Grammatical Error Definition and Examples

Grammatical error (also known as error, usage error, grammar error or mistake, bad grammar) is a term used in prescriptive grammar  to describe an instance of faulty, unconventional, or controversial usage, such as a ​misplaced modifier  or an inappropriate verb tense. Also called a usage error. Compare grammatical error with correctness. Its also known as: error, usage error, grammar error or mistake, bad grammar Grammatical errors are usually distinguished from (though sometimes confused with) factual errors, logical fallacies,  misspellings, typographical errors, and faulty punctuation. Interestingly, many people  tend to view usage errors primarily as gaffes or potential sources of embarrassment, not as impediments to effective communication. According to an ad for an amazing book on usage, Mistakes in English can cause you embarrassment, hold you back socially and on the job. It can make you look awkward and hide your true intellect. (Note that in the second sentence the singular pronoun it has no clear referent. Many English teachers would regard this as a grammatical error—specifically, a case of faulty pronoun reference.)   Examples and Observations In Correct English, J. T. Baker says The expression grammatical error sounds, and is, in a sense, paradoxical, for the reason that a form cannot be grammatical and erroneous at the same time. One would not say musical discord... Because of the apparent contradiction of terms, the form grammatical error should be avoided and error in construction, or error in English, etc., be used in its stead. Of course one should never say, good grammar or bad grammar. â€Å"We believe, as do most linguists, that native speakers do not make mistakes,† per Peter Trudgill and Lars-Gunnar Andersson, who were quoted in Errors in Language Learning and Use. Garner on Grammatical Errors If descriptivists believe that any linguistic evidence validates usage, then we must not be descriptivists. Hardly anyone wants to be a nonjudgmental collector of evidence. It’s far more interesting and valuable to assemble the evidence and then to draw conclusions from it. Judgments. Rulings. To the extent that the masses want such reasoning—as one could only wish—it’s because they want to use language effectively, says Bryan A. Garner in his New York Times article, Which Language Rules to Flout. Or Flaunt? In Garners Modern American Usage, Garner notes Because grammatical may mean either (1) relating to grammar [grammatical subject] or (2) consistent with grammar [a grammatical sentence], there is nothing wrong with the age-old phrase grammatical error (sense 1). Its as acceptable as the phrases criminal lawyer and logical fallacy. Grammar and Usage Usage is a concept that embraces many aspects of and attitudes toward language. Grammar is certainly only a small part of what goes to make up usage, though some people use one term for the other, as when they label what is really a controversial point of usage a grammatical error, according to Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary. Error Analysis Error analysis, as a descriptive rather than a prescriptive approach to error, provides a methodology for determining why a student makes a particular grammatical error and has been a potentially valuable borrowing from this field [research in second-language acquisition], one that could have altered the prescriptive drilling of standard forms which still comprises much of basic writing texts. Unfortunately, however, error analysis in the composition classroom has generally served to simply keep the focus on error, says Eleanor Kutz in Between Students Language and Academic Discourse. The Lighter Side of Grammatical Error Heres some dialog from the 18th episode of The Simpsons 12th season, the Trilogy of the Error. First mobster: Hey. Theys throwin robots.Linguo: They are throwing robots.Second mobster: Its disrespecting us. Shut up ayou face.Linguo: Shut up your face.Second mobster: Whatsa matta you?First mobster: You aint so big.Second mobster: Me an him are gonna whack you in the labonza.Linguo: Mmmm...Aah! Bad grammar overload. Error. Error.[Linguo explodes] Sources Baker, Josephine Turck, editor. Response to a letter. Correct English, 1 Mar. 1901, p. 113. Garner, Bryan A. Garners Modern American Usage. 3rd ed, Oxford University Press, 2009. ï » ¿Garner, Bryan A. Which Language Rules to Flout. Or Flaunt? The New York Times, 27 Sept., 2012. Kutz, Eleanor. Between Students Language and Academic Discourse: Interlanguage as Middle Ground. Negotiating Academic Literacies, edited by Vivian Zamel and Ruth Spack. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998. Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed, 2003. Trilogy of Error. The Simpsons, written by Matt Selman, directed by Mike B. Anderson, 20th Century Fox, 2001. Trudgill, Peter and Lars-Gunnar Andersson. 1990, quoted by Carl James in Errors in Language Learning and Use. Addison Wesley Longman, 1998.

Fairy Tales Reflection of Societal Dysfunction Essay

When people talk about fairy tales, in their mind, they will automatically think about fantasy element such as princess, princes, and fairy and of course the happy ending at the end of every fairy tale. They give us a place for freedom of thinking and relaxing. Moreover, in some way, we used fairy tales to teach a childs moral lessons about how to behavior. Do fairy tales only offer the freedom of thinking and moral lesson fairy tales to people? We use to think that the fantasy in the fairy tales has no impact on their society, and its merely the element to get the stories in fairy tales gloomier and more attracted to the reader. No, fairy tales still hold one more important function. In one aspect, fairy tales reflect the bad side of†¦show more content†¦The willing to believe in fairy tales is existent and choosing to follow the forest nymph who leads her to the faun in the labyrinth first visit she is the action of a rebel. As Guillermo Del Torro, the films director of Pa ns Labyrinth, he states: Fascism is the absolute lack of imagination, the absolute lack of choice, and the most masculine expression of power. Under its cruel restrictions, people are prohibited from thinking for themselves. They (the people) have to take what the fascist society offers them and are not allowed to think for themselves. However, Ofelia made her choice for herself. She would rather put her faith to believe the fantasy characters in fairy tales which no one believes than live with the real world. The actions of accepting that she is a princess and trying to find her way back to her underworld kingdom, we see that Ofelia represents the unwillingness to live under a fascist regime by escaping from the real world where the lives of men seem worthless. She uses the fantasy world as the way to escape the living with the captain. Annalee Newitz, the author of Pan’s labyrinth-Can Fantasies Rescue Us from Fascism, said, â€Å"Ofelia’s fantasies are more than m erely escapist because they allow her to find political allies.† Her actions of betraying the Caption also shows her defending the Marxist rebels. When she knows that she cannot return to her kingdom Ofelia decides to go with Mercedes and help the Marxist rebels.

