Correcting Errors in Agreement

Subjects and verbs are either singular or plural. The dog sees, or the dogs see. When one is singular, the other must be too. Plural nouns require the plural form of the verb. Pronouns must also agree with the words they replace. A female pronoun (such as she) can’t be used to replace a male noun. Indefinite pronouns, words such as some, none, and many, require singular or plural verbs, depending on their use. The situation gets even more complicated with pronouns such as everybody, which seem plural but are used in the singular form. Modifiers and phrases add to the complications. This section clarifies the concept of agreement and provides plenty of examples and practice to help you develop the requisite skills.

Addressing subject-verb agreement

The simplest form of subject-verb agreement deals with a clearly stated noun and verb.

The boy bites the dog.

The word boy is singular; the verb bites is singular. Everything is fine.

The boys bite the dog.

The word boys is plural; the verb bite is plural. Everything is fine here, too.

Conjunctions are used to join words, phrases and sentences. The conjunction and joins the two singular nouns and creates a plural. If “the boy and the girl” is the subject of the sentence, the conjunction and joins the two nouns and the sentence requires a plural verb.

The boy and the girl are doing their homework.

Other conjunctions don’t have that effect. Either/or and neither/nor don’t join the nouns in a way that requires a plural verb. In context, they separate the nouns, and the subject becomes “this or that” or “not this, not that” as in these examples:

Neither the senator nor the aide has read the report.
Either the son or the daughter is making dinner.

If one of the two nouns in such a phrase is plural, the verb agrees with the noun closest to the verb. If the sentence is a question and the verb comes before the nouns, the same proximity rule applies. If both nouns are plural, the verb must be plural.

Neither the teacher nor the students have read the report.
Is either the teacher or the students going to read the report?
Neither the children nor Mother has made dinner.
Have either the children or Mother made dinner?
Neither the students nor the teachers are here.

Note this important exception: Some nouns are collective nouns, such as pride of lions, murder of crows (yes, that is really the collective noun for a bunch of crows), team of players, and group of people. The words pride, murder, team, and group represent a collection of members, whether lions or basketball players. However because these nouns refer to a single collection, they require a singular verb form.

Here’s a partial list of collective nouns, each of which is followed by one of its applications enclosed in parentheses:

assembly (of worshippers)
band (of monkeys)
bed (of mussels)
brood (of chicks)
clan (of Scots)
company (of soldiers)
congress (of politicians)
fleet (of ships)
flock (of birds)
group (of anything)
herd (of animals)
litter (of pups)
mob (of people)
nest (of birds)
pack (of wolves)
run (of fish)
school (of fish)
swarm (of bees)
tribe (of baboons)
troop (of Girl or Boy Scouts)

This isn’t a complete list by any means. You can use a search engine with the keywords “collective nouns” to find more examples.

Collective nouns either stand alone or combine with the preposition of, as in “The band approaches the river” or “The band of monkeys approaches the river.” A collective noun usually refers to a singular collection, as in “the school of fish” or “the fleet of destroyers,” and so requires a singular verb. The school of fish is fleeing the sharks. The fleet of destroyers is patrolling the Caribbean.

However, collective nouns can be plural as well. When more than one group or collection is involved, plural verbs are required.

Three bands of apes were competing for the bananas left by the zookeeper.
Two litters of pups were born at the vet’s at the same time.

Phrases that modify a subject can confuse the issue. These are common: as well as, along with, and other phrases that include with. They link to the subject but don’t change the verb to plural.

The teacher, along with her students, is visiting the White House.
The students, along with their teacher, are visiting the White House.

Words such as some of, all of, and a quarter of are used to quantify nouns.

a quarter of the school
all of the bills
some of the cats

In these cases, the verb takes its number from the word after of, as in these examples:

A quarter of the school has the flu.
A quarter of the dogs are Golden Retrievers.
All of the bill is his responsibility.
All of the bills are his responsibility.
Some of the cats are rescue cats from the local shelter.
Some of the cat’s fur is purple.

You may also encounter a few special cases. When a sentence starts with a variation of here or there, the verb always takes its number from the nouns completing the sentence. The noun pants, and many others ending in s, such as measles, physics, and billiards are considered singular because they refer to one item: one particular disease, subject, or game. Sums and measurements are also treated as singular because they refer to a single item, even when the sum is many units. Others, including pants and glasses, are treated like plurals even though they refer to one object. Go figure. You just have to tune your ear to these exceptions and others like them:

There are two cats in the room.
There is no reason to behave that way.
Here is the money I owe you.
Here are the coupons you wanted.
Measles is a dangerous disease.
Social Studies is an interesting subject.
My jeans are brand new. They are the only pair I bought.
My glasses are always missing just when I need them most.
Five hundred dollars a month is too much to pay for insurance.

Practicing subject-verb agreement

Try a few examples. Look at the sentence and write in the proper form of the verb.

Making pronouns agree with their antecedents

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence, so you don’t have to keep repeating the noun. Here’s an example of a passage before and after pronouns:

Before: The teacher took the teacher’s students to visit the White House. The teacher was amazed how well the teacher’s students behaved. After the visit, the teacher praised the students.
After The teacher took his students to see the White House. He was amazed how well they behaved. After the visit, he praised them.

Pronouns take their meaning and their singular/plural status from an antecedent, the noun earlier in a sentence passage that the pronoun refers to. Personal pronouns, like nouns, must agree with their antecedents in person, gender, and number:

Person is first (I/we), second (you), or third (he, she, it, or they).
Gender is masculine or feminine and is relevant only to the pronouns he and she. Gender doesn’t apply to I, we, you, it, or they.
Number is singular or plural. First person singular is I and mine, whereas first person plural is we and ours. Second person singular and plural is you and yours. Third person singular is he/him/his, she/her/hers, or it/its, and third person plural is they/them/theirs.

