Sakshi Education
Sentence correction section is one of the important areas in many competitive examinations. Eight types of errors pertaining to the following broad areas are generally given. Candidates who wish to secure good scores need to enhance their knowledge on these areas.
They are:
Pronouns stand in for nouns in a sentence. Pronouns follow the same agreement rules as nouns, so when using a pronoun, it is important to be clear about what noun it is replacing. Take a look at the following tips:
Once you've found a pronoun in a Sentence Correction question, check whether it's acting as the SUBJECT or the OBJECT of the sentence or phrase. Is the following sentence correct or incorrect? How could she blame you and he for the accident?
The first step is to identify the pronoun(s). There are three in this sentence: "she," "you," and "he". Next, try to define whether each pronoun is acting as a subject or object. Here, "she" is the subject, and the pronouns "you" and "he" are acting as the objects of the sentence.
How do we know this? Because "she" is doing the action (blaming) and "you" and "he" are receiving it (getting blamed). However, "he" does not seem to be in the correct form. "Who did she blame?", which is "him" not "he." ("Who did she blame? She blamed him")
The pronouns acting as objects must be in the objective case; "him" is objective - while "he," used in the sentence, is subjective, and therefore incorrect.
Incorrect: How could she blame you and he for the accident?
Correct: How could she blame you and him for the accident?
Who Vs Whom
If the pronoun is acting as a subject, use who. If it is acting as an object, use whom.
I don't know whom Kavitha married.
Why is "whom" correct? Because Kavitha is the subject of this sentence - not the person she married.
Singular and Plural Pronouns
Pronouns also act like nouns in the realm of verb agreement. For some pronoun questions, you also need to check if the pronoun and its verb agree in number.
Here's an example:
Incorrect: Everyone on the project have to come to the meeting.
Correct: Everyone on the project has to come to the meeting.
The pronoun "everyone" is singular. Its verb must therefore be singular as well: "has" is correct, not "have".
Possessive Pronoun Agreement
When you come across possessive pronouns such as your, their, his, and hers, check to see whether they agree with other pronouns in the sentence. Most possessive pronouns are used messily in spoken language, so be careful to take special note when you see two pronouns in a sentence.
Incorrect: Some of you will have to bring their own bags.
Correct: Some of you will have to bring your own bags.
In this sentence, the possessive pronoun towards the end of the sentence should match the pronoun following "Some of". Because the first pronoun is "you", the possessive pronoun must be your, not their.
Objects of to be verbs are in the subject form.
Watch for pronouns following "to be" verbs such "It should have been," "It is," "It could have been," "It was", and make sure they are in subject form.
Incorrect: It must have been her who called.
Correct: It must have been she who called.
"It must have been" is a "to be" verb, so the pronoun must be in subject form: "she," not "her".
Relative Pronouns
Which, that and who are relative pronouns. A relative pronoun must refer to the word immediately preceding it. If the meaning of the sentence is unclear, the pronoun is in the wrong position. Which introduces non-essential clauses; that introduces essential clauses. Who refers to individuals; that refers to a group of persons, class, type, or species.
Incorrect: The person whom draws the winning number hits the jackpot.
Correct: The person who draws the winning number hits the jackpot.
Here the relative pronoun 'who' is the correct form as it is the subject of the verb draws and also introduces the clause draws twinning number.
Impersonal Pronouns
We can use impersonal pronouns to talk about people in general or unspecified objects. The pronouns "one" and "you," which are included in a class of pronouns called "impersonal pronouns," are often improperly matched with their respective possessive pronouns.
Incorrect: One should have their teeth checked every six months.
Correct: One should have one's teeth checked every six months.
Practice test
They are:
- Collocation
- Idioms and Phrases
- Pronoun agreement
- Concord
- Modifiers
- Verb sequences
- Comparisons
- Parts of speech
Pronouns stand in for nouns in a sentence. Pronouns follow the same agreement rules as nouns, so when using a pronoun, it is important to be clear about what noun it is replacing. Take a look at the following tips:
- A pronoun in the nominative form should be compared with the same form of the pronoun.
- When two singular nouns are joined by and refer to the same person the pronoun used in their place should be singular in form.
- A singular pronoun should be used when two singular nouns are joined by either or neither nor.
- A pronoun in the plural form should be used when two nouns of different members are joined by 'or' or 'nor'.
- The distributive pronouns 'either, neither, none, any, no one are used with singular verbs.
- The indefinite pronoun 'one' should be used as 'one's for its possessive case.
- The verbs such as cheat, prostrate, introduce, present, absent, satisfy, prepare, enjoy, hurt, avail of are followed by either an object or a reflexive pronoun.
- The word 'who' as a relative pronoun in the nominative case takes a verb.
- If a pronoun is to be placed after 'to be', the pronoun in the subjective case is used. A very important point to be noted is that we should use the personal pronouns in the order of second person, third person and first person. The order first person, second person and third person is possible when we admit guilt.
Once you've found a pronoun in a Sentence Correction question, check whether it's acting as the SUBJECT or the OBJECT of the sentence or phrase. Is the following sentence correct or incorrect? How could she blame you and he for the accident?
The first step is to identify the pronoun(s). There are three in this sentence: "she," "you," and "he". Next, try to define whether each pronoun is acting as a subject or object. Here, "she" is the subject, and the pronouns "you" and "he" are acting as the objects of the sentence.
