SECTION 5: COMMON ERRORS IN ESSAY WRITING When proofreading your work, take note of redundant words or repetitious expressions that you might have used. Delete them if they make your writing longer but not better. Here are some common redundancies | Please repeat the question. Please repeat the question again, Knock before you enter into the room. Knock before you enter the room. You must return back my book. You must return my book, We discussed about the problem. We discussed the problem. The dog chased after the little boy. ‘The dog chased the little boy. In my opinion, I think, boys must learn how to cook. In my opinion, boys must learn how to cook. T cannot cope up with my work, Tcannot cope with my work. My brother is big in size, My brother is big. My father bought a car. Tt is s black in colgur, | My father bought a cc is Black. width. The road in front of my house is S wide in | The road in front of my house is wide. ‘You have to raise up your hand ity uu want to answer the question, You have to raise your hand if you want | __to answer the question. Twas late, The reason is because overslept. T was late. The reason is I overslept. people offen look down on the Remember to reply back my letter. We arrived on time but however, they left without us We arrived on time but they left without us. ‘They bought a bungalow by the seaside. They bought a bungalow by the seaside. Section 5: Common Errors in Essay Writing 81Leave out the words in brackets because they are redundant. 7am. (in the morning) (absolutely) necessary (add) up (advance) planning (advance) warning bald (-headed) cancel (out) circled (around) combine (fogether) continue (on) demand (for) empty (hole) enclosed (with this letter) enter (in) exact (same) (fellow) classmates few (in number) (final) conclusion first (of all) fly (through the air), follow (after) (free) gift (frozen) ice (future) plans gather (together) green/any colour (in colour) grow (in size) heat (up) hurry (up) Join (together) knee! (down) later (time) lift (up) (local) residents made (out) of meet (together) mentioned (about) might (possibly) mix (together) never (before) (new) beginning outside (of) (past) history (plain) water postpone (until later) proceed (ahead) raise (up) reason is (because) (regular) routine repeat (again) reply (back) request (for) rise (up) round (in shape) share (together) shiny (in appearance) shut (down) slow (speed) small (size) stressed (on) surrounded (on all sides) tall (in height) ten (in number) time (period) (true) facts (truly) sincere. (twelve) noon or midnight (two equal) halves (unexpected) surprise warn (in advance) weather (outside) whether (or not) 82 Section 5: Common Errors in Essay WritingAccept or except? ‘Some words sound so similar that it is easy ‘to confuse or misuse them. Here are some examples of words commonly misused. accept ‘to receive beside next to except to take or leave out besides __| other than «She accepts the gifts happily. * Alia sits beside me in class. + You can take all the fruits except the | © Besides my brother, no one likes to eat pears durians in my family. alter between | used to refer to two people, things, or places effect consequence among | used to refer to more than two + What effect will losing my job have * She divided the chocolate between the two con my family? girls. + How will the loss of the job affect | * Netball is the most popular game among the ry family? girls. all ready prepared borrow ‘to take and use (something belonging to someone else) already by this time lend ‘Yo give something to someone tobe | used for a period of time | ‘ + Lunch was all ready by noon. She borrowed some money from me. © The food was already cold when the | © Tent her some money. guests arrived, | altegether | entirely breath | the air inhaled or exhaled ‘all together | gathered, with everything | breathe _| to inhale or exhale in one place Altogether, I thought that the ‘= The nervous boy took a deep breath. concert was well planned. + She was rushed to the hospital because she We were all together to watch the found it hard to breathe. fireworks display. apart to be separated briefly _ | ina few words a part to be joined with shortly | very soon + She kept her dogs apart because = The teacher explained briefly the guidelines they could not get along. ‘on how to choose the right job. * The cap was a part of their uniform. Shortly after T left, it started raining heavily. Section 5: Common Ervors in Essay Writing 83bring | fo cause to come live ‘to make your home in that place take | to cause to go stay to remain at a place temporarily * Can you bring me that book over . there? * Do not forget to take that book when you leave, T live in Kuala Lumpur. © Istayed ina hotel when I went to Ipoh, high ] passing above the normal level the opposite of ‘tight’ or surface more than the average height ‘to be unable to find something or someone I could not reach the books as they were placed on high shelves. Many tall buildings could be seen from a distance, ess is loose as I have lost weight. did you lose your wallet? hung | to put something on a wall passed | past tense of "to pass," meaning to have moved belonging to a former time or place hanged | to kill a person by hanging past © He hung the picture in his bedroom, The people cheered as the parade