QUESTION 5 LANGUAGE EDITING CHEAT SHEET
Concord Error
Malapropism
When the subject of a sentence and the
verb of a sentence agree.
The humourous misuse of a word by
confusing it with a similar sounding word.
Rules to change from active to passive:
I bake a cake.
If the subject of the sentence is singular,
the verb must be singular.
Ex. He's a wolf in cheap clothing.
He’s a wolf in SHEEP clothing.
If the subject of a sentence is plural, the
verb must be plural.
Ex. The doctor gave me a subscription
for my allergies.
The doctor gave me a PRESCRIPTION
for my allergies.
• Identify the verb: bake
• Change the verb into past tense:
baked
• Ask the question which refers to the
subject as the answer:
Who baked a cake? Me.
• Rewrite the into passive form:
A cake is baked by me.
Ex. The pages (subject) is/ARE (verb)
held together by a staple.
Apostrophe
Reported – Speech
Omission (Contraction)
Where letters are missing because of
omitting.
you’re = you + are
Identify the tense that needs to change
Identify the place/time that needs to
change
Identify the subject and add ‘said that’
Possession
a person owns an object/it belongs to
them.
e.g.: Jason’s school bag
John: “I’m going to be back tomorrow.”
John said that he was going to be back
the next day.
Split Infinitive
Tautology/Redundancy
An adverb is placed between ‘to’ and the
verb makes a split infinitive.
Ex. We were told to carefully view each
star.
If all of us cooperate together, then we
will succeed.
Both have similar meaning.
Remove the redundancy:
Active & Passive Voice
Punctuation Functions
comma
parenthesis
hyphen
dash
ellipsis
period
exclamation mark
question mark
semi-colon
colon
quotation marks
ampersand
apostrophe
,
()
–
…
.
!
?
;
:
“” / ‘’
&
’
List/pauses
Extra info
Join info
Split info
Omits
Stops
Exclaims
Asks
Joins ideas
Lists
Quotes
and
Possession
/omission
Truncation/Clipping
To shorten by cutting off a part of a
word.
Expo – Exposition
Flu – Influenza
Varsity – University
Uni – University
Cell – Cell phone
Tech – Technical/Technology
Burger – Hamburger
Ad – Advertisement
Memo – Memorandum
Correction: We were told to view each
star carefully.
If all of us cooperate, then we will
succeed. / If all of us work together,
then we will succeed.
Blending
Prefixes
Suffixes
It refers to joining the beginning of one
word and the end of another to make a
new word with a new meaning.
Changes the meaning of the word.
Often changes the part of speech,
changes into past tense or past
participle, changes word into plural form,
changes degree of comparison.
Breakfast + lunch = brunch
Smoke + fog = smog
Motor + hotel = motel
Spoon + fork = spork
Spanish + English = Spanglish
Cybernetic + organism = cyborg
Emotion + icon = emoticon
Picture + element = pixel
Picture + dictionary = Pictionary
Re- again = review
De- reverse = destruction
Co- together = construct
Dis- separate/not = disinterest
Pre- before = prehistoric
Mis- wrong = mistaken
Im- not/opposite of = impolite
Non- not = nonsense
Un- not = unkind
Anti- against = antisocial
Bi- two = bicycle
Sub- under = subway
-ed (verb/in the past) = walked
-ing (verb/doing something) = walking
-ly (adverb/how) = slowly
-fully (adverb) = beautifully
-sion (noun/quality/action) = tension
-ment (noun) = government
-er (adjective) = taller
-al (adjective) = political
-s (plural) = girls
Types of Sentences
Sentence Clause Structure
Phrases
Noun Clause
Exclamatory (!)
I got an A on my book report!
Pepperoni is fine with me.
(subject/object/complement)
Interrogative (?)
Who are you?
Adjectival Clause
Imperative (./!)
Please sit down. / I need you to sit down
now!
Mikes car, which he bought 3 months
ago, is the shiniest car.
(S + V)
Adverb Clause
I’ll make diner, when I’ve finished
watching the movie.
