Grammo-puss: A Selection Of Common Grammatical Errors 316q2t

GRAMMO-PUSS A SELECTION OF COMMON GRAMMATICAL ERRORS

V.F. INGRAMS

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© 2017 V.F. INGRAMS. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 05/23/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5246-8042-8 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-5246-8080-0 (e)

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Contents

Preface

Accept/Except

Affect/Effect

Pacific/Specific

Buy/Bring

Should’ve (Should Have)

Its/It’s

Your/You’re

They’re/There/Their

We’re/Were/Where

Them

Did/Done

More

Each Other/One Another

Comparisons

Was/Were (Part Of The Verb, To Be)

Match Verbs And Subjects

Either/Neither/None

President/Precedent

Something About The Author

PREFACE

This book was written in an effort to rescue the English Language. This lovely language of ours seems to be on the decline, as we strive hard to reflect our multi-cultural society. I feel that whilst this is a good thing, the onus is on us to ensure that we do not sink to a lower level of speaking, but rather, try to encourage people to speak our language properly.

The book is aimed at Primary and Secondary Schools, English Language Schools, Universities, Teachers’ Training Colleges, Editors, News Readers, Television Broadcasters, and Proof Readers. It deals with the most common grammatical errors and offers simple corrections in an effort to stamp this out.

I hope that my book does not offend anyone, but that those who read it, will me in this brave effort.

Thanks go to my dear friend, Wendy James, a brilliant and budding Artist, for providing the artwork for the cover of the book.

ACCEPT/EXCEPT

Grammo-Puss Says:

There is no such word as: EXCEPTABLE. The word is: ACCEPTABLE.

Example: Your behaviour is not ACCEPTABLE.

But, there is: EXCEPTION, EXCEPTING

Example: All the boys, with the EXCEPTION of John, or EXCEPTING John, are wearing caps.

AFFECT/EFFECT

Grammo-Puss says: AFFECT is a Verb EFFECT is a Noun

Example: The hot sun does not AFFECT me very much. (Verb)

The hot sun does not have an EFFECT on me very much. (Noun)

PACIFIC/SPECIFIC

Grammo-Puss says:

The PACIFIC is the name of an Ocean.

Example: PACIFIC Ocean

SPECIFIC, however, is used when you want to clearly identify something.

Example: She bought the dress to wear at a SPECIFIC occasion.

BUY/BRING

The past tense of BUY is, BOUGHT.

Example: I BOUGHT a new dress yesterday for £50.

The past tense of BRING is, BROUGHT.

Example: My dad BROUGHT me to school today.

Grammo-Puss says:

, “If there is no ‘R’ in the Present Tense, then there is no ‘R’ in the Past Tense, and vice versa.

SHOULD’VE (SHOULD HAVE)

, the Apostrophe (‘) always means that there is a letter missing.

Grammo-Puss says:

There is no such thing as ‘SHOULD OF’.

In this case, the Apostrophe means that the ‘H’ and ‘A’ are missing. Therefore, it is SHOULD HAVE, if you want to write it out, or say it in full.

ITS/IT’S

, the Apostrophe (‘) always means that there is a letter missing.

Therefore, It’s raining – (It is raining) The ‘I’ is missing It’s been raining all day. (It HAS been raining all day). – The ‘H’ and ‘A’ are missing.

However, ITS is a possessive adjective, because it goes before a noun. It is used when the gender is not known. For example – The dog is wagging ITS tail.

Grammo-Puss says:

Always try writing ‘it is’ and hear how it sounds. This will let you know if you have used the correct word. e.g “The dog is wagging IT’S (it is) tail” would be incorrect.

YOUR/YOU’RE

, the Apostrophe (‘) always means that there is a letter missing.

YOU’RE means YOU ARE. e.g. “I hope YOU’RE feeling better”. The ‘A’ is missing.

YOUR is a Possessive Adjective, therefore, there will always be a noun following it. e.g. “Give me YOUR hand”.

Grammo-Puss says,

There is no such thing as, “I hope YOUR better”.

THEY’RE/THERE/THEIR

, the Apostrophe (‘) always means that there is a letter missing.

Grammo-Puss says:

THEY’RE means THEY ARE. The ‘A’ is missing, e.g. Example: THEY’RE wandering around.(THEY ARE)

THERE is an Adverb of place, e.g. Example: THEY’RE wandering around THERE.

THEIR is a Possessive Adjective because it goes before a noun. Example: They have lost THEIR way.

THERE means in that place. Example: THEY’RE wandering around THERE, because they have lost THEIR way.

WE’RE/WERE/WHERE

The Apostrophe means a letter is missing. e.g. WE’RE near our holiday home (WE ARE near our holiday home).

WERE is the past tense plural of was. e.g. There WERE two children playing in the park.

Grammo-Puss says:

WERE is never used for WE’RE, and

WERE is never used for WHERE

This is the place WHERE I grew up.

THEM

Just as the singular (one) is: THIS, and the plural (more than one) is, THESE.

So, the singular (one) is: THAT, and the plural (more than one) is, THOSE.

Example, Give me THAT book. (Singular) Give IT to me at once.

Give me THOSE books. (Plural) Give THEM to me at once.

