Chapter 7 Accuracy

Chapter 7 Accuracy

Objectives

√ Improve accuracy

√ Avoid run-on sentences

√ Avoid agreement errors

√ Avoid dangling modifiers

√ Use articles correctly

√ Choose appropriate words

The accuracy of language is vital in academic writing. If your essay is

full of careless errors, it would not only annoy your readers, but also

impede their understanding of the writing. No matter how well the text is

organized or how creative your ideas may be, the essay might not receive a

high grade if there are numerous language errors. The frequent occurrence

of errors in language use may,for one thing, indicate the writer’s

carelessness or hasty writing; for another, and worse, it reveals the writer’s

poor foundation of English.

So you need to comply with rules of punctuation and the conventions

of grammar, as well as use appropriate vocabulary when drafting your

essay. After you have finished your drafts, i.e. in the post-writing stage, the

final proofreading can also help you avoid some language errors.

Generally speaking, we can define language accuracy in terms of

grammatical and lexical accuracy. To achieve grammatical accuracy, you

should obey a specific set of grammar rules that deal with parts of speech,

number, person, tense, and punctuation. Lexical accuracy is related to the

use of words, which mainly refers to the correct spelling, appropriate word

choice and collocation.In the following sections, we will analyze several

types of grammatical and lexical errors that are commonly made by most

students. To ensure language accuracy, you must avoid: run-on

sentences,agreement errors, errors in the use of articles, dangling modifiers

and word choice errors.

7.1　Avoiding run-on sentences

A run-on sentence is a sentence that contains two or more independent

clauses without the proper punctuation or conjunction. An independent

clause has both a subject and a verb and can stand on its own as a complete

sentence. It is acceptable to join several independent clauses in one

compound sentence by using certain punctuation marks, such as semi-colon

(;) and colon (:), or using conjunctions like and, but. However, if you fail to

follow punctuation rules, a sentence can become a run-on sentence. For

example:

1. A wise man makes his own decisions an ignorant man follows

public opinion.

1. The results of the study were inconclusive, more research needs to

be done on the topic.

Example 1 is actually made up of two independent clauses — a wise

man makes his own decisions and an ignorant man follows public opinion.

But there is no punctuation between the two clauses, or say, these two

clauses fuse together. This type of run-on sentences is called fused

sentences. Lacking the punctuation here may result in ambiguity and make

the reader confused, not knowing what the writer wants to express.

In Example 2, a comma (,) is used to separate two independent clauses

— the results of the study were inconclusive and more research needs to be

done on the topic. However, the position of this comma is too weak to make

a complete relationship between two complete sentences. It is also a

grammatical error to only use a comma to connect two independent clauses.

When two independent clauses are connected by only a comma, they

constitute a run-on sentence that is called a commasplice.

Academic writing requires grammatical accuracy for the work to be

taken seriously. Therefore,it is important for writers to eliminate run-on

sentences in order to convey a professional and formal tone. In fact, there

are five commonly used ways to fix run-on sentences.

First, use a full stop (.) to split the run-on sentence into two or more

smaller sentences. It is the easiest way to fix a run-on sentence. This

revision works especially well with longer sentences. For the fused

sentences, add a full stop between the two independent clauses and

capitalize the first letter of the following clause. For instance, Example 1

can be fixed as: A wise man makes his own decisions. An ignorant man

follows public opinion. The meaning of the resulting sentences becomes

clearer compared with the original run-on sentence. For the comma-splices,

replace the comma with a full stop and capitalize the first letter of the

following clause.

Second, use a semicolon (;) to separate the independent clauses in a

run-on sentence. Inserting a semicolon between independent clauses creates

a grammatically correct sentence. Using a semicolon is a stylistic choice

that establishes a close link between the two sentences / clauses. For the

fused sentences, add a semicolon; for the comma-splices, replace the

comma with a semicolon. Take Example 1 for instance. It can be improved

as: A wise man makes his own decisions; an ignorant man follows public

opinion. The semicolon used here indicates a strong relationship between

these two independent clauses.

Third, use a coordinating conjunction (e.g. and, but, for, yet, nor, so,

or) with or without a comma. This method emphasizes the relationship

between the two clauses and forms a compound sentence. In particular, for

the fused sentences, add a comma and a coordinating conjunction; for the

comma-splices, keep the comma and add a coordinating conjunction. For

instance, the two clauses in Example 2 is not in parallel with each other;

instead, the first clause expresses a reason for the second clause. Thus, it

requires the coordinating conjunction so to indicate the relationship

between them. By using a comma paired with a coordinating conjunction,

we can improve it as: The results of the study were inconclusive, so more

research needs to be done on the topic. Similarly, Example 1 can be fixed

as: A wise man makes his own decisions, but an ignorant man follows

public opinion.As a result, the meaning of the whole sentence and the

relationship between these two clauses becomes quite clear.

Fourth, use a semicolon and an adverbial conjunction (e.g. therefore,

however, meanwhile,besides, in addition). This method is similar to the

third one: emphasizing the relationship between the two clauses and

forming a compound sentence. The difference lies in the type of

punctuation and conjunction being used. A minor difference is that after the

adverbial conjunction, it often needs to add a comma to separate the

conjunction from the following clause (See Section 4.1.2 for more

examples of adverbial conjunctions and the construction of compound

sentences). By adopting this way, Example 1 can be revised as: A wise man

makes his own decisions; however, an ignorant man follows public opinion.

Since a wise man contrasts with an ignorant man, we can use the adverbial

conjunction however to indicate such relationship and place a semicolon

before the conjunction.Similarly, Example 2 can be improved as: The

results of the study were inconclusive; therefore,more research needs to be

done on the topic.

