 2

Be clear whether the sentence is a statement or a question; if it is a statement, it does not have a question mark.

/ This is a difficult concept to understand?

- This is a difficult concept to understand. = a statement of fact, not a question.

- Is this a difficult concept to understand? = a question.

/ I wonder if we will have good weather on the weekend? = a statement of fact.

- I wonder if we will have good weather on the weekend.

- Will we have good weather this weekend? = a question.

Teaching point 3

If you have a statement within a quoted question, then the question mark goes outside the quotation marks.

Examples:

Statement: Peter said, “I’m watching this programme.”

Question within a statement: Did Peter say, “I’m watching this programme”?

- Is it OK to write, “Your newspaper article shows a biased opinion”?

- How many critics would agree with Wilkie’s (2003) claim that “the Second World War was avoidable and driven by profiteers and war mongers”?

Teaching point 4

If you have a question within a question, then you drop the second question mark.

Example:

/ How often do people ask, “Why does the government tax petrol so heavily?”?

- How often do people ask, “Why does the government tax petrol so heavily?”

/ May I ask you, “How long have you lived in Fiji?”?

- May I ask you, “How long have you lived in Fiji?”

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/ Could you please answer the question, “How long have you been a client of this company?”?

- Could you please answer the question, “How long have you been a client of this company?

Now try these for yourself: Change the statements into questions:

I’m a very good dancer.___________________________________________

He does like visiting the South Island. _______________________________

She asked if we would go with her on the trip.__________________________

Malcolm has two sisters.___________________________________________

Both of Jampreet’s parents have died. ________________________________

The stock market is unstable just now.___________________________

I need to ask my tutor’s advice. _____________________________________

Insert full stops or question marks wherever you think they are needed:

• Do I look like a complete idiot

• Jesse asked whether he needed to write his full address

• Mr Quay stated, “The government will not change its position on this matter”

• The interviewer asked, “How many times have you visited Tibet”

• Did you hear Sheila say, “I’m not going on the field trip”

• It’s getting very late, isn’t it

• Having already paid one bill, do we need to pay this one too

• I prefer this brand of chocolate

Change any statements into questions:

• They are appointing a new director.

• These oysters cost $2:00 each.

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• Did Kylie just ask if she could play at the concert?

• This folder belongs in the filing cabinet.

• Her teenage sons are twins.

• Corrected exercises:

• I’m a very good dancer. Am I a very good dancer?

• He does like visiting the South Island. Does he like visiting the South Island?

• She asked if we would go with her on the trip. Did she ask if we can go on the trip?

• Malcolm has two sisters. Does Malcolm have two sisters?

• Both of Jampreet’s parents have died. Have both of Jampreet’s parents died?

• The stock market is unstable just now. Is the stock market unstable just now?

• I need to ask my tutor’s advice. Do I need to ask my tutor’s advice?

• Do I look like a complete idiot? (Question so needs a question mark)

• Jesse asked whether he needed to write his full address. (Not a question).

• Mr Quay stated, “The government will not change its position on this matter.” (Not a question).

• The interviewer asked, “How many times have you visited Tibet?” (Question so needs a question mark)

• Did you hear Sheila say, “I’m not going on the field trip”? (Question so needs a question mark)

• It’s getting very late, isn’t it? (Question so needs a question mark)

• Having already paid one bill, do we need to pay this one too? (Question so needs a question mark)

• I prefer this brand of chocolate. (Not a question)

• They are appointing a new director. Are they appointing a new director?

• These oysters cost $2:00 each. Do these oysters cost $2:00 each?

• Did Kylie just ask if she could play at the concert?

• This folder belongs in the filing cabinet. Does this folder belong in the filing cabinet?

• Her teenage sons are twins. Are her teenage sons twins?

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Quotation marks

Quotation marks are also called inverted commas. Double quotation marks are used more frequently than single quotation marks.

Teaching point 1

Use double quotation marks to introduce and conclude a quotation. The two sets of quotation marks show exactly what someone has said or written.

Examples:

• “I advise you to continue taking the medication,” the doctor said to Jason.

(Here, a comma separates the quoted material from the dialogue tag.)

• The coach of the Silver Ferns described her team as “hungry for a victory” over their Jamaican opponents.

(No other punctuation needed; the quoted words are part of the main sentence.)

• Woods (2007, p.164) stressed the value of ethics education in undergraduate courses: “Sound ethics education in undergraduate courses results in accountants who act responsibly towards their clients, the government and their professional colleagues.”

(Here, the lead-in sentence is a complete sentence – an independent clause – so a colon is used to separate it from the quotation which is also an independent clause.

Teaching point 2

Use double quotation marks to indicate the title of short works

• a short story – Katherine Mansfield’s story “The Garden Party”

• a poem – Keats’ poem “Ode to a Nightingale”

• an article – “Hollywood returns to the ’70s”

• a song – the Beatles’ “Yesterday”

• a TV programme (but not a series) – “Judy Garland Remembered”

• a book chapter – Chapter 2, “High-Risk Investment”, in Low’s 2008 text

• a film – Julie Andrews starred in “The Sound of Music”

NOTE: Do not use quotation marks in APA reference-list entries

Example:

Weiner, B. (1994). Integrating social and personal theories of achievement striving. Review of Educational Research, 64, 557-573.

(Here, the title of the journal article does not have double quotation marks.)

Teaching point 3

Use double quotation marks to indicate a definition or a translation.

Examples

The Latin term id est means “that is” and is often abbreviated to i.e.

The ancient Hindi inscription can be translated as “The gods favour those whom they love but their love comes at a price.”

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Teaching point 4

Use single quotation marks to mark off a quotation within a quotation – think: singles inside doubles – “ ‘ ’ ”

Examples

“I was shocked,” declared Toni, “that Paul called me ‘manipulative’ and said he didn’t trust me.”

Scholes (2005) argued that “recent scientific discussion of Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’ has led to a re-examination of Darwin’s original arguments to support this theory” (p. 69).

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Apostrophes

We use apostrophes to:

a) indicate missing letters in a contracted verb – e.g. it’s = it is or it has (it’s Tuesday today; it’s been raining for a week); we’ll = we will; they’d = they would, etc.

b) show possession or ownership by a person or a thing; sometimes it helps to include “of” as you read the phrase (e.g. Jake’s job = the job of Jake; Tamsin’s boyfriend = the boyfriend of Tamsin).

Do you need to include an apostrophe?

• Check whether ownership is involved; ask yourself whether including of in the phrase shows possession

• Write the name of the possessor, or possessors if there is more than one “owner” in the sentence

• Put an apostrophe after the name of the owner or owners

• Add an “s” if you say the “s”

Examples:

Tsai lives in a flat. Whose flat is it? The flat belongs to Tsai.

Tsai is the owner – write his name - Tsai

Put an apostrophe after the name = Tsai’

Add the “s” = Tsai’s flat.

The director has bought a set of golf clubs. Whose golf clubs are they? The clubs belong to the director.

The director is the owner – write his name – the director

Put an apostrophe after his name = director’

add the “s” = the director’s golf clubs.

Brenda has a new boyfriend. Whose boyfriend is he?

