留学考试作文语法自检列表

A Grammar Self-Check List for Study-Abroad Exam Essays

> By Li Xiaolai · 2010-01-15 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20111111235923/http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/8545.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

1. **Spelling errors**: the writer did not write a word according to its correct spelling, but this does not include spelling differences arising from differences between British English and American English.
2. **Errors in the singular and plural forms of nouns**: the writer used the number of a noun wrongly, including: using a "plural" form of an uncountable noun, using a "plural" form of a collective noun, using a singular noun where a plural should be used, and so on.
3. **Singular countable nouns not determined**: a singular countable noun appearing in a sentence has no determiner before it, determiners including articles, indefinite pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, possessives of nouns or pronouns, numerals, and certain adjectival possessive pronouns.
4. **Part-of-speech errors**: in choosing vocabulary, the writer ignored the characteristics of English parts of speech and used words according to meaning alone, so that the phenomenon of using the wrong part of speech occurred.
5. **Errors in modifying relationships**: the writer violated the rules of word modification and adopted an inappropriate modifying relationship. This includes using an adjective to modify a verb, an adjective to modify an adjective, an adverb to modify a noun, and so on.
6. **Collocation errors**: unsuitable word modification, restriction or explanation appears in the sentence, or a fixed collocation of words is used wrongly.
7. **Word-order errors**: the writer did not use the correct, idiomatic order of expression to state the content. This includes wrong order of modifiers, not inverting where inversion is required, and so on.
8. **Errors in using non-finite verbs**: the writer used the present participle, the past participle, or the infinitive of a verb wrongly. This includes:
- **Misuse of the present participle and the past participle**: the writer did not ensure agreement between the logical subject and the participle, that is, used the past participle when the logical subject performs the action, and used the present participle when it undergoes the action or is in a state.
- **Misuse of the infinitive and the gerund**: the gerund expresses "state, nature, frame of mind, the abstract, the habitual, what has already happened"; the infinitive expresses "purpose, result, cause, the concrete, the one-off, what is going to happen"; the writer used the infinitive or the gerund wrongly.
9. **Misuse of prepositions**: the writer used a preposition wrongly.
10. **Misuse of conjunctions**: the writer used a conjunction wrongly.
11. **Misuse of relative pronouns**: the writer used a relative pronoun wrongly in an attributive clause.
12. **Misuse of articles**: the writer did not clearly distinguish between the definite article and the indefinite article, or was unclear about the usage of the two indefinite articles and so used an article wrongly.
13. **Misuse of pronouns or unclear reference**: the number or gender of a pronoun the writer used does not match the noun, or the reader cannot directly tell what the pronoun used by the writer refers to.
14. **Incomplete sentences**: some element of the sentence, especially a main element that makes up the trunk of the sentence, is missing.
15. **Subject–verb disagreement**: the subject and predicate of the sentence do not satisfy agreement in "number."
16. **Violating the principle of a single main clause**: when a sentence is made up of several clauses forming a non-simple sentence, the writer did not ensure that there is one and only one main clause, that is, all subordinate clauses must be introduced or separated by conjunctions, relative pronouns, semicolons and the like, while it must be ensured that there is a single main clause. Sentences making this type of error are called "run-on sentences" or "comma splices" (流水句 / 逗号拼凑句).
17. **Errors in comparative sentences**: including the writer's subjects of comparison in a comparative sentence being inconsistent, that is, in a comparative sentence the two objects of comparison the writer introduces do not have the same nature and attributes, that is, they are "not comparable," or the comparative degree is used wrongly, and so on.
18. **Inconsistency between parallel elements**: in parallel elements, the writer did not make the two sides of the parallel fully equivalent in structure, function and nature.
19. **Tense errors**: the tense used by the predicate verb of the sentence is inconsistent with the context the sentence is in.
20. **Voice errors**: the voice (active/passive) used by the predicate verb of the sentence is inconsistent with the subject.
21. **Mood errors**: the sentence did not adopt the correct real mood [Translator's note: the original writes 实语气, literally "real mood," i.e. the indicative as opposed to the subjunctive] or subjunctive mood according to the context.
22. **Not conforming to English idiomatic usage**: the sentence or word satisfies the rules of grammar, but does not conform to the habits of expression of native speakers in English-speaking countries.

The above list was supplemented and reorganized by teacher **Du Changxu** (杜昶旭) on the basis of a "grammar self-check list" of mine from before, and is currently used as the basis for essay correction on [Langlib.com](http://www.langlib.com/).

Copyright: © LookMinds. Our own edited text and translation, not a substitute for the original; rights in the original belong to the author and the platform. Please see the original link.