Here
are the most common errors of usage, style, and related language
skills that occur in the papers of college freshmen. Many TV
scriptwriters
and newscasters commit them as well. These errors stem from a misunderstanding
of concepts so basic
and easy to learn that eighth-graders
are able to master them.
So why do so many adult American
speakers of English struggle with them? The only possible answer
is that these concepts are not being taught efficiently in our
schools. They may be "introduced," but they are not being
taught. In the words of Romalda Spalding, "No teaching has taken
place unless and until the child learns."
Watch this page for links to explanations and examples of all the items
mentioned here.
MECHANICS:
• sentence fragments
• fused sentences
• comma splices
• incorrect verb use
• incorrect pronoun use
• incorrect apostrophe use
• faulty agreement between subject and verb
• faulty agreement between pronoun and antecedent
• misspelled basic vocabulary
separate friend
receiving immediately
all right minute
forty
fourteen
a lot
old-fashioned
could have |
DICTION
Categories of words thoughtlessly used:
racist, sexist, ageist usage; cliché, vulgarity
Contextually inappropriate words:
kid guy male (n)
cop
female (n)
mom human (n)
dad
Disagreeable words and phrases:
proactive enthuse in society
today
in today's society
Words frequently confused with one another
Unidiomatic use of prepositions
|
COMPOSITION
lack of clear beginning, middle, and end
lack of coherent transition between ideas
lack of support for general statements |
WRITTEN PRESENTATION
• illegible or extremely difficult-to-read handwriting
• confusing layout of handwritten work
• inattention to directions for formatting |
Concepts that must be mastered in order to avoid the basic
writing
errors listed above:
| HANDWRITING: slant,
proportion, ascenders, descenders, practice, pen
vs pencil |
FORMAT: direction
following, attention to detail |
| VERBS: regular, irregular,
finite, non-finite, tense, number, participles,
auxiliaries, modals, transitive, intransitive, phrase,
clause,
main/independent clause, subordinate/dependent clauses, coordinating
and
subordinating conjunctions |
PRONOUNS: personal pronoun
forms; reflexive forms; possessive forms;
relative forms. demonstrative forms,number; case |
| SPELLING: English
sound/letter correspondences; most common spelling
rules and mnemonics; standard pronunciations |
DICTION: denotation,
connotation, dialect, regionalisms, idioms, jargon,
slang, cliché, decency, vulgarity, sexism, racism, ageism,
xenophobia,
political rhetoric |
| COMPOSITION:
introductory paragraphs, body paragraphs, concluding paragraphs,
topic sentences, supporting statements, essay map, thesis statement,
transition |
PREPOSITIONS: identification, idiomatic use
|
|
AmericanEnglishDoctor Home