Module-IV

Common Grammatical Errors & Technical Style

Features of Technical Style:

According to Sharon J. Gerson and Steven M. Gerson: The ultimate goal of good technical
writing is clarity. A thumb impression of technical writing is: “Write to communicate; not
to confuse. Write to express; not to impress”. If you write a memo, letter or report that is
unclear to your readers, then what have you accomplished? You have wasted time. If your
readers must write you a follow-up inquiry to determine your needs, this wastes their time.
According to them, Technical Writing must be clear and simple in style and must be avoided
of any wordiness and confusion.
The features of Technical Writing are as follows:
(1) Use of easy and familiar words: Technical writing should always use easy and familiar
words because technical writing is written keeping in mind about ‘Audience’. If audience is
not able to understand the written message then, the purpose of information is wasted and the
expected result will also be not achieved. Following table shows the examples of difficult
and easy words:
supersede Replace
Obtain Get
Inasmuch as because
Using unnecessary Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Technical Jargons can spoil the clarity of
the purpose of writing and will create misunderstanding in the audience. So, if technical
jargons, abbreviations and acronyms are necessary to use, then, these should be explained in
the brackets.
(1) NASA: (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
(2) FBI: ( Federal Bureau of Investigation)
(3) IBM: (International Business Machines)
(4) Rx: (You take\You are advised)
(5) SOS: (As and when required)
Use of wordy phrases or exaggerated expressions also spoils clarity of technical writing, for
example:
(2) Use of Clear Sentence: The writer should place the main idea at the outset. He should follow
normal word order- Subject- Verb-Object. In this word order, the first sentence is the topic sentence
in which the main idea is presented. Later, the writer develops the idea in clear sentences.
(3) Use of Active voice: In the sentences written in active voice, the performer of the
action is more emphasized than the receiver i.e., subject is more emphasized than the object.
The active voice, therefore, helps the readers to comprehend ideas more easily. For example:
‘I wrote a letter’ which is in active voice when changed becomes: ‘A letter was written by
me’ (passive voice). If you count the number of words in passive voice are more than of active
voice. So, it states that, we must also keep in mind the importance of reader’s time while
writing.
(4) Avoid inaccurate expressions: If the writing does not follow grammatical rules of
parts of speech, punctuation marks, spellings, tenses, subject-verb agreement; the
writing will lead to confusion among the audience. So, before making a message, the writer
must think about the easiness of his audience. After preparing the final message, he must
proof-read the entire text message to correct inaccurate expressions and to make it all correct
in style.
(5) Logical division of paragraphs: In order to make a technical document clear and
meaningful, thoughts should be properly arranged into different paragraphs with the use of
appropriate connectors and sentence structure so that the meaning is kept intact of the topic
sentence.

Difference between Technical and General Communication

Technical Communication: All writings that deal with technical, scientific and professional
subjects for practical purpose is defined as technical writing. It is simple in style, clear in
expression and logically arranged. It has: Specific purpose, Specific audience and Specific
information.
General Communication: All writings that are done without any reference to specific purpose,
specific audience and specific information is said to be general writing. It has nothing to do with
Accuracy and Brevity. It has the use of superfluous words and sometimes appears unclear
in understanding. It is more imaginative and figurative.

Technical Writing General Writing

1. Use of familiar and easy 1. High vocabulary and

words unclear expressions.
2. Basic purpose is to make the 2. Basic purpose is to amuse
technology more useful and the readers
meaningful

3. It is more impersonal and 3. These are often personal or

objective in style
4. Accuracy is the main feature
of technical writing
5. It is meant for
specific audience to
convey specific
information for specific purpose
6. Reports, Memorandums,
Notices, Circulars, Proposals,
User Manuals, CV, Resumes, Job
Application Letters etc are its
technical documents
7. It is basically meant for
business and industry
subjective in style
4. General writings can be
expressive and round about.
5. It is for all kind of readers
6. Plays, Novels, Essays, Short
Stories, Poetry etc are some
examples of general writing
documents
7. It is related to general life
as a whole.

