Exercises, examples in the correct use and choice of grammar, spelling

31 Oct, 2021 - 00:10 0 Views
Exercises, examples in the correct use and choice of grammar, spelling

The Sunday News

THE exercises and examples given here help in the elimination of incorrect use of grammar, misspelling or the wrong choice of grammar. A cross section of people including writers, teachers, learners as well as friends are all capable of making grammatical mistakes. Faced with such realities it is prudent for teachers and learners to do a lot of exercises to reduce the number of errors made.

A, AN. A and an are called the indefinite articles.

The decision whether to use a or an depends upon the first sound of the word that follows the indefinite article, not upon the first letter of the word. The general rule is: use a before a word that begins with a consonant sound. For example, we say: a book, a sheep, a young ox, a tall boy. Use “an” before a word that begins with a vowel sound.

Examples: an egg, an orphan.

Some words that begin with the letter h do not have the sound of that letter pronounced and the first sound is a vowel although the first letter is not.

For example, it is wrong to say: a hour, a honour, a honest boy, a heir. A few words beginning with the letter u have the initial sound of “you”.

This is a consonant sound so such words are preceded by a. For example, it is wrong to say: an union, an united people, a ugly child. But it is correct to say: a union, a united people, an ugly child.

The above cited examples are quite familiar and are almost turning to a cliché. They have been given here to kick start today’s article on use and abuse of English.

Use of ability to and ability in. When ability is related to a verb ability to should be used. If the ability is related to a noun ability in should be used. For example, it is informal to say: He has the ability of cycling twenty kilometres an hour.

It is formal to say: He has the ability to cycle twenty kilometres an hour.

It is informal to say: She has amazing ability for languages. On the other hand it is formal to say: She has amazing ability in languages.

About may be used to mean “near to in number or time,” or “a little more or a little less.” They arrived at about five o’clock.

The new fees will cost about fifty thousand dollars. Are you aware of the difference between about and almost? The use if about to mean “almost nearly” is common in informal English, but it is not acceptable formal English.

Informal: The assignment was about finished. Formal: The assignment was almost finished. About, Around. About may be used in place of around in the sense of “here and there”. Example: the learners milled about/around the classroom

. Accept, Except. Accept and except are sometimes confused because they sound similar. However, accept is always a verb meaning “agree with” or receive willingly,” Example: You will have to accept the present as a goodwill gesture.

Except is mainly used as a preposition meaning “other than”. All the boys in the first class, except Jacob, passed the  Mathematics test.

Accept, Receive. Accept and receive are close in meaning, but they should not be used together in the same sentence.

He was asked to accept the prize on her behalf. He was asked to receive the prize on her behalf.

Active and passive voices: When a verb is in the active voice the subject of that verb is the performer of the action.

For instance: The police officer explained the cause of the accident. If a verb is in the passive voice the subject of that verb receives the action.

The passive voice is a combination of the past participle and a form of the verb “to be”. The cause of the accident was explained by the police officer.

Adapt, Adopt. Adapt means “change in some way to suit a new situation.” Example: You need to adapt quickly to a new environment. Adopt means “take and use an idea as one’s own” or “accept willingly.” This is Moyo’s adopted daughter.

The members present unanimously adopted the treasurer’s proposal.

Adjective: An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun. In the phrase “a stout man” the word stout describes the state of the man.

Wherever possible, it is wise to place the adjective immediately before the word it modifies. This helps to avoid writing sentences that might be wrongly interpreted; as might happen with the following sentence: It is a good boys’ school.

Meaning: It is a good school for boys to attend or it is a school for only good boys.

What are intransitive verbs?

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