(time/place/manner)
Declarative (.)
I want to be a good writer
Sentence Clause Structure
Independent/Main Clause
I washed my dog yesterday.
(makes sense)
Dependent/Subordinate Clause
I washed my dog yesterday because he
smelt awful.
(bold doesn’t make sense alone)
Underline the FINITE VERB to identify
the clause in a sentence.
Types of Verbs
Positive
connotation
Neutral
connotation
Negative
connotation
interested
questioning
nosy
dedicated
tenacious
stubborn
courageous
confident
conceited
unique
different
weird
elated
happy
manic
Italics
TITLES:
• Journals, newspapers and magazines:
South African Journal of Science; the
Sunday Times; YOU.
• Plays/books: Macbeth; The Fault in our
Stars.
• Movies: Oceans 8.
• Artworks: The Mona Lisa.
EMPHASIS: I don’t like you!
FOREIGN WORDS: et cetera; bon voyage.
WORDS REFERRED TO: there were four
and’s and one therefore in the last sentence.
REPRODUCED SOUNDS: Grrr! Went the
bear.
NAMES OF VEHICLES: Titanic; Orient
Express.
Parts of Speech
Finite Verbs
Subject Verb Agreement – just needs one verb/can
stand by itself in a sentence.
I love potatoes.
She loves parades.
Mom loves parades.
Non-Finite Verbs
The need to love (infinitives)
A loved one (past participles)
A loving parent (present participles)
Loving is a gift (gerunds)
Linking Verb: is; are; was; were; being; am; be.
Helping (Aux.) Verb: shall; will; could; would; being;
were; must’ might; may; have; had; did; do; is; are.
Action Verb: ran; hide; walk; smell; told; deliver;
listen; measure; colour; explore; move; push; go.
Connotation & Denotation
Denotation: literal meaning of a word
Connotation: associations made with a
word, either positive or negative.
Noun Phrase A red box.
Prepositional Phrase In the car.
Adjective Phrase Quite big.
Adverb Phrase Very slowly.
Verb Phrase Will go.
Infinitive Phrase To cheer.
Gerund Phrase Exercising regularly.
Participle Phrase Surprised by the gift,
my mother was speechless.
Absolute Phrase Her arms folde across
her chest, …
DETERMINER
The
NOUN
boy
VERB
yelled
INTERJECTION
help
CONJUNCTION
and
PRONOUN
he
VERB
saw
DETERMINER
a
UK vs. USA Spelling
UK
USA
UK
ADJECTIVE
brave
NOUN
dog
ADVERB
quickly
VERBS
run
PREPOSITION
to
DETERMINER
the
NOUN
rescue
Predicates
USA
Favourite
Favorite
Fulfil
Fulfill
Theatre
Theater
Encyclopaedia
Encyclopedia
Memorise
Memorize
Banque
Bank
Dreamt
Dreamed
Jewellery
Jewelery
Judgement
Jugment
Lift
Elevator
Dialogue
Dialog
Grey
Gray
The predicate is the part of a sentence
(or a clause) that tells us what the
subject does or is. To put it another way,
the predicate is everything that is not the
subject.
The man from the shop is a monster.
He stole my bike last week.
Subject
Acronyms/Abbreviations
AIDS – Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome
BEE – Black Economic Empowerment
ASAP – As soon as possible
WHO – World Health Organisation
GIF – Graphics Interchange Format
Abbreviation Rule: if the abbreviation
ends with the last letter – no period.
Dr – Doctor
Capt. – Captain
R.S.V.P – French for ‘Réspondez s’il
vous plait’ meaning please respond
NY – New York
UCT – University of Cape Town
Predicate
Subject
Predicate
Tenses
Past
Present
Future
I did
I do
I will
do
Continuous
I was
doing
I am
doing
Perfect
I had
done
I have
done
Perfect
Continuous
I had
been
doing
I have
been
doing
Simple
I will
be
doing
I will
have
done
I will
have
been
doing