Pronouns also vary in terms of the role they play. For example, suppose you and Micah are playing baseball. He pitches, and you hit the ball to him. Two different pronouns, he and him, refer to the same person, Micah. Initially, he’s performing the action, so he is the subject of the sentence. Later, the ball is coming to him, so him is the object of the action. Here are the various forms of the personal pronouns in a nutshell:

Just remember to use the proper form of the pronoun. In the example presented earlier in this section, teacher is the antecedent. The teacher is a man, so you need to use masculine pronouns (he and his) to refer to him; the use of “his class” and “he was amazed” shows that. The word students is a plural antecedent, so the third person plural pronouns must be used to refer to them; “they behaved” and “he praised them” serve as examples.

Choosing the right verb when you have multiple pronouns

People often get confused when two or more pronouns appear in the same sentence as a subject or object, as in the following examples:

Yesterday, you and me went to the movies.
They saw you and I at the movies.

Both sentences use the wrong form of the first person pronoun. In the first sentence, “you and me” is the subject of the sentence, so both pronouns should be in the nominative case; however, me is the objective case. In the second sentence, you and I are objects of the verb see, so they should both be objective pronouns. I is in the nominative case and therefore should be me.

To clear up confusion about a pronoun when it appears with another pronoun, rephrase the sentence using only the pronoun you’re confused about. When you do that, the error becomes obvious:

Yesterday, me went to the movies
They saw I at the movies.

The correct pronouns sound much better:

Yesterday, I went to the movies
They saw me at the movies.

The proper forms of the whole sentence should be these:

Yesterday, you and I went to the movies.
They saw you and me at the movies.

Giving yourself a refresher in reflexive pronouns

Pronouns that end in self, such as myself or themselves, are called reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are useful in two cases:

When a subject acts on itself: For example, “My cat grooms itself daily.”
To emphasize that the subject of the sentence, and nobody else, completed the action: For example, “The king himself issued the order to surrender.”

In either case, the pronoun must have a clear antecedent in the same clause:

The speaker introduced herself before delivering the keynote address.
We closed the store together, but I took the money to the bank myself.

Some people (we won’t name names) use reflexive pronouns incorrectly, thinking the reflexive “sounds better,” as in the following sentence:

They saw their friend and myself at the movies

This setup is wrong for two reasons. Myself is in the wrong case (it should be the objective me), and the pronoun has no clear antecedent to refer to. What does myself refer to? The proper form would be

They saw their friend and me at the movies.

Welcoming relative pronouns into the family

Relative pronouns also often cause issues. These are words such as who and whom, which and that, and variations with the intensifier ever (whoever or whichever.) These pronouns are usually used together with the noun to which they refer, so agreement isn’t an issue.

The woman who just arrived and to whom the microphone was just handed is about to speak.

People commonly confuse who (nominative case) and whom (objective case). Just remember that who performs action and whom receives action.

Considering collective and proper pronouns

Pronouns indicating number, such as everybody, few, some, many, all, and (in some cases) either and neither, can also pose a problem. Treat these as collective nouns (described in the earlier section “Addressing subject-verb agreement”). If the pronoun refers to the antecedent as a single group, the pronoun is singular and takes a singular verb. If the antecedent is plural, then the pronoun is plural:

None of the teachers are here.
All of the teachers are here.
Few have notebooks. (The subject teachers is understood.)
Neither has a notebook. (The subject teacher is understood.)

The proper pronouns, which and that, are confusing because they were once used interchangeably. In modern American English, the usage has become more specific. The relative pronoun which is used in clauses describing a preceding noun and is set off with a comma.

The car, which had just been painted, was totaled in an accident this morning.

The clause “which had just been painted” is used as an adjective clause to describe the car, but you can remove it without changing the meaning of the sentence. The premise remains: The car was totaled.

The word that makes the subsequent clause specific; removing it from the sentence does change the meaning.

The car that had just been painted was totaled this morning.

The clause isn’t set off by commas, and it tells the reader the specific car the sentence refers to. Removing the clause would change the meaning.

When a clause can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, use which and a comma. If removing the clause changes the meaning, use that with no comma.

Practicing your pronoun-antecedent agreement skills

Pick the correct pronoun for the underlined word or phrase in each of the following sentences:

Choosing the Right Words

Given the fact that the English dictionary contains over one million words, it’s not surprising that people get confused using them. Some words sound the same but are spelled differently and have entirely different meanings. Others are easy to distinguish in terms of appearance and sound but have slightly different meanings. And a few words and phrases are appropriate for use in conversations with your friends but ill-suited for more formal settings. In the following sections, we help you sort out any confusion you may have and improve your ability to spot word-choice errors and determine how to correct them on the test.

Tuning your ear to homonyms

Homonyms, words that sound the same but have different meanings, are a poet’s and punster’s delight. They may be identical or spelled differently, so their misuse causes problems for writers. Learning these words is important not only for proper communication but also for scoring well in English language usage on the RLA test.

When a sentence starts with “the tree’s bark” or “the dog’s bark,” the meaning is clear. When a sentence starts with “A hare” or “A hair,” that meaning may not be as obvious. The words sound alike and can be misused.

Here is a partial list of some of the most commonly confused homonyms and their meanings:

ad: advertising

add: arithmetic term
bare: uncovered

bear: the animal; endure
capital: important, great, money

capitol: government building or official seat of government
cereal: grains or breakfast food

serial: in a series
cite: quote

sight: to see; a scene

site: location
complement: go together with

compliment: praise
ewe: female sheep

you: second person pronoun
flee: to run away

flea: the insect
flew: past tense of fly

flu: illness

flue: part of a chimney
hare: the bunny

hair: what’s on your head
here: this place

hear: take in a sound
its: possessive pronoun

it’s: contraction of it is
lead: the metal

led: guided
male: masculine

mail: letter
marry: wed

merry: happy
not: negative

knot: to tie something; a nautical speed measure

naught: nothing
peak: top of something

peek: take a quick look
peace: absence of war

piece: portion or part
prey: to hunt; something being hunted

pray: worship
principal: head of the school; key item

principle: important belief
rain: wet weather

reign: monarch’s rule

rein: horse guide
stationary: not moving

stationery: letterhead
their: possessive pronoun

there: location

they’re: contraction of they are
to: direction

too: as well

two: number
weather: atmospheric/climate conditions

whether: indicates a choice
vice: crime; bad habit

vise: workshop clamp
your: belonging to you

you’re: contraction of you are

Practice distinguishing homonyms by answering the following questions.

