QUESTION 5 LANGUAGE EDITING CHEAT SHEET

Concord Error Malapropism Active & Passive Voice

When the subject of a sentence and the The humourous misuse of a word by Rules to change from active to passive:
verb of a sentence agree. confusing it with a similar sounding I bake a cake.
word.
If the subject of the sentence is singular,  Identify the verb: bake
the verb must be singular. e.g.: He's a wolf in cheap clothing.  Change the verb
He’s a wolf in SHEEP clothing. baked
into past tense:
If the subject of a sentence is plural, the  Ask the question
verb must be plural. e.g.: The doctor gave me a subscription which refers to the Who baked a
for my allergies. subject as the cake? Me.
e.g.: The pages (subject) is/ARE (verb) The doctor gave me a PRESCRIPTION answer:
held together by a staple. for my allergies.  Rewrite the into A cake was
passive form: baked by me.

Apostrophe Reported – Speech Punctuation Functions

Omission (Contraction) 1. Identify the tense that needs to , comma list/pauses

Where letters are missing because of change (am - was). () parenthesis extra info

omitting. 2. Identify the place/time that needs - hyphen join info

to change (tomorrow – next day). – dash split info

… ellipsis omits
e.g.: you’re = you + are 3. Identify the subject, pronoun and
. period stops
Possession add ‘said that’ (I - he).
! exclamation mark exclaims
a person owns an object/it belongs to ? question mark asks
them. John: “I’m going to be back tomorrow.” ; semi-colon joins ideas
: colon lists
e.g.: Jason’s school bag e.g.: John said that he was going to “” quotation marks quotes
be back the next day. ‘’
& ampersand ‘and’
’ apostrophe possession / omission

Split Infinitive Tautology/Redundancy Truncation/Clipping

To shorten by cutting off a part of a

If all of us cooperate together, then we word.
An adverb is placed between ‘to’ and the will succeed.
verb makes a split infinitive. Expo Exposition
Both have similar meaning. Flu Influenza
e.g.: We were told to carefully view each Varsity University
star. Remove the redundancy: Uni University
Cell Cellular phone
Correction: We were told to view each If all of us cooperate, then we will Tech Technical/Technology
star carefully. succeed. / If all of us work together, Burger Hamburger
then we will succeed. Ad Advertisement
Memo Memorandum

Blending Prefixes & Suffixes Informal & Formal Words

Prefixes: Changes the meaning of the word. COLLOQUIALISM
It refers to joining the beginning of one word and the
Re- again review INFORMAL FORMAL INFORMAL FORMAL
end of another to make a new word with a new Co- together construct
meaning. Pre-
Hi / hey / Hello kids Children
before prehistoric
Non- not nonsense awe
Un- not unkind Bye / see ya Goodbye rich Wealthy
Breakfast + lunch = brunch Sub- under subway / laters
Smoke + fog = smog De- reverse destruction Help Assist Put up with Tolerate
Motor + hotel = motel Dis- separate/not disinterest Ask enquire hungry famished
Mis- wrong mistaken
Spanish + English = Spanglish
Im- not/opposite of impolite
Emotion + icon = emoticon Anti- against antisocial JARGON USED IN MEANING
Picture + element = pixel Bi- two bicycle code blue Medical someone’s dead
Neologism 9-to-5 Business job with long hours
Suffixes: Often changes the part of speech, changes DM Social direct message
into past tense or past participle, changes word into USB Technology universal serial bus
A newly created word or expression, e.g. plural form, changes degree of comparison.
accessory Law connected to a crime
geobragging (repeated status updates noting your -ed verb/in the past walked
-ly adverb/how slowly
location in an attempt to get attention or make other -er adjective/ comaprative taller SLANG MEANING SLANG MEANING
people jealous.), or a word that has existed but is -es t adjective / superlative tallest Msanzi South
gotta Got to
now being used in a new context, e.g. troll (an -al adjective political ‘south’ Africa
-ing verb/doing something walking dude Guy lit Amazing
individual who posts inflammatory, rude, and -fully adverb beautifully
obnoxious comments to an online community.). -sion noun/quality/ action tension
Go bananas Go crazy basic Boring
-ment noun government Bae partner totes Totally
-s plural girls gucci Good / cool IRL In real life
 Types of Sentences Sentence Clause Structure Phrases

Exclamatory (!) Noun Clause Noun Phrase A red box.

