16. WV. lence Correction 533 Points to Remember A pronoun should be plural when it refers to two nouns joined by and. A pronoun should be singular when it refers to two nouns joined by or or nor. A pronoun should refer to one, and only one, noun or compound noun. ‘A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in both number and person. The subject and verb must agree both in number and person. Intervening phrases and clauses have no effect on subject-verb agreement. When the subject and verb are reversed, they still must agece in both number and person. Asa general rule, a modifier should be placed as close as possible to what it modifies. When a phrase begins a sentence, make sure that it modifies the subject of the sentence. For a sentence to be parallel, similar clements must be expressed in similar form, When two adjectives modify the same noun, they should have similar forms. When a series of clauses is listed, the verbs must be in the same form When the first half of a sentence has a certain structure, the second half should preserve that structure ‘An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. A verb has four principal forms: 1. Present Tense a. Used to express something that is occurring now. b. Used to express general truths. ©. Used with will or shall to express future time IL Past‘Tense a. Used to express something that occurred in the past. IIL, Past Participle a. Used to form the present perfect tense, which indicates that an action was started in the past and its effects are continuing in the present. Itis formed using have or has and the past participle of the verb, '. Used to form the past perfect tense, which indicates that an action was completed before another past action. It is formed using liad and the past participle of the verb. ©. Used to form the future perfect tense, which indicates that an action will be completed before another future action. It is formed using will have or shall have and the past participle of the verb. IV. Present Participle (ing form of the verb) a. Used to form the present progressive tense, which indicates that an action is ongoing. Itis formed using is, am, or are and the present participle of the verb. b. Used to form the past progressive tense, which indicates that an action was in progress in the past. Its formed using, was or were and the present participle of the verb. ©. Used to form the future progressive tense, which indicates that an action will be in progress in the future. It is formed using will be or shall be and the present participle of the verb. Unless you want to de-emphasize the doer of an action, you should favor the active voice. Attack strategy for identifying misplaced modifiers 1. Find the subject and the verb, IL. Isolate the subject and the verb by deleting intervening phrases. IIL. Follow the rule of proximity: Modifiers should describe the closest units IV. Check the punctuation. Any punctuation should create coherence and not confusion.