Identification of Common Grammatical Mistakes

The three different types common grammar mistakes I would frequently make would primarily be that of sentence fragments, pronoun reference and subject verb agreement. For this entry, I’ll explain how the grammatical structure should be used correctly and show some examples of the mistakes and correct version.

Sentence fragments are basically incomplete sentences. To have a complete sentence, it needs a subject in each independent and dependent clause. We would be able to correct the sentences by either removing or adding punctuations to link the sentence correctly. Some sentences are also written as main clauses but lack a subject or main verb. Some examples are:

1a) He fell down. As he was running down the stairs. [Wrong]

(b) He fell down as he was running down the stairs. [Correct]

2a) His room in a mess. [Wrong]

(b) His room was in a mess. [Correct]

Pronoun reference usually refers to a noun phrase or another pronoun(called the antecedent) and should come before the pronoun. When there is more than one pronoun in the sentence, we have to ensure the pronoun refers to only one of them. The pronoun should refer to a specific antecedent rather than an implicit antecedent. The reader will have to guess or read through a few times before he/she can identify if the sentence’s meaning. Some examples are:

1a) Bring the speaker to the shop to fix it.

(b) Bring the speaker to the shop to fix the speaker.

2a) Although the ice cream container was empty, we were tired of eating it.

(b) Although the ice cream container was empty, we were tired of eating the ice cream.

For subject verb agreement as the name implies, we have to match the subject and verb correctly. For a singular subject, we have to match it with a singular verb form and for a plural subject, we have to have plural verb form with it. Some sentences might be unclear and the trick is to locate the subject closest to the verb and choose the correct word for it. Examples or subject verb agreements are:

1a) The books lying on his desk is messy. [Wrong]

(b) The books lying on his desk are messy. [Correct]

2a) Each of the boys are taking his lunch now. [Wrong]

(b) Each of the children is taking his lunch now. [Correct]

These are the common grammatical mistakes I commonly face. I shall be more careful in future whenever I write any sentences and from the English lessons attended so far, I would be able to spot more of such common errors made from the various grammar lessons taught in the past weeks.