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Tautology The politician above needs a new speech writer! What do you think is wrong with the way he is talking? These three sentences have the same writing problem: The car reversed backwards into a pillar. The evening sunset was beautiful....

Tautology The politician above needs a new speech writer! What do you think is wrong with the way he is talking? These three sentences have the same writing problem: The car reversed backwards into a pillar. The evening sunset was beautiful. The Sahara is a dry desert. All these sentences suffer from tautology, or redundancy. They repeat the same idea in different words. For example, 'reverse' means 'to go backwards' so the word 'backward' doesn't need to be there. Similarly, a 'sunset' always happens in the evening so 'evening' is unnecessary. Our aim in English to write simply and directly, so tautology clutters our writing unnecessarily. Here's how we could 'declutter' the tautology in these sentences: The car reversed backwards into a pillar. → The car reversed into a pillar. The evening sunset was beautiful. → The sunset was beautiful. The Sahara is a dry desert. → The Sahara is a desert. Much better! Try it out for yourself. Read the paragraph below, looking closely for any unnecessary words or phrases. Then rewrite your paragraph without the tautology:  For spending over R500, I received a free gift: a pair of Bluetooth earphones. They are a new innovation because they have an active noise-cancelling technology. I don't usually make predictions about the future, but in my personal opinion, they are going to be very popular. Dangling participles What is a dangling participle? A basic rule in English is that every subject must have a verb. Often a mix-up like this happens with a dangling or misrelated participle. This error is easy to spot, because the sentence starts with a phrase (e.g. 'Melting in the midday sun'). That phrase will have: No subject (the phrase doesn't tell us who is melting) A participle verb: either a present participle (like melting or sleeping) or a past participle (like finished or taken) Take a look at the example on the right. This is a classic dangling participle, because it starts with the phrase 'After reading the newspaper'. This phrase has a present participle verb ('Reading'), but it does not have a subject, so it sounds like the dog is reading the newspaper, not the man! How to fix it There are two ways to fix a dangling participle: 1. After reading the news, Patrick took the dog for his morning walk. 2. After Patrick read the news, the dog needed his morning walk. Option one: Add the correct subject ('Patrick') right after the comma. Option two: Add the subject to the opening phrase. Both of these solutions make it clear that the subject 'Patrick' is the one performing the action of 'reading'. Commonly confused words Previously, we learnt about homonyms, words that sound the same but have different meanings. These troublemaker words are very easy to mix up and use in the wrong context. Here's a list of words that are often confused in English: Affect vs effect affect (verb): to influence or change For example: The cold weather affects my mood. effect (noun): the result or outcome For example: Sun cream has a protective effect. Desert vs dessert desert: an area with a very dry climate For example: The Kalahari Desert is the sixth largest desert. dessert: a sweet course or pudding For example: Malva pudding is my favourite dessert. Loose vs lose loose: not fixed tightly in place For example: In the 1990s, JNCO jeans were very loose. lose: to fail to gain something For example: If we don't train hard, we will lose the match. Piece vs peace piece: a part of something For example: Have you seen the last puzzle piece? peace: to be free from worry or suffering For example: Mindfulness can be a great way to find inner peace.  Than vs then than: used to show comparisons For example: These apples look juicier than those ones. then: next, afterwards, at that time For example: We then made apple crumble. 2.1.4 What is concord? Which of the following sentences sounds right to you? The sloth has a sleepy smile. The sloth have a sleepy smile. If you picked 'has', you chose the correct concord! Concord simply means agreement: in grammar, the subject of a sentence must always agree with the verb: A singular subject ('the cup', 'our house', 'my teacher') must have a singular verb ('breaks', 'is', 'talks'). For example, 'My rubbish bin is full.' A plural subject ('the flowers', 'the nurses', 'my boxes') must have a plural verb ('wilt', 'are', 'look'). For example, 'My rubbish bins are full.' Watch the video below for a more comprehensive explanation: Video 1: What is a concord? 2.1.5 Other concord rules Basic concord, like the examples above, is not difficult. In fact, you probably use correct subject-verb concord every day without even thinking about it. However, there are a few cases where concord rules are less obvious, because we use it incorrectly in our everyday speech. Pay close attention to these additional concord rules: Collective nouns Groups of nouns take a singular verb. Read through the following examples: The bouquet of flowers (collective noun) looks (singular verb) beautiful. The bunch of grapes (collective noun) tastes (singular verb) delicious. The team of hockey players (collective noun) is warming up (singular verb). Even though each of these subjects has more than one flower, grape or hockey player, they are grouped together into one unit. Consequently, that group gets a singular verb. Long sentences Another case to be cautious about is when there is a phrase that separates the subject from the verb. Don't get confused; the subject must always agree with the verb. Here are some examples of this: The lemon tree (singuar), which grew between the houses, was (singular) cut down. The houses (plural), with the lemon tree, were (plural) demolished. The river (singular) that is lined with oak trees is (singular) full today. The oak trees (plural) that line the river are (plural) green. Always identify the subject and the verb of the sentence. When checking concord, it's helpful to even cross out the phrase that separates subject from verb, so it is clearer.  Here/there When using 'here' or 'there', the subject of the sentence will always come later on in the sentence. Make sure that the verb agrees with this subject: There is (singular) a reservation (singular) for us. There are (plural) four hurdles (plural) to jump through. Here is (singular) a good example (singular). Here are (plural) some sandwiches (plural) for the road. Either... or/neither... nor When a sentence has 'either' or 'neither', the verb agrees with the subject that is closest to it. For example: Either the man or the boys (plural) want (plural) pizza. Neither the apple nor the vegetables (plural) fit (plural) in the fridge. In the first case, the subject closest to the verb is 'the boys', which is plural. So the verb also becomes plural: 'want'. Similarly, in sentence two, the subject closest to the verb is 'the vegetables', which is plural. So the verb becomes plural too: 'fit'. But if we rearranged these sentences, they could look like this: Either the boys or the man (singular) wants (singular) pizza. Neither the vegetables nor the apple (singular) fits (singular) in the fridge. Here, the closest subject is now 'the man', which is singular. That makes our verb, 'wants', singular too. In the second sentence, the closest subject, 'the apple', is also singular, making our verb singular too: 'fits'. Distance, time and money Units of distance, time and sums of money always get a singular verb. For example: Ninety kilometres is (singular) a long way to run. Five hundred dollars was (singular) in her bank account. Three hours goes (singular) quickly in a Maths exam.