Grammar

1. Check all instances of I. They should be with capital I and nothing else.
2. Check all national words. They should have capital letters: English, Englishman.
3. Check all instances of a and an. A before consonant sound, an before vowel sound. (A European agreement, an honest proposal).
4. Check all verbs in the text.
   • Present tense: He/she/it speaks
   • Agreement: John jumps, Ted and Bill jump; John was late. Bill and Ted were late; John has diabetes. Wolves and dogs have fur; Samuel is sick. John and Bill are funny.
5. Check all Where and were. Where is used for placement: Where is the car? The city where I grew up. Were is used as a verb. We were late for class.
6. Genitive. When somebody owns something an apostrophe and an s is added to indicate ownership, as in: This is Daniel’s car. It is John’s wife.

NOTICE 1: Charles’ car.

NOTICE 2: It is = It’s. It’s a plane, not superman: The car is blue, but it has lost one of its wheels.

1. Then and than. Then is used in all comparisons when they deal with time. Than is used in all other cases. I first came to Newark and then I went to New York. I am taller than you.
2. Who’s and whose. Who’s the new teacher? That’s the guy whose bike I stole.
3. Who or Whom. Who wrote the letter? He wrote the letter. Therefore, who is correct.

For whom should I vote? Should I vote for him? Therefore, whom is correct.

1. Which and Who and That. Which is used when dealing with things. Who is used when dealing with people. That is as which but is only used in restrictive clauses.

Gems that sparkle make me happy. Diamonds, which are expensive, often make girls happy. This is John who I met last week in Paris. John is on the team that won first place. The editorial claiming racial differences in intelligence, which appeared in the Sunday newspaper, upset me.