Paragraph: A paragraph can be defined as a piece of writing that consists of several related
sentences dealing with one controlling idea. This controlling idea is called the ‘Topic’ or the
‘Theme’ of the paragraph. The main function of a paragraph is to develop, support, exemplify
and to explain the theme or the controlling idea of a paragraph.
It also helps to maintain interest of the reader/listener. There is clarity of expression, proper
understanding of the concept and saving of time of the part of both the writer/speaker and
reader/listener. Too lengthy paragraphs may lead to – distraction, monotony,
misunderstanding and loss of reader’s/listener’s time. Too short paragraphs can fail to convey
complete meaning to the reader/listener. These can also lead to confusion and
misunderstanding. So, for keeping proper length in a paragraph we should focus on:
Controlling Idea in the Topic, Audience, Aim of discussion and the desired outcome.
Attention should also be paid on simplicity of sentences, easy vocabulary and accuracy in
forming the paragraph.

Features of a good paragraph:

(a) Proper Length: Sentences of proper length hold on the

analysis, Time factor, Aim of writing and the desired outcome. Use of proper connectors
like: Since, Hence, Therefore, When, Whereas, That, Until, Unless, Although, But, So,
etc., bring unity of thoughts and expressions in the sentences, as they convey and carry
forward the meaning from the previous sentences to the next set of sentences and so on.
This way a reader/ listener escape distraction and confusion and are able to maintain
interest throughout the paragraph.

(b) Unity : Unity in a paragraph means ‘principle of oneness’. Principle of oneness in a

paragraph is achieved through proper thinking of over the Topic Sentence, Audience.

(c) Coherence: The word Coherence means ‘Logical Connection’. In paragraph

writing, it is very necessary that sentences achieve coherence through proper connectors
like: That, Which, So, Then, Therefore, When, Although, Therefore, Because etc.
when sentences are not properly interconnected, they fail to carry forward the objective
of writing, based on the controlling idea. So, in order to keep the audience engrossed
in reading/listening, all the sentences must be interconnected via suitable connectors
bring out coherence of ideas.
(d) Topic Sentence: Topic sentence is the ‘Controlling Idea’ or the ‘Theme’ on which
all the sentences are developed and explained. A Topic Sentence provides track to the ideas
on which sentences are framed. Care should be taken to analysis the aim of writing along
with audience analysis; else this can lead to unnecessary exaggeration of ideas and might
distract and disturb their thought process. It is the Topic Sentence only that provides food
for thoughts to be developed.

Writing of Introduction and Conclusion:

Introduction: A good introduction keeps the audience aware of the upcoming discussion
or the topic that would be discussed by the speaker. To have an effective introduction, the
speaker must pay attention on the following points:
1. The speaker or the writer should introduce the topic with interest that is the topic should
move from unknown to known area.
2. It is better to introduce a topic by starting it with some short story or puzzle or quiz or
question-answer session. This will create an interest in the audience and would prepare
the audience to listen or read the topic with interest.
3. The content of the topic should be properly arranged in Introduction, Main Body of
Explanation and Conclusion.

Correct Usage of Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech are 8 in number:
Noun
Pronoun
Adjective
Verb
Adverb
Preposition
Conjunction
Interjection

Noun: Noun names: a person, place or thing. A noun is known as a naming word. Some things which
we can’t see or sense are also nouns.
Ex: John Logie Baird invented television.
Ram went to the market.
He has eaten his food.
I play cricket.

Kinds of Nouns:
Proper Common Collective Material Abstract
Nouns Nouns Nouns Nouns Nouns

Agra Boy Army Gold Honesty

Gauri Girl Jury Chalk Childhood
Delhi Doctor Flock Wood Beauty
Ganga Leader Herd Wool Hatred
India Friend Team Petrol Love
Lucknow Teacher Class Soup Bitter
Gita City Committee Iron Sweetness
Ashoka Country Police Wheat Luck
Ramayan King Staff Bread Education
Tabla River Crowd Glass Falsehood

Plural and Singular Nouns: The nouns that we can count in numbers are Plural Nouns.
Singular Noun Plural Noun
 Ear Ears
Pen Pens
Book Books
Marble Marbles
Country Countries
Monkey Monkeys
Boy Boys
Leaf Leaves
Mouse Mice
Child Children
Tooth Teeth

