Sec# |
Abbrev. |
Problem |
| |
adj or adv |
= adjective or adverb |
| 14, 15 |
agr |
= agreement problem: between
subject and verb(#14) or noun and pronoun(#15). A singular pronoun
(e.g., he, she, it, him, her) should refer to a singular noun;
a plural pronoun (e.g., they, their, them) should refer to a
plural noun. Subjects and verbs should likewise agree in number. |
| 33, 34 |
apos |
= apostrophe needed
to show possession or to form contraction; or apos. used when
not needed (21). |
| |
ask me |
= Ask me to talk
with you about this particular problem. |
| 22, 12 |
awk. |
= awkward word choice
or arrangement that makes sentence hard to read. |
| |
C.I. |
= central idea (or
thesis); the guiding idea for an entire paper. |
| |
co. cj. |
= coordinating conjunction;
a "FAN BOYS" word: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. |
| 10 |
coh |
= coherence; a problem
here with the flow of ideas from sentence to sentence or paragraph
to paragraph. |
| 13, 41 |
c s |
= comma splice; you've
spliced (joined) together two sentences (aka independent clauses)
with only a comma. |
| 18 |
d m |
= dangling modifier;
usually an "ing" word that's suppose to modify some noun
or pronoun which is not in the sentence, or is in the wrong
place; e. g., "Standing in the doorway, the wind felt
good." |
| 11 |
frag. |
= fragment; not a
complete sentence. |
| 13 |
f s |
= fused sentence;
i.e., two independent clauses jammed together without proper
punctuation; use a period, a semicolon, or a comma with a coordinating
conjunction (the famous "FAN BOYS" words), or convert one of
the independent clauses into a dependent clause. |
| 32 |
gen |
= Inappropriate use of
generic he (him, his) or man (men, mankind) to
refer to nouns or groups that include both sexes. |
| |
gl/us |
= glossary of usage;
check the Glossary ( pp. 226-237) for an incorrect use of a
word. |
| |
I. C. |
= independent clause;
a group of words with a subject and a verb that can stand as
a sentence. |
| 29 |
id |
= idiomatic expression
used improperly; i.e., you're using certain words together in
a way unacceptable in any dialect of the language; e.g., "By
some people's reason, women give birth; therefore they should
stay home until the children are grown. Compare, "According
to some people's reasoning, women . . .," or "Some people
reason that because women ..." Sometimes the fault lies
with a preposition: "capable at going" (wrong) instead of "capable
of going." Check your dictionary for the correct preposition
in such expressions. |
| |
inc |
= incomplete comparison;
e.g., "The Republicans worry more about business than Democrats."
Does this mean, "......than about Democrats"? or "...than
Democrats do" ? |
| |
intro. |
= introduction. |
| 12, 22 |
mng |
= confused or puzzling
sentence; meaning unclear |
| |
N.B. |
= Note well (Pay
careful attention to this change or addition.) |
| |
n w |
= not a word; check
your dictionary for a good substitute. |
| |
p. of v. |
= point of view. |
| 28 |
pred |
= faulty predication;
i. e., subj. and verb don't fit together; often subj. not properly
joined by vb. with complement; e.g., "The concept of child abuse
is a real problem," or "A sonnet is when you have 14 lines."
Instead, "Child abuse is a real problem. " |
| 35
36
39
|
punc. |
= punctuation problem
with comma:
- needed with co. cj. between 2 I. C.s (See above
for these abbreviations.)
- needed after an introductory phrase or clause.
- needed before and after author-identifying phrases
like the following: "Beloved, by Toni Morrison,
is a fine novel"; also around other non-restrictive phrases
or clauses and around interrupters; e.g., "Joe, however,
will not go."
- needed before a participle to link it to an earlier
word; e.g., "She beat the other runners, reaching the
finish line in record time." ("reaching" links back to
"she," not to "runners.")
|
| 16 |
ref |
= problem with reference
of this pronoun: what noun does it refer to? |
| 26 |
rep |
= awkward repetition. |
| |
slashes |
= use slash marks
to indicate line breaks in quoted poetry which is not set off
from the rest of your text. |
| |
sp |
= spelling error |
| |
sub. cj. |
= subordinating conjunction;
e.g., when, while, although, if, before, that; words
that begin a dependent clause, a word group with a subj.
and vb. which cannot stand as a sentence. |
| |
tense |
= wrong tense, or problem
with a shift in verb tense; be consistent. |
| |
T.S. |
= topic sentence;
the sentence that provides focus for a paragraph. |
| 28 |
ww |
= wrong word for
this context; check your dictionary. |
| 21 |
wy |
= wordy; find a way
to express the same idea in fewer words. |
| 42 |
x/; |
= incorrect use
of semicolon. Use, instead, a colon (:) if you want to imply
"as follows"; use a comma if you want a slight pause. |
| 34 |
x/ ' |
= apostrophe error;
perhaps to show possession with personal pronoun: it's (wrong)
vs. its (correct) or to form a plural: "The boy's ran" (wrong)
vs. "The boys ran" (correct). |
| 25 |
// |
=
"parallel," or a problem with parallelism; you need to put the
2 or more words, phrases or clauses indicated here in // form,
that is, in the same form. |
| |
¶ |
= paragraph. |
