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Basic English Grammar Rules Sentence correction questions ask you to recognize and potentially correct at least one of the following grammar rules. However, these rules are not exhaustive. AgreementStandard English requires elements within a sentence to be consistent. There are two types of agreement: noun-verb and pronoun. Noun-verb agreement: Singular subjects take singular verbs, whereas plural subjects take plural verbs. Pronoun agreement: A pronoun must agree with the noun or pronoun it refers to in person, number, and gender. Diction Words should be chosen to correctly and effectively reflect the appropriate part of speech. There are several words that are commonly used incorrectly. When answering sentence correction questions, pay attention to the following conventions. Among/between: Among is used to refer relationships involving more than two objects. Between is used to refer to relationships involving only two objects. As/like: As
can be a preposition meaning "in the capacity of", but more often is a conjunction of manner and is followed by a verb. Like is generally used as a preposition, and therefore is followed by noun, an object pronoun, or a verb ending in "ing". Mass and count words: Mass words are nouns quantified by an amount rather than by a number. Count nouns can be quantified by a number. Pronouns: Myself should not be used as a substituted for I or me Grammatical Construction Good grammar requires complete sentences. Be on the lookout for improperly formed constructions. Fragments: Parts of a sentence that are disconnected from the main clause are called fragment. Run-on sentences: A run-on sentence is two independent clauses that run together without proper punctuation. Constructions: Avoid wordy, redundant constructions. Idiom It is important to avoid nonstandard expressions, though English idioms sometimes do not follow conventional grammatical rules. Be careful to use the correct idiom when using the constructions and parts of speech. Prepositions: Specific prepositions have specific purposes. Correlatives: Word combinations such as "not onl...but also" should be followed by an element of the same grammatical type. Forms of comparison: Many forms follow precise constructions. Fewer refers to a specific number, whereas less than refers to a continuous quantity. Between…and is the correct from to designate a choice. Farther refers to distance, whereas further refers to degree. Logical Predication Watch out for phrases that detract from the logical argument. Modification problems: Modifiers should be positioned so it is clear what word or words they are meant to modify. If modifiers are not positioned clearly, they can cause illogical references ro comparisons, or distort the meaning of the statement. Parallelism Constructing a sentence that is parallel in structure depends on making sure that the different elements in the sentence balance each other; this is a little bit like making sure that the two sides of a mathematical equation are balanced. To make sure that a sentence is grammatically correct, check to see that phrases, clauses, verbs, and other sentence elements parallel each other. Rhetorical Construction Good sentence structure avoids constructions that are awkward, wordy, redundant, imprecise, or unclear, even when they free of grammatical errors. Verb Form In addition to watching for problems of agreement or parallelism, make sure that verbs are used in the correct tense. Be alert to whether a verb should reflect past, present, or future tense. Each tense also has a perfect form (used with the past participle---i.e., walked, ran), a progressive form (used with the present participle---i.e., walking, running), and a perfect progressive form (also used with the present participle---i.e., walking, running). Present perfect: Used with has or have, the present perfect tense describes an action that occurred at an indefinite time in the past or that began in the past and continues into the present. Past perfect: This verb form is used with had to show the order of two events that took place in the past. Future perfect: Used with will have, this verb form describes an event in the future that will precede another event. Present progressive: Used with am, is, or are, this verb form describes an ongoing action that is happening now Past progressive: Used with was or were, this verb form describes something that was happening when another action occurred. Future progressive: Used with will be or shall be, this verb tense describes an ongoing action that will continue into the future. Present prefect progressive: Used with have been or has been, this verb tense describes something that began in the past, continues into the present, and ay continue into the future. Past prefect progressive: Used with had been, this verb form describes an action of some duration that was completed before another past action occurred. Future perfect progressive: Used with will have been, this verb form describes a future, ongoing action that will occur before a specified time.
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发表于 2007-4-4 12:08:00
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