Possessive Nouns: The nouns that show ownership are called Possessive Nouns. These are denoted
or written using (‘) sign.
Eg: Meera’s book, Sonu’s pen, Horse’s tail, Boy’s hostel, Dolly’s cap etc.
Rule 1: In nouns already plural with the use of ‘s’ at the end of the word we use only apostrophe sign
(‘): Boys’ hostel, Horses’s tails, Keats’ poems.
Rule2: In nouns plural in form without ‘s’ use apostrophe sign (‘).
Eg: Men’s parlour, Women’s parlour.
Gender : We have Four Genders in noun: Masculine, Feminine, Common, Neuter Gender.
Masculine Feminine Common Neuter

Ram Rita Doctor Table

Dog Bitch Teacher Flower
Prince Princess Child Book
Master Mistress Parent Duster
Wizard Witch Leader Computer
Monk Nun Poet Bottle

Pronoun: Words that are used in place of noun are called pronouns.
Eg: Ram-he, Sita-she, Boys-They, Rain-it, Winter-it, Child-it.
Nominative Objective

I Me
We Us
He Him
She Her
They Them
Who Whom

Persons of Pronoun:
Ist person: I/ We/Me
IInd Person: You/Your/Yours
IIIrd Person: He/ She/ It/ They/ Them
Examples of pronouns:
I am a good boy
She is a good girl
You are a good person
They are boys
It is winter
It is a child
This cap is mine
This car is yours

Adjective: Words that tells the quality of noun or pronoun are called adjective.
Example: I have a black pen.
The birds are flying high in the blue sky.
Smita is a pretty girl.
The dog is a faithful animal.
Ex: tall boy, intelligent people, ripe apples, some milk, my cap

Degrees of Adjective:
Positive Comparative Superlative
Easy Easier Easiest
Small Smaller Smallest
Tall Taller Tallest
Beautiful More beautiful Most beautiful
Happy Happier Happiest
Good Better Best
Little Less least

Examples of kinds of Adjectives:

(i) Descriptive Adjectives: Tall, short, ugly, beautiful, white, etc
(ii) Proper Adjectives: Indian, African, Chinese, Russian, French,
first, second, third, one, two, three, four, many, much, this, that, these, those, enough, certain, other,
such, any, each, every, either, neither, my, his, your, own etc.
Quantitative Adjectives: some, much, enough, a lot of, all, no, many, little.
Numeral Adjectives: one, two, four, first, second, some, a few, many, etc
Demonstrative Adjectives: this, that, these, those, certain
Distributive Adjectives: each, every, either, neither
Possessive Adjectives: his, hers, theirs, yours, my

Verbs: Action words are called verbs.

Example: sit, dance, throw, eat, jump, sleep, sing, cut, speak, etc.
Main verbs: are those words that require no object after them and are intransitive in nature.
Example: Lion roars, River flows, Child cries, She sits, He comes, I play, He reads, etc.
Transitive Verbs: words that require an object or objects after them are transitive verbs.
Example: He reads a book.
In the above example He is subject reads is main verb and book is the object.
Intransitive Verbs: words that require no object or objects after them are intransitive verbs.
Example: I laugh; She sings; River flows; He smiles, etc
Auxiliary Verbs: words that help the main verbs are called auxiliary verbs.
Example: is, am, are, was, were, has, have, had, do, did, done.
Modal Verbs: these are also like helping verbs.
Example: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, need, dare to, ought to.
Can: shows- possibility, ability, permission, power, question, and request.
Could: shows- past action, permission, question, and request.
May: shows- permission, question, request, and possibility.
Might: shows- possibility, past action.
Shall: shows- future time, question, request.
Should: shows- advice, suggestion, opinion, request, possibility.
Will: shows- future time, question, request, permission.
Would: shows- past action, imagination, condition.
Need: shows- suggestion, advice. (need can be used as- need+to+v1 and need+v1)
Dare:-shows- courage, challenge. (dare can be used as- dare+to+v1 and need+v1)
Ought : shows- obedience, advise. (ought can be used as- ought+to+v1)

Adverb: Words which modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs are known as adverbs.
Example: She sings sweetly. He plays well, He always comes late, He often tells lie, He is very happy, I will
see you tomorrow, He found the pen under the chair.

