They re Their and There Grammar and Writing Tips精选.pdfVIP

Chap ter 4 They’re, Their, and There: Grammar and Writing Tips GOOD GRAMMAR GOOD FORM You should strive to make your writing 100 percent grammatically accurate. Think of each essay you write as a building. If it doesn’t have structural integrity, medical school admissions officers will tear through it with a wrecking ball. Let’s face it: You can write the most rip-roaring yarn this side of Clive Cussler, but without grammatical accuracy, it’ll fall apart. Though a thoughtful essay that offers true insight will undoubtedly stand out, it will not receive serious consideration if it’s riddled with poor grammar and misspelled words. It’s critical that you avoid grammatical errors. We can’t stress this enough. Misplaced modifiers, fragments, or spelling that belongs in a text message not only distract from your ideas but also cast doubt on your abilities, not to mention your intelligence. MOST COMMON GRAMMAR MISTAKES Chances are you know the difference between a subj ect and a verb. So we won’t spend time here reviewing the basic components of English sentence construction (however, if you feel like you could use a refresher, check out our book, Grammar Smart.) Instead we will focus on problems of usage. Below is a brief overview to the seven most common usage errors among English speakers. These are errors we all make (some more than others) and knowing what they are will help you snuff them out in your own writing. MISTAKE #1: MISPLACED MODIFIER A modifier is a descriptive word or phrase inserted into a sentence to add dimension to the thing it modifies. For example: Because he could talk, Mr. Ed was a unique horse. Because he could talk is the modifying phrase in the sentence. It describes a characteristic of Mr. Ed. Generally speaking, a mo