Why is usage important? In some situations--maybe when we’re at home or
hanging out with friends--usage doesn't matter so much. The bottom line in most communication situations is that we make ourselves understood. But some of the time we need to be able to use language in a more standard manner. Why? Here are three of the main reasons: 1. Rightly or not, society in general judges us on the basis of how we use words. If you write or speak English in a non-standard way, you risk creating an image of one who is not well informed or educated. Maybe it shouldn’t be this way, but people who use Standard English are generally taken more seriously than those who do not. 2. Knowing Standard English usage enriches our understanding of the way words work, thus enabling us to vary the ways we can employ language as readers, speakers, and writers. 3. Writers who tend to use non-standard English cause their readers to stop and wonder what they mean much more often than those who know and use Standard English. A text with a lot errors is full of verbal "road bumps." Everyone makes a usage mistake now and then, but a text with many usage errors will be much less clear—more ambiguous—than one that has few or no usage errors. In some sorts of writing (poetry, for example), ambiguity can be a good thing. But most of the writing you will do in this course will require you to be clear and precise. What follows, then, are a handful of the more common errors students make in their writing. We do not have room to cover everything, of course, but students who understand and implement the following in their own work are well on their way to developing proficient writing skills.
Missing comma after introductory element
Lack of agreement between pronoun and antecedent Missing comma in compound sentence Wrong or missing preposition Comma splice Missing or misplaced apostrophe Unnecessary tense shift Sentence fragment Subject-verb agreement Missing comma(s) in a series Fused sentence Dangling or misplaced modifier Other errors related to meaning
Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life) (The Surrounded by Idiots Series) by Thomas Erikson: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis
Body Language: Decode Human Behaviour and How to Analyze People with Persuasion Skills, NLP, Active Listening, Manipulation, and Mind Control Techniques to Read People Like a Book.