Kinds of Adverbs:
Adverb of Time: Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today, Now, Then, When, Never, Ever, etc (tells ‘when’) eg.: He
came yesterday.
Adverb of Frequency: always, never, sometimes, often, frequently, mostly, rarely (tells ‘how often’) eg.: He
always comes late.
Adverb of Place: here, there, up, down, under, over, etc. (tells ‘where’) eg.: He is up.
Adverb of Manner: slowly, quietly, well, fast, sweetly, etc (tells ‘how’) eg.: He speaks well.
Adverb of Degree: very, enough, rarely, etc (tells ‘how much’) eg.: I am very happy.

Positions of Adverbs:
Adverb of manner is generally placed after the verb. If there is an object then after the object.
Example: She sings well., She writes quickly.

Adverb of Place and Time is also placed after the verb or object.
Example: My father will come here., My father will go to Delhi tomorrow.
Note: if adverb of Time, Place and Manner comes together then their placing will be:
Manner +Place+Time
Adverb of Frequency is placed between the subject and the verb.
Example: He never talks. I am always ready for a new challenge.

Preposition: A preposition is a word which is used before a noun or pronoun to show its relation to
another word (noun or pronoun) coming after it.
Actually the word preposition is made up of pre and position which means that which comes before.
Examples: up, on, over, above, because, since, at, under, to, towards, for, between, in accordance with, in lieu
of, within, off, of, from, during, into, in, beside, besides, before, among etc.

Conjunctions: Conjunctions connect words, parts of sentences together. They may be used to join
clauses (Principal clause with Subordinate clause).
(And, or, nor, yet, so, for, since, hence, therefore, whereas, therefore, but, because, until, unless, till, no sooner-
than, hardly-when, scarcely-when, so-that, both-and, etc.)
Example: Two and two make four.
Ram and Shyam are brothers.
He has neither done his home work nor submitted his fee.
Tense Indefinite Continuous Perfect Perfect Continuous

Present I play. I am playing. I have played. I have been playing.

He goes. He is going. He has gone. He has been going.
They write. They are They have They have been
writing. written writing.

Past I played. I was playing. I had played. I had been playing.

He went. He was going He had gone. He had been going.
They wrote. They were They had They had been
writing. written. writing.

Future I shall play. I shall be playing. I shall have I shall have been
 played. playing.
He will go. He will be going. He will have He will have been
gone. going.
They will They will be They will have They will have I will wait for you
write. writing. written. been writing. till you come.

Unless you work hard, you cannot pass.

Articles: There are three articles in English: ‘a’ ‘an’ and ‘the’.
‘a’ and ‘an’ are called indefinite articles whereas ‘the’ is a definite article.

Rules for using articles:

‘a’ and ‘an’ are used before countable nouns like: book, boy, marbles, tree, apples etc.
Article ‘an’ is used before the words starting with a vowel sound.
Example: an orange, an aeroplane, an elephant, an MLA, an FIR, an SDO, an apple, an honest man, an
ear, an umbrella etc.
Whereas article ‘a’ will be used with words (though starting with a vowel but not the vowel sound).
Example: a European, a union, a unique dress, a unicorn, a university, a one-rupee note, a uniform, a
unit etc.
Article ‘a’ is also used before a proper noun when the person is unknown to you.
Example: A Mr. Ravi has come to meet you.
Article ‘a’ is used to represent any profession.
Example: He is a doctor/teacher/professor/scientist/engineer.

Use of definite article ‘The’:

Article ‘the’ is used for-
Names of- rivers, mountain ranges, special countries with abbreviated forms, continents, oceans, seas, holy
books, instruments, special food/dishes/meals, deserts, gulfs, canals, forests, valleys, inventions, groups of a
particular community (people/animals), newspapers, historical buildings, name of special trains, hotels, in
comparative degrees {the more+subject+verb+the more+subject+verb} and in the structure like-
{subject+verb+comparative degree of adjective+of the two, representing people of a particular country [the
English, the French, the German etc.], political parties, unique objects, showing the quality of a person in
comparing with the person.

