Tues.

7th May

Lesson # 3:

Error Correction

General comments:
 No need to use sheath / or hand in a cover
 Do not use contractions
 Bear in mind type of letter and size
 Do not change topic
 Use transitions to move from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to
paragraph
 You can´t use a long quotations in a short paragraph
 Be careful with very long sentences!
 Problems with reference
 Do not be so categorically! Use modal verbs!

Anticipatory “It”
“It is clearly understood, when one reads the extract, the purpose of the images”
“It struck me the beauty and quietness you can find”
“It is also evident his distance towards culture”

It when the subject is an infinitive or a that-clause at the end position

“It´s nice to be with you” // “It worried me a bit that she didn´t phone”

After initial It the clause may also open with “if” / “when”
“It is always gratifying when people show they have not forgotten you”

It can also be used as a preparatory subject for: for + object + infinitive

 “It´s essential for the papers to be ready before Thursday”
It can also be used as a preparatory subject for: -ing form
“It was nice seeing you”

Preparatory object
When the object is an infinitive or a –that clause normally there´s an adjective
connected with the object.
“George made it clear that he disagreed”
“I find it difficult to talk to her”

Dangling Gerunds

This is what a dangling gerund phrase looks like:

Upon entering the crypt, my hair stood on end.

In this sentence, entering is a gerund. Like a participle, it ends in -ing, but unlike a
participle, it functions as a noun, not a modifier. The gerund phrase entering the crypt is the
object of the preposition upon, but where is its subject? As the sentence is written, the
subject is my hair, which admittedly did enter the crypt, but presumably not under its own
steam.

If that last paragraph left you clutching your own hair in confusion, don’t worry. All you
need to know is this: upon entering the crypt describes the closest subject, which at the
moment is my hair.

Upon entering the crypt, I felt my hair stand on end.

My hair stood on end the moment I entered the crypt. (Again, sometimes avoiding a
potential dangler is the best solution.)
Some dangling gerunds look innocent enough to pass unnoticed:

While donning his superhero mask, a sense of his own silliness came over him.
Technically, though, we’re claiming his sense is donning a superhero mask. Better to make
the subject explicit and avoid the sneers of the grammar cognoscenti:

While donning (put on an item of clothing) his superhero mask, he was overcome by a
sense of his own silliness.
Even without a gerund as its object, a preposition can still lead to dangling:

With hats of such size, large birds sometimes tried to mate with the heads of fashionable
ladies out for a stroll.
It was not, of course, the birds who sported the oversized headgear:

1) “There may exist some disadvantages towards patience.”

Avoid starting sentences with there is / are
“There are particular events in our lives that make us realize that time goes by”
Improved ste: “Particular events in …. make us realize …”
“There exists” sounds awkward in English

We use them to refer to a total number of people, things and places. We write them as one
word. We use everyone, everybody, everything and everywhere with singular verbs:
Correlative expressions (both, and; not, but; not only, but also; either, or; first, second,
third; and the like) should be followed by the same grammatical construction. Many
violations of this rule can be corrected by rearranging the sentence.

Faulty Parallelism Corrected Version

It was both a long ceremony and The ceremony was both long and
very tedious. tedious.
A time not for words, but action A time not for words, but for
action
Either you must grant his request You must either grant his request
or incur his ill will. or incur his ill will.
My objections are, first, the My objections are, first, that the
injustice of the measure; second, measure is unjust; second, that it
that it is unconstitutional. is unconstitutional.

2) Use of Commas (ppt sent by mail)

37) Synonyms of Things / something

Object, article, element, substance, matter, component, unit, entity, particle, item, gadget,
device, mechanism, fact, experience, phenomenon, case, event, incident

38) Avoid starting sentences with there is / are

“There are particular events in our lives that make us realize that time goes by”
Improved ste: “Particular events in …. make us realize …”

39) Synomyms of “important”: significant, relevant, remarkable, substantial, prominent,

impressive, imposing, crucial

40) Synomyms of “big”: large, huge, enormous, immense, colossal, monstrous, gigantic,
tremendous, vast, extensive, majestic
Big as important:
41) Synomyms of “beautiful”: attractive, handsome, good-looking, glamorous, charming,
captivating, charming, fascinating, pleasant, lovely, magnificent, gorgeous, superb.