Giáo trình oxford8 ppt

click/clique CLICK CLIQUE Students lamenting the division of their schools into snobbish factions often misspell “clique” as “click.” In the original French, “clique” was synonymous with “claque”—an organized group of supporters at a theatrical event who tried to prompt positive audience response by clapping enthusiastically. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/click.html03/09/2005 15:37:17 close/clothes CLOSE/CLOTHES Because the TH in “clothes” is seldom pronounced distinctly, it is often misspelled “close.” Just remember the TH in “clothing,” where it is obvious. Clothes are made of cloth. Rags can also be cloths (without an E). List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/clothes.html03/09/2005 15:37:17 close proxmity CLOSE PROXIMITY CLOSE, IN PROXIMITY TO A redundancy: “in proximity to” means “close to.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/close.html03/09/2005 15:37:18 coarse/course COARSE/COURSE “Coarse” is always an adjective meaning “rough, crude.” Unfortunately, this spelling is often mistakenly used for a quite different word, “course,” which can be either a verb or a noun (with several different meanings). List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/coarse.html03/09/2005 15:37:18 collaborate/corroborate COLLABORATE/CORROBORATE People who work together on a project collaborate (share their labor); people who support your testimony as a witness corroborate (strengthen by confirming) it. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/collaborate.html03/09/2005 15:37:18 colombia/columbia COLOMBIA/COLUMBIA Although both are named after Columbus, the U.S. capital is the District of Columbia, whereas the South American country is Colombia. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/colombia.html03/09/2005 15:37:18 colons/semicolons COLONS/SEMICOLONS Colons have a host of uses, but they mostly have in common that the colon acts to connect what precedes it with what follows. Think of the two dots of a colon as if they were stretched out to form an equal sign, so that you get cases like this: “he provided all the ingredients: sugar, flour, butter, and vanilla.” There are a few exceptions to this pattern, however. One unusual use of colons is in between the chapter and verses of a Biblical citation, for instance, “Matthew 6:5.” In bibliographic citation a colon separates the city from the publisher: “New York: New Directions, 1979.” It also separates minutes from hours in times of day when given in figures: “8:35.” It is incorrect to substitute a semicolon in any of these cases. Think of the semicolon as erecting a little barrier with that dug-in comma under the dot; semicolons always imply separation rather than connection. A sentence made up of two distinct parts whose separation needs to be emphasized may do so with a semicolon: “Mary moved to Seattle; she was sick of getting sunburned in Los Angeles.” When a compound sentence contains commas within one or more of its clauses, you have to escalate to a semicolon to separate the clauses themselves: “It was a mild, deliciously warm spring day; and Mary decided to walk to the fair.” The other main use of semicolons is to separate one series of items from another—a series within a series, if you will: “The issues discussed by the board of directors were many: the loud, acrimonious complaints of the stockholders; the abrupt, devastating departure of the director; and the startling, humiliating discovery that he had absconded with half the company’s assets.” Any time the phrases which make up a series contain commas, for whatever reason, they need to be separated by semicolons. Many people are so terrified of making the wrong choice that they try to avoid colons and semicolons altogether, but I’m afraid this just can’t be done. Formal writing requires their use, and it’s necessary to learn the correct patterns. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/colons.html03/09/2005 15:37:19 commas COMMAS What follows is not a comprehensive guide to the many uses of commas, but a quick tour of the most common errors involving them. The first thing to note is that the comma often marks a brief pause in the flow of a sentence, and helpfully marks off one phrase from another. If you write “I plan to see Shirley and Fred will go shopping while we visit” your readers are naturally going to think the announced visit will be to both Shirley and Fred until the second half surprises them into realizing that Fred is not involved in this visit at all. A simple comma makes everything clear: “I plan to see Shirley, and Fred will go shopping while we visit.” People who read and write little have trouble with commas if they deal with English primarily as a spoken language, where emphasis and rhythm mark out phrases. It takes a conscious effort to translate the rhythm of a sentence into writing using punctuation. Not many people other than creative writers have the occasion to write dialogue, but it is surprising how few understand that introductory words and phrases have to be separated from the main body of speech in direct address: “Well, what did you think of that?” “Good evening, Mr. Nightingale.” Commas often help set off interrupting matter within sentences. The proper term for this sort of word or phrase is “parenthetical.” There are three ways to handle parenthetical matter. For asides sharply interrupting the flow of the sentence (think of your own examples) use parenthesis marks. For many other kinds of fairly strong interjections dashes—if you know how to type them properly—work best. Milder interruptions, like this, are nicely set off with commas. Many writers don’t realize that they are setting off a phrase, so they begin with the first comma but omit the second, which should conclude the parenthetical matter. Check for this sort of thing in your proofreading. A standard use for commas is in separating the items in a series: “cats, dogs, and gerbils.” Authorities differ as to whether that final comma before the “and” is required. Follow the style recommended by your teacher, editor, or boss when you have to please them; but if you are on your own, I suggest you use the final comma. It often removes ambiguities. A different kind of series has to do with a string of adjectives modifying a single noun: “He was a tall, strong, handsome, but stupid man.” But when the adjectives modify each other instead of the noun, then no comma is used: “He was wearing a garish bright green tie.” A simple test: if you could logically insert “and” between the adjectives in a series like this, you need commas. English teachers refer to sentences where clauses requiring some stronger punctuation are instead lightly pasted together with a comma as “comma splices.” Here’s an example: “He brought her a dozen roses, he had forgotten she was allergic to them.” In this sentence the reader needs to be brought up sharply and reoriented mid-sentence with a semicolon; a comma is too weak to do the file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/commas.html (1 sur 2)03/09/2005 15:37:19 commas trick. Here’s a worse example of a comma splice: “It was a beautiful day outside, she remembered just in time to grab the coffee mug.” There is no obvious logical connection between the two parts of this sentence. They don’t belong in the same sentence at all. The comma should be a period, with the rest being turned into a separate sentence. Some writers insert commas seemingly at random: “The unabridged dictionary, was used mainly to press flowers.” When you’re not certain a comma is required, read your sentence aloud. If it doesn’t seem natural to insert a slight pause or hesitation at the point marked by the comma, it should probably be omitted. See also colons/semicolons and hyphens & dashes. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/commas.html (2 sur 2)03/09/2005 15:37:19 compare and contrast COMPARE AND CONTRAST COMPARE Hey kids, here’s a chance to catch your English teacher in a redundancy! To compare two things is to note their similarities and their differences. There’s no need to add “and contrast." List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/compare.html03/09/2005 15:37:19