He is the boyfriend of Brenda – write her name – Brenda

Add an apostrophe after her name = Brenda’;

Add the /s/ = Brenda’s new boyfriend

Try these yourself:

the BMW of Jerry = -------------------------------------------------------------------------

the house of Karen = -----------------------------------------------------------------------

the sunglasses of Roger = ----------------------------------------------------------------

the brothers of Pere = ----------------------------------------------------------------------

the CEO of the company = ----------------------------------------------------------------

the daughters of the principal = ----------------------------------------------------------

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the office of the manager = ----------------------------------------------------------------

the hobbies of the family = -----------------------------------------------------------------

the grades of Lili = ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

the children of the women = ----------------------------------------------------------------

the position of Mele = ------------------------------------------------------------------------

the office of the accountant = -------------------------------------------------------------

the lamb of the sheep = ---------------------------------------------------------------------

the clothes of Ana = --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note these tricky examples:

If the owner’s name ends in “s” (e.g. James, Tess, Jonas, Jess, Lars, Silas, babies, butterflies, etc.), make sure that you add the apostrophe after the “s” in their name:

James’s plane ticket (not Jame’s plane ticket because his name is not Jame); Jess’s classmates (not Je’ss or Jes’s classmates);

the babies’ mothers (because there is more than one baby and each has his or her own mother);

the butterflies’ wings ( more than one butterfly, each with its own set of wings);

Russ’s parents (the parents of Russ);

Jesus’ teachings (the teachings of Jesus);

Chris’s promotion (the promotion earned by Chris);

Lars’ tutorial (the tutorial that Lars is enrolled in).

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Now try these for yourself:

the office of the boss = ---------------------------------------------------------------------

that idea of Jonas = -------------------------------------------------------------------------

the flavour of the strawberries = ---------------------------------------------------------

the directors of the companies = --------------------------------------------------------

the calves of the cows = -------------------------------------------------------------------

the wives of the farmers = -----------------------------------------------------------------

the colour of the berries = -----------------------------------------------------------------

the mother of Charles = --------------------------------------------------------------------

Check whether you are writing about one owner or more:

Two of the table’s legs are broken = two legs of one table

The tables’ legs have been damaged = the legs of two or more tables

Think about:

the car’s wheels and the cars’ wheels (one car; more than one car)

the woman’s shoes and the women’s shoes (one woman; more than one woman

the man’s workmates and the men’s workmates (one man; more than one man)

the company’s financial records and the companies’

Corrected exercises: directors (one company; more than one company)

the union’s members and the unions’ members (one union; two or more unions)

the chair’s cushions and the chairs’ cushions (one chair; more than one chair)

If two or more people own something, the apostrophe to show possession goes with the name of the last person:

Gerhardt and Tomlinson’s workshop (not Gerhardt’s and Tomlinson’s workshop)

Think also about these examples:

Granger, Trott and Rawlinson’s office

Huntley and Palmer’s crackers

Sue and Jason’s apartment

Tom and Gerry’s coach

Pabu and Rama’s mother

Fleischman and Vague’s law practice

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(However, Finn’s and Jane’s exams have finished means that Finn sat different exams to the ones that Jane sat.)

Remember that you might also need to use apostrophes with seasons, months, and other time periods (second, minute, year, etc.):

September’s sales figures winter’s temperatures

a minute’s silence three months’ salary

six weeks’ holiday two months’ delay

one year’s maternity leave three decades’ development

Corrected exercises:

the BMW of Jerry = Jerry’s BMW

the apartment of Karen = Karen’s apartment

the sunglasses of Roger = Roger’s sunglasses

the brothers of Pere = Pere’s brothers

the CEO of the company = the company’s CEO

the daughters of the principal = the principal’s daughters

the office of the manager = the manager’s office

the hobbies of the family = the family’s hobbies

the grades of Lili = Lili’s grades

the children of the women = the women’s children

the position of Mele = Mele’s position

the office of the accountant = the accountant’s office

the lamb of the sheep = the sheep’s lamb

the clothes of Ana = Ana’s clothes

Corrected exercises:

the office of the boss = the boss’s office

that idea of Jonas = Jonas’s idea

the flavour of the strawberries = the strawberries’ flavour

the directors of the companies = the companies’ directors

the calves of the cows = the cows’ calves

the wives of the farmers = the farmers’ wives

the colour of the berries = the berries’ colour

the mother of Charles = Charles’ mother or Charles’s mother

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Hyphens

Hyphens are used between two words (and sometimes between more), and are used without any other spaces between the words.

Teaching point 1: Using hyphens with prefixes

Some words that take a prefix do not require a hyphen between the prefix and the root word – for example, unnatural, displeased, multitalented, insufficient, overindulgent, undernourished. However, others do require a hyphen – for example, all-knowing, self-confessed, half-hearted. The rule seems to be that if the prefix is a complete word it often attaches to the root word with a hyphen. Check your dictionary.

When the word after the prefix is a numeral or a proper noun, always use a hyphen – all-Australian, post-2000, pre-1939.

Teaching point 2: Using hyphens to make meaning clear

We often use hyphens to mark our meaning clear when two words that look exactly alike without a hyphen have two very different meanings, or when the lack of a hyphen makes an ugly looking word.

Examples:

recover – The company was soon able to recover all its initial outlay on machinery.

re-cover – The upholsterer will re-cover the chair in a green fabric.

resign – The minister intends to resign before the election takes place.

re-sign – The two Foreign Ministers will re-sign the agreement at their meeting.

recount – After being rescued from the sea, the sailor was able to recount how his ship had been sunk.

re-count – Please re-count your money to check that you have the correct amount.

recreation – Golf is a favourite form of recreation.

re-creation – The film showed a re-creation of the fire in the ship.

co-worker (not co-worker) – His co-worker had also graduated from the University of Waikato.

co-operate (not cooperate) – Management expects that the two teams will co-operate in order to meet the revised production target.

co-accused (not co accused) – Jackson and his co-accused, his girlfriend, will appear in court tomorrow.

Teaching point 3 Use a hyphen between two words to form an adjective describing the noun that comes after the adjective.

Examples:

Valli could see her face in the well-polished floor. BUT, The floor was well polished and Valli could see her face in it.

The auditor wore a close-fitting jacket and wide-legged trousers. BUT, The auditor’s trousers were close fitting and his trousers had wide legs.

The group worked hard on their ten-page report. BUT, The group worked hard on their report which was ten pages long.

Kelly wore a light-blue dress. (The colour of the dress was “light-blue). BUT Kelly wore a light, blue dress. (The dress was made out of a light fabric and it was blue in colour).

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Teaching point 4 Do not use a hyphen between an ly adverb and an adjective.

Examples:

/ This is a tightly-fitting sweater.

- This is a tightly fitting sweater. Also write as “This is a tight-fitting sweater.”

/ The Coburns bought a fully-renovated apartment.

- The Coburns bought an apartment that had been fully renovated.

Teaching point 5 Do not use a hyphen after an adjective in its comparative (er, more) or superlative (est, most) form.

Examples

/ Bella is a sweeter-sounding name than Cruella.

- Bella is a sweeter sounding name than Cruella.

/ The sweetest-tasting jam was very popular in India.

- The sweetest tasting jam was very popular in India.

