English language teaching can be separated
into systems, skills, and phonology.
Systems refer to grammar, whereas skills denote reading,
writing, listening, and speaking. Phonology incorporates
elements of pronunciation, such as intonation, connected
speech, and isolating difficult phonemes which focus on
manner (position of the mouth), place (position of the
tongue), and voice (voiced or unvoiced).
The following rules represents a summary of the
errors that may exist through practicing essay
writing …
Error-Identification Sets
1. Subject/Verb agreement 5. Doubles/Redundancy
2. Verb Tense 6. Punctuation
3. Pronoun Case 7. Parallel Structures
4. Adjective & Adverb 8. Faulty Comparison
1) Subject-Verb Agreement
A. Subject – Non-Essential Clause – Verb
Ex.
Galaxies, far from being randomly scattered throughout the
galaxy, appears (appear) to be distributed in bubble-shaped
patterns.
Whenever you encounter a parenthetical clause/phrase
(a clause set off by commas that can be removed without
affecting the fundamental meaning of the sentence),
cross it out and check the subject-verb agreement.
1) Subject-Verb Agreement
B. Subject – Prepositional Phrase – Verb
A prepositional phrase is, quite simple, a phrase that begins
with a preposition (in the box, under the table, over the hill,
etc.). Very often these will be inserted between subjects and
verbs to distract from subject-verb disagreements.
Prepositional phrases always end when you get to the verb.
Ex:
Changes in the balance of trade seems (seem) remote from
everyday concerns, but they can drastically affect how we
spend our money.
1) Subject-Verb Agreement
C. Prepositional Phrase –Verb – Subject
Ex:
- Along the Loup Canal in Nebraska, extend (extends) a
series of parks, lakes, and trails owned and operated by the
Loup power district.
- Across the dusty road, sets (set) a pond which serves as a
breeding ground for different species of the noisiest
amphibians.
1) Subject-Verb Agreement
D. Here, There/This, That/These, Those … (is/are)
A normal sentence is sequenced subject/verb/object. In
case of using one of the above items the sentence structure is
turned up to be Demonstrative/verb/subject.
Ex:
There has (have) been many questions raised about the
handling of the company’s finances.
The teacher was surprised to discover that there was (were)
mice living in the attic.
1) Subject-Verb Agreement
E. Gerund Phrase
The gerund phrase can play different roles across any
sentence as it may appear as a (participle phrase) in one
place or as a (gerund phrase) in another.
Ex:
Playing different kinds of sports on regular basis affect
(affects) your health positively.
Reading many books have (has) a great impact over your
knowledge.
1) Subject-Verb Agreement
F. Word Pairs
a) Neither ..(1).., nor..(2).. Verb matches subject (2)
Neither Ali nor his friends play tennis.
Either my friends or Ali plays tennis.
b) Group nouns (e.g. family, team, committee, crew, etc.) = singular verb.
The team plays perfectly in the final math.
The committee has agreed to start the new project immediately.
c) A number (of) = Plural verb BUT The number = Singular verb
A number of students have attended the lecture.
The number of students has joined the team.
d) Each of/One of = Singular verb
Each of my colleagues is preparing the project proposal.
One of my professors has illustrated the presentation thoroughly.
2) Verb Tense
A. Tense Consistency
Sentences that start in the past should generally stay in the
past; sentences that start in the present should generally stay
in the present unless you have a shift or a transition point.
Ex:
Since serious drama unaccompanied by music was forbidden
in all but two London theatres during the eighteenth century,
Queen’s theatre quickly becomes (became) an opera house.
Shifts / Transition Points
Sentences that start in the past should generally continue in
the past; sentences that start in the present should generally
continue in the present unless you have a shift or a transition
point.
Ex:
Since serious drama unaccompanied by music was forbidden
in all but two London theatres during the eighteenth century,
Queen’s theatre quickly becomes (became) an opera house.
3) Pronoun Case
Subject/Object
In English, a bulk of pronouns exists, but is sat the focal
point is limited to personal, relative, and demonstrative
pronouns.
