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CHAPTER XIV
ERRORS TO AVOID IN G~AMMAR,
VOCABULARY, AND STYLE
A. Errors in GrSlnnnSl~and Syntax
(Syntax== the grammaticalrelationshipof one word
to another.) The following summary indicates the main
errors that occur under this heading:
Note: Many errors have been dealt with already in
the chapters on the Parts of Speech, and reference is
made to these where necessary.
Errors are indicated by italics in the examples given.
-1:. Nouns
---,
(a) The word "altenaative" (=one or other of two
thiDgsonly) may now be used for more than one thing or
idea, and to do this is no longer considered an error.
e.g. We haveseveralalternatives.
t1..b) [Link] and plural of nouns with un-
usual plurals:
e.g. This phenomenais interesting.
(Correction:"phenomenon"-singular form.)
~ IZ. Pronouns
(a) Inconsistency in the use of pronouns when writing
about animals.
e.g. He spoke to the dog whohad evidently hurt its paw.
("Which" should replace "who" here. "Who" may be
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used for animals if they are referred to as "he" or "she"
and then the adjectives "his" or "her" will replace
"its". "Whose" may be used at all times for the posses-
sive.)
Note: "That" can be used for Hersons, animals, and
things in a defining clause. e.g. The man (the dog, the
house) that I saw was the one I was looking for.
(h) There is often confusion as to which word is the
antecedent of a dative pronoun-the noun to which it
refers-with consequent error in dle number and person
of the verb.
"'\
A e.g. Matthews is one of the best footballers that has ever
r
played.
("Has" should be "have", as "that" refers to "foot-
baIlers"; but "Matthews is the best footballer that I
have seen" is, of course, correct.)
w- (c) Relative pronoun in wrong cast,l.e. writing "who"
for "whom" when it is the object of a verb, or of a pre-
position. .
e.g. (verb) The man, whoI met &equendy, looked ill.
(preposition) The men fO who I refer. Who was it
written by? . . -~~ ~.
("Whom" should be used in these examples.)
But be careful with parenthetical remarks or asides, which
can be misleading when case of relative has to be decided.
(See Chapter lIT: Relative Pronouns.)
(d). Wrong case in dealing with other pronouns.
e.g. Let you and I go.
("I" should be "me", object of verb "let".)
I~h~. ~
( ("Him" should be "he", as verb "to be" cannot take .
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(e) Errors in number. (See also Chapter ITr: DistribuL
tive Pronouns.)
(i) e.g. Anyone can leave theircar here.
(Should be "his"-or ,"his or her" to be pedantic
-as "anvone" is sinsrolar.
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Similarly "one", "everyone", "everybody", "any_
body", "somebody", "nobody", "each", "either", and
"neither" are singular.
e.g. As to the two boys, neit!!~ was. v_eryin1e!lig!m.f;t-
Not~."None" can take singular or pltp"al,and is more
frequently used with the plural now.
e.g. Nonewerelost. - - - - - --
(ii) e.g. We have samplesin blue, red, and yellow.I prefer
the latter.
("Latter" and "former" can be used 'Onlywhen speak-
ing of two persons or things. Say "I prefer the last" or
"the yellow ones".) .
(ill) e.g. The two men greeted 0118another. ...'
The four men all hated eachother. l
(In the first example "each other" used in the case of
one of two persons-should be used; in the secondexample
"one another"-used in the case of one of more than two
persons-should be used.)
(iv) e.g. Giveme the pokeror the tongs-any willdo.
Books;papers, magazines-eitherwill do.
("Any" in the firsf example should be "either", used
when speaking of one or two; "either" should be "any"
in the second example, as "any" means anyone of more
than two.). _
(I) Unnecessary "and".
e.g. This officer, serving abroad, andwho was a captain
(omit "and" here as unnecessary).
However, if one relative clause has already been used,
"and" is quite correct.
e.g. This officer,who was servingabroad, and who was a
captain, ...
3. Adjectives
(a) Mistakes in use of Comparative and Superlative.
These are dealt with in Chapter IV (Adjectives).
