Writing Analytically, 6th Edition - Rosenwasser, David & Stephen, Jill [280]
Test yourself 19.8: Modification Errors
Find the modification errors in the following examples and correct them.
After eating their sandwiches, the steamboat left the dock.
The social workers saw an elderly woman on a bus with a cane standing up.
Crossing the street, a car hit the pedestrian.
BWE 7: ERRORS IN USING POSSESSIVE APOSTROPHES
Adding ‘s to most singular nouns will make them show possession, for example, the plant’s roots, the accountant’s ledger. You can add the apostrophe alone, without the “s,” for example, to make plural nouns that already end with “s” show possession: the flowers’ fragrances or the ships’ berths (although you may also add an additional “s”).
Apostrophe Error
The loyal opposition scorned the committees decisions.
Corrections
The loyal opposition scorned the committee’s decisions.
The loyal opposition scorned the committees’ decisions. [possessive apostrophe added]
The first correction assumes there was one committee; the second assumes there were two or more.
Apostrophe Error
The advisory board swiftly transacted it’s business.
Correction
The advisory board swiftly transacted its business. [apostrophe dropped]
Unlike possessive nouns, possessive pronouns (“my,” “your,” “yours,” “her,” “hers,” “his,” “its,” “our,” “ours,” “their,” “theirs”) never take an apostrophe.
Test yourself 19.9: Possessive Apostrophes
Find and correct any errors in the following sentence.
The womens movement has been misunderstood by many of its detractors.
BWE 8: COMMA ERRORS
As with other rules of punctuation and grammar, the many that pertain to comma usage share an underlying aim: to clarify the relationships among the parts of a sentence. Commas separate the parts of a sentence grammatically. One of their primary uses, then, is to help your readers distinguish the main clause from dependent elements such as subordinate clauses and long prepositional phrases. They do not signify a pause, as was discussed in BWE 2.
Comma Error: comma missing after introductory phrase
After eating the couple went home.
Correction
After eating, the couple went home. [comma added before independent clause]
The comma after “eating” is needed to keep the main clause “visible” or separate; it marks the point at which the prepositional phrase ends and the independent clause begins. Without this separation, readers would be invited to contemplate cannibalism as they move across the sentence.
Comma Error: comma missing after introductory phrase
In the absence of rhetoric study teachers and students lack a vocabulary for talking about their prose.
Correction
In the absence of rhetoric study, teachers and students lack a vocabulary for talking about their prose. [comma added to separate prepositional phrase from main clause]
Without the comma, readers would have to read the sentence twice to find out where the prepositional phrase ends—with “study”—to figure out where the main clause begins.
Comma Error: two commas needed around parenthetical element
Dog owners, despite their many objections will have to obey the new law.
Correction
Dog owners, despite their many objections, will have to obey the new law. [single comma converted to a pair of commas]
A comma is needed after “objections” to isolate the phrase in the middle of the sentence (“despite their many objections”) from the main clause. The phrase needs to be set off with commas because it contains additional information not essential to the meaning of what it modifies. (Dog owners must obey the law whether they object or not.) Phrases and clauses that function in this way are called nonrestrictive.
A Note on Restrictive versus Nonrestrictive Elements
The test of nonrestrictive phrases and clauses is to see if they can be omitted without substantially changing the message that a sentence conveys (“Dog owners will have to obey the new law,” for example). Nonrestrictive elements always take two commas— a comma “sandwich”—to set them off. Using only one comma illogically separates the