The word weather refers to climate phenomena. Whether offers a choice — whether this or that — so Choice (D) is the correct answer.
The word knot means “a tangle or connection.” Naught means “nothing,” and not means “no” or “negative.” Look at the usage in the sentence. The first needs something that can be tied, so Choice (A), knot, is the correct word. The second occurs in the phrase “was for naught,” meaning “was for nothing” or “did not work,” so Choice (C), naught, is correct. The last use has the meaning of “no” or “negative,” so the proper form is Choice (B), not.
Principal refers to someone running a program or a main or key item. The word principle refers to an important philosophical or scientific idea, such as the principle of freedom of speech. In this sentence, the first blank refers to someone in charge, so principal is the proper usage. In the second blank, the word refers to an idea or belief in the importance of attendance, so principle is the appropriate word.

Correcting errors with frequently confused words

Here are some words that don’t quite qualify as homonyms but confuse a lot of people just the same:

accept: To receive or agree with: I accept the truth of that; she accepts the invitation.

except: To exclude: Everyone was invited except him.
advice: A suggestion or recommendation: Mom always gives good advice.

advise: To offer advice: He advised the student to study for the GED test.
affect: To make a difference to or touch the feelings of: Poor nutrition will negatively affect my health. Less commonly, affect means to put on a show of emotion: She affected disinterest in the whole spectacle.

effect: The result of an action: Poor nutrition has a negative effect on my health. In the plural, it can also mean property: They returned her effects.
assure: To remove doubt: We were assured passing the GED test would improve our lives.

insure: To take out insurance: In most states, you must insure your cars.

ensure: To make sure, certain: The Affordable Care Act is an attempt ensure that all citizens have affordable health insurance.
borrow: To take something with the intention of returning it: We all borrow tools.

lend: To give something temporarily: We lend tools but expect them back.

loan: Money lent at interest. The car loan was approved, and we paid it back over 48 months. (Technically speaking, you can use loan in place of lend when giving someone temporary use of something, but the words aren’t interchangeable in figurative expressions such as “lend an ear.”)
council: An advisory or governing group: The town was run by a citizen’s council.

counsel: To give advice as an authority: His friend counseled him to get legal advice.
desert: To abandon in a negative way: The soldiers deserted their post. The word is also used to describe a very dry environment with little or no vegetation: Dad was worried we’d get lost in the desert on our trip to Arizona.

dessert: A treat after a meal: Ice cream is a popular dessert.

To tell the difference between desert (with one s) and dessert (with ss), keep in mind that you’d probably enjoy two desserts but only one desert.
emigrate: To leave a country with no intention of returning: They emigrated from France to New Orleans.

immigrate: To enter another country with no intention of leaving: Victims from the war-torn region immigrated to America.
heroin: The drug. Heroin is a highly addictive illegal narcotic.

heroine: A female hero: Wonder Woman is a comic book heroine.
gorilla: A great ape with a large head and short neck that generally lives in the jungles of Africa: Dian Fossey worked with endangered gorillas in Africa.

guerilla: Soldier who isn’t a member of a regular army: The U.S. Army faced a lot of Viet Cong guerillas.
irregardless: No such word. Forget it.

regardless: Without regard to or for: We will go for a hike regardless of the weather.

irrespective: Regardless: We fly our kites irrespective of the weather. (This is where the confusion with irregardless originates. Here the ir- beginning is fine; it’s absolutely wrong with regardless.)
lay: To set something down: We lay the book on the table.

lie: To set oneself down: I lie down to take a nap; the book lies on the table. (Of course, lie also means to tell a fib, but that usage is rarely confused.)

Lie and lay commonly cause confusion. Lie (to rest or recline) is an intransitive verb, meaning it takes no object. The subject of the sentence is doing the lying. Lay is a transitive verb, meaning it requires an object. The subject of the sentence sets down something else. The confusion arises from the fact that the past tense of lie is lay: “The book lay on the table since yesterday.”
like: Similar to: The apple I just ate tasted like onion. Like implies that whatever follows is similar to but not the same as what follows. (Of course, like is also used as a verb to express a fondness for something or someone.)

such as: Including: I prefer fruit that grows on trees, such as apples, oranges, and cherries. Unlike the word like, the phrase such as implies inclusion. In this example, the speaker prefers all tree fruit, including apples, oranges, and cherries.
loose: Not secure, able to move about: The engagement ring was loose.

lose: To have something or someone suddenly disappear: She was afraid she may lose the ill-fitting engagement ring. Don’t lose your temper. Of course, lose is also commonly used to describe the outcome of a competitive event: to lose a game, for example.

For more, commonly confused words, search the web for “frequently confused words.”

Also keep an eye and ear out for the following commonly misused words or phrases:

besides the point: The proper use is beside the point — no s. The expression means “not relevant,” and the word beside refers to point, which is singular.
can’t hardly: The correct phase is can hardly; it means to be unable to do something: I can hardly wait or I can hardly see. Using can’t makes no sense.
could care less: How little do you care? Well, if you could care less, that means you do care at least a little. When what you mean is “I don’t care at all,” the phrase you’re looking for is couldn’t care less.
could/should/would of: The ungrammatical could of and its cousins stem from what’s essentially a transcription error. The proper phrase could have has a contraction form: could’ve. In speech, could’ve sounds like could of, which is what people often write when they really need could have.
did good: The expression he did good or the team did good has become idiomatic (widely used in everyday speech), but it’s grammatically wrong. The word good is an adjective and can’t be used to modify (describe) a verb. You can say something is good, but actions are done well: She played the game well. She is a good player. (The only exception is when someone actually does good, as in where good means “good deeds”: Philanthropists are dedicated to doing good.)
literally: Misuse of this word literally makes grammarians do a slow burn. Well, actually, no. They don't burn or smolder. They figuratively burn or smolder. This word gets thrown around as an intensifier, something to emphasize a statement. “The movie was so funny she was literally rolling on the floor with laughter.” Of course, she probably was not actually rolling on the floor; the phrase was used to show just how funny the movie was. Avoid using literally unless it refers to something actually happening.

