The purpose of this guide is to provide Moeller students with a quick and handy reference guide for editing their drafts. The document decodes editing marks made by teachers and other editors so that a writer can discover quickly the nature of an error. If he needs further explanation, this guide provides a short discussion, as well as examples and suggestions for revision.
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AGR......... AGREEMENT ERROR. CHECK BOTH KINDS:
1. If a subject is singular, its predicate must be singular; if a subject is plural, its predicate must be plural.
[ex. Every ONE of the guests IS here. (subject "every one" is singular. Predicate "is" is singular)]
2. If an antecedent is singular, its pronoun must be singular; if it is plural, the pronoun must be plural (an "antecedent" is the word a personal pronoun takes the place of).
[ex. If ANYONE calls, tell HIM I'll be back later. (The antecedent "anyone" is singular, so the personal pronoun that refers to "anyone" must be singular: "him.")]
AWK.......... AWKWARD . Your phrasing or choice of words sounds awkward.
Rephrase the whole sentence or replace the awkward word.
PASSIVE.......... PASSIVE VOICE. Passive voice can be awkward, weak, impersonal, and vague. Rewrite the sentence in ACTIVE voice. (In active voice, the subject performs the action, while in passive voice, the subject does not perform the action.) To change from one voice to the other, you must always change subjects.
[Awkward passive: The typing course was signed up for by me.
Active voice: I signed up for the typing course.]
FRAG.......... SENTENCE FRAGMENT. Each sentence must contain a complete thought, a subject, and a predicate.
[FRAGMENT: Because we went to the store. (Subordinate clause, lacks a complete thought) Corrected: We went to the store.]
[FRAGMENT: Mary being the girl of my dreams. (no predicate, only a participle).
Corrected: Mary is the girl of my dreams.]
APOS.......... Apostrophe is used incorrectly. Check for possessive or contraction.
GEN.......... Gender is incorrectly expressed by your pronoun.
R/O or C/S.......... RUN-ON SENTENCE or COMMA SPLICE. Two main clauses (complete thoughts) may not be forced together without proper punctuation or conjunctions.
***A comma does NOT help.
Suggestions:
[WRONG: It was more than a strong wind, it was a hurricane. To correct, put a period or semi-colon where the comma is.
WRONG: First he smashed the window, then he broke the door. To correct, insert a subordinator to establish only one main clause. (After he smashed the window, he broke the door.)
WRONG: I was dog tired, however, I kept on working.
To correct, put a "but" in place of "however" where the comma is. (coordinating conjunction) (I was dog tired, but I kept on working.)
WRONG: It was a hot day, it was humid too. To correct, embed one clause in the other and cut out extra words. It was a hot, humid day.]
MOD.......... MODIFIER PROBLEM. A modifying word or phrase should be placed immediately next to the word it modifies.
[WRONG: He wore a hat on his head which was too small . (The subordinate clause should not be next to "head." Correct: On his head he wore a hat that was too small.
WRONG: Carrying a pile of books, his foot caught on the steps. (The phrase "carrying
a pile of books" has nothing proper to modify; "his foot" isn't carrying books. This is thus a "dangling" modifier. Correct: As HE was carrying a pile of books, his foot caught on ]
PARALLELISM.......... Equal ideas must be expressed in the same grammatical form. Put another way, "parallelism" means grammatical balance.
[WRONG: The annual report showed a growth in production but that [The report showed two equal things, but one is written as a noun
phrase and the other is a clause. This is unbalanced.
Correct: The annual report showed a growth in production but a drop in sales.)
WRONG: I like hunting, fishing, and to water ski.
Correct: I like hunting, fishing, and water skiing.]
PRO CON.......... PRONOUN CONSISTENCY or inconsistent point of view. Stay consistent with first person (I, me, my, we, us, our) or second person (you) or third person (he, she, it, they). Don't jump from one point of view to another without a good reason.
PAST PER .......... USE PAST PERFECT TENSE. When you are writing in past tense, and you need to refer to an action that happened even earlier, you must use the past perfect tense. Past perfect tense always uses the helping verb had.
[WRONG: I jumped into the car only to discover that I lost my keys.
("I lost" actually took place at an earlier time. Past tense isn't adequate here.)
Corrected: I jumped into the car only to find that I had lost my keys.]
REF.......... PRONOUN REFERENCE A pronoun must clearly refer to one specific antecedent.
[WRONG: Phil was angry with Jim, and he looked unhappy. ("he" could refer to either Jim or Phil. The meaning is ambiguous.
Corrected: Phil was angry with Jim, who looked unhappy.)
WRONG: In the final chapter it implies that the hero died. ("It" doesn't have an antecedent to refer to. Corrected: The final chapter implies that the hero died.
WRONG: When my grandfather was a boy, you had to be silent at mealtimes. ("you" has nothing proper to refer to. "You" can't mean the reader, as second person pronouns are supposed to do. Corrected: When my grandfather was a boy, children had to be silent at mealtimes.]
SUBORD.......... SUBORDINATION means emphasizing one part of a sentence while deemphasizing another part of the sentence. Less important grammatical structures get less emphasis. Main clauses get the most emphasis. One way to subordinate is to convert a main clause into a subordinate clause; another way is to convert a clause into a phrase or into a single word.
[WEAK: John Smith is mayor of Denver, and he is an excellent bowler. This sentence needs to be subordinated.
Subordinated: John Smith, who is an excellent bowler, is mayor of Denver. "who is an excellent bowler" is a subordinate clause and gets less emphasis than the rest of the sentence. Also try John Smith, an excellent bowler, is mayor of Denver.
Two sentences may be combined and subordinated to eliminate choppiness.
[ WEAK: John Smith is a friend of mine. He is a marathon runner.
Combined and subordinated: John Smith, a friend of mine, is a marathon runner.]
S P.......... MISSPELLING
SUBJUNT.......... USE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. This grammatical mood is required to show a situation contrary to fact: for example, a wish. Most errors occur when a writer uses "was" in a situation contrary to fact. Use "were."
[WRONG: If I was rich, I'd buy six cars.
Corrected: If I were rich, I'd buy six cars.]
TENSE or V/T.......... CONSISTENCY OF TENSE. The same verb tense must be maintained unless there is a reason to change.
GRAMM.......... UNGRAMMATICAL This sentence or phrase is ungrammatical. Examine it carefully and revise it.
VERB FORM.......... An incorrect form of the verb has been used. Check to see whether a different principal part would solve the problem. (For example, try "saw" instead of "seen" or "done" instead of "did or "gone" instead of "went.")
WD CH .......... WORD CHOICE The word you chose doesn't work. Check to see whether it
means what you thought it did. Check the spelling. Read the whole sentence to see whether it sounds right in context. Whatever the reason, replace the word with another one.
WW.......... WRONG WORD The word you chose is probably a homynym for the correct word,
for example, "Their" instead of "there" or "to" instead of "too." Respell it.