SOME COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS

general comma usage

Misplaced Quote marks  | No comma after introductory element | Lack of comma in a series

Confusing dash and hyphen | Misused ellipses | Single and double quote marks

 Brackets/parentheses

Page numbers | Misplaced comma | Noun-Pronoun Agreement



A useful handbook of grammar rules is Diana Hacker's Pocket Style Manual, available via Amazon.com for less than $10.



You'll also find concise grammar information and self-help exercises on these two web sites:

Purdue On-Line Writing Lab: Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

Guide to Grammar and Writing



But here is a quick fix on the eleven common errors listed above:

1) FAULTY COMMA USAGE

The one mark of punctuation that gives everybody the most trouble is the comma.  The best thing to do is to review the rules for comma usage in a handbook like Hacker's or on the following web sites:

Purdue On-Line Writing Lab: Using Commas

Guide to Grammar and Writing: Rules for Comma Usage



2) MISPLACED QUOTE MARKS

In American typography, the concluding quote marks always go outside periods and commas and always inside colons and semicolons. They always work this way:

He said, "I hate my job."

Marty suggested, "It is a good time"; we agreed.

The report stated, "We should all reconsider our positions," and then went on to get really confusing.



3) NO COMMA AFTER INTRODUCTORY ELEMENT

Introductory elements such as clauses and long (5 words or more usually) phrases that come before the subject of the sentence are followed by a comma.  The trick is to identify the subject of the sentence first and then to see what's in front of it.

Example of the error:
When the theater burned down it was presumed that the group would disband.

Corrected:
When the theater burned down, it was presumed that the group would disband.



4) LACK OF COMMA IN A SERIES

Three or more items listed in a sentence constitute a series, and every item, including the last, should be separated from the others by a comma.

Example of the error:
We purchased a variety of clocks, candles and booties.

Corrected:
We purchased a variety of clocks, candles, and booties.



5) CONFUSING DASH AND HYPHEN

Dashes indicate a pause, a separation.  This is a dash: --

Example of a dash:
The entire group was happy with the decision--except the football players.

Hyphens join two words into one.  This is a hyphen: -

Example of a hyphen:
Plumbing is no longer a dead-end career.



6) MISUSED ELLIPSES

Use 3 spaced ( a space in between each one) dots when you drop material out of a quote within a sentence.

Example:
"Contention over the past is as old as written history itself . . . and . . . continuously reexamining the past . . . is the greatest service historians can render in a democracy."  (there was other material dropped out before and after the "and," and in between "past" and "is)

Use 4 dots -- one as a period, and the other three spaced -- when the part of the quote after the ellipsis is in another sentence.

Example:
"the historian performs an essentially poetic act, in which he prefigures the historical field. . . . I call these types of prefiguration by the names of the four tropes of poetic language."  (there was more material after "field," but "I" begins a new a sentence)

Never use an ellipsis at the beginning or at the end of a quote.  Ellipses are used to indicate material left out inside a quote.

Wrong:
After the game, the coach said, " . . . the playoffs are in sight."

Wrong:
"I'm not sure what to say," said the dean, "but I think we're in trouble . . ."



7) SINGLE AND DOUBLE QUOTE MARKS

The only time single quote marks are used is when they are used to indicate a quote within a quote.

Example:
The teacher said that "Angelou's poem 'Morning Glory' would not be on the test."



8) BRACKETS AND PARENTHESES

Parentheses within a direct quote means that part of the sentence is in the original.

Example:
 "Non-WASPs were the invisible men (and women) in the American past."

Brackets in a direct quote indicate the material inside is yours.

Example:
He closed by saying: "What a [history] textbook reflects is thus a compromise."



9) PAGE NUMBERS

When indicating multiple pages, following the following format:

5-9
35-39                 (not 35-9)
135-39               (not 135-139)
1035-39             (not 1035-1039)



10) MISPLACED COMMA

Use a comma + conjunction (and, but, etc.) to separate the two parts of a compound sentence.  A compound sentence is two complete sentences (complete = full subject and full verb in each sentence) joined into one by a conjunction.

Example:
History speaks directly to curiosity about human experience, but it takes concrete details to open the door into an imaginative recreation of the past.

So, do not use a comma unless there is a complete sentence (full subject and verb) on both sides of  the conjunction.  If there isn't, it is not a compound sentence.

Example of the error:
History speaks directly to curiosity about human experience, but takes concrete details to open the door into an imaginative recreation of the past. (there is no subject after the conjunction "but" for the verb "take" -- its subject is "History," which is in front of the conjunction)

Corrected:
History speaks directly to curiosity about human experience but takes concrete details to open the door into an imaginative recreation of the past.

Another way to correct:
History speaks directly to curiosity about human experience, but it takes concrete details to open the door into an imaginative recreation of the past.  (keep the comma but supply the missing subject)



11) FAULTY NOUN-PRONOUN AGREEMENT

A noun and the pronoun which refers to it must "agree" -- that is, both must be singular or both must be plural.

Example of the error:
The creator of an exhibit should think of what a viewer will think when they observe that exhibit.  (the noun "viewer" is singular, the pronoun "they" is plural)

Corrected:
The creator of an exhibit should think of what viewers will think when they observe that exhibit.  (the noun is now plural)