Eliminating informal language

Although you’re free to use colloquial (informal) English when communicating with your pals, the RLA tests your knowledge of Standard English, so on the test, at least, you need to avoid writing anything like this:

So anyways, I text him like what we were gonna do? He just totally blew me off, so I shot his text 2 his girlfriend. ROFL. U shoulda seen his face.

This may be perfectly fine when texting among friends but is unacceptable when writing an essay, an email to an employer, or even texting someone with whom you do business. When writing letters or essays, use formal, Standard English. Table 7-1 offers some guidelines.

Table 7-1 Avoiding Informal Words and Phrases

Informal Vague language	Formal fix Use precise language
The thing is	The issue is
The current policy is bad.	The current policy wastes taxpayer money.
She was bothered by a lot of stuff.	She had three major concerns.
I have a couple of ideas.	I have three solutions.
The impersonal you	Address a specific person or group
When you get anxious, you’re likely to make mistakes.	When an individual becomes anxious, she is more prone to making mistakes.
When you talk with disgruntled customers, you need to listen.	When speaking with disgruntled customers, a customer service representative needs to listen.
Slang/colloquialisms	Replace with formal words
The couple had a lot of issues.	The couple was dealing with numerous marital issues.
I got an A in Spanish.	I earned an A in Spanish.
He kinda (or kind of or sort of) knows how to fix cars.	He somewhat knows how to fix cars.
Let me explain.	Permit me to explain.
Phrasal verbs	Replace with a more precise verb
bring up	raise (children) or introduce (topic or issue)
call off	cancel
decide on	choose
give back	return
hold up	delay
leave out	omit
look up	search
put off	postpone
set up	arrange
turn down	reject
Contractions	Spell it out
can’t	cannot
I’m	I am
shouldn’t	should not
won’t	will not

At this point, we want to issue the following shameless disclaimer: Do as we say, not as we do. We wrote this book using a combination of Standard and non-Standard English per the request of our publisher (what’s a For Dummies book if not informal?). You’ll no doubt notice the use of phrasal verbs, contractions, colloquialisms, and other GED test faux pas.

Here’s an example of a business letter that is far too informal:

Hey John,
Just so you know, my application is in the snail mail. I wanted to get in touch earlier, but I had some other stuff to deal with first. Anyway, I finally put my CV together, and it’s on its way.
So I hope you’ll okay an interview for me. Call me if you need anything further.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Ed.

A letter or email like this one regarding a job application would go straight into the recycling bin. It’s full of informal language, which unacceptable in a business situation. After you know the people involved, a less formal style may be okay, but for most professional situations, this kind of writing is just wrong. Here is the same text in more formal language:

Dear Mr. Smith,
Since we spoke, I have organized my CV and forwarded it to your attention. You should receive my resume, job application, and CV shortly by postal mail.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Ed Jones

Now for some practice: Here’s a letter of complaint to the manufacturer of a defective product:

Dear Sir,
I’m writing to tell you your coffee maker died yesterday, barely a week after I got it home. I spoke to some dude on your help desk, but he did nothing for me. This is certainly totally wrong.
I want this coffee maker replaced under warranty. Please call. I’m ready to take your call anytime.
Yours,
George Gently

How would you correct the underlined portion of each of these sentences? (Choice (A) means no change.)

Fixing Broken Sentences

As sentences become more complex, the room for errors increases. The simplest sentence has only one subject and one predicate — an actor and an action, a noun and a verb. For example, in the sentence “Jack runs,” Jack is the subject, and runs is the predicate. When you start adding details, the subject and predicate become longer and more complex: “Jack, an athlete with a score to settle, runs furiously toward the finish line.” “Jack, an athlete with a score to settle” is the subject, and “runs furiously toward the finish line” is the predicate.

Sentences become increasingly long and complex when you start adding independent and dependent clauses. An independent clause is one that can stand alone as a sentence, as in the case of “Jack runs.” A dependent clause is one that must be joined to an independent clause, as in “ because a dog was chasing him.” You can join these independent and dependent clauses in various combinations to form the following three types of sentences:

Compound sentences contain two independent clauses joined by a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction: and, but, or, nor, for, so, or yet. Alternatively, you can join the two clauses with a semicolon and no coordinating conjunction. Here’s an example of each:
The sailboats were racing down that channel, and they both reached the finish line at the same time.

The sailboats were racing down that channel; they both reached the finish line at the same time.
Complex sentences contain an independent clause plus one or more subordinate clauses, each introduced by a subordinating conjunction: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, if only, rather than, since, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whereas, wherever, whether, which, or while. They’re subordinate because they can’t stand on their own. Here’s an example:
The sailor won the race, although his sailboat was not the best in the competition.
Compound-complex sentences contain two or more independent clauses and at least one dependent clause. These sentences are usually long and unwieldy, so use them sparingly.
Argentina’s sailboat finished last; when the sudden squall hit, the crew was unprepared to lower the sails, and the sails were quickly shredded.

These complex structures create a great deal of room for errors. Here are some of the most common errors covered in the RLA test, along with ways to avoid and correct them.

Taking care of misplaced modifiers

Modifiers are words or phrases that enhance the meaning of the word they describe. Modifiers can be adjectives (words that describe nouns), or adverbs (words that describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs). They can be single words or longer phrases. In the sentence “The exhausted driver nearly fell asleep,” exhausted is an adjective that modifies driver, and nearly is an adverb that modifies fell asleep.