(h) Confusion in use of "any" and "any other".
e.g. This paper has the largest circulation of aIV'news-
paper.
("Other" must be inserted and the comparative used.
Write: "This paper has a larger cirtulation than any
other newspaper".)"
. (c) Confusion of Singular and Plural.
e.g. Thosekind (sort) of experiments' a~edangerous.
("Kind" is singular. It is best to say "Experiments of
that kind are dangerous", though "that kind of experi-
ment is dangerous" is also correct.)
(d) The distributive adjectives ("each", "every",
"either", "neither") require a verb in the singular, as
they refer to only one member of a group.
e.g. Neither bookwasof any use (not "were").
(Either can be used only for each of two. Use "each"
and "any" for one of more than two.)
e.g. Either bookof thesetwo is expensive. .
Any bookin that library is interesting.
Each man of the team of elevenreceivesa medal.
Each of us is willingto pay his share. (Do not. write
"our sharel")
(e) Confusion of "its" and "it's".
e.g. The dogwagg~dit's tail.
("It's" is a contraction of "it is". None of the possessive
adjectives have an apostrophe. We do not write "hi's
pen", so why write "it's tail"?)
(1) "Due" is an adjective, and so must be used with its
noun only as an epithet (e.g. with due respect), or predi-
catively (e.g. The money was due.). Itis therefore wrong
to use "due" in such casesas "Due to the rain, the harvest
failed". .
Here ."Owing to the rain" or "On account Ofthe rain"
or "Because of. . ." should be used.
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4- ,Verbs
(a) A verb must agree with its subject in number and
person. This is called the concord of verb and subject.
Mistakes are made through failure to understand what is
the real subject of a verb. ,
We are often attracted by the noun or pronoun nearest
to'the verb, and somisled;e.g. Eachof us havedecidedto
go ("each" is subject, so write "has"). Some brushes, a
paintbox, and a sheet of paper is required (several sub-
jects, so write "are").
e.g. Either the cat or the dog aresure to be hungry.
(Write "is". "Or" indicates that only oneof the animals
is the subject here.)-
e.g. A copyof the rules weregivento each candidate.
(Say "was", as "copy" is the subject.)
e.g. Economicsarean important subject.
(Say "is", as "Economics" is the name of one subject.)
Note: (i) 1ftwo nouns are combined to form one idea,
the verb will be in the singular.
e.g. This bread and butter is too thick.
(ii) Collective nouns (see Chapter II) take a verb in
the singular or plural according to whether we wish to
indicate the whole, or individual members.
e.g. The SportsCommitteemeetson Monday.
The committeeare nowtaking their seats.
(b) Tenses must not be used in the wrong sequence,
i.e. past tense, for example, must be followedin the same
sentence by a past tense.
e.g. He stated that we areannoyinghim.
("are" shouldbe "were".)
Similarly, "will" must be followed by "shall", and
'.'would" by "should".
e.g. If you will allowme, I shall (not "should") be glad to
help.
(c) Confusion of "shall" and "will". This has already
been dealt with when discussing the Future Tense
(Chapter V).
(d) Generally speaking, it is preferable for reasons of
unity and sound, to avoid split~g an infinitive.
e.g. I used to &equent1~seehim. .
(Should be altered to "to see him frequently" or
"frequentlyto seehim").' .
(e) Confusion of Simple and Perfect Infinitives.
e.g. He had hoped to be the first man to haveclimbedthat
mountain ("to have climbed" should be replaced by
the Simple Infinitive "to climb").
(f) Errors often occur through Ellipsis (i.e. omitting
words needed to complete a construction, regarding
them as understood).
e.g. I never have and never shall ~[Link]. < 'A.. I
.. ,,- ~
. Here "I neverhave" is completedby "allow", whereas
we should say "I never have allowed"-and so .must
insert the past participle "allowed" after "have".
(g) SomeProblem Verbs. (See Chapter V.)
(i) The Verb "to lie" (intransitive-no object)
and the verb "to lay" (transitive-with object)
are often confused.