Teaching point 6 Hyphens in numbers

Use hyphens in two-word numbers between twenty and ninety-nine whenever the numbers are spelled out as words.

Examples:

Twenty-five people took part in the competition.

They invited seventy-five guests to the wedding.

Also use a hyphen when writing a spelled-out fraction, percentage or amount of money if they use fewer than four words.

Examples:

Bobbi added three-quarters of a cup of sugar to the pudding mixture.

The pass mark was seventy-five percent.

A large tin of paint costs sixty-five dollars.

Teaching point 7 Use hyphens when a phrase is used as a single adjective. Test by asking the question: “What sort of (driver, manual, situation, experience, etc.)?”

Examples:

The hit-and-run driver was arrested at her home.

The manual provided step-by-step instructions for loading a new printer.

Don’t worry; this is not a life-or-death situation.

Seeing the Taj Mahal by moonlight was a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

The public decided that the case was cut-and-dried; the accused was obviously guilty.

There are no hard-and-fast rules for becoming a millionaire.

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Capitalisation

When should you use capital letters?

Give capital letters to proper nouns (nouns which indicate a specific thing, place, or person, e.g. China’s economy, Norway, London’s transport system, Madame Poincaré). You must also capitalise adjectives associated with proper nouns (e.g. Chinese, English, Russian, Hungarian)

Examples:

John Smith Hamilton the Treasury

the Department of Management Communication

Smith and Leverson Ltd

the All Blacks and the Springboks

Amuse Bouche Café

Capitalise titles or positions when they come in front of names

Examples:

Prime Minister Helen Clark

President Obama

Professor McLaren

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Alfamaile

Do not use capitals for titles or positions when they are used as generic nouns (referring to the general group, not the specific person)

Examples:

/ Tony Blair may not have been the world’s greatest Prime Minister.

- Tony Blair may not have been the world’s greatest prime minister.

/ Professor Howden was once the Vice-Chancellor of this university.

- Professor Howden was once the vice chancellor of this university.

Some people capitalise full official titles or positions when they follow names, but the practice is becoming less common.

Jane Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of Mars Incorporation, signed the contract. This could also be written as Jane Mitchell, chief executive officer of Mars Incorporation, signed the contract.

Felicity Clinton, President of the United Southern States, came to the APEC meeting. This could also be

written as Felicity Clinton, president of the United Southern States, came to the APEC meeting.

Do not use capitals for the names of academic subjects unless they form part of a proper noun.

Examples:

/ I am majoring in Zoology.

- I am majoring in zoology.

/ The Accountancy textbook is in a new edition.

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- The accountancy book is in a new edition.

- am studying in the Department of Zoology at Auckland University.

Do not capitalise the names of the four seasons

Examples:

/ They swim in Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring.

- They swim in summer, autumn, winter and spring.

Practice exercise:

• The fragile vase was made from _______ (china/China).

• Ms Fowkes lived in ________ (china/China) for many years.

• Many __________ (swedes/Swedes) took part in the Winter Olympics.

• Temperatures this ___________ (summer/Summer) have been very high.

• I enjoy eating __________ (swedes/Swedes) in the cold weather.

• What is the __________(maori/Maori) word for “bread”?

• Dogs are likely to attack ________ (kiwi/Kiwi) in the bush.

• Only a few people voted for the Mickey Mouse _______ (party/Party).

• Money was donated by the Fairview ______ (lions/Lions) Club.

• Annette invited me to her engagement ________ (party/Party).

• The local _________ (council/Council) decided to build a community hall.

• A swimming complex was built with funding provided by the city _______ (council/Council).

• Her tangi was held at her home ________ (marae/Marae).

• We spent the weekend at Te Wheturangi ________ (marae/Marae).

• People living in New Zealand are called_______ (kiwis/ Kiwis).

• The park visitor was attacked by two ______ (lions/Lions).

• Hamilton ______________ (City Council/city council) voted to build a new bridge across the river.

• In ____________ (winter/Winter) I enjoy skiing.

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Practice exercise corrected:

• The fragile vase was made from china.

• Ms Fowkes lived in China for many years.

• Many Swedes took part in the Winter Olympics.

• Temperatures this summer have been very high

• I enjoy eating swedes in the cold weather.

• What is the Maori word for “bread”?

• Dogs are likely to attack kiwi in the bush.

• Only a few people voted for the Mickey Mouse Party.

• Money was donated by the Fairview Lions Club.

• Annette invited me to her engagement party.

• The local council decided to build a community hall.

• A swimming complex was built with funding provided by the city council.

• Her tangi was held at her home marae.

• We spent the weekend at Te Wheturangi Marae.

• People living in New Zealand are called Kiwis.

• The park visitor was attacked by two lions.

• Hamilton City Council voted to build a new bridge across the river.

• In winter I enjoy skiing.

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Abbreviations and acronyms

Teaching point 1

An acronym is a word made up of the first letters in a group of words (The University of Waikato provides the acronym UOW, for example); the initial letters are written as capital letters to form the acronym.

If you wish to use an acronym repeatedly in formal writing, show courtesy to your reader and avoid misunderstanding by doing the following:

• First use the full term; show the acronym in brackets after the term

• Thereafter, use the acronym

Examples:

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) ran a fitness programme for preschoolers.

New Zealand’s Resource Management Act (RMA) was passed in 1991.

Many young professionals aspire to becoming members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand (ICANZ).

Full stops after each letter are no longer used.

Some acronyms are used in specialised areas of work or research (STM = short-term memory; GAAPs = generally accepted accounting practices; TBL – triple bottom line accounting; MEV = million electron volts; DNA =Deoxyribonucleic acid). These sorts of acronyms are more likely to be found in specialised dictionaries such as a dictionary of accounting terms or a dictionary of psychology. Again, if you use these specialised abbreviations when you are writing for a non-specialist reader, make sure you explain the terms so that the reader understands what you’re trying to say.

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Teaching point 2

Abbreviations are shortened forms of single words (Gen. as an abbreviation for General, Prof. as an abbreviation meaning Professor). Some abbreviations are standard and most people recognise them (a.m. = ante meridiem/before midday; mg = milligram, kg = kilogram, ave = avenue). Standard abbreviations are found in most good dictionaries.

These abbreviations always need full stops:

a.m. p.m. in. (inch) (BUT, kg = kilogram; km = kilometre)

The following abbreviations always need full stops, but you should only use them within brackets. Within the sentence, write the word in full.

cf. = compare i.e. = that is e.g. = for example

viz. = namely/specifically ,etc. = ,and so on vs. = versus/against

Examples:

/ Some outgoings can be considered as fixed costs, e.g. rents and salaries.

- Some outgoings can be considered as fixed costs, for example, rent and salaries.

- Some outgoings can be considered as fixed costs (e.g. rent and salaries).

- Some outgoings can be considered as fixed costs, for example, rent, salaries, and so on.

- Some outgoings can be considered as fixed costs (e.g. rent, salaries, etc.).

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Teaching point 3

Do not abbreviate words just to save time or space. In formal writing, text-style abbreviations are not acceptable. Write through, not thru; write night, not nite; write tonight, not 2nite, write date, not d8, and so on.

In formal writing, do not use contracted verbs. Write do not, not don’t; write they are, not they’re, and so on.