Attitude Formation Free Essays

Attitude FormationCCSF, Shardlow In Social Psychology attitudes are defined as positive or negative evaluations of objects of thought. Attitudes typically have three components. †¢ The cognitive component is made up of the thoughts and beliefs people hold about the object of the attitude. We will write a custom essay sample on Attitude Formation or any similar topic only for you Order Now †¢ The affective component consists of the emotional feelings stimulated by the object of the attitude. †¢ The behavioral component consists of predispositions to act in certain ways toward an attitude object. The object of an attitude can be anything people have opinions about. Therefore, individual people, groups of people, institutions, products, social trends, consumer products, etc. all can be attitudinal objects. †¢ Attitudes involve social judgments. They are either for, or against, pro, or con, positive, or negative; however, it is possible to be ambivalent about the attitudinal object and have a mix of positive and negative feelings and thoughts about it. †¢ Attitudes involve a readiness (or predisposition) to respond; however, for a variety of reasons we don’t always act on our attitudes. †¢ Attitudes vary along dimensions of strength and accessibility. Strong attitudes are very important to the individual and tend to be durable and have a powerful impact on behavior, whereas weak attitudes are not very important and have little impact. Accessible attitudes come to mind quickly, whereas other attitudes may rarely be noticed. †¢ Attitudes tend to be stable over time, but a number of factors can cause attitudes to change. †¢ Stereotypes are widely held beliefs that people have certain characteristics because of their membership in a particular group. †¢ A prejudice is an arbitrary belief, or feeling, directed toward a group of people or its individual members. Prejudices can be either positive or negative; however, the term is usually used to refer to a negative attitude held toward members of a group. Prejudice may lead to discrimination, which involves behaving differently, usually unfairly, toward the members of a group. Psychological factors involved in Attitude Formation and Attitude Change 1. Direct Instruction involves being told what attitudes to have by parents, schools, community organizations, religious doctrine, friends, etc. 2. Operant Conditioning is a simple form of learning. It is based on the â€Å"Law of Effect† and involves voluntary responses. Behaviors (including verbal behaviors and maybe even thoughts) tend to be repeated if they are reinforced (i. e. , followed by a positive experience). Conversely, behaviors tend to be stopped when they are punished (i. e. , followed by an unpleasant experience). Thus, if one expresses, or acts out an attitude toward some group, and this is reinforced by one’s peers, the attitude is strengthened and is likely to be expressed again. The reinforcement can be as subtle as a smile or as obvious as a raise in salary. Operant conditioning is especially involved with the behavioral component of attitudes. 3. Classical conditioning is another simple form of learning. It involves involuntary responses and is acquired through the pairing of two stimuli. Two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused and before long the person responds in the same way to both events. Originally studied by Pavlov, the process requires an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that produces an involuntary (reflexive) response (UCR). If a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired, either very dramatically on one occasion, or repeatedly for several acquisition trials, the neutral stimulus will lead to the same response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus. At this point the stimulus is no longer neutral and so is referred to as a conditioned stimulus (CS) and the response has now become a learned response and so is referred to as a conditioned response (CR). In Pavlov’s research the UCS was meat powder which led to an UCR of salivation. The NS was a bell. At first the bell elicited no response from the dog, but eventually the bell alone caused the dog to salivate. Advertisers create positive attitudes towards their products by presenting attractive models in their ads. In this case the model is the UCS and our reaction to him, or her, is an automatic positive response. The product is the original NS which through pairing comes to elicit a positive conditioned response. In a similar fashion, pleasant or unpleasant experiences with members of a particular group could lead to positive or negative attitudes toward that group. Classical conditioning is especially involved with the emotional, or affective, component of attitudes. 4. Social (Observational) Learning is based on modeling. We observe others. If they are getting reinforced for certain behaviors or the expression of certain attitudes, this serves as vicarious reinforcement and makes it more ikely that we, too, will behave in this manner or express this attitude. Classical conditioning can also occur vicariously through observation of others. 5. Cognitive Dissonance exists when related cognitions, feelings or behaviors are inconsistent or contradictory. Cognitive dissonance creates an unpleasant state of tension that motivates people to reduce their dissonance by changing their cognitions, feel ing, or behaviors. For example, a person who starts out with a negative attitude toward marijuana will experience cognitive dissonance if they start smoking marijuana and find themselves enjoying the experience. The dissonance they experience is thus likely to motivate them to either change their attitude toward marijuana, or to stop using marijuana. This process can be conscious, but often occurs without conscious awareness. 6. Unconscious Motivation. Some attitudes are held because they serve some unconscious function for an individual. For example, a person who is threatened by his homosexual feelings may employ the defense mechanism of reaction formation and become a crusader against homosexuals. Or, someone who feels inferior may feel somewhat better by putting down a group other than her own. Because it is unconscious, the person will not be aware of the unconscious motivation at the time it is operative, but may become aware of it as some later point in time. 7. Rational Analysis involves the careful weighing of evidence for, and against, a particular attitude. For example, a person may carefully listen to the presidential debates and read opinions of political experts in order to decide which candidate to vote for in an election. How to cite Attitude Formation, Essay examples