Post-exam Activities: Common Errors

Student working

Introduction

Certain errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation tend to be repeated in several papers. The following exercises are designed to help you prevent these errors occurring again in future assessments.

Objectives

To identify and then to correct a number of common, repeated errors of grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Activity 1: Using "however"

"However" is a versatile linker of contrast and is very useful in academic writing. It can appear in different places in the sentence, but has specific punctuation requirements.

Instruction

Decide whether the example sentences below use "however" correctly. Click on "acceptable" or "unacceptable."

New York has long been associated with glamour, wealth and culture, however it also has a long history of violence.

Acceptable
Unacceptable

This is unacceptable because the two clauses (the second beginning with "however") are separated using only a comma, making what is known as a run-on sentence or a comma splice.

The film tries to show the city's enormous diversity; however, it does this by focussing only on one block in one neighbourhood.

Acceptable
Unacceptable

This is acceptable. The use of the semi-colon rather than the comma means that there is no longer a run-on sentence..

The two passages share many similarities. There are also many differences, however.

Acceptable
Unacceptable

This is acceptable. "However" is often used in this final position, preceded by a comma.

New York has long been associated with glamour, wealth and culture. However, it also has a long history of violence.

Acceptable
Unacceptable

This is acceptable. The linker is used to start a new sentence and is followed by a comma.

New York receives millions of visitors per year. The majority of them however don't venture outside Manhattan.

Acceptable
Unacceptable

This is unacceptable. Although "however" can be positioned in the middle of the sentence as it is here, it needs to be preceded and followed by commas.

Scorsese's movie is spectacular and enthralling. Its claims to historical accuracy, however, are dubious in the extreme.

Acceptable
Unacceptable

This is acceptable. "However" often comes in the middle of the sentence, between commas.

Activity 2: Apostrophes

Many of you have not been using apostrophes properly in essays and examinations. The most consistent errors are occurring with possessives and with plurals. As a general rule, apostrophes are used with possessives such as "John's book" and are not used to make plurals such as "babies." Apostrophes are also used in contractions such as "didn't" and "won't."

Instruction

Look at the following sentences and decide what should go in the gapped sections.

The director seems to view multiculturalism as the cause of __________ problems.

a) societies
b) societys
c) society's
d) societies'

The correct answer is c). This is a possessive construction, equivalent in meaning to "the problems of society." Answer a) is the plural of "society."

Graffiti writing has _____ own ethics and laws.

a) its
b) it's
c) its'
d) it

The correct answer is a). "Its" is one of the exceptions - a possessive that doesn't take the apostrophe.

Popular perceptions of New York have long been shaped by various __________ cinematic visions.

a) directors
b) director's
c) director
d) directors'

The correct answer is d). It's a possessive, so requires an apostrophe. Plural nouns such as "directors" take the apostrophe after the 's', as in this example.

__________ not the case that all movies about the city emphasise its diversity and size.

a) Its
b) It
c) Its'
d) It's

The correct answer is d). This is a contraction, meaning "It is."

I suppose __________ understanding of the article would be different if one had also lost relatives in the attacks.

a) one's
b) ones
c) ones'
d) wun's

The correct answer is a). This is another possessive construction, equivalent in meaning to the much less elegant "the understanding belonging to one."

New York is not really one huge, homogenous city; it is an agglomeration of disparate __________.

a) communitys
a) community's
a) communities
d) communities'

The correct answer is c). What is required here is a plural, not a possessive.

The film is set mainly in the __________.

a) 1860s'
b) 1860s
c) 1860's
d) 18'60s

The correct answer is b). We are dealing with a plural here (more than one year in this decade) and so no apostophe is needed.

Activity 3: One word or two words?

This is a miscellaneous exercise designed to cover a number of repeated errors of a similar type.

Instruction

Read the sentences and choose the correct answer to insert in the gap.

Spike Lee offers an ambiguous vision of violence, __________ Scorsese's movie is, in the end, decidedly anti-violence.

a) whereas
b) where as

The correct answer is a). "Whereas" is one word, not two.

The second passage turns out to be much more political, __________.

a) infact
b) in fact

The correct answer is b). "In fact" is a two-word linker.

The ending is characterised by bloodshed and turmoil, __________ it is not entirely without hope.

a) all though
b) although

The correct answer is b). "Although" is one word, not two.

We have seen that the linker of contrast "however" can come in different positions in the sentence:

- at the beginning, with a capital letter and followed by a comma

- in the middle, between commas

- at the end, following a comma

Further information on run-on sentences and comma splices can be found here: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/Grammar/runons.htm

We have looked at apostrophe usage in possessives (except "its") and in contractions, but never in plurals.

We have seen that "whereas" and "although" are single words, but "in fact" is two words.

Created using the LOC Tool, University of Southampton