By: The Cascade Editorial Board
It’s that time of the semester again. Your brain is leaking out of your ears, your bloodstream is 30 per cent coffee, and the due dates just keep coming. Your life belongs not to you, but to your final papers; however, all of your hard work will be undone if you fall prey to these common grammatical errors. Can you spot the mistakes in the following questions?
- The Thursday specials at Aneesha’s restaurant were chilli, tuna melts and macaroni and cheese.
- A. Correct
- B. “Chilli” should be “chile”
- C. There should be a comma after “tuna melts”
- Alex should of been wearing reflective gear since it was dark outside.
- A. Correct
- B. “Should of” should be “should have”
- C. “Since” should be “sense”
- The rattlesnake returned to its resting place beneath the rock.
- A. Correct
- B. “Its” should be “it’s”
- C. “Beneath” should be “under”
- Chandy went to the aquarium with Kayt, the octopus was her favourite.
- Correct
- The comma should be a period
- The comma should be a colon
- I was negatively effected by my new medication, so I asked my doctor to prescribe me a smaller dose.
- A. Correct
- B. “Smaller” should be “lower”
- C. “Effected” should be “affected”
- Carissa told David that she was defiantly going to come to Taco Tuesday, then cancelled suddenly.
- A. Correct
- B. The “taco” in “Taco Tuesday” shouldn’t be capitalized
- C. “Defiantly” should be “definitely”
- Andrea saw the man with the telescope walking.
- A. Correct
- B. Through the telescope, Andrea saw the man walking.
- C. Through the telescope, Andrea saw the man as he walked.
- Kat’s apartment building is seven story’s tall with a rooftop garden.
- A. Correct
- B. “Story’s” should be “stories”
- C. “Rooftop” should be “roof-top”
- Darien went to visit her brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws in Nanaimo.
- A. Correct
- B. “Brothers-and-sisters-in-law”
- C. “Brothers- and sisters-in-law”
- Anoop tried to find out who’s cat it was that came to her back porch every night, but the little calico didn’t wear a collar.
- A. Correct
- B. “Who’s” should be “whose”
- C.“Calico” should be capitalized
- Nadia was killed when apart of the space station’s toilet struck her as it fell to Earth.
- A. Correct
- B. “Earth” should not be capitalized
- C. “Apart” should be “a part”
- The students knew what they had to do. Study until their eyes fell out.
- A. Correct
- B. The period should be a semicolon
- C. The period should be a colon
ANSWERS
- Answer: C
Not everyone agrees on putting a comma before the final item in a list, but we at The Cascade strongly recommend it. Sometimes called the Oxford comma, this piece of punctuation is your best friend when it comes to avoiding ambiguity, especially if any of your list items contain a conjunction like “and,” as in “macaroni and cheese.”
2. Answer: B
Many people shorten “should have” to “should’ve” when speaking, so if you’ve never seen the phrase written down, it’s fair that you might think it’s actually “should of.” However, when referring to something that regrettably was not done, “should have” is the correct thing to say.
3. Answer: A
This sentence is correct. “It’s” with an apostrophe is only used as a contraction for “it is.” Though it is (it’s) counterintuitive, “its” is the correct possessive form.
4. Answer: B
“Who’s” is only used as a contraction of “who is.” “Whose” is the possessive form. Calico does not need to be capitalized because it refers to the colour of the cat’s fur, not a breed or anything else that might be considered a proper name.
5. Answer: C
Ah, effect and affect. Like your friend with an identical twin who is considering getting a face tattoo so that they won’t be confused for their sibling anymore, these two constantly get mixed up, and it’s time for it to stop. “Affect” is (usually) a verb. Someone can affect something, or be affected by it. “Effect” is usually a noun. You can have an effect on something by affecting it. When “effect” is a verb, it means “to cause,” hence the phrase “effect change.” Though this is not always the case, “smaller” and “lower” are interchangeable here because dosage can be quantified in terms of either physical size or numerical value (i.e. micrograms).
6. Answer: C
The image of Carissa boldly and rebelliously declaring that she would come to Taco Tuesday, hair blowing in the wind and face bravely fixed against compliance like a dystopian protagonist is certainly moving, but David does not deserve such a defiant response to a Taco Tuesday invitation. “Defiantly” means to do something in a manner that shows daring disobedience or open resistance, whereas “definitely” means “certainly” or “undoubtedly.” “Taco Tuesday” is a title, and therefore both words should be capitalized.
7. Answer: C
“Andrea saw the man with the telescope walking” is ambiguous. Did she see “the man with the telescope” or, using the telescope, did she see the man? And did she see him while she was walking, or while he was? Option B removes some ambiguity, but option C clarifies each question.
8. Answer: B
“Story’s” is the singular possessive form, whereas “stories” is the correct plural form. “Rooftop” can be hyphenated, but it doesn’t need to be and it isn’t the issue here.
9. Answer: C
To list hyphenated items with common second objects, just use the different first part and its hyphen for all but the last item. This is more concise than saying “brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law,” for example. But be sure to include all necessary hyphens to avoid ambiguity. In this example, saying “brothers and sisters-in-law” implies that the brothers are just brothers, not brothers-in-law.
10. Answer: B
“Chandy went to the aquarium with Kayt” and “The octopus was her favourite” are both complete sentences with a subject (Chandy, the octopus), an object (the aquarium, her favourite), and a verb (went to, was). Complete sentences can’t be joined with a comma. This is referred to as a “comma splice,” and it is a crime. A period (or a semicolon) is appropriate.
11. Answer: C
Because “Earth” is being discussed as a specific planet in this context, it qualifies as a proper noun, and is capitalized. “A part” is for when you’re talking about a piece or a component of a whole, and “apart” is used when two or more things are separated. When the piece of the space station’s toilet broke away and struck Nadia, killing her instantly, it was both a part of the toilet, and apart from it, but the sentence in question was talking about its part-ness, not its apart-ness. Got it?
12. Answer: C
“Study until their eyes fall out” is not a complete, grammatical sentence. Rather, it is what the students knew they had to do. Colons are used when the second clause answers or explains the first, or for emphasis. Semicolons are used to show that two complete sentences are closely related.
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after.
She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.
