My Grammar Mistakes

EG1471module has been an eye-opener as I had not come across specific English writing rules throughout my primary and secondary school education. I had always known that I had problems in my grammar. Mistakes that I have made throughout this course taught me to continuously check my work and I learnt that English is not as simple as we think.

For instance, one of the common mistakes I often make is the misuse of article. In my previous understanding, all the words in singular form except for specific objects or names should be used with an article “the” before it, for example, the tree, the person, the resource, the sun and so on. My perspective of article is that there are redundant to be discussed as it has always been taught to be ingrained. Neither did I know that “the” and “an” are known as articles! Articles are commonly used with common nouns or noun phrases. It consist of the nonspecific articles which are (a or an); and the specific article (the). It is absent in nonspecific cases and are indicated by empty or zero article.

A mistake:
“The USA is currently undergoing a recession.”

Correction:
“USA is currently undergoing a recession.”

Explanation: Categories of proper nouns which do not require “the” are people’s name, cities, countries, states, days and etc. Proper nouns which requires “the” are buildings, places and etc.

In addition, I am until now unable to identify the correct usage of pronoun and correcting it at first glance. For instance, “The country does allow they to smoke.” The mistake here is “they”.

Correction made:
“Them”

Lastly, Subject verb agreement (SVA) is another mistake that I would like to touch on. SVA is usually divided into basics, singular verbs and agreement.

Mistake:
The company use its resources efficiently.

Correction made:
The company uses its resources efficiently.