Finally, use a subordinating conjunction (e.g. after, although, before,

unless, as, because) to turn one of the independent clauses into a dependent

clause. The comma can be used or not according to the subordinating

conjunction being added. This method also emphasizes the relationship

between the two clauses, but it constitutes a complex sentence. Take

Example 1 for instance. Since a wise man and an ignorant man form a

contrast, we can use the subordinating conjunctions that indicate a

contrasting relationship, such as while or whereas. A comma is needed in

this case. Thus, we can improve Example 1 as: While / Whereas a wise man

makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion.

In general, you should avoid packing many independent clauses into a

single sentence. Through careful proofreading, you would be able to

identify the run-on sentences in your essay and then choose any of the five

methods mentioned above to revise them. Notice that a run-on sentence

could be transformed into several simple sentences, a compound sentence

or a complex sentence.Your choice of the appropriate fix for run-on

sentences should take the diversity of your sentence structures into

consideration. For example, if you are in need of more complicated

sentences in your essay, turn a run-on sentence into a complex sentence by

using the proper subordinating conjunction.

Exercises

1. Identify the run-on sentences and write down their correspondent

sequence numbers on the line below.

Run-on sentences:__________________________________

1. Many people sell products over the Internet they are making

impressive profits.

1. The Revolutionary War was not only a triumph, but it was also a

struggle.

1. Leftover children are always living in a lonely circumstance, there

is no one to help them in time when they encounter obstacles.

1. Earlier in this year, the Asian Game held an exhibition game of e-

Sports, it seems that e-Sports is on its way to Olympics.

1. Even if the genetically modified foods do not cause harm to the

human body, it may have other potential hazards.

1. Technology makes it more convenient for us to interact with each

other, it has its disadvantages as well.

1. Revise the following run-on sentences by using the appropriate

punctuation and / or conjunction.

1. The principle of competitive sports is fairness and justice, its

purpose is to encourage people to live a healthy life.

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

1. Depression is not a rare disease, there are a large number of patients

who are struggling with this psychological disease.

______________________________________________

1. Nuclear technology has been used in many other fields it is helpful

rather than harmful.

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

1. Children spend too much time on social networks, they could not

have enough time to build up their relationship in reality.

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

1. Research shows that communicating with others promotes health,

social isolation is linked to stress, disease, and early death.

______________________________________________

______________________________________________

7.2　Avoiding agreement errors

There are two major types of agreement errors: one is subject-verb

agreement errors and the other is pronoun-antecedent agreement errors. We

will examine the errors in subject-verb agreement first, because many

students are inclined to make this type of grammatical errors.

7.2.1　Subject-verb agreement errors

As we mentioned in Section 4.2.1, a simple sentence contains one

subject and one verb, and may(but not must) have a complement. The

subject tells who or what (the actor); the verb tells the action or the state of

being; the complement completes the meaning of the verb or adds more

information to the sentence. There is a grammatical rule requiring that in

any sentence, the subject and the verb need to agree in number, which is

known as singular or plural. Two simplified formulas can be used to

describe the subject-verb agreement:

➢ Singular Subject + Singular Verb = Agreement

➢ Plural Subject + Plural Verb = Agreement

For example, the book is…, books are…, the robot moves…, robots

move…, etc. Because the subjects the book and the robot are singular in

number, the corresponding verbs should also be singular in number (is and

moves). Similarly, to “agree” with the plural nouns books and robots, the

verbs should be plural in number (are and move). Notice that we all refer to

the third person singular or plural in this section.

A subject-verb agreement error occurs when the subject and the verb

of a sentence do not agree in number. There are four major types of

situations in which agreement errors take place:

(1) when it is tricky to determine whether the subject is singular or

plural;

(2) when the subject is heavily modified (it would be difficult to

identify the head noun / real subject);

(3) in adjective clauses;

(4) in inverted sentences.

So how to fix these agreement errors? There are several rules to

follow, and some of them require practice so that you will become familiar

with them.

Determining the number of the subject

First, due to the irregularity of many English plural subjects, it is

sometimes confusing for students to determine its correct number. The

regular plural subjects has an “s” added at the end of its singular form. But

some nouns take irregular plural forms, such as man (singular) — men

(plural),person (singular) — people (plural), mouse (singular) — mice

(plural), tooth (singular) — teeth(plural), deer (singular) — deer (plural),

sheep (singular) — sheep (plural), etc.　In the plural forms of these nouns,

there is no “s” at the end. So you need to think twice before writing the

correspondent verb of these subjects, realizing that even though some

subjects do not have “s” at the end of them,they could still be plural

subjects, which require plural verbs. For instance:

Incorrect: 　The decayed teeth needs to be dealt with in time.

(Agreement error: teeth — plural;needs — singular)

Correct:　The decayed teeth need to be dealt with in time.

Some sentences have compound subjects, which consist of more than

one subject, with different parts joined by conjunctions like and, or, but, or

connectives with, together with, as well as, except,etc. Compound subjects

may cause difficulties in the subject-verb agreement, as it is complicated to

determine the number of compound subjects. Usually, the compound

subjects connected by and are considered plural; they would need to be

matched with plural verbs. For example:

Incorrect:　Microsoft, Starbucks and Boeing hires technical graduates

from Edmonds Community College. (Agreement error: Microsoft,

Starbucks and Boeing — plural;hires — singular)

Correct: 　Microsoft, Starbucks and Boeing hire technical graduates

from Edmonds Community College.