I got an A on my book report! Pepperoni is fine with me. Prepositional
In the car.
Interrogative (?) Phrase
(subject/object/complement) Adjective Phrase Quite big.
Who are you? Adjectival Clause Adverb Phrase Very slowly.
Imperative (./!) Mikes car, which he bought 3 months Verb Phrase Will go.
Please sit down. ago, is the shiniest car. Infinitive Phrase To cheer.
I need you to sit down now! Exercising
(S + V) Gerund Phrase
Declarative (.) regularly.
I want to be a good writer. Adverb Clause Surprised by the
I’ll make diner, when I’ve finished Participle Phrase gift, my mother was
watching the movie. speechless.
Her arms folded
(time/place/manner) Absolute Phrase across her chest,
…

Sentence Structures Types of Verbs Parts of Speech

Independent/Main Clause Finite Verbs Non-Finite Verbs
I washed my dog yesterday. (makes sense) Subject Verb DETERMINER The
The need to love (infinitives)
Dependent/Subordinate Clause Agreement – just
I washed my dog yesterday because he smelt awful. needs one verb/can (past
A loved one NOUN boy
(bold doesn’t make sense alone) stand by itself in a participles)
sentence. (present ADJECTIVE brave
A loving parent
Underline the FINITE VERB to identify the clause in a participles) VERB yelled
sentence. I love potatoes.
She loves parades. Loving is a gift (gerunds) NOUN dog
SIMPLE (S + P) COMPOUND Mom loves parades. INTERJECTION help
(FANBOYS) ADVERB quickly
I like grammar and I find Helping (Aux.) CONJUNCTION and
I like grammar. Linking Verb: Action Verb:
language interesting. Verb:
VERBS run
COMPOUND-COMPLEX shall; will; could; ran; hide; walk;
COMPLEX (ON A would; being; smell; told; PRONOUN he
(FANBOYS ON A is; are; was;
WHITEBUS) were; must’ deliver; listen;
WHITEBUS) were; being; am; PREPOSITION to
might; may; measure; colour; VERB saw
be.
I have never been a great have; had; did; explore; move;
do; is; are. push; go. DETERMINER the
Because I like grammar, I student, but because I
DETERMINER a
have spent a lot of time like grammar, I have
studying sentence spent a lot of time Transitive Intransitive NOUN rescue
structure. studying sentence Needs an object. Cannot have an object.
structure.
e.g.: I bought a car. e.g.: The baby smiled.
Connotation & Denotation UK vs. USA Spelling Predicates

Denotation: literal meaning of a word UK USA UK USA The predicate is the part of a sentence
Connotation: associations made with a (or a clause) that tells us what the
word, either positive or negative. Favourite Favorite Fulfil Fulfill
subject does or is. To put it another way,
the predicate is everything that is not the
Theatre Theater Encyclopaedia Encyclopedia
Positive Neutral Negative subject.
connotation connotation connotation
Memorise Memorize Banque Bank
The man from the shop is a monster.
interested questioning nosy
Dreamt Dreamed Jewellery Jewelery
Subject Predicate
dedicated tenacious stubborn
Judgement Jugment Lift Elevator
courageous confident conceited He stole my bike last week.
unique different weird Dialogue Dialog Grey Gray
Subject Predicate

elated happy manic

Italics Acronyms/Initialisms/Abbreviations Tenses

TITLES:
Journals, Acronyms Past Present Future
South African Journal of Science; AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency
newspapers
the Sunday Times; YOU.
and magazines: Syndrome I will
Simple I did I do
Plays/books: Macbeth; The Fault in our Stars. WHO World Health Organisation do
Movies: Oceans 8
Artworks: The Mona Lisa. I will
Initialisms I was I am
Continuous be
BEE Black Economic Empowerment doing doing
doing
EMPHASIS: I don’t like you SABC South African Broadcasting
FOREIGN Corporation I will
et cetera; bon voyage. I had I have
WORDS: Perfect have
done done
WORDS there were four and’s and one done
REFERRED TO: therefore in the last sentence. Abbreviation Rule: if the abbreviation ends
REPRODUCED
Grrr! Went the bear. with the last letter – no period. I will
SOUNDS: I had I have
NAMES OF Perfect have
Titanic; Orient Express.
Abbreviations Continuous been been
VEHICLES: been
Dr Doctor mm millimeter doing doing
doing
Capt. Captain Jul. July