Accuracy in EAP

Exercise: Answers

1. A rentcharge is the right to receive an annual sum out of the income of land every year.
   • fault: Grammar – duplication of meaning – “annual” = “every year”
   • correction: A rentcharge is the right to receive an annual sum out of the income of land.
   • importance: Quite important – be careful.
2. All of the solutions considered so far have only involved Legendre functions of even order.
   • fault: Grammar – placing of “only”
   • correction: All of the solutions considered so far have involved only Legendre functions of even order.
   • importance: Not so important in speech, because the stress clears up any possible misunderstandings (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985, pp. 605-606), but be careful when writing.
3. Before spelling out exactly what this means, it is worth first asking whether translating machinery is necessarily irreversible.
   • fault: Duplication “before” = “first”
   • correction: Before spelling out exactly what this means, it is worth asking whether translating machinery is necessarily irreversible.
   • importance: Quite important – be careful.
4. Being in charge, the accusation was particularly annoying to me.
   • fault: Dangling participle – the “accusation” was not in charge.
   • correction: e.g. Being in charge, I found the accusation particularly annoying.
   • importance: Very important – can cause misunderstanding (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985, p.652) – be careful.
5. Finally, it enables the therapist to assess the effectiveness of his own clinical skills and, hopefully, to improve them in future.
   • fault: “hopeful” is an adverb therefore limits the meaning of a verb, but in this case it tells you nothing about the meaning of “improve”.
   • correction: Finally, it enables the therapist to assess the effectiveness of his own clinical skills and, it is hoped, to improve them in future.
   • importance: Some people think this is important, but there are many similar acceptable words – “naturally, amazingly, fortunately, happily, regrettably” (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, pp. 856-857) – be careful.
6. He is a former student who I’ve not seen for years.
   • fault: “who”is the object therefore should be”whom”
   • correction: He is a former student whom I’ve not seen for years.
   • importance: Not so important in the UK (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, p. 215).
7. He is an unskilled labourer and works at odd jobs, but he don’t do any of them very well.
   • fault: Grammar – “don’t”
   • correction: He is an unskilled labourer and works at odd jobs, but he doesn’t do any of them very well.
   • importance: Very important – check your verbs carefully.
8. However, there were other patients whose lives had ended by suicide.
   • fault: Grammar – wrong word
   • correction: However, there were other patients whose lives had ended in suicide.
   • importance: Very important – check your prepositions carefully.
9. I have now discussed the proposals for replacing all the computers with my colleagues.
   • fault: Grammar – meaning confused by word order
   • correction: I have now discussed with my colleagues the proposals for replacing all the computers.
   • importance: Very important if it causes misunderstanding – check your work carefully.
10. It is felt that less people would be put off attending with other problems if the stigma of going to a clinic could be dispensed with.
    • fault: Grammar – “less” is used for uncountable nouns; “fewer” for countable.
    • correction: It is felt that fewer people would be put off attending with other problems if the stigma of going to a clinic could be dispensed with.
    • importance: Becoming more acceptable, especially in spoken English (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985, p. 263).
11. It is just possible that you are one of those rare people who has never seriously tried to diet.
    • fault: “has” should agree with “people”
    • correction: It is just possible that you are one of those rare people who have never seriously tried to diet.
    • importance: Most people would not notice it, but be careful (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, p. 190).
12. It may be open to challenge on certain grounds, i.e. if an emergency occurs.
    • fault: Wrong use of “i.e.”
    • correction: “e.g.”.
    • importance: Very important – get it right.
13. It was the community in it’s purest form.
    • fault: Punctuation:”it’s”=”it is”
    • correction: It was the community in its purest form
    • importance: Very important, but a very easy mistake to make – check your punctuation carefully.
14. It was thought necessary to determine legally that someone had attained the age when they were allowed to marry.
    • fault: “someone” is singular; “they” is plural
    • correction: It was thought necessary to determine legally that someone had attained the age when he or she was allowed to marry.
    • importance: Becoming more acceptable. Use it rather than be sexist. If you don’t like it, rephrase your sentence: “It was thought necessary to determine legally that people had attained the age when they were allowed to marry” (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, pp. 316-317).
15. Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) had supposed that the main cause of evolutionary change was because of the “inheritance of acquired character”.
    • fault: Grammar – duplication – “cause” = “because of”.
    • correction: Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744- 1829) had supposed that the main cause of evolutionary change was the”inheritance of acquired characters”.
    • importance: Very important – check your work carefully.
16. Kinship in these societies had to be completely different to what it was in capitalist society.
    • fault: Grammar – “to”
    • correction: Kinship in these societies had to be completely different from what it was in capitalist society.
    • importance: Not a problem for me, but some people don’t like it – check your work carefully.
17. No matter what he says, he has and will always be in charge.
    • fault: “he has” should be “he has been” – you can only join elements with the same grammatical role with “and”.
    • correction: No matter what he says, he always has been and will always be in charge.
    • importance: Not so important in speaking, but be careful when you’re writing (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, p. 79).