. I laiddown on the grass (shoUldbe "lay"-no object),
but "I laid myselfdown to die" is correct, "myself"
being the object.
(ii) The Past Tense and Past Participle of the verb
"to hang" = "hanged" for "death by hang-
ing", e.g. He hanged himself. He has been
hanged.
In all other cases the Past Tense and Past
Participle is "hung".
e.g. 1 hung up the picture.,
The picture was dulyhung.
He hung by his arms on to a :I>ranchor &oma branch.
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"(5) Loose or Unrelated Participle.
e.g. Strollingover"themoors,an aeroplanelanded near me.
("Strolling" must refer here to the subject of the sen-
tence-and this is obviously absurd. Correct by inserting
the real subject to which "strolling" refers, i.e. As I was
strolling over the moors, . . .)
(i) Confusion of "will" and "shall" (i:e. of determina-
tion with futurity-5ee Chapter V).
e.g. I [Link]; nobody shall save me.' .
(Correction: "I shall drown; nobodywill save me.")
(j) Confusion of Gerund with Present Participle.
e.g. I do not likehimbeingappointed.
I do hot like Tombeingappointed.
(In both cases "being" is the "act of being", a gerund
or verbaf noun, and so must be preceded by an adjective
in the first example; and by a genitive in the second.
Correction: "his being appointed" and "Tom's being
appointed" ..)
5. Adverbs
(a) Misplacing of adverbs.
e.g. This racket needsmendingbad(y.
(The position of "badly" implies that s~meone is to /
mend the racket unsatisfactorily.) /
e.g. I can onlylend you 10.
(Alter to: "I can lend you only 10" if the amount is
to be limited; otherwise the sentence means that a loan,
and not a gift, is offered.)
(b) Use of double negative when unnecessary.
e.g. I have no paper norink.
I shouldnot wonderif it did notrain.
("nor" should be "or", and "if it rained" should
replace "if it did not rain", as in each case there is
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originally a double, or unnecessary second, negative.
Such examples as: "I never go nowhere"are too obvious
and painful to require discussion.)
(c) Misuse of ':that" and "quite".
e.g. I am not\~hatstupid. \
("that" is not an adverb. Correction: "as stupid as
that", "stupid to that extent".)
e.g. He made quitea noise.
~
("quite" is not an adjective but an adverb, so cannot
limit the noun "noise". Correction: "a considerable
noise".)
(d) Confusion of "less" with "fewer", i.e. of quantity
and size with mere number.
e.g. There were lessthan ten spectators.
. (Say "fewer", for numbers, when there is no idea of
measurement. )
e.g. It weighedftwerthan two tons.
(Say "less' when a question of measurement of quan-
tity.),
h) Confusion of ~dverbs with adjectives.
/ e~[Link] will do it quickerthan I can.
("quicker" is comparative of adjective "quick". The
~dverb is "quickly", so write "more quickly".) Some
adverbs and adjectives are absolutely similar, of course,
such as "a fast train"; "I run fast". Note: "leisurely",
an adjective or adverb.
(j) Misuse of "than" after "hardly", "scarcely".
e.g. Hardly had we got ashorethanthe boat sank.
("than" is for comparison. Correction: "when the
boat sank"; "when"-conjunction adverb of time-is
required here, but we can say "No sooner had we landed
than the boat sank", as in this sentence the idea is one of
comparison, not of time.)
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6. Prepositions
(a) Failure to use objective case after all preposition
(See Chapter VITI.)
(b) Confusion of "between" with "mI\0ng".
e.g. Divide it betweenthe six D}en,or amongthe two boys.
("between" and "among" should be interchanged, a
"between" is used when referring to two things anc
"among" when referring to more than two. Also, a
"between" must refer to two things, wri'te: "There was ,
space between each tree and the next" or "after eacl
tree". We cannot say merely "between each tree".)
(c) Wrong preposition used after certain adjectives;
nouns, and verbs.
e.g. This picture is differenttothat.
("to" shouldbe "trom".)
We say "indifferent topain", however. A good diction-
ary will give the correct preposition to use.
