revision: grammar and mechanics

Because of deletions and recasting of phrases and sentences, pay particular attention to punctuation, capitalization and grammar. For instance, sentences may lack a verb, an initial capital letter, a co-ordinating conjunction, or an essential punctuation mark. Redundancy may also have been introduced.

The following types of error are commonplace.

• Misspelling
• Misprints
• Punctuation errors, including the overuse of quotation marks
• Incorrect capitalization
• Erroneous compounding or word division
• Failure to ensure that, when first used, an abbreviation follows the full name of the entity it represents, unless the abbreviation is well known
• Incorrect form of an abbreviation
• Inconsistency in presenting numbers (as numerals or words)
• Erroneous or inconsistent use of decimal point
• Inconsistency in presenting SI/metric symbols, including spacing between symbols and figures
• Inaccurate transcription of numbers from one draft to the next
• Arabic in place of Roman numerals, and vice versa
• Non-agreement of subject and verb and use of singular noun where plural is required:

  The customer service thrust of this and other departments have been poorly communicated to the general public.

  The Tab and Caps Lock key is found on the left-hand side of the keyboard.

• No finite verb:

  not

  What to do about it?

  but

  What should we do about it?

• Comma splice:

  Cod stocks were dropping at an alarming rate, swift action had to be taken.
  (co-ordinating conjunction and required after rate)

• Dangling participle:

  Omitting the overture, the music began.

  Arising out of a conflict of personalities, the Director General, Finance and Administration, felt compelled to resign and move on.

• Faulty or imprecise antecedents for pronouns:

  Ross Rebagliati snowboarded down the ski slope, which is now a recognized event in winter olympics competition.

  Sam visited his brother every day while he was unemployed.

• Faulty parallelism:

  The new sales program was stimulating and a challenge.

  ( … challenging.)

  The solution lies not in prohibition or censorship but in developing self-control.

  ( … the development of …)

  This type of product has three advantages:

  • It is strong.
  • It is inexpensive.
  • Long life. (It has a long life. or It is durable.)
• Misuse of restrictive and non-restrictive constructions (see COMMAS WITH NON-RESTRICTIVE ELEMENTS)
• Incomplete constructions (faulty ellipsis):

  Aircraft land and take off from Winnipeg airport at very short intervals.

  ( … land at …)

  The building is as old, if not older than, the Library of Parliament.

  ( … as old as …)

© Public Services and Procurement Canada, 2024
TERMIUM Plus^®, the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank
Writing tools – Writing Tips
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