18. She could give a better response than that to I and to my friends.
    • fault: “me” not “I”
    • correction: She could give a better response than that to me and to my friends.
    • importance: Very important – overcorrection. Some people are worried about the use of “me” and use “I” too much.
19. The category of killings which has come to be known as involuntary manslaughter hasn’t nothing to do with involuntariness.
    • fault: Double negative
    • correction: The category of killings which has come to be known as involuntary manslaughter has nothing to do with involuntariness.
    • importance: Very important when writing – check your work carefully.
20. The committee has not announced their decision yet.
    • fault: Grammar – singular followed by a plural
    • correction: The committee has not announced its decision yet. OR The committee have not announced their decision yet.
    • importance: Not so important in speaking, but be careful when you’re writing. There is a problem with these collective nouns, which are grammatically singular but have a plural meaning. Some people would insist on “The committee has…”. (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, pp. 331-332).
21. The emphasis on revolution as ending every stage is, also, much more definately stated than in earlier works.
    • fault: Spelling
    • correction: “definitely”
    • importance: Very important – proof-read carefully.
22. The esential feature of these results has been amply confirmed.
    • fault: Spelling
    • correction: “essential”
    • importance: Very important – proof-read carefully.
23. The experiment by Norcross (1958) which used a slightly different version of this procedure produced essentially the same outcome.
    • fault: Punctuation – wrong commas
    • correction: The experiment by Norcross (1958), which used a slightly different version of this procedure, produced essentially the same outcome.
    • importance: Very important in English. The meaning with the commas is different from the meaning without commas.
24. The first really useful realization of the Lie algebra of the Geroch group, was formulated by Kinnersley and Chitre (1977, 1978a, b).
    • fault: Punctuation – the comma interrupts the run of the sentence.
    • correction: The first really useful realization of the Lie algebra of the Geroch group was formulated by Kinnersley and Chitre (1977, 1978a,b).
    • importance: Very important – you cannot separate the verb from the noun phrase which functions as its subject.
25. The more aggressive technologies, those which need a great deal of energy and natural resources and cause extensive environmental pollution, represent a percentage of industrial production.
    • fault: Meaningless use of “percentage”
    • correction: The more aggressive technologies, those which need a great deal of energy and natural resources and cause extensive environmental pollution, represent a large percentage of industrial production.
    • importance: Not so important in speech but proof-read your written work carefully.
26. Jones and Smith argues that the problem began in December 1942.
    • fault: “Jones and Smith” is plural
    • correction: Jones and Smith argue that the problem began in December 1942.
    • importance: Not so important in speech but proof-read your written work carefully. (Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad & Finegan, 1999, p. 182).
27. At that time there were hardly any scholarly accounts of the period in question, the only really important biography was that of George V by Harold Nicolson.
    • fault: Punctuation – run-on sentence – can’t join two sentences with a comma.
    • correction: At that time there were hardly any scholarly accounts of the period in question. The only really important biography was that of George V by Harold Nicolson. OR At that time there were hardly any scholarly accounts of the period in question, the only really important biography being that of George V by Harold Nicolson.
    • importance: Very important. You cannot join two sentences with a comma.
28. The task – one that involved pedalling on a stationery bicycle – was equally demanding at all times.
    • fault: “stationery” is letters
    • correction: The task – one that involved pedalling on a stationary bicycle – was equally demanding at all times.
    • importance: Very important – proof-read carefully.
29. They are, in fact, just the kind of thing the natural philosopher might be interested in.
    • fault: Preposition at end of sentence.
    • correction: They are, in fact, just the kind of thing in which the natural philosopher might be interested.
    • importance: Not a problem for me, but some people don’t like it – check your work carefully.
30. This has meant that elsewhere it has been very difficult to clearly assess the extent of the problem.
    • fault: Grammar – split infinitive
    • correction: This has meant that elsewhere it has been very difficult to assess clearly the extent of the problem.
    • importance: Not a problem for me, but some people don’t like it. Putting a word between the “to” and the verb is called splitting the infinitive. This is actually wrong because in English the infinitive is one word so cannot be split. There are also situations when there is no other possibility (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech & Svartvik, 1985, pp. 496-498). Fowler (1968, p. 579) distinguishes between five groups of people: (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is (2) those who do not know, but care very much (3) those who know and condemn (4) those who know and approve and (5) those who know and distinguish. Be careful if a (2) is reading your work.
31. Though he has generally been considered anti-intellectual and disinterested in art theory, at this stage of his career he shared the concerns of his fellows of the Petit Boulevard for principles of colour.
    • fault: Wrong use of “disinterested” – check your dictionary.
    • correction: “uninterested”
    • importance: Very important if it causes confusion – check your work carefully.
32. When they were discussing the historical development which led to capitalism.
    • fault: Incomplete sentence
    • correction: e.g. When they were discussing the historical development which led to capitalism, they stress the structure between different stages and the universality of the historical process.
    • importance: Very important – check your work carefully.

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