passed + He was hanged for murdering through the streets someone. * Who was the past prime minister? its. of or belong tait principal | headmaster or headmistress it's contraction for “it is” principle | a moral rule or belief «The cat licked its paws. . ‘Mr Pravin is the principal of the school. © It's a beautiful morning. . My principle in life is we must be honest. lead | a type of metal iet hot making noise led past tense of the verb ‘ta lead’ | quite not very. + The pipe is made of lead. The class was very quiet when the teacher + He led them up the hill. went in, The class was quite noisy without the teacher 84 Section 5: Common Errors in Essay Writingsee to notice or become aware of something on someone careful or complete watch | fo look at something that changes or moves though however; nevertheless ‘+ saw many people on the beach, + Tlike to watch television. ‘The doctor did a thorough examination on the patient. He shared his food though he did not have much. used in positive Sentences to refer to an unspecified amount or number ‘through: in one side and out the opposite used in negative sentences to refer to an unspecified amount or: number past tense of “throw” + Doyou + Ineed have any money? some money now. He crawled through the tunnel. She threw away all the old magazines. statibnary | standing still weather the state of the air and atmosphere outside stationery | writing paper whether used to show choice or possil ity The lorry driver fell asleep and ran into a stationary car. © The children need some stationery to write their letters. ‘The weather has been bad since yesterday. Let me know whether you want to go swimming or skating. study to acquire knowledge of a subject who used as a relative pronoun to refer toaperson learn acquiring a skill whor used as an object + Pravin has to study hard for his exam, © During the holidays, T want to learn swimming, Lina is the girl who will be the next head prefect. She cannot remember whom she passed the book to. then a linker which means ‘next’ than used for comparison © First he had to bathe. Then he had his breakfast. © She is taller than am. tal lest Section 5: Common Errors in Essay Writing 85Words that can be written as either one word or two all ready already. cll ready means ‘completely ready’ + We were all ready to go when it started raining, already is an adverb which means ‘by that time’ ‘* We had already finished our work when the teacher came. alright alot all right means in proper or satisfactory condition’, It is often incorrectly spelled as “alright” + The washing machine was all right when I used it ‘@lot means ‘a large number or amount’. Do not spell it as ‘alot’. © There is alot of rice on my plate, all fogether altogether all together means ‘simultaneously. + Alltogether, two hundred people came to ‘the party. altogether is an adverb meaning ‘completely’ © Altogether, we collected five thousand ringgit. all ways always = all ways means ‘every way’ al ways to Kuala Lumpur are blocked, always means ‘all the time’ ‘© Talways get lost in Kuala Lumpur. ‘any one ‘anyone ‘any one meaning ‘any single person or thing! + Tt could have been taken by any one of the boys. ‘anyone means ‘anybody’ Do you know if my book has been taken by anyone? every day 5 everyday every day means ‘each single day ‘© Every day T try to help my mother, ‘everyday is used as an adjective to mean ‘usual’ or ‘ordinary’ He puts on his everyday clothes and left for work. may be maybe may be means ‘could be’ + She may be late for the meeting, maybe which is an adverb, means ‘perhaps’ © Maybe she will visit me ‘some time sometime. some time means ‘a certain period of time’ She took some time to dress up. sometime means a particular time’ © Iwill be going to Indonesia sometime in December. some time ‘sometime sometimes e means ‘quite a long time’ ‘time! * Can you give me some time | + +o finish my work? ‘sometime means ‘an indefinite Twill meet up with you |» sometime next week. sometimes means ‘more than once! (it is an adverb of frequency) Sometimes T have dinner with my friends, Section 6: Grammar and Vocabulary 91Common errors in spelling accomodation acheive advertisment behavior belive business continous disapointed embarrass enviroment familiar fourty CORRECT ‘accommodation achieve advertisement behaviour believe business continuous: disappointed embarrass environment familiar forty futhermore grammer furthermore immediatly independeant musle hecesary grammar immediately independent muscle pecessary ocassion peice program reciive relevent senery seperate Sergent sovenir sucess sufficent sergeon surprise tounge unfortunately weird writen weiting occasion piece programme receive relevant scenery separate sergeant souvenir success sufficient surgeon surprise, tongue unfortunately weird writing written English and Bahasa Malaysia spelling of similar words [ENGLISH BAHASA MALAYSIA ENGLISH BAHASA MALAYSIA activity aspect autobiography bag biscuit boat bus co-curriculum dialogue guitar lift ‘taxi aktiviti aspek autobiografi beg biskut bot bas ko-kurukulumn dialog gitar lit teksi factor mathematic minute narrative number pencil process sandwich social telephone university slipper faktor matematik minit naratif nombor pensel proses sandwie sosial telefon universiti selipar 92 Section 6: Grammar and Vocabulary