Types of Common Errors in the Sentences

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Quick review
Types of Common Errors in the Sentences
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A. Subject-Verb AgreementB. ModifiersC.
ParallelismD. Pronoun AgreementE. Verb Time
SequencesF. ComparisonsG. Idioms
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• Subject-Verb Agreement      The verb and
  subject must agree. If the subject is singular,
  then the verb must be singular. If the subject is
  plural, then the verb must be plural.
• 1. If a singular subject is separated by a comma
  from an accompanying phrase, it remains singular
• The child, together with his grandmother and his
  parents, is going to the beach.wrong Frank,
  accompanied by his student, were at the
  studio.right Frank, accompanied by his student,
  was at the studio.

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2. Collective nouns, such as family, majority,
audience, and committee are singular when they
act in a collective fashion or represent one
group. They are plural when they act as
individuals. Collective nouns will usually be
singular . A majority of the shareholders wants
the merger.Here the "majority" acts as a
singular and therefore has a singular verb,
"wants."The jury were in disagreement.Collectiv
e noun, plural verb (because they are acting as
individuals). (Impt. Note this is very rare
and highly unlikely to come up on test day.)
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3. Phrases separated by and are plural phrases
separated by or are singular. Ted, John, and I
are going.Because they are joined by and, the
plural form is used 4. Neither/nor and either/or
are a special case. If two subjects are joined by
or or nor, the verb should agree with the subject
that is closer to it. Neither the supervisor nor
the staff members were able to calm the
distressed client.
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5. Be careful to choose the right subject in
sentences in which the verb precedes the
subject. wrong There is many reasons why I
can't help you.right There are many reasons
why I can't help you.Here reasons is the
subject. 
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B. Modifiers  1. Errors in the Use of Adjectives
and Adverbs.Check if a word modifier is an
ADJECTIVE or an ADVERB. Make sure the correct
form has been used.An ADJECTIVE describes a noun
and answers the questions how many, which one,
what kind? She is a good tennis player. (What
kind of player?)An ADVERB describes either a
verb or an adjective and answers the questions
when, where, why, in what manner, and to what
extent?She plays tennis well. (She plays tennis
how?) This exercise is relatively easy. (How
easy?) Most adverbs are formed by adding -ly to
the adjective, such as, "He worked quickly."
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EXCEPTIONS
Adjective Adverb
earlyfastgoodhardlate earlyfastwellhard (hardly means almost not)late (lately means recently)
      
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2. Errors of Adjectives with Verbs of Sense.The
following verbs of sense are described by
ADJECTIVES
 be  look  smell  taste feel   seem
wrong After the three week vacation, she looked
very well.right After the three week vacation,
she looked very good. NOTE "She is well" means
"She is healthy" or describes a person's
well-being. wrong The strawberry shortcake
tastes deliciously.right The strawberry
shortcake tastes delicious.
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Parallelism      Similar elements in a list
should be in similar form. Parallel constructions
must be expressed in parallel grammatical form
all nouns, all infinitives, all gerunds, all
prepositional phrases, or all clauses must
agree.
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wrong All business students should learn word
processing, accounting, and how to program
computers. right All business students should
learn word processing, accounting, and computer
programming.      This principle applies to any
word that might begin each item in a series
prepositions (in, on, by, with), articles (the,
a, an), helping verbs (had, has, would) and
possessives (his, her, our). Either repeat the
word before every element in a series or include
it only before the first item. Anything else
violates the rules of parallelism.
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 In effect, your treatment of the second element
of the series determines the form of all
subsequent elements wrong He invested his
money in stocks, in real estate, and a home for
retired performers. right He invested his money
in stocks, in real estate, and in a home for
retired performers.
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