Sentence Correction Flashcards
Absolutely necessary- must
Morally obliged - should
The court ruled the plantiff MUST pay full damages
Helping verbs
May, will, must, should
Only and all quantify nouns or otherwise restrict meaning
ALL children are covered in mud.
The children are ALL covered in mud.
ONLY the council votes on Thursdays
The council votes ONLY on Thursdays
Avoid redundancy
Past
Previously
Formerly
In the past
Before now
Avoid redundancy
Present
Now
Currently
Presently
At present
Avoid redundancy
Yearly
Annual
Each year
A year (eg three launches a year)
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Aggravate - worsen
Aggravating - irritating
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Known as- named
Known to be- acknowledged as
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Loss of- no longer in possession of
Loss in- decline in value
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Mandate- command
Have a mandate- have authority from voters
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Native of - person from
Native to- species that originated in
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Range of - variety of
Ranging - varying
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Rate of- speed or frequency of
Rates for- prices for
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Rise- general increase
Raise- a bet or salary increase in American English
Cousin words with distinct meaning
Try to do - seek to accomplish
Try doing - experiment with
Past participle- the participle used in perfect tenses and passive voice. A past participle may also be used as an adjective. Past participles tend to indicate completed action, although not necessarily in the past (relative to now)
The tires will be PUNCTURED. They have BROKEN the lamp. A FROZEN lake. Regular past participles are formed by adding -d or -ed to the base of the verb.
Past participle- the participle used in perfect tenses and passive voice. A past participle may also be used as an adjective. Past participles tend to indicate completed action, although not necessarily in the past (relative to now)
Many irregular past participles are listed below, together with irregulat past- tense forms. Sometimes the past-tense form and the past participle are identical.
Lead- base form
Led -past tense
Led-past participle
Connecting word.
Also known as SUBORDINATORS because they turn the vlauses they are attached to into a SUBORDINATE CLAUSES, which cannot stand by themselves
Because and which
Prepositional phrase
Eliminate the middlemen, and skip the warmup. They modify or describe other parts of the sentence. Thus you can eliminate them to find the subject
OF mice IN Guam TO the store FOR milk WITH her ON their orders BY 1800 AT that level FROM the office
Preposition- a word that indicates a relationship between the obect (usually a noun) and something else in the sentence. In some cases, prepositions can consist of more than one word
Of. in to for with on by at from as into about like after between through over against under out of. Next to. Upon
Subordinate clause. They do not contain the main sibject or verb, they are frequently used as middlemen and warmups
Begin with connecting words such as WHO or WHICH
Present and past participles
Other modifiers
Present -ing forms derived from verbs
Past -ed smd -en forms derived from verbs
A noun in a prepositional phrase cannot be the subject of the sentence
Use structure to decide
And vs additive
And - are. Both plural
The word AND can unite two or more singular subjects, forming a compound plural subject.
And vs additive.
Additive phrases do not form compound subjects. Rather they function as modifiers and cannot change the number of the subject
Additive phrases do NOT form compound subjects. Along with Accompanied by In addition Together with As well as Including
Or, either. . . Or, neither . . . Nor
If one noun is singular and the other is plural, what verb form should be used?
Find the noun NEAREST to the verb, and make sure the verb agrees in number with this noun.
Neither the coach nor the players ARE going to the beach
And vs additive
Note that when the words EITHER or NEITHER are in a sentence alone (without OR or NOR) they are considered singular
Collective nouns: almost always singular
Usually does not end with an -s
The CROWD IS cheering
Our ARMY IS attacking
People- agency army audience committee crowd orchestra team
Items- baggage citrus equipment fleet fruit furniture
Indefinite pronouns. Usually singular
End in -one, -body, -thing
Pronouns are words that replace other nouns
Anyone, anybody, anything
No one, nobody, nothing
Indefinite pronoun- not specific about the thing it refers
Usually singular
Anyone
Indefinite pronoun that can be either singular or plural
S A N A M
Some Any None All More / Most
Not one is ALWAYS singular
NOT ONE of my friends IS here this weekend
With SANAM pronouns the noun object of the OF PHRASE can help you determine the number of the subject
Right- Some of the money WAS stolen
Right- Some of the documents WERE stolen
Each and every: singular senations if BEFORE NOUN
If each is AFTER NOUN, no bearing on verb
Right: Every dog and cat HAS paws- singular
Right- They EACH ARE great tennis players- plural
Quantity word or phrases. Same as SANAM. The noun in the OF prepositional phrase will indicate whether the verb is singular or plural
The majority of the students are hard workers.
The number is singular
The number of hardworking students in this class IS quite large
A number is plural
A number of students in this class are hardworkers
The words majority, minority, and plurality are either singular or plural depending on their context.
The majority of the students are hard workers.
In the Senate, the majority is a unified voting block
Half of the PIE (subject) is blueberry, and half of the SLICES (plural sub) ARE already gone.
Fractions and percents can be both plural or singular. Depends on the “of prepositional phrase”
Subject phrases and clauses. Always singular
Having good friends IS a wonderful thing. Don’t use plural friends
Whatever (singular) they want to do IS fine with me.
Lists with and
You should flip lists so that the longest item is last, if possible