How do we know this? Because "she" is doing the action (blaming) and "you" and "he" are receiving it (getting blamed). However, "he" does not seem to be in the correct form. "Who did she blame?", which is "him" not "he." ("Who did she blame? She blamed him")
The pronouns acting as objects must be in the objective case; "him" is objective - while "he," used in the sentence, is subjective, and therefore incorrect.
Incorrect: How could she blame you and he for the accident?
Correct: How could she blame you and him for the accident?
Who Vs Whom
If the pronoun is acting as a subject, use who. If it is acting as an object, use whom.
I don't know whom Kavitha married.
Why is "whom" correct? Because Kavitha is the subject of this sentence - not the person she married.
Singular and Plural Pronouns
Pronouns also act like nouns in the realm of verb agreement. For some pronoun questions, you also need to check if the pronoun and its verb agree in number.
Here's an example:
Incorrect: Everyone on the project have to come to the meeting.
Correct: Everyone on the project has to come to the meeting.
The pronoun "everyone" is singular. Its verb must therefore be singular as well: "has" is correct, not "have".
Possessive Pronoun Agreement
When you come across possessive pronouns such as your, their, his, and hers, check to see whether they agree with other pronouns in the sentence. Most possessive pronouns are used messily in spoken language, so be careful to take special note when you see two pronouns in a sentence.
Incorrect: Some of you will have to bring their own bags.
Correct: Some of you will have to bring your own bags.
In this sentence, the possessive pronoun towards the end of the sentence should match the pronoun following "Some of". Because the first pronoun is "you", the possessive pronoun must be your, not their.
Objects of to be verbs are in the subject form.
Watch for pronouns following "to be" verbs such "It should have been," "It is," "It could have been," "It was", and make sure they are in subject form.
Incorrect: It must have been her who called.
Correct: It must have been she who called.
"It must have been" is a "to be" verb, so the pronoun must be in subject form: "she," not "her".
Relative Pronouns
Which, that and who are relative pronouns. A relative pronoun must refer to the word immediately preceding it. If the meaning of the sentence is unclear, the pronoun is in the wrong position. Which introduces non-essential clauses; that introduces essential clauses. Who refers to individuals; that refers to a group of persons, class, type, or species.
Incorrect: The person whom draws the winning number hits the jackpot.
Correct: The person who draws the winning number hits the jackpot.
Here the relative pronoun 'who' is the correct form as it is the subject of the verb draws and also introduces the clause draws twinning number.
Impersonal Pronouns
We can use impersonal pronouns to talk about people in general or unspecified objects. The pronouns "one" and "you," which are included in a class of pronouns called "impersonal pronouns," are often improperly matched with their respective possessive pronouns.
Incorrect: One should have their teeth checked every six months.
Correct: One should have one's teeth checked every six months.
Practice test
- Her was better suited for the job.
- Johnny and me drank a bottle of champagne.
- The dinner was eaten by Smith and I.
- Whom took out the trash?
- Neither his bodyguards nor he were there.
- Neither he nor his bodyguards was there.
- If anyone comes over, take their name.
- One should take your responsibilities seriously.
- This test is for students which native language is not English.
- My pencil is broken. Can I borrow its?
- She was better suited for the job.
Here, the pronoun is the subject of the sentence, as "the job" is clearly not the subject, and there are no other nouns in the sentence. Because the pronoun stands in for "the woman", the pronoun should be the subject form of the her/she pronoun meaning, "she".
- Johnny and I drank a bottle of champagne.
Because it's confused so often in spoken language, it can be difficult to tell when the pronoun in the phrase "someone else and me/I" is used incorrectly. But it's actually quite easy to remember when to use "me" and when to use "I": cross out everything in the "someone else and me/I" phrase except the pronoun - and then read it aloud. How does it sound? If it sounds fine, the pronoun is correct; if it sounds really odd, the pronoun is incorrect.
"Me drank a bottle of wine" sounds odd, so the proper pronoun is clearly "I".
- The dinner was eaten by Smith and me.
"I/me" is acting as the object, so the proper pronoun is "me."
- Who took out the trash?
You wouldn't say "him took out the trash," so the pronoun in the original sentence must match the form of the pronoun "he," which is a subject pronoun: who is correct.
- Neither his bodyguards nor he was there.
- Neither he nor his bodyguards were there.
The constructions "either... or" and "neither... nor" always take the verb form that matches the noun that is closer to the verb. Thus, "were" is incorrect in the fifth sentence because "he," a singular pronoun, is closer to the verb than "bodyguards," a plural noun; but "were" is correct in the sixth sentence because the order of the subjects is reversed, so that the plural noun "bodyguards" is closer to the verb.
- If anyone comes over, take his or her name.
The subject is anyone, which is singular, and therefore requires a singular pronoun such as "his" or "her".
- One should take one's responsibilities seriously.
The subject is one, which is singular, and therefore requires a singular pronoun.
- This test is for students whose native language is not English.
The correct relative pronoun to be used in this sentence is 'whose'.
- My pencil is broken, can I borrow yours?
The correct possessive pronoun is 'yours'.
Published date : 06 Feb 2014 04:58PM
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