Omission of ‘the’:
Article ‘the’ is not written before:
Names of persons, countries, city, state, names of substances if they are used in a general sense, names of
regular meals (lunch, dinner, breakfast), games and sports, diseases, public places like: [temple, church, school,
university, college, hospital], mountain peaks.

Repetition of Articles:

Rule-1
When two or more adjectives tells about the same noun in a sentence, the article is used before the
first adjective.
Example: I have a black and white horse. (One horse with black and white colour)
But, when a sentence tells the quality of two different objects then the article is used with both the
nouns.
Example: I have a black and a white horse. (Two horses one black and one white)

Rule-2
When two or more connected nouns tell about the same person or thing, the article ‘a’ is placed
before the first noun.
Example: The Principal and Secretary has come. (One person)
But, when two or more connected nouns tell about two different persons or things, the article ‘a’ is
place before both the nouns.
Example: The Principal and the Secretary have come. (Two persons)

Tense:
Tense tells about the time of action, that is- Present, Past, Future. It shows the degree of completeness
of the action that is- Continuous, Complete and so on. Tenses include 4 parts:
Infinitives:
Infinitives is a grammatical term. It is derived from ‘Infinitus’ which means ‘infinite’. It is mostly used as
non-finite verbs.
It is a verb phrase which is formed by adding ‘to + V1’.
Infinitives express the normal expression of verb. It is not related to any subject.
Example: I want to read
Jaya went to market to purchase books.
The mango is sweet to eat.
This book is easy to learn.
The verb form which do not take ‘to’ with them are called ‘Bare Infinitives’
Example: make, let, see, hear, bid, need not, dare not, etc
Example: Let them play in the field.
He dare talk to her.
Soni made him write.
They need not wait for us.
I heard her shut the door.
Bare Infinitives (verb’s first form without ‘to’) are also used with the following words:
Would rather, had better, rather than, had rather, do everything, but, do nothing but, do anything but, etc
Example: We had better sleep.
He did everything but study.
They had rather play cricket than swim.
I would rather die than beg.
After the word ‘enough’ infinitive (to+V1) is used.
Example: Sarika is intelligent enough to learn English.
This dress is good enough to fit my personality.
Infinitive with ‘to’ is used with the following words:
Attempt, allow, afford, arrange, appear, begin, chance, care, choose, dare, hesitate, happen, forget, hope,
intend, manage, prefer, want, continue, fail, try, decide and promise.
Infinitive with ‘to’ is used to show purpose and cause:
Example: He started weeping to see his father.
Navneet sold his cycle to buy books.
Sita came here to read.

Concord: Subject-Verb Agreement

By concord means formal agreement in person, number, gender and tense between various parts of a
sentence.
Like : I am; We are; They were; He/She is/was; You are/were etc.
If the subject is singular the verb will be singular and if the subject is plural the verb will be plural.
Ex: Students play ; Teacher teaches; Lion roars; Boys sing; Kite flies etc
Now let’s look up some rules regarding the use of subject and verb agreement in sentences:

Rule 1: If the sentence shows any imagination or wish by a person, then we should always use verb
‘were’ with the subject.
Ex: I wish I were the prime minister; I wish I were a bird.
Rule2: If two different nouns refer the same person then we should use singular verb.
Ex: The poet and painter is dead.; The clerk and accountant has come.

Rule3: If any sentence is used with any phrase then the following verb will be singular.
Ex: Bread and Butter is a our life; Slow and Steady wins the race
Early to bed; Early to rise is good for health; Pen and Ink is needed by me.

Rule4: When two singular nouns or pronouns are attached with Either…or; Neither…nor; the
following verb will always be singular.
Ex: Neither Ram nor Ramesh has come today; Either Sita or Ram was present at the party.

Rule5: When two nouns or pronouns of different persons are used in a sentence then the verb will
always follow the second noun,
Ex: Either Ramesh or the boys have committed this mistake.
Neither he nor they were present at the place.