Teaching point 4

If you use an abbreviation for a plural noun, do not add an apostrophe – add an s.

/ the 1990’s / the 1990s’ -the 1990s

BUT – his 1990s’ hit songs = hit songs of the 1990s era; the 1960s’ fashions = fashions of the years in the 1960s

/ mind your p’s and q’s - mind your ps and qs

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Part Four: Parts of speechWords, the basic building material of a message, can be classified into groups according to the job they do in the sentence. These are called the different parts of speech. The most common parts of speech are:

Nouns – naming words

Pronouns – words that take the place of nouns

Verbs – action words and the most powerful in an English sentence

Adjectives – words that describe nouns

Adverbs – words that describe a verb (they tell how something is done)

Other parts of speech are conjunctions (words that link ideas or parts of a sentence together) and prepositions which are the small but highly functional words that work so hard to add to or clarify meaning.

In this section we look particularly at pronouns, verbs and verb tenses, and some differences between certain adverbs and certain adjectives.

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Pronouns: Pronoun-antecedent agreement

Teaching point 1

Make sure that the pronoun you choose agrees with the noun it stands for; if the noun is singular, you must use a singular pronoun, while a plural noun requires a plural pronoun.

Examples:

/ Maths is a challenging subject and many people have difficulty with them. (maths is a singular noun – don’t be fooled by the s on the end!)

- Maths is a challenging subject and many people have difficulty with it.

/ Any customer who does not have their new customer number should contact our Helpdesk staff.

- Any customer who does not have his or her new customer number should contact our Helpdesk staff. OR Customers who do not have their new customer numbers should contact our Helpdesk staff.

/ These statistics are complicated and I don’t understand it.

- These statistics are complicated and I don’t understand them.

/ Your clothes are great. How much did it cost?

- Your clothes are great. How much did they cost?

/ The tramper folded his parka and sleeping bag and put it in his pack.

- The tramper folded his parka and sleeping bag and put them in his pack.

/ They talked about many things but none of it was secret.

- They talked about many things but none of them were secret.OR They talked about many things but nothing was secret.

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Pronouns: Ambiguous or incorrect pronoun

Teaching point 1

Your reader needs to know what any pronoun that you use stands for. In particular, “it” and “they” are dangerous words; if you use them carelessly, the reader may not know what “it” or “they” refer to. Furthermore, if you are writing about two men or two women, the reader will not know which person “he” or “she” refers to.

Examples

/ Parliamentarians have recently made changes to the laws and they have caused problems for many people. Does “they” refer to “parliamentarians”, “changes”, or “laws”? The reader does not know.

- Parliamentarians have recently changed the laws and these changes have caused problems for many people.

/ Jeremy asked Mike if he had passed the test. Does “he” refer to “Jeremy” or to “Mike”?

- Jeremy asked Mike if he, Mike, had passed the test. OR Jeremy asked Mike if he, Jeremy, had passed the test.

/ Please complete it and return by post.

- Please complete the questionnaire and return it by post.

/ She has made changes to the curtains in my rooms and they are awful. Does “they” refer to “changes” or to ”curtains”?

- She has made changes to the curtains in my room, but I think the new curtains are hideous.

/ Lily told Kay that she had won the contract. Who is “she”: Lily or Kay?

/ Lily told Kay that she herself had won the contract. Adding “herself” is ungrammatical and still does not explain who “she” is.

- Lily told Kay that she, Lily, had won the contract. OR Lily told Kay that she, Kay, had won the contract.

/ When Kim asked for programme advice about next semester’s papers, they gave him many helpful suggestions. Who does “they” refer to; there is no plural noun that could be the antecedent for this pronoun.

- When Kim asked for programme advice about next semester’s papers, the student advisers gave him many helpful suggestions.

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Pronouns: Shift of person

The English language uses three “persons”: first person, second person, and third person. Do not mix these within the same sentence.

1st person 2nd person 3rd person

I

me

we

us

you

he

she

it

they

them

one (someone, anybody, etc.)

Examples:

/ When students attend lectures you need to listen critically.

- When students attend lectures they need to listen critically.

/ Anyone visiting the United States needs to make sure that their passport is readable electronically.

- Travellers visiting the United States need to make sure that their passports are readable electronically. OR Any traveller visiting the United States needs to make sure that his or her passport is readable electronically.

/ If customers are dissatisfied with the service we can always complain to the manager.

- If customers are dissatisfied with the service they can always complain to the manager. OR If we, as customers, are dissatisfied with the service we can always complain to the manager.

/ If one is faced with a challenge, you should do your best to find a solution to the problem.

- If you are faced with a challenge, you should do your best to find a solution to the problem. OR, If one is faced with a challenge, one should do one’s best to find a solution to the problem.

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Pronouns: Case

Teaching point 1

A pronoun stands in place of a noun (for example, Harvey – he, Dr Sutcliffe – she, the farm animals – they, the cat’s dish – its dish, Ali’s partner – his partner).

You need to check whether you are writing about the subject, the object or the possessive in order to choose the correct pronoun form.

SUBJECT

(Nominative Case)

performing the action

OBJECT

(Accusative Case)

recipient of the action

POSSESSIVE

(Genitive Case)

involves possession

I me my (+ noun) or mine

you

(singular)

you

(singular)

your (+ noun)

or yours

he/she/it him/her/ithis/her/its (+noun) or

his/hers/its

we usour (+ noun)

or ours

you

(plural)

you

(plural)

your (+noun)

or yours

they them their (+noun)

or theirsNB: his, hers, ours, yours, and theirs never take an apostrophe. It’s only ever means it is or it has (been)

Examples:

I (subject) gave them (object) a wedding present. (I’m performing the action for them.)

They (subject) sent me (object) a Christmas card. )(They are performing the action for me.)

We (subject) saw your sister (object) in town today.

She (subject) told us (object) about your new job.

Sarah (subject) promised him (object) that she (subject) would wait for his (possessive) letter before she (subject) reached her (possessive) decision.

Be careful not to confuse the nominative and accusative cases:

1) She and him are both coming to the meeting.

In this example, both people are coming to the meeting, so both form the subject of the statement. However, him is wrong because it denotes the accusative case; the idea should be correctly stated as: She and he are both coming to the meeting. We might even “tidy” the statement to read Both he and she are coming to the meeting.

2) Me and you received separate invitations to the 21st party.

In this example, both of us form the subject of the sentence. However, me is wrong in this sentence because it denotes the accusative case. I received an invitation.

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Rewrite correctly as: You and I received separate invitations to the 21st party.

3) They sent you and I a gift voucher.

In this example, they forms the subject, and you and me would be the correct accusative form.

Rewrite correctly as: They sent you and me a gift voucher.

4) The vet told Kelly and I that the dog has injured its back legs.

Here, the vet is the subject; Kelly and the second person (I) are the object – the vet is telling them – so I is wrong because it shows the nominative form.

Rewrite correctly as: The vet told Kelly and me that the dog had injured its back legs.


When him and I played in the same cricket team, Karl always preferred to bat rather than to bowl or field.

Bella and Rose showed Christina and I the video.

Them and their parents filmed it during their overseas holiday.

We had a lot of fun, you and me, when we went on holiday to Fiji without him.

