CORE 2



Brooklyn College Writing Across the Curriculum Program

Avoiding Common Mistakes in Grammar and Usage

This handout points out some frequent grammar mistakes that writer make. Please note that this list is not meant to be comprehensive. Instructors may use this as a model to create their own list.

FORMING POSSESSIVES AND CONTRACTIONS

• THE POSSESSIVE: Writers often have difficulty forming the possessives since some forms require an apostrophe and others do not. In addition, some forms can be confused with contractions. The possessive of plural nouns that end in “s” is formed by adding an apostrophe alone without an additional “s” as in the “dogs’ paws” example. A singular noun that is one syllable and ends in an “s” needs both an apostrophe and an additional “s” as in the “Tess’s house” example.

•

|Noun/Pronoun |Possessive Form |

|John has the keys to his car. |Those are John’s keys. |

|Tess owns this house. |This is Tess’s house. |

|The two dogs injured their paws. |The vet treated both dogs’ paws. |

|The car belongs to you. |That is your car. (NOT you’re, which is a contraction for you |

| |are) |

|She owns a motorcycle. |That Harley-Davidson is her motorcycle. |

|He owns a spider monkey. |His pet monkey bit me. |

|It has a light red color. |Its color is light red. (NOT it’s, which is a contraction for it |

| |is) |

|They own a dog. |Their dog bit me. (NOT there, which is an adverb meaning in or at|

| |that place, nor they’re, which is a contraction for they are) |

|Who owns that sandwich? |Whose sandwich is this? (NOT who’s, which is a contraction for |

| |who is) |

• CONTRACTIONS: Below is a list of common contractions that writers often confuse with possessive forms (as noted above). Generally these contractions are not used in formal academic writing. Writers will use them when recording spoken dialogue or when writing informally.

|Non-contracted Form |Contraction Form |

|it is / it has |it’s (NOT its) |

|you are |you’re (NOT your) |

|who is / who has |who’s (NOT whose) |

|they are |they’re (NOT their) |

AGREEMENT OF SENTENCE COMPONENTS

• CONSISTENT USE OF PERSON AND NUMBER WITH PRONOUNS: Grammatical “person” and number in English is explained in the following chart:

|Pronoun (Singular / Plural) |Person |

|I / We |First Person |

|You / You |Second Person |

|She, He, One, It / They |Third Person |

When replacing a noun with a pronoun in a sentence, the pronoun must agree with the person and number of the noun. The following examples demonstrate common problems with pronoun agreement:

1) “If a driver gets into an accident, their insurance goes up.” (WRONG)

“If a driver gets into an accident, her insurance goes up.” (CORRECT)

2) “When a person coughs, you should cover your mouth.” (WRONG)

“When a person coughs, she should cover her mouth.” (CORRECT)

• SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT: Writers need to pay close attention to make sure that a sentence’s verb agrees with its subject. This principle may seem obvious, but it sometimes becomes tricky in more complex sentences.

1) In the sentence below, “The man” is the subject since he is the sole doer of the action. The phrase “with three small dogs” is not a part of the subject since it is separated off by the preposition “with.” The verb thus should be in its singular form.

The man with three small dogs walk up the street. (WRONG)

The man with three small dogs walks up the street. (CORRECT)

2) When a writer uses two or more single nouns connected by “or” or “nor,” the writer must use the singular form of the verb:

I cannot remember if Eleanor or her sister have a fear of spiders. (WRONG)

I cannot remember if Eleanor or her sister has a fear of spiders. (CORRECT)

• DANGLING AND MISPLACED PARTICIPLES: A participle is a form of a verb that ends in “ing” in the present tense. A “dangling participle” occurs in a modifying phrase that doesn’t agree with the subject that it is meant to modify. This is easier than it sounds! Look at these examples:

While walking to the store, the bright orange car caught my attention. (WRONG)

While walking to the store, I noticed a bright orange car. (CORRECT)

The first example is a dangling participle because it sounds as if the bright orange car was walking to the store, not the narrator.

“SOUND ALIKES” AND COLLOQUIALISMS

• HOMOPHONES: Some writers mistake words that sound alike but are spelled differently and mean different things. These words are called homophones.

|there (adverb meaning in or at that place) |vs. |their (possessive of they) or they’re (contraction of “they |

| | |are”) |

|new (adjective) |vs. |knew (past tense of “to know”) |

|here (adverb meaning in this place or spot) |vs. |hear (what you do with your ears) |

|peace (noun meaning lack of conflict) |vs. |piece (noun meaning a portion or quantity of something) |

|right (adjective meaning correct or proper) |vs. |write (verb meaning to write) |

|through (preposition indicating movement) |vs. |threw (past tense of “to throw) |

• THAN vs. THEN: Writers often confuse these two words. Here’s how to tell them apart:

1) The word “than” with an “a” is a conjunction used in comparisons: “Javier runs much more quickly than Jerome.”

2) The word “then” with an “e” is an adverb that deals with time or sequence: “We bought the beer, and then we drank it.”

• “COULD OF” AND “WOULD OF” Writers sometimes mistakenly use “of” instead of “have” in constructions using “would” or “could.” This spoken colloquialism should be avoided in writing.

I could of stayed home. (WRONG)

I could have stayed home. (CORRECT)

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