Rule6: When the collective nouns (Committee, Army, Crowd, Mob, Assembly, Parliament, Council,
Crew, Staff, Jury,, Fleet, Majority, Team) refer a unit then the verb used after these nouns will always
be singular.
Ex: Army was deployed at the border; The assembly is in session now-a-days; The team has won the
match; The jury has taken the decision.

Rule7: When noun represents any measurement or distance and is preceeded by any numeric
adjective like: Five or Ten, then it is always followed by a singular verb.
Ex: Five miles is a good distance; Ten kilograms is a heavy weight.

Rule8: Singular verb should be place with the nouns plural in form but singular in sense (Physics,
Mathematics, Civics, Statistics, News, Billiards, Innings, Wages, Economics, Gallows, Alms)
Ex: No news is good news, Physics/Mathematics/Economics is a good subject; Billiards is a good game.

Rule9: When two singular nouns come with ‘Each’ or ‘Every’ in a sentence then the following verb
should always be singular .
Ex: Each boy and girl has to attend the function; Every man, woman and child was happy to meet with
the president.

Rule10: When two nouns of different numbers are attached with Not only…but also , then the verb
will always follow the number of the second noun.
Ex: Not only the Principal but also the teachers were playing the match; Not only the students but
also the class teacher was also involved in the discussion.

Rule11: When two nouns of different numbers are attached with- beside, as well as, and not, in
addition to, with, together with; the verb will always follow the number of the second noun.
Ex: Ram and not his friends were present there; The president as well as the members has come.

Rule12: When adjectives like- rich, poor, old, young, French, English are used with article ‘the’ before
them, then it represents a class. So in these cases we should always use plural verb.
Ex: The rich are generally unkind to the poor.; The poor are trustworthy; The English were uncivilized
people.; The old people should be respected by all.

Rule13: Singular verb is used with the nouns like- furniture, luggage, information, advice, work,
knowledge, equipment, behavior, scenery, traffic, fruit, electricity, music, progress, weather, nonsense,
sense etc.
Ex: Work is worship; The scenery of Kashmir is indeed beautiful.; The furniture of this house is very
beautiful.
Rule14: Plural verb should be used with the nouns like-Scissors, Pants, Trousers, Binoculars, Tongs,
Spectacles, Shorts, Breeches, Shoes, Scales, Glasses, Goggles etc.
Ex: Where are the scissors?; There are my shoes; Where are my spectacles?

Rule15: With the nouns like- Sheep, Fish, Deer, Pice etc. the following verb should be written
according to the sense of the sentence.
Ex: A sheep is a peaceful animal.; There are many sheep in the field; There are many deer in this cage;
A deer is a peaceful animal.

Rule16: When a sentence starts with the words like- quality, colour, detail, view, cost, cooperation,
smell etc either in singular or plural form, it becomes the subject of that sentence. If any of the above
written words is singular the following verb will be singular and if the any of these words if plural then
the following verb will be written plural.
Ex: The quality of these mangoes is good; The qualities of these mangoes are good.

Rule17: If phrases like- a number of, lots of, a lot of , plenty of, a quarter of, part of, percent of,
proportion of , none of , remainder of, two-third of, most of, some of, majority of, much of, many of, a
good deal of, a great deal of, comes in a sentence then verb should be place according to the number
of noun coming after ‘of’ :
Ex: Plenty of sugar is required; Plenty of chairs are required, A lot of books were destroyed in the fire;
Two-third of the questions are required to be done.

Rule18: When a sentence starts with ‘a number of’ then the verb will be plural and if the sentence
starts with ‘the number of ‘ then the verb will be singular.
Ex: A number of candidates appeared in SSC this year were very large.
The number of English books in this library is small.

Rule19: Singular verb will follow the words like- Everyone, Everybody, Nobody, Somebody, No one,
Each one, Someone.
Ex: Each one was given a gift; Somebody is coming here, Eveyone was happy to get this news.

Rule20: Singular verb should be written when a sentence starts with Either of , Each of, Neither of.
Note that after Either of, Neither of, Each of, noun should always be plural.
Ex: Each of the students was given a gift; Either of the magazines is useful; Neither of the books is
cheap.