Grammar
Q: Grammar are not my strong point, and niether is spelling. Do you take off points for these?
Only if you're making so many errors that it detracts and distracts from your paper (in practice, this is pretty rare). If you're penalized for this, I will clearly say so in my comments. Students do make a better impression, and tend to produce papers that are stronger in other respects (e.g., in clarity), when they pay careful attention to these matters.
Q: Where can I go to get help with grammar?
Check out Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, a slim guide that is available for less than $10 at the bookstore, and for less than that used on Amazon. There is also an on-line version of an older edition available for free.
You can also go to the IWU Writing Center for help with grammar issues.
Q: Can I use the first person (e.g., "I") in my paper.
Yes; using "I", "my", etc. is fine with me. In fact, some very useful signpost sentences use the first personal pronouns. It is fine to put your own views and personality into a paper that you write for me. But remember not to allow yourself to slip into just spouting off your opinion without backing those views up with reasons.
Q: What are the most common grammatical errors you see?
Here they are, with the more serious ones first.
The first two are almost extinct, due to the advent of grammar-checking software, but they do turn up occasionally:
1. Sentence Fragments:
These are incomplete
phrases that don't have a sentence phrase and a matching verb
phrase. Some examples are in italics below:
- Smith's book is confusing. Being that it has obscure arguments.
- Jones is smart. Because she anticipates a lot of objections.
2. Run-on Sentences:
These are independent sentences that are run together into a single sentence
(usually with a comma). They can often be corrected by replacing the comma with
a semi-colon, a conjunction (e.g. "and" or "but"), or a period. Two examples:
- Anderson's arguments in favor of Swiss cheese are quite effective, they are very similar to those in Hart's book.
- Camby thinks that Velveeta is an evil dairy product, he argues that we must ban it.
3. Homophones
These are words that sound alike, and which students often confuse. This is the
most common type of mistake I find in IWU papers, since
a spell checker won't catch them.The most common are:
[their/there/they're], [your/you're], [it's/its], [than/then],
[whose/who's].
Here's the difference: Their, your,
its and whose are
possessives. They're, you're, it's, and who's all
involve verb contractions. Here are some examples of proper use:
- There is their balloon; they're looking for it.
- Look—It's a boat that slipped its moorings.
- Who's the person whose car won't start?
- You're sure to succeed in your project.
- If you arrive later than I do, then please take notes.
These last two are so picky and recondite that almost no one else knows or cares about them.
4. "Cannot" versus "Can not"
There is an important difference between the verb phrases "can not" and "cannot". "Can not" is an awkward way to mean is able to refrain from doing, while "cannot" means is not able to do." (In general, it's best to avoid "can not" altogether.) The following illustrates the difference:
Case #1: You bet me that I will not be able to keep my nervous tick under control today. I reply confidently, "I can not jiggle my leg."
Case #2: A bad reaction to medication paralyzes the lower half of my body. You ask me what's wrong. I reply, "I cannot jiggle my leg."
5. "Whether or not"
"Whether or not" should be used only to mean "if, or even if not." For instance:
- I am going to the party whether or not you go.
- We should grade his paper whether or not it is on time.
The expression is often misused in place of just plain "whether."
- I cannot tell whether
or nothe was serious. - We need to find out whether
or notthe argument is a good one.
Okay, that's enough.