But notice that some compound subjects linked by and are in fact

referring to the same thing as a whole, which form a single unit (e.g.

peaches and cream, bread and butter). Such special compound subjects

therefore require single verbs.

For the compound subject connected by neither...nor, either...or, not

only...but also, or, nor,the verb should agree with whatever part of the

subject it is closest to in the sentence. For example:

Incorrect:　Neither the president nor her assistant have replied to the

accusation. (Agreement error: her assistant — singular; have — plural)

Correct: Neither the president nor her assistant has replied to the

accusation.

In this example, Neither the president nor her assistant is a compound

subject with two parts the president and her assistant linked by neither…

nor. The part that is closest to the verb is her assistant, a singular noun

phrase. According to the rule, the verb in this sentence should be singular as

well, so has is the correct form.

For the compound subject joined by connectives like with, together

with, except, as well as,in addition to, the verb needs to agree with the noun

before the connective. For instance:

Incorrect:　The driver together with his children are not injured in the

car accident. (Agreement error: the driver — singular; are — plural)

Correct: The driver together with his children is not injured in the car

accident.

In the compound subject of this example the driver together with his

children, the connective together with links two parts: the driver and his

children. The noun before the connective is the driver, which is singular in

number. In keeping with the rule, the verb has to agree with it in singular

form, so the correct verb form is is.

Besides the irregular plural subjects and compound subjects, the

subjects which are particular nouns or pronouns whose number is difficult

to determine also contribute to the agreement errors.One such particular

type of nouns is collective nouns, such as family, team, or staff. They refer

to a group of people, animals or things. Collective nouns can be either

singular or plural depending upon the rest of the sentence. Typically, they

take the singular form, as the collective noun is treated as a single unit. For

instance, His family enjoys going for a walk after dinner.

Indefinite pronouns which do not refer to any person or thing in

particular may sometimes cause difficulty for students to identify their

number. Generally, after the indefinite pronouns each, either,everyone,

everybody, anyone, anybody, neither, nobody and someone, you need to use

singular verb forms. For example:

● Anybody on the basketball team is eligible for the scholarship.

● Everything on the bed and everything in the closet was organized in

under an hour.

● Someone holds an entirely different point of view.

In addition, the proper name, i.e. a noun that denotes a particular thing,

such as a person’s name,a company’s name, a title of a book or an article

should be considered singular. As the following examples illustrate:

● Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” brings to the screen the

ultimate, deadliest showdown of all time.

● In many minds, Mercedes-Benz is the automotive status symbol,

offering desire-inducing vehicles with luxurious rides and interiors.

● The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring

works.

Another type of particular noun is a gerund, which is formed from a

verb that refers to an action,process, or state, by adding -ing at the end of

that verb, for example, describing and thinking. The gerund or the gerund

phrase should be considered singular and matched with a singular verb. In

the examples below, the subjects are the gerund or gerund phrases;

therefore, the correspondent verbs(is and becomes) are singular in number.

● Jogging is one of the most effective exercises to lose weight.

● Enhancing people’s awareness of their health becomes necessary.

● Freeing up time and brains for us to tackle society’s most complex

problem is one of Artificial Intelligence’s advantages.

Identifying the real subject

The second situation that may cause subject-verb agreement errors is

when subjects consist of noun phrases that have different modifiers to

modify the head noun, i.e. the real subject or the most important word in the

subject. Therefore, due to the complexity of the subjects, it would be

difficult to identify the real subject, thus causing difficulties to determine

the right number that the verb should be matched with.

In a complicated subject, the adjective, the adjective phrase, the

prepositional phrase or the adjective clause are often used to modify the

head noun, as the following examples illustrate. In Example 1, the adjective

phrase covered in mud is used to modify the head noun dogs. In Example 2,

two prepositional phrases introduced by of and in are used to modify the

head noun pace. In Example 3, an adjective clause who score highly in this

type of behavior is used to modify the head noun people. Once the head

noun, or say the real subject of the sentence, is detected, we can easily

match the number of the verb with it.

1. The dogs covered in mud seem to be injured.

1. The pace of technological growth in Artificial Intelligence has made

workers both excited and anxious about what the future holds.

1. People who score highly in this type of behavior are sensitive and

steady.

In the examples above, although the modifiers are all after the head

noun (so called postmodifiers), there could be sentences with both pre-

modifiers (i.e. the modifiers that are before the head noun) and post-

modifiers. In this kind of heavily modified subject, you need to identify the

real subject. For instance:

1. Incorrect: 　Physical health problems like obesity continues to

become more serious.(Agreement error: problems — plural; continues —

singular)

Correct: Physical health problems like obesity continue to become

more serious.

1. Incorrect: 　The declining number of new immigrants in recent

years have aroused the public attention. 　(Agreement error: number —

singular; have — plural)

Correct:　The declining number of new immigrants in recent years

has aroused the public attention.

In the subject of the first example, the head noun should be problems,

with a pre-modifier physical health and a post-modifier like obesity.

Therefore the verb needs to correspond to the number of this real subject

(problems), which is plural. In the second example, the noun phrase in the

subject is complicated: there are pre-modifiers the + declining and post-

modifiers of new immigrants + in recent years. So the head noun is number,

which is singular and thus requires the correspondent verb to be singular as

well.

One more structure of the subject that calls for attention is the one of

structure. Because the real subject in this pattern should be one (which is

singular), but not the noun or the noun phrase after the preposition of

(which is usually plural), the verb needs to be matched with the real subject

in the singular form. For instance:

Incorrect:　One of the studies find that the boys at three are rated as

more active than the girls of the same age. (Agreement error: one —

singular; find — plural)

Correct:　One of the studies finds that the boys at three are rated as

more active than the girls of the same age.

