QUESTION 5 LANGUAGE EDITING CHEAT SHEET

Concord Error Malapropism Active & Passive Voice

When the subject of a sentence and the The humourous misuse of a word by Rules to change from active to passive:
verb of a sentence agree. confusing it with a similar sounding word. I bake a cake.

If the subject of the sentence is singular,
the verb must be singular.
If the subject of a sentence is plural, the
verb must be plural.
Ex. The pages (subject) is/ARE (verb)
held together by a staple.
Ex. He's a wolf in cheap clothing.
He’s a wolf in SHEEP clothing.
Ex. The doctor gave me a subscription
for my allergies.
The doctor gave me a PRESCRIPTION
for my allergies.
• Identify the verb: bake
• Change the verb into past tense:
baked
• Ask the question which refers to the
subject as the answer:
Who baked a cake? Me.
• Rewrite the into passive form:
A cake is baked by me.

Apostrophe Reported – Speech Punctuation Functions

comma , List/pauses
Omission (Contraction) Identify the tense that needs to change () Extra info
parenthesis Join info
Where letters are missing because of Identify the place/time that needs to hyphen -
Split info
omitting. change dash –
Omits
you’re = you + are Identify the subject and add ‘said that’ ellipsis … Stops
period . Exclaims
Possession John: “I’m going to be back tomorrow.” exclamation mark ! Asks
a person owns an object/it belongs to question mark ? Joins ideas
them. John said that he was going to be back semi-colon ; Lists
e.g.: Jason’s school bag the next day. : Quotes
colon and
quotation marks “” / ‘’
Possession
ampersand &
/omission
apostrophe ’

Split Infinitive Tautology/Redundancy Truncation/Clipping

To shorten by cutting off a part of a

If all of us cooperate together, then we word.
An adverb is placed between ‘to’ and the will succeed.
verb makes a split infinitive. Expo – Exposition
Both have similar meaning. Flu – Influenza
Ex. We were told to carefully view each Varsity – University
star. Remove the redundancy: Uni – University
Cell – Cell phone
Correction: We were told to view each If all of us cooperate, then we will Tech – Technical/Technology
star carefully. succeed. / If all of us work together, Burger – Hamburger
then we will succeed. Ad – Advertisement
Memo – Memorandum

Blending Prefixes Suffixes

It refers to joining the beginning of one
word and the end of another to make a
new word with a new meaning.
Breakfast + lunch = brunch
Smoke + fog = smog
Motor + hotel = motel
Spoon + fork = spork
Spanish + English = Spanglish
Cybernetic + organism = cyborg
Emotion + icon = emoticon
Picture + element = pixel
Picture + dictionary = Pictionary
Changes the meaning of the word.
Re- again = review
De- reverse = destruction
Co- together = construct
Dis- separate/not = disinterest
Pre- before = prehistoric
Mis- wrong = mistaken
Im- not/opposite of = impolite
Non- not = nonsense
Un- not = unkind
Anti- against = antisocial
Bi- two = bicycle
Sub- under = subway
Often changes the part of speech,
changes into past tense or past
participle, changes word into plural form,
changes degree of comparison.
-ed (verb/in the past) = walked
-ing (verb/doing something) = walking
-ly (adverb/how) = slowly
-fully (adverb) = beautifully
-sion (noun/quality/action) = tension
-ment (noun) = government
-er (adjective) = taller
-al (adjective) = political
-s (plural) = girls
 Types of Sentences Sentence Clause Structure Phrases

Noun Clause
Exclamatory (!) Pepperoni is fine with me. Noun Phrase A red box.
I got an A on my book report! (subject/object/complement) Prepositional Phrase In the car.
Adjective Phrase Quite big.
Interrogative (?) Adjectival Clause Adverb Phrase Very slowly.
Who are you? Mikes car, which he bought 3 months Verb Phrase Will go.
ago, is the shiniest car. Infinitive Phrase To cheer.
Imperative (./!) (S + V) Gerund Phrase Exercising regularly.
Please sit down. / I need you to sit down Participle Phrase Surprised by the gift,
now! Adverb Clause my mother was speechless.
Absolute Phrase Her arms folde across
I’ll make diner, when I’ve finished
Declarative (.) her chest, …
watching the movie.
I want to be a good writer
(time/place/manner)

Sentence Clause Structure Types of Verbs Parts of Speech

Finite Verbs
DETERMINER The
Subject Verb Agreement – just needs one verb/can
Independent/Main Clause stand by itself in a sentence.
I washed my dog yesterday. I love potatoes. NOUN boy

(makes sense) She loves parades. ADJECTIVE brave

Mom loves parades. VERB yelled
NOUN dog
Dependent/Subordinate Clause Non-Finite Verbs INTERJECTION help
The need to love (infinitives)
I washed my dog yesterday because he A loved one (past participles)
ADVERB quickly
CONJUNCTION and
smelt awful. A loving parent (present participles) VERBS run
(bold doesn’t make sense alone) Loving is a gift (gerunds) PRONOUN he
PREPOSITION to
Linking Verb: is; are; was; were; being; am; be.
Underline the FINITE VERB to identify Helping (Aux.) Verb: shall; will; could; would; being;
VERB saw

the clause in a sentence. were; must’ might; may; have; had; did; do; is; are. DETERMINER the
Action Verb: ran; hide; walk; smell; told; deliver; DETERMINER a
listen; measure; colour; explore; move; push; go. NOUN rescue

Connotation & Denotation UK vs. USA Spelling Predicates

Denotation: literal meaning of a word The predicate is the part of a sentence

UK USA UK USA
Connotation: associations made with a (or a clause) that tells us what the
word, either positive or negative. Favourite Favorite Fulfil Fulfill
subject does or is. To put it another way,
the predicate is everything that is not the
Positive Neutral Negative Theatre Theater Encyclopaedia Encyclopedia subject.
connotation connotation connotation
Memorise Memorize Banque Bank The man from the shop is a monster.
interested questioning nosy
Subject Predicate
dedicated tenacious stubborn Dreamt Dreamed Jewellery Jewelery

courageous confident conceited Judgement Jugment Lift Elevator He stole my bike last week.
unique different weird Subject Predicate
Dialogue Dialog Grey Gray
elated happy manic

Italics Acronyms/Abbreviations Tenses

TITLES: AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency

• Journals, newspapers and magazines: Past Present Future
Syndrome
South African Journal of Science; the BEE – Black Economic Empowerment
Sunday Times; YOU. I will
ASAP – As soon as possible Simple I did I do
• Plays/books: Macbeth; The Fault in our do
WHO – World Health Organisation
Stars. I will
• Movies: Oceans 8.
GIF – Graphics Interchange Format I was I am
Continuous be
• Artworks: The Mona Lisa. doing doing
doing
Abbreviation Rule: if the abbreviation I will
EMPHASIS: I don’t like you! ends with the last letter – no period. I had I have
Perfect have
FOREIGN WORDS: et cetera; bon voyage. done done
done
WORDS REFERRED TO: there were four Dr – Doctor
and’s and one therefore in the last sentence. I will
Capt. – Captain I had I have
REPRODUCED SOUNDS: Grrr! Went the Perfect have
R.S.V.P – French for ‘Réspondez s’il Continuous
been been
been
bear. doing doing
vous plait’ meaning please respond doing
NAMES OF VEHICLES: Titanic; Orient
Express.
NY – New York
UCT – University of Cape Town