Sunday, February 6, 2011

Verb tenses:

One thing that I've begun paying closer attention to is the use of different verb tenses. I find myself doing it all the time. It can be difficult to make sure you match verb tenses in your writing. I speak fluent Spanish and it is easier for me to use the right verb tenses in Spanish than it is in English. The different verb tenses are more distinct in Spanish than they are for English so I think that is part of the reason it is easier for me. I also think that it may be that I never really learned the different English tenses very well. I now know that when you do use the correct tense it makes the sentence flow uninhibited. The more verbs a sentence has, the greater the need for fluidity in the tenses.

As for the grammar errors, this week at work I found that many of my colleagues don't know how to use proper grammar. I saw many uses of "who's" instead of "whose" and "it's" instead of "its." This is one area I feel comfortable with. It is not difficult for me to grasp this set of rules like it is for some of the others. I was reading notes left on a client's account by one of our brokers and he had written "the client had it's card stolen." First of all, "it" should not have been used. It should have been he. Even if it was correct for him to use "it" he should not have had an apostrophe. It made me chuckle to myself, but I'm sure I have made mistakes like that also so I couldn't criticize too much.

1 comment:

  1. I agree that the possessive forms are difficult to work with. I also see their/they're/there used inappropriately as well. It's a good thing we have had so much practice, I find it easier to know when to use whose versus who's, etc. I just wish I had as easy a time with who/whom.

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