In adjective clauses

As we have mentioned, the adjective clause may serve as a type of

modifiers that are used to describe the noun phrase in a sentence, therefore

causing difficulty in identifying the real subject. In fact, the adjective clause

itself is usually the source of subject-verb agreement errors, if the verb in

the adjective clause doesn’t match the noun it is referring to. Generally

speaking, adjective clauses follow two patterns:

➢ Relative Pronoun (who, which or that) as Subject + Verb

➢　Relative Pronoun (whose, whom) or Adverb (when, where or

why) + Subject + Verb

In the first pattern, the verbs in the adjective clauses should agree with

the antecedents of who,which or that, which might be the subject or the

object of the entire sentence. In the example below,the relative pronoun

who actually refers to the subject of the sentence children (which is

plural),while the verb in the adjective clause (gives) is singular, causing a

subject-verb agreement error. The correct version matches the verb with the

plural subject.

Incorrect:　The children who gives in to temptation early on will be

more likely to be lonely,easily frustrated and inflexible when they grow up.

(Agreement error: children —plural; gives — singular)

Correct: 　The children who give in to temptation early on will be

more likely to be lonely,easily frustrated and inflexible when they grow up.

Similarly, when the adjective clause is modifying the object of a

sentence, the verb in the clause should also agree with the antecedent of the

relative pronoun (the object of the sentence),as illustrated in the following

examples. Try to figure out what the relative pronoun refers to and identify

its number. In Example 1, the relative pronoun that refers to an environment

(singular), and thus the verb should also be singular (is). Pay attention to

Example 2, where the phrase precedes the relative pronoun who is Indiana

University. But Indiana University is not a person, so it should not be the

person who refers to. This relative pronoun actually refers to an associate

professor(singular), and thus the verb in the adjective clause need to be

singular as well.

1. Teamwork not only increases efficiency but also creates an

environment that is suitable for mutual learning.

1. Karl MacDorman is an associate professor at Indiana University

who specializes in humancomputer interaction.

In the second pattern, there is a subject and a verb in the adjective

clause. So, in this type of adjective clause, the subject and the verb within

the clause should agree with each other in number.As in the first example

below, the adjective clause why reviews is such an integral part of

education is used to modify the noun reason (also the object of the

sentence). This adjective clause contains a subject (reviews) and a verb (is).

It is an agreement error that the subject and the verb do not match in

number here. So the correct way is to revise the singular verb (is) to be

plural (are). In the second example, after the relative adverb when there are

a subject the domestic oil price and a verb become.They need to agree in

number (both singular) in order to avoid the subject-verb agreement error.

1. Incorrect:　This is the reason why reviews is such an integral part

of education. (Agreement error: reviews — plural; is — singular)

Correct:　This is the reason why reviews are such an integral part of

education.

1. Incorrect:　They are waiting for the time when the domestic oil

price become aligned with that of the world market. (Agreement error: oil

price — singular; become — plural)

Correct:　They are waiting for the time when the domestic oil price

becomes aligned with that of the world market.

Inverted sentences

An inverted sentence is a sentence in which the normal order of a

subject followed by a verb is reversed, such as questions or there be

structure. Often, an inverted sentence begins with a word that needs

emphasis. With the order of the words changing in inverted sentences, it is

important for the subject to be accurately identified, and then the subject

and the verb agree in number, or else a subject-verb agreement error would

easily take place. For example:

1. Incorrect: 　There was a doctor and a crew of nurses in the

emergency room during the surgery. (Agreement error: a doctor and a crew

of nurses — plural; was —singular)

Correct:　There were a doctor and a crew of nurses in the emergency

room during the surgery.

1. Incorrect:　Only after understanding the situation do the teacher

make a comment.(Agreement error: the teacher — singular; do — plural)

Correct: Only after understanding the situation does the teacher make a

comment.

Example 1 is a there be structure in which the verb (be) precedes the

subject (a doctor and a crew of nurses), so it is easy to get confused,

especially when the subject starts with a singular noun a doctor. As we have

mentioned, the compound subjects connected by and are usually considered

plural. Therefore the verb should also be plural (using were instead of was)

for agreement.Example 2 illustrates the situation when an auxiliary verb do

is used to “help” the main verb in an inverted sentence. In this sentence, the

only-structure emphasizes how important something is in understanding a

situation clearly. The real subject of this sentence is the teacher (singular in

number), so the auxiliary verb do should be in its singular form does and

the main verb in its base form (make).

7.2.2　Pronoun-antecedent agreement errors

A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase,

often because the person or thing has been mentioned earlier in the sentence

or passage, for example he, they, it, hers, and them.An antecedent is the

noun or noun phrase the pronoun refers back to. Pronouns and their

antecedents must agree in number, person and gender. If any of these three

aspects are not matched, the pronounantecedent agreement error takes

place.

The agreement in number between the pronoun and its antecedent is

most tricky. You need to identify which antecedents are considered singular

and which are considered plural. As we have mentioned in Point 1 of

subject-verb agreement errors, there are several guidelines for determining

the number of nouns or noun phrases. We summarize some types of

singular and plural antecedents as follows.

Indefinite pronouns as antecedents

Singular indefinite pronoun antecedents include: each, either, neither,

one, no one, nobody,anyone, anybody, anything, everyone, everybody,

everything, someone, somebody. So the pronouns that have these singular

antecedents need to be singular as well, for example:

Incorrect:　Each of the students should hand in their assignment at the

end of this month.(Agreement error: each — singular; their — plural)

Correct:　Each of the students should hand in his / her assignment at

the end of this month.