Misplaced modifiers are descriptive words or phrases that aren’t clearly linked to the words they describe. Look at the difference in meaning of these two examples:

She almost ran all the way to school.
She ran almost all the way to school.

In the first example, she came close to running but not quite. Maybe she jogged. In the second sentence she ran, but not quite all of the way to school. To prevent confusion, place the modifier closest to the verb or noun it modifies. Here’s an example:

Misplaced: They were repairing the red car in the body shop with the dented fender. (In this example, it would be the body shop that had a dented fender.)
Corrected: They were repairing the red car with the dented fender in the body shop.

Dangling modifiers are descriptive words or phrases that have no noun or verb to describe.

Reading the test results, university acceptance was certain.

Who or what is reading the test results? As written, it’s “university acceptance” (the noun closest to the modifier), but that doesn’t make sense. That means you have a dangling modifier. The fix is easy:

Reading the test results, the applicant was certain of her university acceptance.

Here’s another example of a misplaced modifier:

We smelled the odor of old socks and unwashed towels entering the gym.

Obviously, the socks and towels didn’t enter the gym unless someone carried or wore them in, but “entering the gym” is so distant from the word it modifies the meaning is open to interpretation. Again, the fix is easy; move the modifier closer to the word it modifies:

Entering the gym, we smelled the odor of old socks and unwashed towels.

Now for some practice: Check the box next to each sentence that has a misplaced modifier.

Sprinkled across the sky, the tourists admired the colorful macaws.
Although still in high school, the professor thought Michael had great potential.
Getting out of his car, the papers fell out of his bag.
While running though the park, a big dog attacked James.
Within minutes of seeing the stray dog, James was ready to adopt.

Check your answers. The modifier is placed correctly in only the last sentence. Changing the word order of the first four sentences would correct the problem.

Achieving parallelism, coordination, and subordination

Parallelism, subordination, and coordination all involve joining words and phrases together in ways that achieve clarity, balance, and fluidity. In the following sections, we explain parallelism, subordination, and coordination in more detail and provide guidance in identifying and correcting common errors.

Spotting and correcting faulty parallelism

Parallelism is the balance achieved when combining similar words or phrases in a sentence. More simply put, when you refer to two or more things in a sentence, use the same parts of speech in the same form. Here’s an example of faulty parallelism followed by a corrected version of the same sentence:

Faulty: George likes cards, to play chess, and playing video games.
Corrected: George likes playing cards, chess, and video games.

Although you commonly encounter faulty parallelism in a series of items, it also crops up in other situations. Table 7-2 provides a bird’s-eye view of the types of situations to look for along with an example of faulty parallelism and a corrected version for each.

Table 7-2 Common Parallelism Errors and Corrections

Situation	Faulty parallelism	Correct parallelism
Items joined by a coordinating conjunction	Ace Manufacturing offers its workers higher pay and to take longer vacations.	Ace manufacturing offers its workers higher pay and longer vacations.
Items in a series	We love skiing, skating, and to watch sports.	We love skiing, skating, and watching sports.
Items being compared	Frogs spend more time swimming than they hop.	Frogs spend more time swimming than hopping.
Items joined by a form of the verb to be	What you see is the thing you get.	What you see is what you get.
Items joined by correlative conjunctions (either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, both/and, and whether/or)	Earth revolves not only around the sun but also rotates on its own axis.	Earth not only revolves around the sun but also rotates on its own axis.

To determine whether parallelism exists, turn the sentence into a bulleted list. If each bullet item is in the same form, they’re parallel. If not, you’re looking at faulty parallelism.

Identifying and fixing faulty coordination

You use a coordinating conjunction, preceded by a comma, to combine two complete sentences into a longer compound sentence. Coordination problems arise when you use the wrong coordinating conjunction, creating confusion. Here’s an example of faulty coordination followed by a corrected version:

Faulty: The restaurant was packed, and the parking lot was empty.
Corrected: The restaurant was packed, but the parking lot was empty.

The first sentence uses the coordinating conjunction and to connect two contrasting situations, which doesn’t make sense. You’d expect that if the restaurant was packed, the parking lot would be full, but that’s not the case. The coordinating conjunction but signals that a contrast is about to come.

Faulty coordination also occurs when a coordinating conjunction jams together two items or phrases that aren’t closely related or equal in status, as in the following example:

Faulty: President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and was born in Hawaii.
Corrected: President Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pinpointing and correcting faulty subordination

Subordination occurs in complex sentences, as described earlier in this chapter, when a sentence contains an independent and a dependent clause joined by a subordinating conjunction. The dependent clause is subordinate to the independent clause. Faulty subordination occurs when the sentence uses the wrong subordinating clause, resulting in confusion, as in the following example:

Faulty: Although pointillism was the most popular painting technique at the time, some of the most talented painters, including van Gogh and Seurat, embraced the technique.
Corrected: Because pointillism was the most popular painting technique at the time, some of the most talented painters, including van Gogh and Seurat, embraced the technique.

Faulty subordination also arises when the more important of the two clauses is subordinate to the less important clause, as in the following example:

Faulty: The hurricane threat had passed, although the travel bans in coastal areas remained in effect.
Corrected: Although the hurricane threat had passed, the travel bans in coastal areas remained in effect.

Testing your skills: Parallelism, coordination, and subordination

Practice your skills at identifying and repairing faulty parallelism, coordination, and subordination by correcting the following sentences:

Tightening wordy sentences

Wordiness, in the spirit of good writing is, in the words of the great poet, something we should aim to eliminate so that the precision of our words shines through and illuminates the passage. You just suffered through an example of very wordy prose. People use interjections in spoken language all the time. They use vague words and then try to clarify with a lot of descriptive language. They throw in extra adjectives and adverbs that simply repeat what the noun or verb already states. Some writers feel it sounds more academic or educated, but it merely confuses and irritates.