It is wrong to say, Give me “THEM BOOKS” for the plural, since you do not say, “IT BOOK” for singular.

Look at THOSE children playing in the park. Who is looking after THEM?

It is wrong to say, “Who is looking after THEM CHILDREN”.

Grammo-Puss says: NOTHING EVER COMES AFTER ‘THEM’, as it is not an Adjective. It is a Pronoun, and takes the place of a Noun. Therefore it stands alone, and should not be use as an Adjective, instead of THOSE.

DID/DONE

DID is the Past Tense of DO. Example: The boy DID his homework yesterday.

DONE is the Past Participle. It must be accompanied by a form of the verb, ‘To Have’ or the verb, ‘To Be’.

Example: He HAS DONE his homework. All the work IS DONE. All the work HAS BEEN DONE.

Grammo-Puss says: DONE is never used on its own as Past Tense.

MORE

The comparative is formed by putting the word, MORE, before a word with one syllable, or by adding ‘ER’ to that word. e.g. The boy is STRONGER than his friend.

Grammo-Puss says: You cannot have “MORE STRONGER”. That is known as Double Comparative.

In the case of ‘BETTER’, which is the comparative of GOOD, it is wrong to say, MORE BETTER.

EACH OTHER/ONE ANOTHER

Grammo-Puss says:

When two people are speaking, they are speaking to EACH OTHER. (one plus one)

When it involves a group of people, consisting of two or more, then they are speaking to ONE ANOTHER.

COMPARISONS

You do not use the superlative (…est) when comparing only two persons or things.

“Are these your two children? Who is the OLDER of the two?

It is wrong to say,” Who is the OLDEST or ELDEST because there are only two children.

However, “Are these your three children? Who is the ELDEST?

Grammo-Puss says:

You use the Comparative (…er) when comparing two persons or things.

You use the Superlative (…est) when comparing more than two persons or things.

WAS/WERE (PART OF THE VERB, TO BE)

Singular (one) Present Tense: I am; You are; He/she is Past Tense: I was; You were: He/She was

Plural (more than one) Present Tense: We are, You are; They are Past Tense: We were; You were; They were

Notice that “YOU” always takes a plural verb, whether you are speaking to one person, or more than one person.

Grammo-Puss says:

You do not say ‘YOU IS’ for Present Tense, therefore you never say, ‘YOU WAS’ for Past Tense. Whether you are speaking to one person, or more than one. It is always ‘YOU WERE’.

When you ask a question, it is never, ‘WAS YOU’, but always ‘WERE YOU’, e.g. Were you running when you fell over?

Grammo-Puss says:

The same applies to THEY.

You do not say ‘THEY IS’, for Present Tense, therefore you never say ‘THEY WAS’ for Past Tense. It is always, ‘THEY WERE’.

MATCH VERBS AND SUBJECTS

When the subject is in the singular, the verb must be in the singular also, and the same goes for when the subject is in the plural, e.g.

The boy is playing in the field. The boys are playing in the field.

There is a spare seat in the theatre. There are spare seats in the theatre. Are there any spare seats in the theatre?

Grammo-Puss says:

You never use ‘there is’ for everything, without checking whether the subject is one, or more than one.

EITHER/NEITHER/NONE

All these take a singular verb. Example: EITHER one of these men IS responsible for the crime.

NEITHER of these men IS responsible for the crime.

NONE of these men IS responsible for the crime.

Grammo-Puss says, “Although the noun, MEN, is in the plural, this is not the subject.

The subject is EITHER, NEITHER or NONE, therefore the verb should be Singular.

PRESIDENT/PRECEDENT

Grammo-Puss says:

Although PRESIDENT is spelt with an ‘S’, it is pronounced as a ‘Z’.

Example: The PREZIDENT of the United States.

Although PRECEDENT is spelt with a ‘C’, it is pronounced as an ‘S’. This means when something is set as an example.

Example: The way that case was dealt with, sets the PRECEDENT for all future cases.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I was born in the Caribbean, on the island of Trinidad. There I received the main part of my education, in a Grammar School, up to GCE standard, and on my arrival to the United Kingdom in 1971, I continued my education at College and BTEC Levels, and also Open University.

My love for the English Language began after a very embarrassing moment when I was still in Primary School. Although this was a Catholic School, run by nuns, mistakes made were often corrected with anything but love and kindness. This often included a physical beating.

On one particular occasion, I incurred the wrath of a certain teacher. After making a grammatical error when speaking, this was corrected loudly, not just in front of the whole class, but within earshot of most of the school, as the classrooms were open-planned.

From that day on, I vowed never to let this happen to me again. I soon developed a profound love of the English Language. I obtained Certificates in the School Leaving Certificate (Trinidad & Tobago), National Council Examination (Trinidad & Tobago), Pitman’s, RSA and GCE. Some of these were graded with Distinctions and Credits.

Whilst living in the UK, I am usually surprised and appalled at the lack of grammar, evident amongst those who should know better, and this is what prompted me to write this book.

This book, therefore, is aimed at Primary and Secondary Schools, Colleges, English Language Schools, Universities, Teachers’ Training Colleges, Newspapers’ Editors and Radio and Television Newsreaders and Broadcasters.