Plural indefinite pronoun antecedents include: several, few, both,

many. Accordingly, the pronouns that match with these plural antecedents

must be plural, for example:

Incorrect:　Both (of the brothers) had successful careers and his future

looked bright.(Agreement error: both — plural; his — singular)

Correct:　Both (of the brothers) had successful careers and their future

looked bright.

Compound subjects / nouns as antecedents

Compound antecedents joined by and are considered plural, so the

correspondent pronouns should also be plural, for instance:

Incorrect:　Tom and John are going to give his presentation at this

International Medicare Conference. (Agreement error: Tom and John —

plural; his — singular)

Correct:　Tom and John are going to give their presentation at this

International Medicare Conference.

When the compound antecedents are connected by neither…nor,

either...or, not only...but also,or, nor, the pronoun should agree with the

nearest antecedent in number, for instance:

Incorrect:　Either the son or the parents should be responsible for his

improper behavior.(Agreement error: the parents (the nearest antecedent) —

plural; his — singular)

Correct:　Either the son or the parents should be responsible for their

improper behavior.

Collective nouns as antecedents

Collective nouns (e.g. group, audience, jury, crowd, team, etc.) may be

singular or plural,depending on their meaning in the sentence. If the

collective noun is acting as one unit, then the corresponding pronoun should

be singular. While if the collective noun emphasizes the individuals

constituting the unit, the pronoun has to be plural in number.

Correct:　The jury should read its verdict. (The jury is referred to as a

whole.)

Correct: 　The jury (members) gave their individual opinions. (The

jury refers to all the members composing a whole.)

Pronouns and their antecedents should also agree in person. If the

antecedent is in the first person, the pronoun should be the first person; if

the antecedent is in the second person, the pronoun should be the second

person; if the antecedent is in the third person, the pronoun should be the

third person. As the following example illustrates:

Incorrect:　If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, you have to

know the rules of the game. (Agreement error: a person — third person;

you — second person)

Correct:　If a person wants to succeed in corporate life, he or she has

to know the rules of the game.

Correct:　If you want to succeed in corporate life, you have to know

the rules of the game.(informal)

In this example, the antecedent a person is in the third person, so its

corresponding pronoun should also be the third person, instead of the

second person. Therefore, the solution for this agreement error is either to

change the person of the pronoun (as the third person) or to change the

person of the antecedent (as the second person). But as we have discussed,

the second person may not be regarded as formal enough for academic

writing; thus it is better to keep the third person singular antecedent a

person, and revise the pronoun to be the third person singular he or she.

In fact, this example also demonstrates the difficulty of pronoun-

antecedent agreement in gender. When the gender of the antecedent is

clearly specified, for example if the antecedent is John or Susie, you can

easily decide whether to use the pronoun he or she to match it. But when

the gender of the person is not mentioned, finding a pronoun that agrees

with its antecedent can be difficult. Antecedents like a person, a student, or

a doctor can refer to either a male or a female, so there is no justification for

only using the masculine pronoun he / his / him or the feminine pronoun

she / her / hers. One solution for such case is to use he or she or his or her to

match the antecedent whose gender is not clearly specified, for instance:

Incorrect: 　A teacher can make a profound impact on his students.

(Agreement error: a teacher —either masculine or feminine; his —

masculine)

Correct: 　A teacher can make a profound impact on his or her

students.

However, if you use the expression he or she or his or her too many

times in an essay, the effect can be ridiculous. Another solution is to

pluralize the antecedents, such as using teachers instead of a teacher, people

instead of a person; then you can use the pronoun they / their to agree with

the antecedents in gender as well as in number and person. Accordingly, we

may revise the previous two examples in the way below:

Correct: Teachers can make a profound impact on their students.

Correct: 　If people want to succeed in corporate life, they have to

know the rules of the game.Exercises

1. Fill in the blanks by choosing a correct verb form which agrees

with the subject.

1. The company which ________ promised not to make staff

reductions for at least two years is now dismissing employees. (have / has)

1. The principle of competitive sports ________ fairness and justice.

(is / are)

1. The vegetables that people leave uneaten ________ often the most

nutritious. (is / are)

1. One of his friends ________ to cook Italian food. (like / likes)

1. Leading the club meeting today ________ Akiko and Jose. (is / are)

1. Her attitude as well as her appearance ________ inappropriate. (is /

are)

1. Eco-friendly cars that ________ on electricity can help the

environment. (run / runs)

1. So difficult ________ the test that students need three months to

prepare. (is / are)

1. The extremely tired lioness ________ losing patience with her

enthusiastic cub. (is / are)

1. Everyone ________ some free time for rest and relaxation. (need /

needs)

1. Identify which of the following sentences have the subject-verb

agreement errors and revise them.For those correct sentences, you can mark

a tick (√) on the line.

1. The writing in those paragraphs are not formal and objective.

______________________________________________

1. Procter & Gamble are the leader in the mass market cosmetics

industry.

______________________________________________

1. The target audience for this advertisement are mainly teenagers.

______________________________________________

1. A personal statement or SAT scores are required for the application

of this university.

______________________________________________

1. Mice belongs to the species that reproduce in huge numbers.

______________________________________________

1. The researchers are measuring traffic-related air pollution, which is

higher in places with fewer plants and trees.

______________________________________________

1. Fill in each of the blanks of the following sentences with a correct

pronoun that agrees with its antecedent in number, person and gender.

1. Nobody is willing to sacrifice ________ own interests to tackle that

problem.

1. The woodpecker and its mate tried ________ best to oust the

squirrel who had stolen________nest.

