How to Check Quickly the Grammar of Your English Write-up

published on Eyewatch newspaper on 17 to 23 December 2020

Grammar plays a significant role in written communications. It governs the formation and arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses. It sets uniformity of written language elements across different writing styles with the end of clear and accurate conveyance of the writer’s intended meaning. By considering several measures prior to submission, you can generally ensure the grammatical correctness of your write-up while keeping in mind the timeliness of submission.

First of all, check whether your sentences are really sentences. Except in cases where journalistic parlance is used, in which case fragments are as acceptable as genuine sentences, make sure that every sentence conforms to prescriptive requirements to become one. A sentence must contain at least one subject and one verb. The subject is the noun or pronoun the sentence is all about, and the verb may tell an action or help describe the subject. The combination of the subject and verb must express a complete thought: that is, it does not rely on any unmentioned words to stand alone.

Second, watch out for any personal pronouns used as predicate nominatives. These pronouns must exist in nominative case like “she” instead of object form “her” in “The author is she” (not “The author is her”).

The next step is to consider the subject-verb agreement. To do this, locate first all verbs in every sentence. Then check whether each verb adheres to the number of its subject.

After that, verify the form of the main verbs following the nine central modals “can,” “could,” “will,” “would,” “may,” “might,” “shall,” “should,” and “must.” Main verbs appearing after these auxiliary verbs are in base form like “will cherish” and “must write.”

Next, check your commas. Commas are used to present items within a series; to separate independent clauses in compound sentences whose conjunctions connect said clauses in equal rank, in which case, the comma is placed before such conjunctions; and to separate a dependent clause situated at the very beginning of the sentence from the following independent clause.

Then, inspect your capitalization. Specific names must be capitalized. As regards designations in organizations, capitalize only the actual positions of persons written before their names like “Reporter Courtney Sullivan.” Descriptive designations must be written in the lower case as in “operations chief Ashley Krashen.”

Now, check the order of your adjectives. Whenever you used two or more adjectives to describe something, make sure they are written in this sequence: quantity, perception, size, shape, age, color, nationality, material used to create the object, and purpose to which said object caters.

Finally, inspect the proximity of adjective phrases and adverb phrases to the word being modified: these phrases must be placed near the described word. This proximity rules out any possibility of misplaced modifiers in your sentences.

By observing these post-writing steps, you could avoid common grammatical errors and confusion of ideas on your written outputs. These will generally ensure that your write-up conforms to school grammar, be it for class requirement or workplace submission.

This article was also published with the title "How to Do a Quick Grammar Check for Written Texts" on PTV News website on 29 May 2019. Click The link to said publication is https://ptvnews.ph/how-to-do-a-quick-grammar-check-for-written-texts/.