Common Grammar Errors

By: Casey Conrad

This information is from The Everyday Writer by Andrea Lunsford, 2nd Edition Examples from http://owl.english.purdue.ed u/handouts/grammar/index. html

Their, There, and Theyre

Their= possessive pronoun: their books There=that place: over there Theyre= they are: Theyre cooking.

Missing comma after an introductory element

Introductory clauses are dependant clauses that provide background information or set the stage for the main part of the sentence, the independent clause. For Example: If they want to win, athletes must practice every day.

Unnecessary shift in tense

The ocean contains rich minerals that washed down from the rivers and streams.
Contains is present tense; washed is past tense

Unnecessary shift in pronoun

If you are writing in first person (I), dont confuse your reader by switching to second person (you) or third person (he, she, they, it, ect). Dont switch tenses!!

Sentence Fragment
Purdue offers many majors in engineering.

The bolded part does not represent a complete thought. It is not a complete sentence.

Such as electrical, chemical, and industrial engineering.

 Run-ons and fused sentences are terms describing two independent clauses which are joined together with no connecting word or punctuation to separate the clauses. Example: They werent criminals they were detectives in disguise.

Fused Sentence

If you would like more information/examples, go to http://owl.english.purd ue.edu/handouts/gram mar/index.html

The End