Terry, Hank and me went to the pub after the rugby game.

Me and Kara both got an A grade for that assignment.

We saw Darryl and she at the restaurant last night.

Donna invited you and I to stay at their beach house next weekend.

Pia told us what her and Jason did on Sunday night.

Ahmed and him asked us to visit them in Saudi Arabia.


When he and I played in the same cricket team, Karl always preferred to bat rather than to bowl or field.

Bella and Rose showed Christina and me the video.

They and their parents filmed it during their overseas holiday.

We had a lot of fun, you and I, when we went on holiday to Fiji without Timoti.

Terry, Hank and I went to the pub after the rugby game.

Kara and I both got an A grade for that assignment.

We saw Darryl and her at the restaurant last night.

Donna invited you and me to stay at their beach house next weekend.

Pia told us about the movie that she and Jason saw on Sunday night.

Ahmed and he asked us to visit them in Saudi Arabia.

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Reflexive pronouns

Teaching point 1

All reflexive pronouns end in self (if they are singular – myself yourself, himself, herself, itself) or selves (if they are plural – ourselves, yourselves, themselves).

Teaching point 2

A reflexive pronoun can be used for two purposes:

• to give emphasis

• to reflect back to the subject of the sentence

Now look at these two sentences:

• I’ll do the job myself.

• I’ve cut myself on the tin-opener.

The first sentence emphasises the fact that I, and no-one else, will do the job. The subject of the sentence is I; myself is reinforcing the fact that only I will do the job.

In the second sentence, myself is not used for emphasis. Myself is the object of the verb cut of which I is the subject. Myself refers back to the same person as the subject (I), and so it is a reflexive pronoun. Who have I cut? I’ve cut myself.

Examples:

• She told herself not to be afraid.

• He convinced himself that he had a strong chance of winning the race.

• The women treated themselves to a delicious lunch.

• The team members congratulated themselves on winning the contract.

• The dinghy righted itself.

• The children were very good at amusing themselves.

• (You) Look after yourself!

• The pig scratched itself against the tree.

• I helped myself to some more of the delicious cake.

• We have given ourselves the day off!

• You should buy yourselves some new clothes.

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Teaching point 3

It is a common error to use reflexive pronouns in place of personal pronouns.

SUBJECT

(Nominative Case)

performing the action

OBJECT

(Accusative Case)

recipient of the action

POSSESSIVE

(Genitive Case)

involves possession

REFLEXIVE

I me my (+ noun) or mine myself

you (singular) you (singular)your (+ noun)

or yoursyourself

he/she/it him/her/ithis/her/its (+noun) or

his/hers/its

himself

herself

itself

We usour (+ noun)

or oursourselves

you

(plural)

you

(plural)

your (+noun)

or yoursyourselves

They them their (+noun)

or theirsthemselves

For example, these two sentences misuse reflexive pronouns:

/ My wife and myself will be glad to come to the wedding.

/ I haven’t seen your husband and yourself for several years.

Both sentences should use a personal pronoun instead of the reflexive pronoun.

- My wife and I will be glad to come to the wedding.

- I haven’t seen you and your husband for several years.

Examples:

/ Bobbie and myself are in the same class.

- Bobbie and I are in the same class.

/ Bobbie is in the same class as myself.

- Bobbie is in the same class as me. OR Bobbie is in the same class as I am.

Teaching point 4

To help choose the correct pronoun, split the sentence into two short sentences:

/ Tom’s brother and himself are building a small yacht.

• Tom’s brother is building a small yacht.

/ Himself is building a small yacht Tom is building a small yacht.

- Tom and his brother are building a small yacht. OR With his brother, Tom is building a small yacht.

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/ My wife and myself will be glad to come to the wedding.

- My wife will be glad to come to the wedding.

/ Myself will be glad to come to the wedding – sounds wrong! I will be glad to come to the wedding.-

- My wife and I will be glad to come to the wedding.

/ I bought tickets for Diana and yourself.

- I bought tickets for Diana.

/ I bought tickets for yourself. I bought tickets for you. -

- I bought tickets for you and Diana.

/ Her partner and herself will choose a date for their civil union.

- Her partner will choose a date for their civil union.

/ Herself will choose a date for their civil union. /She will choose....

- She and her partner will choose a date for their civil union

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Demonstrative pronouns

Teaching point 1

The pronouns this, that, these and those stand for nouns. They should not be used to relate back to clauses or sentences.

As a general rule, unless the meaning of a demonstrative pronoun is crystal clear to your reader, make sure you add a noun – this WHAT? These WHAT? etc.

/ The government decided to call a snap election. That allowed them to take advantage of their popularity and win.

- The government decided to call a snap election. That decision allowed them to take advantage of their popularity and win.

/ The bank manager faced a dangerous situation when an armed intruder tried to rob the bank. This forced the manager to take action and push the panic button under her desk.

- The bank manager faced a dangerous situation when an armed intruder tried to rob the bank. This situation forced the manager to take action and push the panic button under her desk

/ Whenever the computer technician went on holiday, the network experienced constant outages. These caused a lot of problems for the other staff.

- Whenever the computer technician went on holiday, the network experienced constant outages. These outages caused a lot of problems for the other staff

/ The Golden Key organisation invites only certain students to become members. Those are in the top achieving group.

- The Golden Key organisation invites only some students to become members. Those students are in the top achieving group.

Teaching point 1 practice

While Lili was studying in France, she decided to learn how to paint portraits, and how to cook French cuisine. These helped her to survive in France.

The staff asked for a new coffee machine for the tea room. That made the manager angry.

The students were late for their class because they were involved in a protest outside the administration building. This was against the sudden increase in their tuition fees.

The students were late for class because they had been protesting outside the administration building. This made the lecturer very angry.

Bill dreamed of working in his father’s law firm someday. That inspired him to study law at Waikato University.

Although Melissa dreamt of being world-famous and fabulously wealthy, those were never realised.

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Teaching point 1 practice corrected

While Lili was studying in France, she decided to learn how to paint portraits, and how to cook French cuisine. These classes helped her to appreciate French culture.

The staff asked for a new coffee machine for the tea room. That request made the manager angry.

The students were late for their class because they were involved in a protest outside the administration building. This protest was against the sudden increase in their tuition fees.

The students were late for class because they had been protesting outside the administration building. This lateness/ delay made the lecturer very angry.

Bill dreamed of working in his father’s law firm someday. That ambition inspired him to study law at Waikato University.

Although Melissa dreamt of being world-famous and fabulously wealthy, those dreams were never realised.

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Subject-verb agreement

Teaching point 1: Subject- verb agreement

It is important to identify the main subject in your statement and then to think about number; are you talking about one – the singular case (a file; any proposal; our kaumatua; the director in Wellington; my best friend; each idea; Mr Singh) or are you talking about more than one – the plural case (Fiona, Felicity and Faith; some customers; all the mānuhiri; most farmers; beliefs, customs and rituals; all the furniture)?

In English, the verb form changes to agree with its subject:

If the subject is singular, then the verb must take a singular form ( Alice lives in Dunedin; This client wishes to see the accountant; Our family was planning a picnic at the lake; She is the new credit controller.

Notice that the singular verb contains an /s/ (lives, wishes, was, is, has).