On the RLA test, some questions may challenge you to identify wordy constructions and choose more succinct alternatives. You also need to avoid the pitfalls of wordiness when writing your Extended Response. In the following sections we introduce common sources of wordiness and explain how to tighten your prose.

Using precise language

The single most effective solution to pare down and strengthen your prose is to use the most precise words you can think of. Here are a couple of examples of wordy sentences, each of which is followed by a trimmed-down version:

We thought long and deeply about sending our child to a private school.

We deliberated sending our child to a private school.
The group of angry protesters marched quickly to city hall and tried to break in.

The mob stormed city hall.

Write with descriptive nouns and verbs, and you won’t need so many additional words to clarify.

Opting for active over passive voice

In a typical sentence, the actor enters first and then performs. You know from the beginning who’s doing what. Passive voice flips the order:

Passive: The lesson was written on the blackboard by the teacher.

Active: The teacher wrote the lesson on the blackboard.
Passive: The cells were attacked by the virus.

Active: The virus attacked the cells.

As you can see, the passive voice is indirect, unclear, and wordy. However, passive voice comes in handy at times, such as when a politician wants to distance herself from an unpopular decision; she can simply say, for example, “The decision was made to increase taxes.” It’s also helpful in formal essays or scientific writing, when the writer must shift the focus to the data.

Cutting out redundancy

Beware of phrases that state the same thing twice. Here are some common redundant phrases to avoid along with their succinct counterparts.

Redundant	Succinct
a total of a dozen eggs	a dozen eggs
briefly summarize	summarize
close proximity	close; nearby
cooperate together	cooperate
end result	result
exactly the same	identical; the same
future to come	future
period of two weeks	two weeks
revert back	revert

Avoiding overuse of be verbs

People who merely exist are boring, and so is the verb to be in all its forms: be, being, been, is, am, are, was, and were. Unless these verbs are accompanied by a real action verb, be on the lookout for a weak and/or wordy construction. Here are some examples, each of which is followed by a sample correction:

The protesters were the people who looted the store.

The protesters looted the store.
Environmentalists were the major proponents of the new regulations.

Environmentalists promoted the new regulations.
There are many constituents who would disagree with the senator.

Many constituents would disagree with the senator.
It is obvious that sugar and starchy foods increase body fat.

Obviously, sugar and starchy foods increase body fat.

Don’t use expletives in your writing. No, we’re not talking about swear words here; we want you to avoid the “it + be” and “there + be” constructions known as expletives. These setups, such as “It is important that” and “This is the person who,” almost always produce weak, wordy sentences. (Definitely avoid the other kind of expletives on the RLA test, too.)

You can find entire websites devoted to concise writing, complete with plentiful examples, exercises, and even some sample questions. Search the web for “concise writing” or “eliminating wordiness.”

Saying no to nominalizations

Nominalizatons are the noun forms of verbs. Here are a few examples:

Verb	Nominalization
Analyze	Analysis
Collect	Collection
Conclude	Conclusion
Demonstrate	Demonstration
Discover	Discovery
Fail	Failure
Indicate	Indication
Refuse	Refusal
Stabilize	Stabilization

You can slash word count while strengthening your prose by converting nominalizations back to their verb forms and, in the process, often remove a be verb. Here are a few examples of nominalizations and adjustments that eliminate them:

The peace treaty led to a cessation of hostilities.

The peace treaty ended the conflict.
The police conducted their investigation of the crime scene.

The police investigated the crime scene.
As an indication of her dedication to the cause, Sally presented a donation of $10,000.

Sally donated $10,000 to demonstrate her dedication to the cause.

Watching out for prepositions

Prepositions (of, with, in, for, and so on) are red flags for wordiness. You may have noticed this in the preceding section on nominalizations. When you convert a noun to a verb, you’re forced to add a prepositional phrase, as in the case of “cessation of hostilities” and “investigation of the crime scene.” Here are a few additional examples:

The opinion of the court is that the defendant be released.

The court decided to release the defendant.
Please contact our office in a timely manner.

Please contact our office promptly.

Purging phrasal verbs

Phrasal verbs are two or more words that function as a verb and can usually be replaced with a single verb. For example, you can replace the phrasal verb “pick up on” with “sense.” See “Eliminating informal language” earlier in this chapter for a short list of phrasal verbs and their suitable replacements.

Replacing negatives with positive statements

You can often reduce wordiness simply by making a negative statement positive. Here’s an example:

If players do not show up with their gear, they will not be allowed to play.
Players must show up with their gear in order to play.

Practicing your word-slashing skills

Here’s a wordy passage to practice on. On a separate sheet of paper, cross out unnecessary words and phrases and write your revision.

At any given moment, there are people who want to go for long drives and little automotive adventures on the weekend. It is obvious that this is something that car rental companies should exploit. We all know that rental companies can use all the extra revenues they can get, due to the fact that the economy has worsened, making renting a car a frivolous expense often cut.

When you’re done, grade yourself. You can gauge your success by counting the number of words you eliminated or comparing your revision to the following version:

Many people like long weekend drives. Because fewer people can afford to rent cars since the recession, car rental companies could use this market to improve revenues.

Evaluate your writing the same way. Does a particular word of phrase add anything to the text? Can it be replaced with simpler words or phrases?

Remember the KISS rule: Keep it simple, silly. Good writing is clear, simple, and direct.

Smoothing out awkward sentences

Awkward sentences are difficult to read and understand. They can be unnecessarily complex and may contain faulty parallelism, passive voice, misused words, and empty phrases. When you are presented with an awkward sentence to correct on the test, try to read it aloud in your inner voice. If the sentence trips you up as you read it or you have to read it several times to grasp its meaning, you’re looking at an awkward sentence. Long sentences are easy to spot and correct: Remove any unnecessary words and phrases. Spotting and correcting other issues may be more challenging.

Practice your skills. Choose the correct version of each of the following sentences. Note that Choice (A) is the same as the original version.

