In my opinion, the most frequent grammatical error that is found in my article will be the usage of prepositions. Often, I use the wrong preposition repeatedly without noticing it. Proper usage of prepositions is difficult to explain with words most of the time, in fact, what I can do is just look at the meaning of the sentence to determine the accurate preposition.
For example, I have written the sentence
“…the price is not affordable by average people”. (wrong)
“…the price is not affordable for average people”. (correct)
If “by” is used in the sentence, it would mean the price is not affordable as a result of average people, which is not what I intended to convey. “For” is the correct one because what I wanted to say is that the price is not affordable, when average people are concerned.
Subject verb agreement is also another silly mistake I have made.
“…emissions that is contributed by the burning of fossil fuels”. (wrong)
“…emissions that are contributed by the burning of fossil fuels”. (correct)
The subject “emissions” is a plural noun, so a plural verb form “are” should be used instead of “is”.
Another example is
“Statistics shows that…”. (wrong)
“Statistics show that…”. (correct)
Again the subject “statistics” is a plural noun when it is used in this sentence, so the verb used must be “show”.
Lastly, the usage of articles is also another weakness found in my writing.
For instance,
“…the installation of adequate number of solar panels”. (wrong)
“…the installation of an adequate number of solar panels”. (correct)
In this case, the noun is "number" which is obviously a countable noun. Therefore, it cannot stand alone, so, an article “an” is needed.
Next example is
“…by a team from University of Victoria in Canada”. (wrong)
“…by a team from the University of Victoria in Canada”. (correct)
The phrase “University of Victoria” is a proper noun that requires an article “the” as it is referring to a specific place.
I also tend to misuse prepositions in my essay. Sometimes it is really not easy to choose the correct preposition. Furthermore, unlike other grammar mistakes such as subject-verb agreement and fragment, you may not be able to identify the mistake even if you read through the essay again and again. I suggest that we may need to read more and pay attention to the different preposition phrases used. We also need to use the correct preposition when talking. Otherwise, we could easily get used to the wrong preposition phrases.
ReplyDeleteI hope you will overcome your problem areas, Jee Hann. Read more, not just for vocabulary, but also for exposure. As you become more exposed to English, you will absorb more of the grammar and writing conventions. Your writing will also improve if you continue to apply the techniques that you were taught in EG1471.
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