5.3 Revising for Grammar
Learning to use good, correct standard English grammar is more of a practice than an event or even a process. Grammar involves the written construction of meaning from words and involves customs that evolve and adapt to usage over time. Because grammar is always evolving, none of us can sit back and rest assured that we “know” how to write with proper grammar. Instead, it is important to write and revise with close attention to grammar, keeping in mind that grammatical errors can undermine your credibility, reflect poorly on your employer, and cause misunderstandings.
Jean Wyrick has provided a list of common errors in grammar to watch out for, which we have adapted here for easy reference (Wyrick, 2008). In each case, the error is in italics and the [correct form] is italicized within square brackets.
1. Subject-verb Agreement
The subject and verb should agree on the number under consideration. In faulty writing, a singular subject is sometimes mismatched with a plural verb form or vice versa.
| Examples |
|---|
| Sales have not been consistent and they doesn’t [do not] reflect your hard work and effort. |
| The president appreciates your hard work and wish [wishes] to thank you. |
2. Verb Tense
Verb tense refers to the point in time where action occurs. The most common tenses are past, present, and future. There is nothing wrong with mixing tenses in a sentence if the action is intended to take place at different times. In faulty or careless writing, however, they are often mismatched illogically.
| Examples |
|---|
| Sharon was under pressure to finish the report, so she uses [used] a shortcut to paste in the sales figures. |
| The sales department holds a status meeting every week, and last week’s meeting will be [was] at the Garden Inn. |
3. Split Infinitive
The infinitive form of the verb is one without a reference to time, and in its standard form it includes the auxiliary word “to,” as in “to write is to revise.” It has been customary to keep the “to” next to the verb; to place an adverb between them is known as splitting the infinitive. Some modern writers do this all the time (for example, “to boldly go…”), and since all grammar is essentially a set of customs that govern the written word, you will need to understand what the custom is where you work. If you are working with colleagues trained across the last fifty years, they may find split infinitives annoying. For this reason, it’s often best to avoid splitting an infinitive wherever you can do so without distorting the meaning of the sentence.
| Examples |
|---|
| The Marketing Department needs assistance to accurately understand our readers [to understand our readers accurately]. |
| David pondered how to best revise [how best to revise] the sentence. |
4. Double Negative
A double negative uses two negatives to communicate a single idea, duplicating the negation. In some languages, such as Spanish, when the main action in the sentence is negative, it is cor