Check your answers:

The correct answer is Choice (D) because it creates two parallel clauses: “when you have finished studying” and “when [you] are feeling better.” Choice (A) is the original, which is wrong because “you have finished studying” and “feeling better” aren’t parallel. Choice (B) simply introduces a new error by changing when to if. Choice (C) introduces a new error by bringing in the future tense (will).
Choice (D) is correct. The original sentence is an example of faulty parallelism because each item in the series is in a different form.
Choice (D) is your best choice. “It can be seen,” “in this case,” and “all due haste” are wordy and unnecessary. Choice (D) is the clearest, shortest, and most direct version of the sentence.
The best choice has to explain who or what was flying down the hill. Because the phrase refers to the skiers, not the visitors, that phrase needs to be closest to the noun skiers. Choice (B) is your best choice.
Choice (C) is best. Not surprisingly, it’s also the shortest version.

Using transitional words and phrases effectively

Transitional words and phrases link paragraphs and sentences to the material that went before and make reading and understanding easier. They indicate how successive sentences or paragraphs connect. They show sequence, with words and phrases like afterward, first of all, then, subsequently, and so on. They highlight examples, using words and phrases like for example or thus. Words and phrases like especially and above all indicate something important is coming and add emphasis. Here’s a list of commonly used transition words grouped by purpose:

Purpose	Transition words
Addition	also, again, as well as, besides, furthermore, in addition
Consequence	accordingly, as a result, consequently, hence, otherwise, so then, subsequently, therefore, thus,
Comparison	but, by the same token, conversely, however, in contrast, instead, likewise, nevertheless, on one hand, on the contrary, on the other hand, rather, similarly, still, yet
Emphasis	above all, chiefly, especially, particularly, singularly, with attention to
Exception	aside from, barring, beside, except, excepting, excluding, exclusive of, other than, outside of
Example	chiefly, especially, for example, for instance, in particular, including, namely, particularly, primarily, specifically, such as
Generalization	as a rule, as usual, for the most part, generally, generally speaking, ordinarily, usually
Restatement	in brief, in essence, in other words, in short, namely, that is, that is to say
Sequence	afterward, at first, at the same time, earlier, first of all, for now, for the time being, in the first place, in the meantime, in time, in turn, later, later on, meanwhile, next, simultaneously, soon, the next step, then, to begin with, while
Summary	after all, all in all, all things considered, briefly, by and large, finally, in any case, in any event, in brief, in conclusion, in short, in summary, in the final analysis, on balance, on the whole, to sum up, to summarize

For a complete list, search the web for “transitional words and phrases.”

Here’s a passage that shows transitional words (underlined) in action:

They agreed to rent the apartment to the stranger. He paid the first month’s rent on time, but subsequently the payments were either late or never made at all. For example, the May rent arrived two weeks late, and the June rent was not paid. In other words, the stranger proved to be a bad tenant. Generally, they checked their prospective tenants’ backgrounds, but they forgot to in this case. They were able to evict him. Subsequently, they learned he had a long record of the same issues with previous landlords.

Don’t overuse transitional words or phrases as we’ve done in this sample passage. We used an abundance here to illustrate their use.

Eliminating sentence fragments and run-on or fused sentences

The problem starts with spoken language. People often speak in sentence fragments (incomplete sentences lacking a subject or verb) because that’s the nature of conversation:

Boy: What’s up?
Girl: Just studying.
Boy: Why?
Girl: For a science test.
Boy: An important one?
Girl: Not really. Just term work.

You understand this conversation because you mentally insert the missing words. In writing, you’re not having a conversation. You’re presenting information and ideas. Communication is one way. Sentences without proper punctuation, sentences joined by commas, and sentences missing subjects or verbs are likely to confuse the reader, and you won’t be there to answer questions and clarify statements. In this section, we describe two errors that plague sentences and explain how to fix them.

Detecting and fixing run-on or fused sentences

Run-on sentences or fused sentences occur when two or more independent clauses are jammed together with incorrect (or no) punctuation:

School was over for the day the kids all made a mad dash for the playground.

You have two complete sentences:

School was over for the day and the kids all made a mad dash for the playground.

Putting the two thoughts together is fine. The end of the school day and kids running to the playground are linked ideas. To repair the sentence, you have four options:

Make two separate sentences:
School was over for the day. The kids all made a mad dash for the playground.
Add a semicolon between the two clauses:
School was over for the day; the kids all made a mad dash for the playground.
Add a comma and a coordinating conjunction between the two clauses:
School was over for the day, so the kids all made a mad dash for the playground.
Revise the sentence to make one of the clauses subordinate to the other:
When school ended, the kids all made a mad dash for the playground. (“When school ended” is the subordinate clause.)

A run-on sentence commonly occurs in the form of a comma splice: two independent clauses joined by a comma. Commas can’t link independent clauses:

Comma splice: The rain was just pouring, we quickly found shelter under an awning.
Correction: The rain was just pouring; we quickly found shelter under an awning.
Correction: The rain was just pouring, but we quickly found shelter under an awning.

You correct the sentence in the same way as the previous example: by inserting a semicolon after the word pouring or a coordinating conjunction after the comma.

Don’t confuse coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) and transition words, such as therefore and otherwise. You can use both words to join independent clauses, but use a comma before coordinating conjunctions and a semicolon before transitional words. Here’s an example:

Incorrect: The rain was just pouring, however, we quickly found shelter under an awning.
Correct: The rain was just pouring; however, we quickly found shelter under an awning.

Use a semicolon before a transition word only if the word joins two independent clauses. Sometimes, transition words are embedded in sentences and set off by commas, as in the following example:

To use your keycard, however, you must also enter your PIN.

In this example, “to use your keycard,” isn’t an independent clause, so you don’t use a semicolon.

Comma-splice errors are fairly common on the RLA test.

