Common Grammatical Errors in the Regent’s Diagnostic Exam

Verb-Noun Agreement- When you write, make sure that your conjugate your verbs, or that they “agree”:

The Verb “write” in present tense:

I write                                   They write

You write                             We write                                            

She/He/It writes                             

The Verb “write” in past tense:

I wrote                                 They wrote

You wrote                           We wrote

She/he/it wrote

The Verb “To Be” in present tense:

I am                                       They are

You are                                 We are

She/He/It is       

The Verb “to be” in past tense:

I was                                      They were

You were                             We were

S/he/it was

Use of There/Their/They’re

There refers to place- “I walk over there.”

Their refers to possession- “That is their paper.”

They’re is a compound verb of “they are”- “They’re writing a paper together.”

Use of to/too/two

“To be, or not to be—that is the question.”

“I think that grammar is nifty, too!”

“If you mistake two for to, you’ve made a serious error.”

Plurals- Your verbs can have plural case, when they’re modifying a plural noun. But when the noun is singular, you should use, of course, single case.

Fragments-

All sentences in academic English must have a subject and a verb. From an essay:

“Doing something as little as reading a book, or taking some sleeping pills to help keep the stress from clouding your mind.” Now, in this sentence, there is a verb and a subject- but they’re both dependent phrases:

Doing something as little as reading a book, / or taking some sleeping pills to help keep the stress from clouding your mind”

Neither of these phrases can stand alone as a sentence; because they’re both dependent clauses, they form a fragment. You need an independent clause in every sentence, like this:

In order to keep from stressing out, one can do something as little as reading a book, or take some sleeping pills to help keep the stress from clouding your mind. Note that now all of the phrases in this sentence are now independent clauses, which makes this a compound sentence.

To form a complex sentence, you use an independent clause coupled with a dependent clause:

When he handed in his paper, he forgot to give his teacher the works cited page. 

Using fragments hurts your argument, because you fail to demonstrate comprehension of the language.

On Rhetorical Questions-

Have you ever used rhetorical questions in a paper? They can be quite fun, but do you really think that they’re an effective way of making an argument? By asking a question, do you feel that you’re forcing your audience to accept a conclusion that you’ve already made? If so, then you’re using a rhetorical question, and how more effective do you think it might be to just come out and state your idea in the form of a declarative statement? Maybe you’re just using these questions to fill space?

To put it bluntly, don’t use rhetorical questions, ever.

Notes on an Effective Thesis Statement, Transitions and Introductory Sentences:

When you make an argument, you must use the most effective means of stating your idea so that your audience understands the points which you want to make; using an effective thesis and introductory and transitive sentences offers your reader a clear view of your argument. Your introductory sentences can tie into your thesis, as well, making your writing more organized (and smoother to write, to boot).

Thesis statement:

                Funding for NASA’s space program should be cut because the money needs to be pumped into essential parts of the economy, the discoveries made by NASA are less important than ensuring public welfare, and because we might discover an alien species, which would destroy the Earth.

Note how this thesis gets straight to the point, declaring, as a matter of fact, the points that you want to argue. It starts with the subject of the essay- Funding for NASA’s space program, and immediately moves to discuss what you believe should happen. Then, it offers three distinct reasons why NASA funding should be cut.

Now, what would a paragraph look like, if you were to make the argument? Directly after your introduction:

                The money the Federal Government spends on NASA per year should be used to support more important industries, which offer working-class Americans jobs. The American economy faces the deepest recession it’s seen since the Great Depression, yet the Federal Government continues to spend money on an unessential industry. The money the Federal Government spends on NASA should be used to support heavy industry and manufacturing, because these jobs directly impact working-class Americans, who suffer the most. Moreover, the support of these industries ensures that America can export our products to regions without a large industrial base, like Africa and the Middle East. If the money spent on NASA were appropriated elsewhere, America’s economy could be established once again. Furthermore, the government should ensure that even Americans without jobs are getting the bare necessities of life.

The introductory sentence above effectively outlines the path of your argument in your paragraph, and the transition ties the argument which occurs before it into the next paragraph.

And a transition after the next argument—

Not only would cutting NASA’s funding protect workers without employment, it would save the earth from the threat of an alien invasion, as NASA threatens the very survival of the human species by annoying our alien overlords.

On Focus-

The above writing should demonstrate to you the kind of focus academic writing is all about; don’t waver in your argument, and if you feel it necessary to introduce a new idea, make sure that you tie it into your paragraph's overall statement. Note that in the paragraph above, I mention how we need to fix our trade deficit, but I ensure that my reader understands how that relates to cutting NASA’s funding.

Note, as well, that the sentences above get the meaning across with a minimum of fuss; they’re concise. Concise sentences are always better rhetorically than wavering or repetitious phrasing.

On Spelling-

We live in the era of spell-check, so I can understand why many of your misspelled words. However, in returned essays, I won’t be pleased if I see misspellings—since you have spell-check and a cornucopia of online dictionaries, there’s really no excuse. Furthermore, don’t use a word that you don’t have a good handle on, without checking its meaning.

It’s versus Its

“It’s” is not a possessive, it’s a conjunction. It is.

Its is the possessive. It’s not okay to confuse its meaning.

On Tone and Case

Generally in academic writing, you use present case. Anything which occurs in a text occurs in present tense, so when you’re discussing something in a book, you’re discussing something that happens in a book. Not something that happened.

Now, if you’re talking about an author’s life, for example, you’re discussing something that historically happened. The Nazis invaded Poland. In the text, when the Nazis invade Poland, Poland drafts Vladek to fight on the front line.