If the subject is plural, then the verb must take a plural form (Alice and Derek live in Dunedin now. They were living in Wellington until March of this year. Both have new jobs in Dunedin. Derek’s parents remain in Wellington while all of Alice’s family members are in the Rotorua area.

Notice that plural verb forms do not end in /s/ unless the root verb already has an /s/ (live, were living, have, remain, are BUT possess, guess, confess)

Examples:

/ She ask me that every time I see her.

- She asks me that every time I see her. (singular subject + singular verb)

/ Jets flies at very high altitudes.

- Jets fly at very high altitudes.(plural subject + plural verb)

/ The band and the marching team was leading the parade.

- The band and the marching team were leading the parade. (plural subject + plural verb)

/ Sam prefer to buy expensive shoes.

- Sam prefers to buy expensive shoes. (singular subject + singular verb)

/ Taina possess a great sense of humour.

- Taina possesses a great sense of humour. (singular subject + singular verb)

- Taina and Meriana possess great musical talent. (plural subject + plural verb)

/ They guesses the right answer every time.

- They guess the right answer every time. (plural subject + plural verb)

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Subject-verb agreement practice 1: (See later for corrected exercise)

The workers ________ (want/wants) to complain to the manager.

David and his two brothers ________(is/are) throwing a party.

This information ______ (has been/have been) very useful to customers.

Mistral’s jewellery and laptop _______ (was/were) stolen during the burglary.

Most of the interviewees said they_______ (prefers/prefer) the new brand.

If your passport ____ (is/are)lost, stolen or damaged, then you must apply for a replacement.

Teaching point 2: Subject-verb agreement

When you are trying to identify the subject and decide whether it is singular or plural, you can easily be fooled into seeing the wrong word as the subject; for example, in the phrase “a packet of biscuits” there is only one packet, even though the packet contains several biscuits; the subject is singular, so you would need a singular verb – A packet of biscuits costs less than a tin of baked beans. Shut your eyes and try to “picture” the sentence – you can see one packet only.

Examples:

/ Everybody’s strategies for coping with stress is different.

- Everybody’s strategies for coping with stress are different. (strategies…are)

/ The number of students taking higher degree courses, such as masters and doctorates, have increased.

- The number of students taking higher degree courses, such as masters and doctorates, has increased. (number…has increased)

/ A file containing the details of new clients were available on a shared drive.

- A file containing the details of new clients was available on a shared drive. (file…was)

Teaching point 2 practice: (See later for corrected exercise)

A box of chocolates ______ (makes/make) a lovely thank you gift.

The database of client details ________ (has been/have been) updated.

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A truckload of beds, chairs and tables _____ (was/were) destroyed in the warehouse fire.

Sven’s plan for marketing all sorts of office stationery and equipment, including computers and software, ______ (was/were) accepted by the directors


Look out for words coming between the subject and the verb; these words might confuse you into seeing the wrong word as the subject.

Examples

/ Timmy, who is one of those really intelligent dogs, know how to turn on the TV.

Timmy is singular, so the verb should also be singular – Timmy knows….; don’t be fooled by the word nearest to the verb – “dogs”

A trick here is to take away the words between the commas so that you can see the main statement – “Timmy knows how to turn on the TV”.

- Timmy, who is one of those really intelligent dogs, knows how to turn on the TV.

/ Penetito, as well as the other team members, have been chosen for the tour of Ireland and Wales.

- Penetito, as well as the other team members, has been chosen for the tour of Ireland and Scotland.

/ Fiery Girl, Kansas Kicker and Kerepehi, horses from Cambridge, is scheduled to run in the Melbourne Cup race.

- Fiery Girl, Kansas Kicker and Kerepehi, horses from Cambridge, are scheduled to race in the Melbourne Cup.


The CEO, and no other staff member, _______ (is are) responsible for writing the manual.

Mere, along with her three children, _______ (is are) planning a trip to Switzerland.

This major company, as well as several other smaller firms, ______ (has have) received a government subsidy.

The jury, having reached a verdict on all three charges, _____ (has/have) returned to the courtroom.


Particular words always denote a singular case and take a singular verb form: each, none, either, neither, every, every one, no-one, someone, somebody, everybody

Examples:

/ Either the Vice-Chancellor or the Principal are attending the meeting.

- Either the Vice-Chancellor or the Principal is attending the meeting.

/ Neither the violin nor the cello are a wind instrument.

- Neither the violin nor the cello is a wind instrument.

/ Each of the players have received a copy of the team photo.

- Each of the players has received a copy of the team photo.

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/ None of the computers have been connected to a printer.

- None of the computers has been connected to a printer.

Other words always denote a plural case and take a plural verb form: both, all

Examples:

/ We all has different strategies for coping with work stress.

- We all have different strategies for coping with work stress.

/ All the classmates except Andrew was born in this country.

- All the classmates except Andrew were born in this country.

/ Both Ani and her sister has brown eyes.

- Both Ani and her sister have brown eyes. BUT Ani, as well as her sister, has brown eyes.


Every student ______ (carries/carry) an ID card.

Each ID card _______ (bears/bear) a unique identifying number.

All students _______ (is/are) required to produce their ID cards when they are sitting an exam.

Either an ID card or a driver’s licence _____ (is/are) required for identity purposes if you want to be admitted to this bar.

Both ID card and driver’s licence ______ (shows/show) the owner’s photograph.

Neither security guard _____ (is/are) able to recognise you from your passport photo.

Everyone in our family _______ (likes like) to watch that TV programme.

None of the women _______ (has have) seen the advertisement.

Subject-verb agreement practice 1 corrected:

• The workers want to complain to the manager.

• David and his two brothers are throwing a party.

• This information has been very useful to customers.

• Mistral’s jewellery and laptop were stolen during the burglary.

• Most of the interviewees said they prefer the new brand.

• If your passport is lost, stolen or damaged, then you must apply for a replacement.


• A box of chocolates makes a lovely thank you gift. (“a box” is singular)

• The database of client details has been updated. (“the database” is singular)

• A truckload of beds, chairs and tables was destroyed in the warehouse fire. (“a truckload” is singular)

• His plan for marketing all sorts of office stationery and equipment, including computers and software, was accepted by the directors. (“his plan” is singular)

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The CEO, and no other staff member, is responsible for writing the manual. (The CEO…is; singular subject and verb)

Mere, along with her three children, is planning a trip to Switzerland. (Margaret …is planning; singular subject and verb)

This major company, as well as several other smaller firms, has received a government subsidy. (This major company…has; singular subject and verb)

The jury, having reached a verdict on all three charges, has returned to the courtroom.


• Every student carries an ID card. (singular case)

• Each ID card bears a unique identifying number. (singular case)

• All students are required to produce their ID cards when they are sitting an exam. (plural case)

• Either an ID card or a driver’s licence is required for identity purposes if you want to be admitted to this bar. (singular case)

• Both ID card and driver’s licence show the owner’s photograph. (plural case)

• Neither security guard is able to recognise you from your passport photo. (singular case)

• Everyone in our family likes to watch that TV programme. (singular case)

• None of the women has seen the advertisement. (singular case)

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Shift of verb tense

Teaching point 1

The tense of the verb tells us the time when an action occurred. The tense could be present (happening now), past (has already taken place), or future (still to occur).