1. The family is at the table, ready for ________ dinner.

1. Not only the homemade peanut butter pie but also the handpicked

flowers will win Briana’s heart with ________ thoughtfulness.

1. A person needs to see ________ dentist twice per year.

1. Nothing is in ________ place after the violent shaking from the

earthquake.

7.3　Avoiding errors in the use of

articles

[1]

Whenever you are using a noun in your writing， you need to consider

the use of articles.In English grammar， an article is a kind of determiners

that can define a noun as specific or unspecific. For example， if you say

this is a book， you are referring to something （a book） that is general

or unspecific. But if you say this is the book I mentioned before， you are

referring to a specific book which you have talked about earlier. So， the

articles a and an are called indefinite articles ， and the article the is a

definite article.

Studies show that a large number of grammatical errors in English

writing are related to article use. Since the correct usage of articles involves

many rules and exceptions, we only focus on those important rules in this

section. Most article misuse might have arisen from a misunderstanding of

how to treat countable and uncountable nouns. So first you need to

distinguish between countable and uncountable nouns. Countable nouns are

nouns that can be counted (e.g. students, trees, and ideas), and they have

both singular and plural forms (e.g. a student vs. students, a tree vs. trees,

an idea vs. ideas). While uncountable nouns are nouns that cannot be

counted (e.g., water, evidence,and research), and they are often treated as

singular without the plural form.

Rule 1: Use an article before the singular countable nouns.

Check the singular nouns that are countable in your writing: Whether

there is an article (e.g. a or the) or another determiner (e.g. each, my, this)

preceding it. If no, an error takes place. For example:

Incorrect: Idea can transform the world.

Correct: An idea can transform the world.

Correct: This idea can transform the world.

In this example, the countable noun idea is in its singular form. If there

is no determiner before it, a grammatical error takes place. The solution is

to add a suitable article (an or the, depending on the context) or a

determiner (e.g. this or that).

Now let’s consider when to use the indefinite articles a / an and when

to use the definite articles the. Generally, when you introduce a person or

thing for the first time or when you refer to it as a general type of person or

thing, use a / an. When you refer to a person or thing that has already been

mentioned or is going to be defined specifically afterwards, use the. Let’s

compare the following two pairs of examples.

[Pair 1]

1. A journalist went to our office.

1. The journalist went to our office.

[Pair 2]

1. A journalist should be objective and tell the truth.

1. The journalist who asked the question seemed hostile.

The first pair of examples illustrate the use of different articles when

you introduce a person for the first time and a person who has been

mentioned before. In Example 1, the journalist who went to our office is a

newly introduced person, so the indefinite article a should be used to

modify the noun journalist. In contrast, the journalist in Example 2 must

have been mentioned in the preceding sentences; then the definite article the

is suitable to modify the noun.

The second pair of examples demonstrate the different usage of articles

to refer to specific and unspecific persons. In Example 3, A journalist is

used to refer to any person who works as a journalist. The sentence equals

to: All journalists should be objective and tell the truth. So here the

indefinite article is used to refer to somebody general or unspecific.

However, in Example 4, the definite article the indicates this journalist is a

specific one and is depicted immediately afterwards(who asked the

question).

Rule 2: Do not use the article the before the plural countable nouns

unless they refer to the specific people or things.

Since the indefinite articles a / an are only suitable for the singular

countable nouns, the only difficulty of article use left for plural countable

nouns is the definite article the. If the plural countable nouns refer to people

or things in general, do not use the; but if they refer to some people or

things specific, the needs to be used. Look at the following examples.

● The plural countable nouns without articles:

1. We need helpers of all types, such as engineers, scientists and

teachers.

1. The pace of change has workers both excited and anxious about

what the future holds.

1. This measure is in the long-term interest of schools and universities.

● The plural countable nouns with articles:

1. She has published several books this year. The books are all

concerned about children’s right.

1. The concepts of marine transgression and regression are considered

to be fundamental.

1. A study has revealed that the teenagers who spend more time on

online social media feel less happy in almost every aspect of their lives.

In Examples 1-3, all the plural countable nouns do not have a definite

article preceding them because these nouns refer to the people in general

(e.g. engineers, scientists, or workers) or the things in general (e.g. schools

and universities). Whereas in Examples 4-6, the is used before the plural

countable nouns because these nouns refer to some specific things or

people. In Example 4,the first sentence mentions several books published

by a lady. Then in the second sentence, when these books are mentioned

again, a definite article needs to be used to specify the books. In Example 5,

the writer does not refer to all concepts but only the specific concepts about

marine transgression and regression. Similarly in Example 6, the writer

does not mean all teenagers feel less happy, but merely a particular group of

teenagers who spend more time on online social media feel less happy.

Rule 3: Do not use the article the before uncountable nouns unless they

refer to something specific.

Uncountable nouns usually include abstract or intangible things (e.g.

information, air), liquids(e.g. milk, wine), and things that are too large or

numerous to count (e.g. equipment, sand). A noun that is uncountable

cannot be made plural or used with a / an. You only need to consider

whether to add the definite article the before uncountable nouns. The rule is

similar to Rule 2: if the uncountable noun refers to something general, do

not use the; if the noun refers to something specific, use the. For example:

● The uncountable nouns without articles:

1. Intelligence is one of the defining features of being human and it

comes in various forms.

1. Dehydration can reduce motivation, increase fatigue and make

exercise feel much more difficult.

1. They need to find information quickly and be able to summarize it

in clear language.

● The uncountable nouns with articles:

1. Look at the information that precedes the paragraph in question.

1. It is difficult to resist the temptation of easy profits.

1. Environmentally-conscious Germans are worried about the

pollution (that) cars produce.

