A good writer knows the importance of proper grammar. Proper grammar can make or break an article, blog post, essay or any homework assignment. Common grammar errors may not seem important, but they can change the meaning of any writing. Proper grammar can help people succeed in the job market today. Proper grammar is essential in work fields like science, teaching and medicine. Freelance writers need to have excellent grammar capabilities. If a freelance writer fails in grammar their income may suffer. A journalist needs good grammar to help form sentences in a coherent manor. It is always important to spell check any work before submitting, but many people fail to check for grammar errors. A free online grammar checker has proved to be beneficial to amateur and professional writers alike. A good grammar checker website will check spelling and grammar both. Results are usually instant and checks for English grammar.
Grammar Checker Should Be Free
The free grammar checker is an online tool that will help improve your writing and allows you to correct your errors automatically with just the click of a button. The best part is it’s FREE! If you are a copywriter, a journalist, an author, or a college student, etc. this will make your job much easier. The instant grammar checker will allow all of your work to be error-free, leaving you with perfect writing everytime which allows you to stand out in what you do. It is very simple and does not require a lot of time because grammar checker online finds your errors and makes the necessary corrections for you allowing more time for you. The grammar checker may also allow one to learn to communicate through writing better, whether it be a letter, writing emails, or even just leaving a simple comment on a social-networking site. The grammar checker is the best way to correct your work efficiently.
Nouns: Possessives
Possessive nouns are nouns that show ownership. To make most proper and common nouns possessive nouns we need only add an apostrophe and then an “s” like this:
Sam’s dog has fleas.
Sam’s dog’s fleas are brown.
Possessives ending in s still require an apostrophe and another “s.” Even if a singular noun ends in “s” such as in names like “Gus” or common nouns like “class.”
The class’s field trip was canceled.
Mrs. Glass’s house is near Gus’s office.
Plurals and possessives are a little different. Plural words that are also possessive are usually formed by just adding an apostrophe like this.
The dogs’ leashes are kept in the drawer.
The girls’ basketball team won the game.
If a noun is simply plural and doesn’t show ownership it does not require an apostrophe. For example, none of these words as used in the sentences below require an apostrophe because they are only plural not possessive.
The dogs will go for a walk.
The girls play basketball.
Making an irregular plural noun possessive when it does not end in “s” is very simple. Add an apostrophe then the “s” just as if it were a singular noun like this.
The children’s book is lost.
The fox’s den is in the woods.
Various situations in possessives grammar call for a few seemingly tricky rules. Showing possession when two nouns are joined together and possession is shared is different from indicating possession when two nouns are joined together and ownership is separate. When two people are listed as owning one thing together the possession is shown on the second noun only. Add an apostrophe “s” to the second noun, and leave the first one as it is. For example:
John and Susan’s house is a fun place to visit.
Sally and Tom’s game was left on the floor.
If the two nouns have separate ownership of two separate objects, each noun needs an apostrophe and an “s” added to them. For Example:
Susan’s and Tom’s dinner plates are still on the table.
The dog’s and cat’s water bowls are on the floor.
Misplaced Modifiers
Modifiers are of course adjectives, adverbs and their various clauses and phrases. Adjectives and adverbs modify or describe other words. Misplaced modifiers are modifiers placed too far from the word it modifies, so that they seem more associated with another word. This can change the meaning of a sentence. For example, do you say, “I found the lady’s red purse,” or “I found the red lady’s purse.” The first sentence is correct, because the purse is red, not the lady.
Adjectives, adverbs, phrases and clauses can all be misplaced to change the meaning of a sentence in an unwanted way. To make sure modifiers are associated with the correct word, make sure the words are placed together in a sentence. Here are more examples of misplaced modifiers and how to fix them.
A misplaced adjective: The stolen lady’s handbag was found.
Fixed: The lady’s stolen handbag was found.
A misplaced adverb: The students used the crayons they were given excitedly.
Fixed: The students excitedly used the crayons they were given.
A misplaced phrase: The dogs are walked in the park with leather collars.
Fixed: The dogs with leather collars are walked in the park.
A misplaced Clause: Someone took the apples from the basket that were ripe.
Fixed: Someone took all the apples that were ripe from the basket.
Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers are two completely different problems. With a misplaced modifier, the modifier appears to modify the wrong word. With a dangling modifier the modifier doesn’t seem to modify any part of the sentence. Dangling modifiers often occur at the beginning of a sentence.
Here is an example of a dangling modifier. “While studying geography, the book fell off the table.” Nothing mentioned in the sentence was actually studying geography. Logically, neither the book nor the table studied. In order to correct the sentence we have to invent a person to study geography. We can either fix the modifier, “While John was studying Geography, the book fell off the table.” or we can fix the rest of the sentence like this. “While studying Geography, John dropped the book.”