(d) Mistakes due to ellipsisor contracticm(i.e. omitting
as understood words that would normally be inserted).
- e.g. This quality did not add, but rather detracted from,
his character.J
(The preposition "to" must be inserted after "add';;'
we do not "add rom", and "rom" would otherwise be
understood as the omitted preposition.)
(e) Ending a sentence with a preposition is often ugly.
e.g. The addressI am writingto.
("To which I am writing" is preferable.)
7. Conjunctions
(a) Confusion of adjective "like" with conjunction
"as" .
e.g. Do like I do.
("Like" should be replaced by "as", a conjunction
joining clauses. Always use "as" when a verb follows,but
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the adjective "like" [= like to] must be used when a
noun or pronoun only is referred to. e.g. A boy like him.)
(b) Misuse of object after "than".
e.g. He is bigger than me.
("me" should be "I", as the complete clause is "bigger
than lam", and "than" is therefor~ a conjunction and
not a preposition.)
(c) "Or" wrongly used after "neither".
e.g. Neither cats ordogsinterestedhim.
("or" should be "nor", as "either" is followed by "or"
and "neither" always by "nor".)
(d) Use of preposition "without" instead of conjunc-
tion "unless".
e.g. I shall not go withoutyou accompanyme.
("without" is a preposition, not a conjunction. The
conjunction "unless" is required here to join clauses.)
(e) Misuse of "while".
'.~.g. General smith made a speech while the Mayoress
. . presented the prizes.
("while" should be replaced by "and" or "following
which, after which", as the two events were not simul-
taneous, but consecutive.)
(f) Wrong position of pairs of co-relating conjunctions
(i.e. either-or, neither-nor, not only-but also).
e.g. I shall neitherbuy-a car nor a caravan.
~ (Each one of a pair of conjunctions must precede
(U-<
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words that are the same part of speech. Correction: I
r~ shall buy neither a car nor a caravan.)
(g) Erro~ission of conjunction.
."-: v' tj I Jle.g. His work is no' better, and indeed not so good ~rs.
'[,~.~."-..,,.. (We cannot say "no better as" so must insert "than"
after "better".) ~~ eJ. II-h-Io@n-:r
H-~ wl4- ~Jt:~7':) . eab~~ ~
"]: '':>~e.,... ~ ..y, ~ ~ ~:J
. 0 ~1"is>~ I-.L)
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(h) Wrong use of "because".
e.g. The reasonhe failedis because he is ill.
(Write: "that" fC;;r"because".) P( ~
B. Errors in Vocabulary \
Errors in the choice of words can be summed up under
four headings:
(I) The use of colloquialisms,slang, and dialect words.
(See Chapter IX: "Vocabulary".) I
(2) The unnecessary use of words and phrases bor-
rowed fromforeign languages. (See Chapter IX: "Vocab-
ulary" .)
(3) The too frequent and inaccurate use of certain
adjectives ("nice", "lovely", "awful", etc.), adverbs
("awfully", "terribly", etc.), and verbs' ("have" and
"get"). (See Chapter IX: "Vocabulary".)
(4) The confusion of a word with another that is very
similar in sound.
This type of error is termed a malapropism, a word
derived from the charac~er Mrs. Malaprop in Sheridan's
play [Link]'name Malaprop is simply a contrac-
tion of the French mal a propos (= ill-timed, coIning
at an unsuitable time), and her constant Inisuse of words
is commemorated by this term. It was she who wanted her
daughter to have "a supercilious knowledge of accounts" ,
but she did not wish her "to be a progenyof learning".
"Supercilious" means"haughty, disdainful", and "super-
ficial" (= on the surface, i.e. not deep) was the word she
should have used.
"Progeny" means "children, descendants", and she
meant "prodigy" (= a wonder, an extraordinary person
or thing).
Further examples of this type of error are:
He lived in a luxuriantflat.
("Luxuriant" means "growing abundantly" and is used
of trees, shrubs, and plants. It should be replaced by
"luxurious" (= abounding in luxury).)
George was unfortunately a congenialidiot.