Present tense Past tense forms Future tense

I run. I ran. I will run.

I am running. I was running.

I had run.

I would have run.

Tom is laughing. Tom laughed. Tom will laugh.

He was laughing.

Kimi and Tania are talking. They talked. Kimi and Tania shall talk.

They have been talking.

They had talked.

They used to talk about…

In any sentence, we are likely to use different tenses.

Examples:

• When you are shopping for groceries, you will need to buy toothpaste and milk.

• If Tess had known about the merger, she might have looked for another job.

• Pati tried to whistle while eating a biscuit.

• Having looked over the property, prospective buyers will realise that the price is excellent in today’s real estate market.

• After I have been to the dentist, I will meet my friend for lunch.

• When Terri arrives, she will be surprised to find you already here.

• Should you wish to renew your membership, you will be able to do this online. You can order a club badge online too.

• We lost that game, but I’m sure that we’ll win next week.

However, unless the meaning of a sentence in a formal piece of writing requires you to mix verb tenses, as a general rule keep the tenses consistent.

Examples:

/ The spare parts clerk tried to find a new supplier but her efforts come to nothing.

- The spare parts clerk tried to find a new supplier but her efforts came to nothing.

Past tense “tried” is consistent with “past tense “came”.

/ Students who leave assignments until the last minute often find that they will not have enough time to do a good job.

- Students who leave assignments until the last minute often find that they do not have enough time to do a good job.

Present tense “leave” is consistent with present tense “do not have”.

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/ First he invited me into the office; then he tells me I am redundant.

- First he invited me into the office; then he told me I was redundant.

Past tense “invited” is consistent with “past tense “told”.

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Adjectives/adverbs

Teaching point 1:

Adjectives are words that describe (or modify the meaning of) a noun or pronoun, and they often precede the noun or pronoun they are describing:

Examples:

A thin man, famous women, my old table, some beautiful scenery.

Adjectives answer the question, “What was it like?”

Teaching point 2:

Adverbs are words that describe (or modify) a verb, an adjective, or another adverb:

Examples:

She ran fast. (“fast” is an adverb telling us how she ran).

A very fast runner won the race. (“very” is an adverb modifiying the adjective “fast”).

The honey was horribly sticky. (“horribly” is an adverb modifying the adjective “sticky” and tells us how sticky the honey felt).

She ran quickly. (“quickly” is an adverb telling us how she ran). She ran amazingly quickly. (Both “amazingly” and “quickly” are adverbs; “amazingly” adds more information about “quickly”).

Teaching point 3:

Adverbs nearly always answer one of these questions: how? why? when? or where?

Example:

Ben returned home (where) quickly (how) yesterday (when) to meet Susanne (why). In this sentence, “home”, “quickly” and “yesterday” are adverbs, while the group of words “to meet Susanne” forms an adverbial phrase.

Teaching point 4:

Make sure that you place adverbs in the correct position within the sentence, otherwise the meaning of the sentence might change or become confused. These common adverbs are often put in the wrong place: only, just, almost, nearly, even, mainly, also. These words should be placed immediately before the words they modify.

Example:

Pat gave Polly a dollar. Insert “only” in every possible position in this sentence to see how many different messages you can create. Which one do you think is most accurate?

• Only Pat gave Polly a dollar.

• Pat only gave Polly a dollar.

• Pat gave only Polly a dollar.

• Pat gave Polly only a dollar.

• Pat gave Polly a dollar only.

If using “only” is going to create a headache, why not try rewriting the sentence. (e.g. Pat gave Polly a dollar and would give

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her nothing more. OR Pat gave a dollar to Polly but didn’t give money to anyone else. OR ….).

Teaching point 5:

Adverbs are often (but not always) formed by adding “ly” to an adjective: quick+ly = quickly; horrible+ly = horribly; sweet+ly = sweetly; angry+ly = angrily.

Examples:

It was dreadfully funny.

My arm was excruciatingly painful.

She gently pulled the child towards her.

Teaching point 6:

How to know whether to use an adjective or an adverb.

If the modifier tells about the subject, then use an adjective.

Example:

She appeared confident (adjective = tells us more about “she) when she gave her presentation to the clients.

If the modifier tells about the action of the verb (not the subject), then use an adverb.

Example:

She looked confidently (adverb – tells us how she looked at the clients) at the clients as she gave her presentation.

ADJECTIVE ADVERB

confident confidently

real really

quick quickly

awful awfully

Alarming alarmingly

REMEMBER: not all adverbs are formed by adding “ly” to the adjective: furthermore, not all adjectives have an adverbial form

ADJECTIVE ADVERB

Good well

Fast fast

Hard hard

Difficult difficultly with difficulty

Ugly uglily in an ugly way

Teaching point 7: Adverbial clauses.

An adverbial clause is a dependent clause (one that is lacking either a subject, or a verb, or both, so cannot stand alone as a sentence) that modifies a verb, an adjective or an adverb, and begins with a subordinating conjunction such as when, if, because, since, etc.

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Examples:

Because he was tired, he left the meeting early.

When he was hungry, Geoff ate five pies.

Since you left, the position has been vacant.

A dependent clause cannot be used as the subject of a verb. If you start a sentence with one of the subordinating conjunctions (when, if, because, since, and so on), make sure that you follow the clause with an independent clause (a clause containing a subject and a complete verb)

The reason is because – never write this; instead, write the reason is that

/ The reason that the Jacobs family did not go on holiday this year is because Mr Jacobs was in hospital.

- The Jacobs family did not go on holiday this year; the reason is that Mr Jacobs was in hospital.

- The Jacobs family did not go on holiday this year because Mr Jacobs was in hospital.

/ Import earnings are reduced this year. The reason is because the value of the New Zealand dollar has remained high.

- Import earnings are reduced this year because the value of the New Zealand dollar has remained high.

- Import earnings are reduced this year; the reason is that the value of the New Zealand dollar has remained high.

is when - use this phrase to describe, but not to define

/ Aphasia is when you cannot express yourself verbally.

- Aphasia is the inability to express oneself verbally.

/ Bankruptcy is when someone is unable to repay his or her debts.

- Bankruptcy occurs when someone is unable to repay his or her debts.

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Part Five: Faulty usageFaulty usage is a term to describe common mistakes we might make in written language; these usage faults can become bad habits. In earlier sections we looked at some of these, for example, dangling modifiers, faulty comparisons, misuse of reflexive pronouns, and so on.

In this section we look at the confusion between like and as; we also provide a list of word pairs that are commonly confused, as well as a list of some of the most commonly misspelt words. Don’t forget to make use of any electronic spelling aids such as SpellCheck to eliminate misspellings. Unfortunately such aids don’t recognise that you have used the wrong word – for example, insure when you mean ensure – so you need to take even more care not to slip up there!

Faulty usage: like/as

Teaching points:

Use as only if followed by an independent clause that contains a subject and a verb: otherwise, use like.

Examples:

She plays tennis superbly, as her sister also does.

She plays tennis superbly is an independent clause; the dependent clause as her sister also does contains a subject (her sister) and a verb (does…play tennis).

BUT you could also write Like her sister, she plays tennis superbly. (The dependent clause “Like her sister” contains a subject but no verb).

