Top Tips on Keeping Your Report Free from Grammatical Errors

Grammatical errors were analyzed based on surface strategy taxonomy by Dulay, Burt, and Krashen. It consisted of four types, they were omission, addition, misformation, and misordering [1].

Whether you’re writing about future antibiotics, climate change processes, or the history of marriage, adhering to English grammar rules is crucial. This ensures clarity and enhances the quality of your text, which can be challenging for non-native English speakers due to the rules’ complexity and potential contradictions. Utilizing an English grammar check service can help identify and rectify errors, offering suggestions to enhance language usage. Ensuring grammatical correctness before finalizing your manuscript is vital to uphold its integrity. Writing is connected to grammatical understanding inasmuch as it is a process of combining words into sentences and arranging sentences to construct paragraphs. Yet, the fact that the first and foreign languages’ rules are dissimilar seems to cause learners to commit errors in English writing [2]. Here are our top grammar tips for report writing:

Article usage:

English employs two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a/an). The definite article is utilized with specific nouns, while the indefinite article accompanies non-specific ones. Remember, when using indefinite articles, the initial sound of the following word determines whether to use ‘a’ or ‘an’: use ‘a’ before consonant sounds (a tree) and ‘an’ before vowel sounds (an owl). It’s crucial to go by sound rather than spelling. For instance, it’s “a unicorn” (beginning with a consonant sound) and “an hour” (beginning with a vowel sound). The definite article is also employed beyond modifying specific nouns, such as with superlatives (e.g., “You are the smartest person in this group.”), ordinal numbers (e.g., “I am the fifth child.”), and geographical areas (e.g., “The Nile is a long river.”).

Subject-verb agreement:

In English grammar, the verb in a sentence must agree in number with the subject. For instance, when the subject is singular, the verb is singular too, as in “Mary plays the piano.” When there are multiple singular subjects, the verb becomes plural, such as “Mary and Jane play the piano.” However, if singular subjects are connected by “or” or “nor,” the verb remains singular (e.g., “Either Mary or Jane is writing the article”). Additionally, collective nouns take singular verbs (e.g., “The family is immigrating to Canada”).

Pronoun usage:

A pronoun serves as a substitute for a noun or another pronoun. It’s crucial to remember that a pronoun typically refers to an antecedent, which is the noun it replaces. Pronouns lacking clear antecedents can greatly confuse readers. For instance, in the sentence “Mary talked to Jane after her piano lesson,” the pronoun “her” lacks a clear antecedent, causing confusion about who had the lesson between the two individuals with female names. Here are a couple of ways to resolve this:

After Jane’s piano lesson, Mary talked to her.

Mary talked to Jane after the latter’s piano lesson.

Preposition usage:

A preposition denotes the relationship among two or more people, places, or things. Since many prepositions have multiple meanings, it’s crucial to consider the context when selecting the appropriate one. For instance, let’s examine the preposition “at.” Here are some ways in which this word can be used:

Mary and Jane are at the party.

Tina is good at tennis.

They balked at the offer.

Water boils at 100 °C.

At 12, she was the youngest person in her class.

Preposition usage doesn’t adhere to strict rules, so consult a dictionary for guidance—they usually provide helpful examples. Reading well-written texts is the most effective way to learn. We trust you’ve found these tips useful. For a grammatically flawless report, utilize an English grammar checker. Happy writing!

References

1. Kumala, B. P., Aimah, S., & Ifadah, M. (2018, July). An Analysis of Grammatical Errors on Students’ Writing. In English Language and Literature International Conference (ELLiC) Proceedings(Vol. 2, pp. 144-149).
2. Furtina, D., Fata, I. A., & Fitrisia, D. (2016). Grammatical errors in writing task: Males vs. females. Proceedings of EEIC, 1(1), 251-258.