("Congenial" means "suited to, pleasing" and the
word required is "congenital" = "from birth".)
c. Errors in Style and Expres~ioD
We may write a sentence that is grammatically correct
and in which the spellingand the punctuation are correct,
and yet it may not be a good sentence because of errors
in style and expression. I
.AJnbigaity (= having more than one meaning, of
doubtful meaning).
Three things lead to ambiguity:
(a) Vague use of pronouns or possessive adjectives.
e.g. Jones admitted frankly to Brown that he hated his
employer. This could mean either that Jones hated his
own employer, or that he hated Brown's employer.
Sometimes the use of "the former" and "the latter" helps
to avoid confusion. Often we must repeat a noun instead
of employing a pronoun: e.g. If your dogJ!as diste!!!Eer,
it . vanish rapidly after swallowing these owders.
"It" seemsto sugges your og va . t wou e
clearer and safer to substitute "the distemper" or "the
illness", or even the pronoun "this", and we shall then
have to alter "swallowing" to "after it has swallowed".
(b) Failure to observe the rule of ProximitY-the rule
which demands that any qualifying word or words should
be placed in proximity to (i.e. as closeas possible) to the
word or words qualified. e.g. The kitten was found by a
small girl crying pitifully at the top of a tall tree ("crying
. . ."should come after word "found").
(c) The omissionof some necessaryword. e.g. He gave
her a watch, arid her brother a book. (Insert "gave"
after "and".) Would you like to try on the dress in the
window? (Insert "that is" after "dress".)
Anachronism (= placing some event before or after
its correct time, an error in computing time). The usual
,
example quoted is Shakespeare's reference in 'Julius
Caesar" to a clock striking. Clockshad not been invented
at that time, and certainly not striking clocks.
Cliches. Certain phrases, through continual use, have
lost their effectiveness-especially those where some
particular adjective is invariably attache~ to a particular
noun, e.g. "dazzling beauty", "leaden feet", ."flashing
teeth", "sparkling eyes", etc.
These outworn phrases are often referred to as "cliches"
(a French word meaning "stereotyped, in a fixed mould
or die") or as "hackneyed" expressions"They should be
avoided if possible-and many good modem orators and
writers have successfullyreplaced them by new and more
striking phrases-in speaking and writing good English,
though force of habit often tempts us to use them.
Circumlocution 01" Periphrasis (= expressing
something in an unnecessarily roundabout or indirect
manner). .
e.g. "A mechanically-propelledroad vehicle"far "car".
CIArodent-preventive officer" for "rat-catcher".
Circumlocution is sometimes employed deliberately
and amusingly by humorous writers.
Irrelevance. Sometimes, particularly in journalism,
when a writer attempts to cram a number of facts into a
limited space, one part of a sentence bears no relation in
sense to the other ,part.
e.g. Educated/in France, Fortescuewrotehis first accepted
poemat the age of 18.
(The fact that Fortescue was educated in France was
not the cause of his .writing his first poem at the age of
18.)
This error is often referred to as a "nonsequitur"(Latin
for "it ~oes not follow").
Pleonasm or Redundancy (= saying more than re-
quired, using more words than necessary).
e.g. He was carrying a stickin hishand.
"In his hand" is unnecessary; it is unlikely that one
1
would carry a stick in any other way.
Repetition or Tautology (= saying the same thing
twice). '
Although repetition can be used very effectively,
particularly in poetry for emphasis OIrrhythm, it is never-
theless an error when used unnecessarily, without attain-
ing any effect except monotony. Examples of tautology
occur in [Link] everyday phrases as ''frequentlyin
the habit of", "mutuallyattracted to each other", "equally
as well as", "free and without charge". t
Verbosity (= excessive and complicated wordineSs).
This is very similar to Circumlocution.
e.g. "He was intoxicatedwith the exuberanceof his own
verbosity.".
This can be expressed more clearly and simply by;i .
"He spoke at great length" or "He was carried away by ....
his love of talking".
Mr. Micawber in Dickens'sDavid Copperfield is the
best-known offender in this respect.