In Examples 1-3, those uncountable nouns refer to abstract things in

general and they have not been mentioned previously, so they do not need

to have the preceding them. By comparison, the uncountable nouns in

Examples 4-6 refer to the specific things. For instance, Example 4 does not

require you to look at all the information, but just the information that

comes before the paragraph which is being discussed. Example 5

emphasizes one type of temptation: the temptation to make easy profits.

The type of pollution mentioned in Example 6 is the pollution that is

produced by cars.Therefore, when an uncountable noun refers to something

specific, you have to use the definite article preceding it.

Rule 4: Articles go before adjectives.

When an article modifies a noun (either countable or uncountable) that

is already being modified by an adjective, the article goes before that

adjective. For example:

1. A small-screen portable TV can be a wise investment.

1. The approximate number of children in this school is 300.

In the first example, there are two countable nouns. The first noun TV

is being modified by the adjectives small-screen and portable. The

indefinite article a sits before the adjectives. Similarly,the second noun

investment is being modified by the adjective wise and a goes before the

adjective.In the second example, the definite article the goes before the

adjective approximate to modify the noun number.

Exercises

1. Identify the countable and uncountable nouns in the box, and put

them into the appropriate blanks.

advice　battery　dollar　electricity　evidence　feature　furniture_

garbage　health　human　journey　photograph　research　scenery

1)

Countable

nouns:_______________________________________________________

_______________

2)

Uncountable

nouns:_______________________________________________________

_____________

1. Revise the following sentences with errors in the use of articles. In

some sentences, there might be more than one error in the article use.

1. His mother is a honest woman.

______________________________________________

1. The creativity is valuable quality in the children.

______________________________________________

1. Mr. Johnson has to go to London on an urgent business.

______________________________________________

1. City traffic went into chaos because of continuous the rainfall.

______________________________________________

1. Scientist looking at the data and facts argues that planet is getting

warmer.

______________________________________________

1. Professionals have been striving for the decades to strike balance

between career and family life.

______________________________________________

7.4　Avoiding dangling modifiers

A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes a word or makes

its meaning more specific.You need to identify the word that the modifier is

describing. Sometimes, when a modifier is a phrase, the sentence becomes

more complex, and the word that the modifier is intended to modify may

not exist. This results in grammatical errors called dangling modifiers or

hanging modifiers. In most cases, the dangling modifier appears at the

beginning of the sentence, for example:

1. Having finished the assignment, the TV was turned on.

1. Inside the space station, the Earth was illuminated by the Sun.

In Example 1, the present participle having finished the assignment

depicts an action, but it does not state who is the doer. According to English

grammar, the doer must be the first noun (also the subject) in the main

clause that follows. So this sentence implies the TV has finished the

assignment,which does not make sense. The real doer should be some

person who has finished the assignment,and then he or she turned on the

TV. In this sentence, having finished the assignment becomes a dangling

modifier, because the word it really modifies does not exist.

Similarly, in Example 2, it is illogical for the prepositional phrase

inside the space station to refer to the Earth. Since the word being modified

by this phrase has not been clearly stated, the prepositional phrase is

regarded as a dangling modifier.

So how to fix dangling modifiers? There are several solutions. The

most commonly used way is keeping the modifier, but restructuring the

main clause by adding the appropriate word being modified as the subject

of the clause. For instance, we can revise the previous two examples as:

Correct:　Having finished the assignment, Anna turned on the TV.

Correct:　Inside the space station, the scientists caught the view that

the Earth was illuminated by the Sun.

After revision, Anna becomes the logical doer of the action having

finished the assignment in Example 1 and it is in the correct position (i.e. as

the subject of the following main clause). In so doing, the modifier is not

dangling, but is next to the word it modifies. Example 2 is also revised in a

logical way: the prepositional phrase inside the space station modifies the

scientists. So it means that the scientists are in the space station and they

saw the spectacular view.

The second way to correct a dangling modifier is changing the

modifying phrase to a subordinate clause, clarifying the subject and verb in

this clause, while keeping the main clause.Take a look at the following two

examples.

Incorrect: Without knowing his name, it was difficult to introduce him.

Correct:　Because Angela did not know his name, it was difficult to

introduce him.

Incorrect:　After writing The Tempest, Shakespeare’s retirement from

playwriting came quickly.

Correct:　After Shakespeare wrote The Tempest, his retirement from

playwriting came quickly.

In the first example, the prepositional phrase without knowing his

name becomes a dangling modifier because the subject of the following

main clause it cannot be a logical doer of the action “not knowing his

name”. Therefore, we may revise the sentence by changing the dangling

modifier to a subordinate clause that starts with because, and name the doer

of action (i.e. Angela) in the clause.In this way, the sentence becomes much

clearer.

At a first glance of the incorrect sentence in Example 2, it may seem

right because it was Shakespeare who wrote The Tempest. But a close

examination reveals that: Shakespeare’s name is in the possessive case

(Shakespeare’s), which means that grammatically Shakespeare’s is acting

like an adjective. The real noun / subject is retirement. Hence the sentence

is actually saying that Shakespeare’s retirement wrote The Tempest. This is

of course ridiculous. We can change the dangling modifier to a subordinate

clause which clarifies the doer of the action (writing The Tempest) as

Shakespeare. Accordingly, use a possessive pronoun his to replace

Shakespeare’s in the main clause to avoid repetition. The rest of the main

clause is kept the same without restructuring it.

Exercises

Revise the following sentences with dangling modifiers.