Personal Pronouns Relative Pronouns Demonstratives
Subject Object Who
I me This Near
Whom Humans Singular
He him
That Far
She her Which Non-humans
It it Where Place These Near
You you Plural
We us When Time
Those Far
They them Whose Possession
Lets have a look on pronouns’ questions
Select the appropriate pronoun (I, me)
1. Ali, my friends, and ….. Watched this movie last week
2. My friend Omar killed Hany, my friends, and ….. By mistake
In a city that population plays a crucial role in its development, and in a
time that crime seems dominant, civilization is of a great demand.
Yesterday, I bought a bag, a mobile; this is very expensive.
The man who loves my sister is the one who my brother helped last
summer in Alexandria and his sister is the girl whom works with my father at
the cars’ factory in 6th October.
4) Pronoun Antecedent
Pronoun Reference
Sarah, Hidy, and Fatima are my best friends, but
actually she is a good swimmer.
The curriculum, discipline, and atmosphere at CBU is really
amazing; this was one of the factors that encouraged me to
join.
Playing sports, listening to music, and watching movies are
very interesting; it is one of my favourable hobbies.
5) Adjective and Adverb
Generally adjectives and adverbs are interconnected factors as
they have the same function across language; both identifies an item
in a sentence.
Adjectives modifies nouns: Ali is tall.
Adverbs modifies anything else: Ali is extremely tall.
So the main distinction is to figure out whether it modifies a
noun or anything else which means to add an (-ly).
Sarah spent the night watching for the unusual (unusually)
shaped clouds.
Give it another try:
The perfect selected team scored a bulk of perfect goals
because the whole team played perfect in the last perfect
competition, arranged perfect at our perfect city by the
hands of our perfect engineers according to a high perfect
standards.
6) Doubles
Redundancy: Useless repetition
1. Double Comparative/Superaltive
More taller X
As taller as X
The more /
The most /
Most tallest X
2. Double Negative/Positive
Can’t hardly Step into enter
Never without Now currently
Rarely Scarcely Annually every year
3. Double Subject
Ali plays tennis, and he drinks milk.
It is clear that no use to add he in the next clause as long as it is a solo subject
7) Punctuation (./,/;/:/-)
Actually, punctuation marks help in expressing and linking
thoughts clearly and meaningfully; punctuation marks help
us pause and stress on words while writing.
Ahmed studies English. (Complete structure & meaning)
Ali plays tennis, Omar drinks milk. (Incorrect: Run on or fragment)
Shady studies English; Sarah plays volley ball. (Correct: s v o ; s v o)
Hidy visited many cities: Cairo, Alex, and Aswan. (Correct: listing)
All motion stopped: the teacher entered the class. (Correct: explanation)
When the comma (,) is correct and essential to clarify
sentence meaning in a clear and simple way:
1. Dependent, Independent
After graduation, Ali visited USA.
2. Listing
Omar studied English, Science, Arabic, and History.
3. Before conjunctions (, conjunction)
Sally plays tennis, and Huda studies English.
4. Modifiers/Appositives
Hany, the tall man, is my uncle.
I lie Hany, the tall man.
Conjunctions
A conjunction is a tool used to connect two complete
sentences in a way to express or clarify the type of relation
connecting those two sentences.
Additive Conjunctions Comparative Conjunctions
It links 2 sentences with It links 2 sentences with the
the same meaning opposite meaning
and But
because Although
so However
as Yet
while Even though
Parallel Structure
It is a text property that enforces structure parallelism
across sentences in a musical way that sounds cohesive and
harmonic; such a property is accomplished through 2 groups.
Between ……………., and……………….
Both………………….., and………………….
…………, and…………. Either…………….…., or……………...
Neither…….………., nor…………………….
…………….., or …………… Not only……………., but also…………….
No sooner………….., than………………….
……………., than…………… Just as………………., so……………...
The more…………., the more…………….
So……………………., that………………….
As………………..…., as……………………….
Faulty Comparison
Comparing two different objects is mentally not acceptable:
Ex.
The mobile I bought last week is more impressive than Ali.
In this case another factor should be embedded through text.
Ex.
Singular The mobile I bought last week is more impressive than that of Ali.
Plural The mobiles I bought last week is more impressive than those of
Ali.
