Tiếng anh oxford 6 ppsx

parallelled/paralleled PARALLELLED/PARALLELED In British English two pairs of parallel “L’s” are a handy spelling reminder, but in American English the spelling of the past tense of “parallel” is “paralleled.” The same pattern holds for British “parallelling” and American “paralleling.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/parallelled.html03/09/2005 15:39:13 parallelism in a series PARALLELISM IN A SERIES Phrases in a series separated by commas or conjunctions must all have the same grammatical form. “They loved mountain-climbing, to gather wild mushrooms, and first aid practice” should be corrected to something like this: “They loved to climb mountains, gather wild mushrooms, and practice first aid” (all three verbs are dependent on that initial “to"). Fear of being repetitious often leads writers into awkward inconsistencies when creating such series. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/parallelism.html03/09/2005 15:39:13 paralyzation PARALYZATION PARALYSIS Some people derive the noun “paralyzation” from the verb “paralyze,” but the proper term is “paralysis.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/paralyzation.html03/09/2005 15:39:13 parameters/perimeters PARAMETERS/PERIMETERS When parameters were spoken of only by mathematicians and scientists, the term caused few problems; but now that it has become widely adopted by other speakers, it is constantly confused with “perimeters.” A parameter is most commonly a mathematical constant, a set of physical properties, or a characteristic of something. But the perimeter of something is its boundary. The two words shade into each other because we often speak of factors of an issue or problem being parameters, simultaneously thinking of them as limits; but this is to confuse two distinct, if related ideas. A safe rule is to avoid using “parameters” altogether unless you are confident you know what it means. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/parameters.html03/09/2005 15:39:13 parentheses PARENTHESES The most common error in using parenthesis marks (besides using them too much) is to forget to enclose the parenthetical material with a final, closing parenthesis mark. The second most common is to place concluding punctuation incorrectly. The simplest sort of example is one in which the entire sentence is enclosed in parentheses. (Most people understand that the final punctuation must remain inside the closing parenthesis mark, like this.) More troublesome are sentences in which only a clause or phrase is enclosed in parentheses. Normally a sentence’s final punctuation mark—whether period, exclamation point, or question mark—goes outside such a parenthesis (like this). However, if the material inside the parenthesis requires a concluding punctuation mark like an exclamation point or question mark (but not a period!), that mark is placed inside the closing mark even though another mark is outside it. This latter sort of thing is awkward, however, and best avoided if you can help it. For some reason, many writers have begun to omit the space before a parenthetic page citation, like this:(p. 17). Always preserve the space, like this: (p. 17). List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/parentheses.html03/09/2005 15:39:14 parliment PARLIMENT PARLIAMENT Americans unfamiliar with parliamentary systems often mistakenly leave the second “A” out of “parliament” and “parliamentary.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/parliment.html03/09/2005 15:39:14 passed/past PASSED/PAST If you are referring to time or distance, use “past”: “the team performed well in the past,” “the police car drove past the suspect’s house.” If you are referring to the action of passing, however, you need to use “passed“: “when John passed the gravy, he spilled it on his lap,” “the teacher was astonished that none of the students had passed the test.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/passed.html03/09/2005 15:39:14 past time PAST TIME PASTIME An agreeable activity like knitting with which you pass the time is your pastime. Spell it as one word, with one “S” and one “T.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/pasttime.html03/09/2005 15:39:14 pastorial PASTORIAL PASTORAL Whether you are referring to poetry or art about the countryside or the duties of a pastor, the word you want is “pastoral.” “Pastorial” is a common misspelling. List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/pastorial.html03/09/2005 15:39:15 passive voice PASSIVE VOICE There are legitimate uses for the passive voice: “this absurd regulation was of course written by a committee.” But it’s true that you can make your prose more lively and readable by using the active voice much more often. “The victim was attacked by three men in ski masks” isn’t nearly as striking as “three men in ski masks attacked the victim.” The passive voice is often used to avoid taking responsibility for an action: “my term paper was accidentally deleted” avoids stating the truth: “I accidentally deleted my term paper.” Over-use of passive constructions is irritating, though not necessarily erroneous. But it does lead to real clumsiness when passive constructions get piled on top of each other: “no exception in the no-pets rule was sought to be created so that angora rabbits could be raised in the apartment” can be made clearer by shifting to the active voice: “the landlord refused to make an exception to the no-pets rule to allow Eliza to raise angora rabbits in the apartment.” List of errors file:///C|/Temp/livres/commonerrors/errors/passive.html03/09/2005 15:39:15