1. When looking for something more to get a sense of a student, social

media can provide additional clues to admission officers.

______________________________________________

1. After reading the original study, the article remains unconvincing.

______________________________________________

1. Having been fixed the night before, Jim could use the car.

______________________________________________

1. While visiting the reptile house, the crocodile frightened her friends.

______________________________________________

1. The experiment was a failure, not having studied the lab manual

carefully.

______________________________________________

1. Having done the dishes and vacuumed the floors, my house looked

decent again.

______________________________________________

7.5　Avoiding word choice errors

Word choice, also called diction, means the use of the best words for

getting your point across.If you use the inappropriate words, it can lead

directly to misunderstandings of the information.Therefore, to achieve

clarity for your essay, it is important to avoid word choice errors.

There are many types of word choice errors. First, writers may choose

a word that is pronounced like another word but has a different spelling or

meaning, for example write and right, some and sum. These words are

called homophones. If you mean to express an idea, but accidentally use a

homophone, the idea may be totally different from what you intended to

express. For instance:

1. Incorrect: He wants to here the singer performing without any

distractions.

Correct: He wants to hear the singer performing without any

distractions.

1. Incorrect: There will be a written examination to compliment the

practical test.

Correct: There will be a written examination to complement the

practical test.

In the first example, the writer mistakenly uses here, a homophone of

hear, and makes the meaning of the sentence difficult to interpret. In the

second example, compliment and complement are a pair of homophones

frequently misused by language learners. As a verb, compliment refers to

say something nice about someone or something, while complement means

to add something that enhances or completes. They convey totally different

meanings, so when they are misused in the second example, the sentence

would become problematic and hard to understand.

There are also some words which are spelled like each other, but they

mean different things or belong to distinct parts of speech, such as affect vs.

effect, choose vs. chose, later vs. latter. You need to distinguish these easily

confused words.

Secondly, word choice errors may take place when users are not clear

about the context in which a word is usually used. When you are using

synonyms (i.e. words with similar meanings), you need to think about what

the differences are between these words. For example, in the following

sentence, the writer uses the adjective exciting to describe the smell of

coffee. Although exciting has the meaning of causing excitement in one’s

emotion, it is not suitable to describe a smell (which is a sense). However,

its synonym stimulating can refer to activating a part of a person’s body or

senses.So stimulating is more suitable to be used in this context.

Incorrect:　The exciting smell of freshly-brewed coffee can get one’s

blood pumping when waking up.

Correct: 　The stimulating smell of freshly-brewed coffee can get

one’s blood pumping when waking up.

For another example, we can distinguish between the synonyms

youthful and juvenile. The word youthful has the positive connotation

relating to both childhood and vitality. Meanwhile, juvenile may technically

mean the same thing, but it also has the negative connotation relating to

immaturity.If a company is advertising a health and beauty product, the

advertisement would probably state it gives you a youthful appearance, but

not a juvenile appearance, because the latter would simply imply that one

looks childish.

The last type involves the use of ambiguous words (see Chapter 4).

Strictly speaking, it may not be regarded as an error, but it can be

considered as an ineffective or inappropriate choice of words.For example,

some vague words such as good or stuff, are in fact not specific enough to

effectively deliver your message. A poor sentence like This essay is good

could mean any feature of the essay — e.g. it is well organized; it is clear

and logical; it contains no or few language errors; etc.So whenever possible,

use descriptive words that give the audience a clear idea about what exactly

you want to convey.

In summary, in order to avoid different types of word choice errors,

you need to recognize easily confused words, understand word meanings in

context, and use specific descriptive words whenever necessary.

Exercises

Choose the suitable word from the brackets of the following sentences

to fill in each blank.

1. Modern farming methods can have an adverse ____________ on

the environment. (affect / effect)

1. They must ____________ between two evenly matched candidates

for Governor. (choose / chose)

1. Tom is about to embark on a new business ____________.

(adventure / venture)

1. At the other side of the valley was a steep ____________ to the top

of the hill. (accent / ascent)

1. A patient who is not fully ____________ should never be left alone.

(conscience / conscious)

1. They will urge ____________ principles and use their influence to

promote justice. (humane /human)

1. The general ____________ is simple: Whenever the body has been

in one position for a while, it is good to briefly stretch it in an opposite

position. (principal / principle)

1. The ____________ of judges questioned William extensively and

ruled that he was educated enough to have written the book. (board / bored)

【注释】

[1]determiner n. a word such as the， some， my， etc. that comes before

a noun to show how the noun is being used 限定词（置于名词前）

Writing Conventions

An important convention of academic writing is to cite sources, i.e.

borrowing words or ideas from others and acknowledging the original

authors. It is one of the most effective ways to avoid plagiarism. Except

common knowledge, your personal opinions or experiences, and the results

obtained by your own study, all the information borrowed from others

needs to be cited and credited.

There are three scholarly ways to incorporate the borrowed

information into your own work,i.e. quoting, paraphrasing, and

summarizing. Quoting refers to taking the exact words from the original

source and enclosing them in quotation marks. Paraphrasing means using

your own words to restate another person’s idea. Summarizing is putting the

main ideas of a long text in your own words.

Immediately following your quotation, paraphrase or summary, you

must add an in-text citation to briefly mention the original author’s name

and the publication year, such as (Porter,

1998). Then at the end of your essay, create a reference list to provide

the detailed publication information about all the sources you have referred

to. The format of your citations and references should be in accordance with

the guidelines for a citation style your institution is using or the one

required by your instructor, e.g. MLA, APA, or Chicago. In this chapter, we

illustrate examples of citations and references following the APA style

guidelines.