Common Errors (Contd)

Well, this blog is dedicated to my my PRO batch at Aundh. This is my first blog ever since their batch started and I would request them to accept this as an apology for not putting up any relevant stuff for a long time now.


So here it goes for all of you...Sentence correction tips and some common confusables....


1)BORROW OFF/BORROW FROM:

Although in some dialects you can borrow money off a friend, but in standard English you borrow money from a friend.



2)AFFLUENCE/EFFLUENCE:

Wealth brings AFFLUENCE and...wait for it....EFFLUENCE is sewage!!!

3)PARAMOUNT/TANTAMOUNT:

“Paramount” means “best,” “most important.” “Tantamount” means “equivalent.”
“The committee’s paramount concern is to get at the truth; your continued insistence that you don’t remember any of the meetings you attended is tantamount to a confession of incompetence.”

4)PERPETRATE/PERPETUATE:
Perpetrate is to commit or execute or present in a poor tasteless manner. Generally criminals perpetrate or a person can perpetrate a practical joke.
However, Perpetuate is to cause to continue indefinitely or to prolong the existence of something.

5)WANGLE/WRANGLE:

To wrangle means to get into an argument, but to wangle means to obtain by unfair or underhand methods.
Wrangle of course has the other meaning of herding and rounding up cattle and a wrangler means a cowboy (WRANGLER Denimwear etc...rings a bell???)

6)All that Susan wants this semester is a wink and a smile from the cute guy who sits next to her in algebra class.
In the above statement the subject is "All" and that refers to "a wink and a smile". Hence, the corrected version would be "All that Susan wants this semester ARE a wink and a smile from the cute guy who sits next to her in algebra class"

7)Aditya believed that he wrote the best essay of the semester, but when Mrs. Sharma returned the paper, the slashes of red ink and caustic comments immediately changed his opinion of the work.

Now the above sentence has an obvious tense error. The latest action is Mrs Sharma returning the paper and Aditya had finished writing the paper before the second action(So verb is the past participle form). Therefore the correct sentence would be :

"Aditya believed that he HAD WRITTEN the best essay of the semester, but when Mrs. Sharma returned the paper, the slashes of red ink and caustic comments immediately changed his opinion of the work."

8)Alisha will welcome whoever/whomever Rounak picks to join the study group, even if he chooses another beautiful woman.

Notice that all of the verbs already have subjects! The verb "will welcome" has Alisha as its subject; the verb "picks" has Rounak as its subject; and the verb "chooses" has he as its subject. Thus, you need WHOMEVER, the object form!!!

9)At the end of the semester, Mr. Kansal will leave piles of old books outside his office. He gives these outdated editions to whoever/whomever wanders down the hallway and wants a free text.

In this sentence the verbs "wanders" and "wants" are missing a subject, so you need WHOEVER, the subject form!!!

10)An illustrous lineage plays a factor in getting admission into this University.

In this case, there has been the mixture of two often misconstrued idioms...it can either be "is a factor in getting admission." or "plays a role in getting admission."


Well, so that's it from my end for the moment. Will be back in about a couple of days with some idiomatic usage errors. Till then, hit the test gyms and solve as many online tests as possible.
Go break a leg!!!