Appendix A Reference Correctness Communication Part Correctness Communication Lecture Notes Amp Exercises Reference

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

Part IV: Correctness of Communication Lecture Notes &

Exercises

Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

Teaching Suggestions

Appendix A covers some of the most common grammar mistakes made by undergraduate college

students. Consider including two or three examples of each error at the beginning or end of every lecture.

This provides a quick grammar refresher for students without devoting a whole class to reviewing the

basics.

The Appendix A PowerPoint® slides provide a summary of these mistakes and in-class problems you can

solve together.

Text Summary, Lecture Outline

Common Mistakes in Comma Usage

Slides A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6, A-7, A-8

Failure to use commas for parenthetic expressions. A parenthetic expression is information that interrupts,

but doesn’t alter, the meaning of a sentence.

Not this: My students you shouldn’t be surprised to hear are doing well in class.

But this: My students, you shouldn’t be surprised to hear, are doing well in class.

Setting off restrictive clauses (those that would change the meaning of a sentence if they were omitted)

with commas. Students often us commas for essential information. If the meaning of a sentence is

incomplete without a phrase, you don’t use a comma.

The second example is correct, because the information introduced by “who” is necessary to understand

the full meaning of the sentence.

Failing to use commas before conjunctions introducing independent clauses.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

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Or this: The business trip from Cincinnati to Vancouver was long but worth it when she landed the

account.

This last example connects one independent and dependent clause, so it does not need a comma.

Failing to include a comma after an introductory word, such as meanwhile, however, furthermore,

fortunately, quickly and suddenly.

Parallelism

Slide A-9

Parts of a sentence that express equal thoughts should be parallel (the same) in grammatical form.

Students often fail to use the same grammatical pattern when sharing similar ideas within a sentence.

In the second example, the writer has decided to use a consistent grammatical pattern of all adjectives.

Misplaced modifier

Slide A-10

Incorrect placement of a modifying phrase. Modifiers need to come next to the words they modify.

Dangling modifier

Slide A-11

A dangling modifier occurs when you don’t use the correct noun or pronoun for what you’re modifying.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

Run-on sentences

Slide A-12

A run-on sentence occurs when two or more complete sentence are joined as one sentence without a

conjunction.

Fragments

Slide A-13

A complete sentence contains a subject and a predicate that describes the subject. A fragment, on the

other hand, lacks one of these elements and is incomplete.

Wrong words

Slide A-14

Several words are commonly confused by students. These include you’re/your, they’re/their and it’s/its.

Explain these differences to students.

This is correct because your is a possessive referring to political views.

This is correct because it’s is a contraction of it and is.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

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Not this: The grading system had it’s merits.

But this: The grading system had its merits.

This is correct because its is a possessive.

Shift in verb tense

Slide A-15

Students commonly change verb tense within a single sentence, even when there’s no shift in time. Verbs

in combined clauses should be in the same tense. For instance, when the first verb is in the past tense, you

should usually also place the second verb in a past tense (past, past perfect, or present perfect).

Inappropriate or awkward word choice

Slide A-16

Sometimes students will choose the most formal, inappropriate or awkward word. They need to

understand that, with the exception of certain communications reviewed in Chapter 6, current business

writing is conversational. Students should also understand that a failure of word choice can lead to the

failure of a business relationship.

We can fix this problem by first cutting words that don’t add meaning. Then we can translate the

remaining words into more familiar and informal words.

Often students will use the most awkward word instead of the most commonly used word.

These two choices would be better.

Familiar and commonly used words are almost always the best choice, unless the communication is

technical.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

Prepositional fillers

Slide A-17

Prepositional fillers are a common problem among undergraduate students. Some believe that more

prepositions make their writing sound professional, when it only makes it unclear.

Generally, more than two prepositional phrases per sentence is too much. Telling students to isolate each

prepositional phrase; remove all necessary words; and reduce what’s left to nouns, verbs and possessives

is a great strategy for cutting fillers. Also, reducing bigger words to words with less syllables improves

style.

Passive vs. active voice

Slide A-18

Often, students will choose passive over active voice, because they think it sounds more professional. Of

course, it only makes their writing unclear.

Lack of sentence variety

Slide A-18

Often students will use simple sentence structure with little variety. Here are some tips to help students

improve sentence variety.

• Start the sentence with an infinitive: “To ensure…”

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

Critical-Thinking Questions

Corrected sentences follow each original sentence. Correctness standards from the chapter are noted in

parentheses.

1. Charles E. Baskin the new member of the advisory committee has been an employee for

seven years.

2. The auditor asked us If all members of the work group had access to the petty cash fund

3. Our January order consisted of the following items; two dozen Post-it pads, cube size, one

dozen desk blotters, 20 by 32 inches and one dozen gel roller pens, permanent black.

4. The truth of the matter is, that the union representative had not informed the workers of the

decision.

5. Sales for the first quarter were the highest in history, profits declined for the period.

6. We suggest that you use a mild soap for best results but detergents will not harm the product.

7. Employment for October totaled 12,741 an increase of 3.1 percent over September.

8. It would not be fair however to consider only this point.

9. It is the only shrink resistant antiwrinkle and inexpensive material available.

10. Todd Thatcher a supervisor in our company is accused of the crime.

11. Mr. Goodman made this statement Contrary to our expectations Smith and Company will

lose money this year.