Finding a home for sentence fragments

A sentence fragment is a sentence that’s missing one of its parts — either the requisite the actor or action required to make it a fully formed sentence. It may look like a sentence, starting with a capital letter and ending in a period, but it’s missing a subject or predicate. To fix a sentence fragment, supply the missing noun or verb or combine the fragment with another sentence. Here’s a passage with several fragments:

The lab was open all night. Jeff on Professor Faraday’s experiment, running late. When the alarm sounded, he had no choice but to leave. Quickly covered the experiment and ran for the door.

Here’s a corrected version:

The lab was open all night. Jeff, who was working on Professor Faraday’s experiment, was running late. When the alarm sounded, he had no choice but to leave. Quickly, he covered the experiment and ran for the door.

Providing a subject for each sentence fragment corrected the problem, but you can repair the fragments in other ways. On a sheet of paper, try rewriting this passage several different ways to eliminate the fragments.

Practicing your sentence repair skills

Try your hand at spotting the errors and selecting the correct repairs for the following sentences. Note that the first answer choice is the original sentence.

Tweaking the Text: Capitalization, Contractions, Possession, and Punctuation

You don’t have to be a professional editor to answer questions involving capitalization, possession, and punctuation, but you do need to know the rules and how to apply them in context. The following sections bring you up to speed on these three areas.

Brushing up on capitalization rules

The GED RLA test expects you to be able to recognize which words should start with a capital letter and which words don’t. In general, initial cap (capitalize the first letter of) the following items:

The first word of every sentence
Every word in a person’s title, such as Miss, President, and Senator, when the title is followed by the person’s name
Multiword titles, as in Minister of Defense, when followed by the person’s name
The names of cities, states, and countries; for example, Chicago, California, and China.
Names of languages and nationalities
Religious names such as God, Allah, Buddha, and other specific gods such as Ra or Zeus
Company names
The first and last words in the title of a book, song, movie or other creation, as well as any other major words, as in The Night of the Living Dead.

Don’t capitalize these nouns:

Titles when they follow a name, as in Ronald Reagan, former president of the United States
Titles when not attached to a name but used as a general term: the kings, the pastor, and the professor
Moon, sun, or other bodies in the solar system besides planets
General references to foods, animals, and plants, such as “We saw a bear in the blueberry bushes”

Telling the difference between contractions and possessives

Verb contractions and possessive nouns each use apostrophes, but each does so for a different purpose. You need to know the difference:

Contractions: This area of writing mechanics has nothing to do with those painful moments before childbirth! Instead, contractions are what you get when you shorten a word by leaving out a letter or a sound. For example, when you write can’t, you’re using a shortened form of cannot. In this example, can’t is the contraction.

The important thing to remember about contractions is that the apostrophe (that’s a single quotation mark) takes the place of the letter or letters that are omitted.
Possessives: Do you know people who are possessive? They’re all about ownership, right? So is the grammar form of possessives. Possessives are words that show ownership or possession, usually by adding an apostrophe to a person’s or object’s name. If Marcia owns a car, that car is Marcia’s car. The word Marcia’s is a possessive. Make sure you know the difference between singular and plural possessives. For example: “The girl’s coat is torn.” (Girl and coat are singular, so the apostrophe goes before the s.) “The girls’ coats are torn.” (Girls and coats are plural, so the apostrophe goes after the s.) When working with plural possessives, form the plural first and then add the apostrophe.

Don’t make the most common mistake of confusing the contraction it’s with the possessive its. The contraction it’s stands for it is. The possessive uses no apostrophe.

Fine-tuning your punctuation skills

Punctuation includes periods, commas, semicolons, colons. Follow these punctuation do’s and don’ts.

Use a period to end a complete sentence.
Use a comma to
- Separate items in a series, such as apples, bananas, and oranges.
- Separate two complete sentences that are joined by a coordinating conjunction, such as and, but, or, for, nor, so, or yet: “Patty enjoyed going to the movies, but she hated having to spend so much on concessions.”
- Separate an introductory clause or phrase from the main clause: “Whenever I go to the store, I buy fresh bananas.” Introductory clauses typically begin with adverbs or subordinating conjunctions, such as after, although, because, even though, if, since, than, though, unless, when, where, whether, and while.
- Set off a clause, phrase, or word that’s not essential to the meaning of the sentence: “My dog, sensing danger, ran to the front door and snarled.”
Use a semicolon to
- Separate two complete sentences that are related: “Sometimes, you separate two sentences with a period; other times, you use a semicolon.”
- Separate two complete sentences connected with however, therefore, or some other transition word or phrase: “I usually have eggs for breakfast; however, I often order a BLT for breakfast when eating out.”
- Separate items in a series when one or more of the items contains a comma: “We visited several cities along the way, including Paris, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Biloxi, Mississippi.”
Use a colon after an independent introductory clause and the phrase or clause that extends, illustrates, or amplifies the introductory statement: “The workers agreed on their demands: higher pay and a four-day workweek.”

Don’t

Use a comma without a coordinating conjunction to separate two independent clauses: “Nobody came to the game, it was too cold out.” (That’s a comma splice.)
Use a comma to separate two verbs or phrases that apply to the same subject: “The car packed with hooligans sped through the busy intersection, and nearly ran into a pickup truck full of watermelons.”
Use a comma after the main clause when a restrictive clause, usually starting with that follows it; for example, remove the comma before that in the following sentence: “The license, that I need to operate this vehicle, is nowhere to be found.” (The phrase “that I need to operate this vehicle” is essential for specifying which license the person is talking about, so it isn’t set off from the main clause by commas; in this case, you also remove the comma after vehicle.)
Use a semicolon to introduce a list: “I bought three things for our camping trip; insect repellant, sunscreen, and boots.” (The semicolon in this case should be a colon because it introduces words that extend the independent introductory clause.)
Use a semicolon before a coordinating conjunction: “I avoided getting the flu this winter; but I did have a bad case of the sniffles.” (The semicolon should be a comma.)

Practicing with capitalization, contractions, possessives, and punctuation

Challenge your newly acquired skills by answering the following sample questions. Note that the first answer choice repeats the original sentence.

Mastering Language Conventions and Usage