English grammar

English grammar Abbreviations - shorten words or phrases to speed up communication Acronyms - formed when you combine the first letters of a phrase to create a new word initialism - formed when you combined the first letters of a phrase but say the individual letters ( think VIP ) Register - the appropriate language chosen for message , purpose , audience Formal Informal Formal - Polite , grammatical , verbosity , officialese Informal - Colloquial - Everyday spoken English Slang - Form of expression that is not appropriate to formal occasions and can be vulgar or crude ( swearing an expletive Jargon - Special words or expressions used by a particular profession or group . What indicates colloquial register - Contractions indicate colloquial register which is broadly defined as the way people speak Tone - The way in which the story / article is told Error of concord - The subject of a sentence or clause must agree in number with its verb . One must be careful when deciding whether the subject ( that which performs the action ) is singular or plural . Ambiguity owing to a dangling participle - The sentence must have agreement between subject and participle ( - ing verb ) Splitting the infinitive - Do not split an infinitive ( the verb " to ... " ) by putting the adverb in between Tautology ( redundancy ) - Do not repeat information unnecessarily Mixed metaphor - Try not to use 2 mixed or unrelated images in a single statement or comparison . Apostrophe - It's = it is ( contraction , omission ) Its = its ( ownership , possession ) Spelling errors- Homophones - These words are confusing and often result in spelling errors . Homomphone word that is pronounced in the same way as another but both words differ in spelling and meaning . comparative degree - compares two things . ( The larger of the two boys ... ) superlative degree - compares more than two things and describes the best or the most . ( The largest boy of the group ... ) Degrees of Comparison - The error is created when the wrong comparison or superlative is used . Another error may occur if a double comparison is used . Adverb - adjective confusion - Do not use an adjective for an adverb when the verb is being described Double Negative - Don't use a double negative . You may only have one negative in a sentence or clause Easily confused auxiliaries - Can ability ( I can swim ) May permission or possibility ( I may swim )