He paid the fine immediately as the court had ordered him to do. OR

Obeying the court’s order, he paid the fine immediately.

Note: It is impossible to construct a like statement in this sentence.

The players blocked their opponents’ every move, as their coach had instructed them to do.

Following their coach’s instructions, the players blocked their opponents’ every move.

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Note: It is impossible to construct a like statement in this sentence.

Anna submitted her assignment online as the lecturer required.

BUT Like any other conscientious student, Anna submitted her assignment on time. (“Like any other conscientious student” contains no verb).

Like a fool, he believed the trickster’s lies. OR

He believed the trickster’s lies, as any fool would do.

Her hair is curly, like her mother’s. OR

Her hair is curly, as her mother’s is.

Like a lion, he crept stealthily through the long grass. OR

He crept stealthily through the long grass, as a lion does. OR

Lion-like, he crept stealthily through the long grass.

More examples:

/ Like I said, it was a difficult decision to make.

- As I said, it was a difficult decision to make.

/ Like the graph shows, sales figures for this month have risen.

- As the graph shows, sales figures for this month have risen.

/ Sales figures for this month have risen, like the graph shows.

- Sales figures for this month have risen, as the graph shows.

/ Like you requested, we have added your details to our client database.

- As you requested, we have added your details to our client database.

/ Like the CEO predicted, our venture into the Pacific has been very successful.

- As the CEO predicted, our venture into the Pacific has been very successful.

/ The hosts spoke first, like protocol dictated.

- The hosts spoke first, as protocol dictated.

/ It snowed last night, like the weather forecaster said it would.

- It snowed last night, as the weather forecaster said it would.

/ As South Africa, Zimbabwe was once a British colony.

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- Like South Africa, Zimbabwe was once a British colony.

- As South Africa was, Zimbabwe was once a British colony.

/ Like the business plan shows, we hope to open a new branch in Christchurch next year.

- As the business plan shows, we hope to open a new branch in Christchurch next year.

Examples of the correct use of “like”:

- Like a swarm of locusts, the crowd ate every bit of food on the table.

- The cows stood completely still, like statues.

- Like the Cameron family, the MacPherson family lived in Rotorua.

- Like a clap of thunder, the car backfired.

- She swam through the water like a fish.

- They marched along the road in perfect step, like soldiers.

- Like many new employees, she was shy of meeting her new workmates.

- Like his wife, Gerry studied at the University of Waikato.

As/Like practice: Choose like or as for each sentence:

• As/Like my tutor requested, I am resubmitting my assignment.

• As/Like Jun’s, Kim’s car has a 2000cc engine.

• As/Like I said, I’m always happy to help.

• As/Like everyone knows, Wellington is the capital of New Zealand.

• Like/As white feathers, the snowflakes floated to the ground.

• Like/As our previous manager, Ms Garnett has a background in sales and marketing.

• Like/As our previous manager had, Ms Garnett has a background in sales and marketing.

• Like/As Ms Garnett, our previous manager also had a background in sales and marketing.

As/if practice corrected:

• As my tutor requested, I am resubmitting my assignment.

• Like Jun’s, Kim’s car has a 2000cc engine.

• As I said, I’m always happy to help.

• As everyone knows, Wellington is the capital of New Zealand.

• Like white feathers, the snowflakes floated to the ground.

• Like our previous manager, Ms Garnett has a background in sales and marketing.

• As our previous manager had, Ms Garnett has a background in sales and marketing.

• Like Ms Garnett, our previous manager also had a background in sales and marketing.

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Confusables and appropriate word choices:accept/except

access/assess

access/excess

adverse/averse

advice/advise

affect/effect

allude/elude

allusion/ /illusion

alternate/alternative

among/between

amount/number

analysis/analyse

appraised/apprised

assent/ascent

complementary/complimentary

coarse/course

council/counsel

credible/credulous/creditable

criteria/criterion

defuse/diffuse

delusion/illusion

deprecate/depreciate

devise/device

discreet/discrete

disinterested/uninterested

dissent/descent

draft/draught

draw/drawer

effective/efficient/efficacious

elicit/illicit

eminent/imminent

except/expect

fewer/less

flare/flair

formally/formerly

its/it’s

later/latter

lend/loan/borrow

loath/loathe

moral/morale

pedal/peddle

personal/personnel

practical/practicable

practice/practise

prescribe/proscribe

prescription/proscription

principal/principle

raise/rise

rational/rationale

register/registrar

rain/reign/rein

role/roll

sought/sort

stationary/stationery

there/their

to/too/two

were/we’re/where

weather/whether

who/whom

who’s/whose

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Some of the most common spelling errors

FOCUS WORD SIMILAR WORDS FOCUS WORD SIMILAR WORDS

accelerate acceleration accommodate accommodation

accessible accessibility accessory accessorise

across accumulate accumulation

accustomed achieve achievement

acquaintance address

aggressive aggression argument argumentative

assassination assassin bankrupt bankruptcy

beginning began/begun behaviour behavioural

believe belief benefit beneficial

calendar casual casually

cause causal

cautious cautionary changeable

commitment committee

comparative comparatively comparable comparability

concern conscious consciousness

consensus consensual criticise criticism

cynical cynicism definite definitely

dependent dependence despair desperate

disappear disappearance disappointed disappointment

difference draw drawer

eight embarrass embarrassed

emission emitted exaggerate exaggeration

excitement extraordinary

extreme extremely favourite favouritism

feasible feasibility February

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FOCUS WORD SIMILAR WORDS FOCUS WORD SIMILAR WORDS

grammar grammatical guarantee guaranteed

harass harassment humour humorous

Idiosyncrasy idiosyncratic immediate immediately

independence independent indispensable

instil instilled irrelevant irrelevance

judgement liaison liaise

library licence (noun)

License (verb) licensed manageable

medicine medicinal medical medically

mischievous mischievously necessary necessity

niece noticeable

occasion occasional occasionally occasional

occur occurrence opportunity opportunistic

optimistic optimistically parallel parallelism

parliament parliamentary partial partially/partiality

permanent permanence possess possession

privilege processed

pronunciation propaganda

questionnaire receive reception/receipt

recommend recommendation relevant relevance

refer referral referred referral

rigorous rigour/rigorously

sceptical scepticism

seize seizure separate separation

skilful skilfully spatial spatially

successful successfully surprise surprising

suspicious suspiciously tendency

toward transferred transferral

unfortunately unparalleled non-parallel

wasteful wastefully weight

withhold yield

zeros

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MANAGEMENT. THERE’S MORE TO IT

TE RAUPAPA . HE RAUNGA O TE PAPA

The University of Waikato Private Bag 3105 Hamilton 3240 New Zealand Toll Free: 0800 WAIKATO

Email: [email protected] Website: www.waikato.ac.nz

Language and Learning Development Unit Waikato Management School Phone: +64 7 838 4303 Fax: +64 7 838 4033 Toll Free: 0800 300 320

Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.management.ac.nz/LanguageLearning

©The University of Waikato 2014

Documents

English Grammar and Usage€¦ · English Grammar and Usage: A Guide for Students Grant Harris, Vicky Young & Barbara Harker Language and Learning Development Unit