12. I bought and he sold.

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I bought and he sold. (Cma 1)

13. We have took several steps to ensure the security of our firewall.

14. Sold in light medium and heavy weight this paper has been widely accepted.

15. Because of a common belief that profits are too high we will have to cut our prices on most

items.

16. Such has been the growth of the cities most prestigious firm, H.E. Klauss and Company.

18. Henrys goofing off has gotten him into trouble.

19. Cyrus B. Henshaw who was our leading salesperson last month is the leading candidate for

20. The sales representative who secures the most new accounts will receive a bonus.

21. The word phone which is short for telephone should be avoided in formal writing.

22. In last months issue of Fortune appeared Johnson’s latest article Tiger! The Sky’s the Limit

for Golf.

23. Yes he replied this is exactly what we mean.

24. Why did he say John it’s too late?

25. Place your order today, it is not too late.

26. We make our plans on a day to day basis.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

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27. There is little accuracy in the 60 day forecast.

There is little accuracy in the 60-day forecast. (Hpn 2–1)

28. The pre Christmas sale will extend over twenty six days.

30. An assortment of guns, bombs, burglar tools, and ammunition were found in the seller.

31. If we can be certain that we have the facts we can make our decision soon.

32. This one is easy to make. If one reads the instructions carefully.

34. A collection of short articles on the subject were printed.

36. She takes criticism good.

39. The surface of these products are smooth.

40. Everybody is expected to do their best.

41. The brochures were delivered to John and I early Sunday morning.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

43. We were given considerable money for the study.

45. One of his conclusions is that the climate of the region was not desirable for our purposes.

46. Smith and Rogers plans to buy the Moline plant.

47. The committee feels that no action should be taken.

48. Neither of the workers found their money.

49. While observing the employees, the work flow was operating at peak perfection.

50. The new building is three stories high, fifteen years old, solid brick construction, and occupies

a corner lot.

52. Jones has been employed by Kimberly Clark for twenty years.

53. Wilson and myself will handle the job.

54. Each man and woman are expected to abide by this rule.

55. The boiler has been inspected on April 1 and May 3.

56. To find problems and correcting them takes up most of my work time.

57. The case of canned goods were distributed to the homeless.

58. The motor ran uneven.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

59. All are expected except John and she.

60. Everyone here has more ability than him.

Punctuation

Insert commas, colons, and semicolons as needed in the following sentences. As your instructor directs,

cite punctuation standards from this chapter to support your choices.

3. Our company specializes in management consulting employee development and leadership

training.

4. Your payment is 15 days past due please make your payment immediately.

5. Rosa needs to submit her application immediately if she wants to be admitted for the fall

6. Our goal is to have branch offices in the following cities Hayward Wisconsin Golden

Colorado and Helena Montana.

7. New employees usually complete their hiring paperwork before they start however they

have until the end of their first week at work to finish it.

8. In August 2020 we will begin the software conversion and we expect to complete it by

October 1.

9. If we exceed our sales quota we receive a $1000 quarterly bonus but if we only meet our

quota we receive a $500 bonus.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

If we exceed our sales quota, we receive a $1,000 quarterly bonus; but if we only meet our quota,

we receive a $500 bonus. (Cma 5–1, SC 2, No 7)

10. Because the bank approved our request for a loan we were able to purchase our dream

house.

Apostrophes

Select the word that correctly completes the sentence.

1. Many of the (businesses, business’s, businesses’) in town are closed for the holiday.

2. I share my (bosses, boss’s, bosses’) opinion that he and I should get the corner office suite.

3. Many (peoples, people’s, peoples’) lake homes are subject to high property taxes.

4. In two (weeks, week’s, weeks’) we leave for the conference.

5. Our (company’s, companies, companies’) policy is to let employees work from home one

day per week.

6. Kyle frequently works evenings because (its, it’s, its’) not possible for him to finish his work

during the day.

7. Carolyn’s severance package included six (months, month’s, months’) salary and health

insurance.

8. She worked her way up to the manager of the (womens, women’s, womens’) clothing

department.

9. We were all impressed by (Joes, Joe’s, Joes’) presentation.

10. According to (todays, today’s, todays’) newspaper, gas prices are expected to rise in the

coming weeks.

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Reference Chapter A: Correctness of Communication

Pronouns

Select the pronoun that correctly completes the sentence.

1. Our supervisor assigned the project to Jim and (I/me).

2. Do you know (who/whom) will lead today’s meeting?

3. We want (she/her) to lead the meeting today.

4. (He/Him) and Rebecca are two of the hardest workers in our office.

5. The university told (we/us) students about the tuition increase.

6. (We/Us) employees are happy about the results of the union negotiations.

7. Lara said, “Because the agreement between (she/her) and (I/me) is confidential, I am not

8. I really appreciated (him/his) telling me about the job opening.

9. Matt is the type of employee (who/whom) we want to promote to management.

10. It was (she/her) who inquired about the open position.