Thursday, September 01, 2011

Error correction : choosing the active or passive voice


The problems in the following examples relate to your choice of either the passive or active voice for your verb phrases.  Can you identify the problems and suggest corrections as comments below?

1. The Olympic Games with its long history has always been attracted by people as an entertaining and social event

2. 44,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the UK

3. Protein foods are advised to be included in your breakfast since it provides sustained energy and takes longer to digest

4. Skipping breakfast become an issue to be widely discussed

5. missions are always taken place in the most difficult situations.  

6. it is not justified for the government to provide more funding for dementia

Error correction : referencing


Can you see any problems with the following examples from your writing?  Look for examples of ACCORDING TO in an article you are reading for your project and tell me (via comments below) what you think is wrong with these examples.  How would you correct them?

1. According to (Essex Quarterly, 2011) over 44,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer annually in the UK, while 12,500 women die every year from the disease.

2. According to the research published in Essex Quarterly, the study was conducted on more than 4,000 children by looking at key factors contributing to their general health included weight and physical activity.

3.According to “fighting the demon of dementia”, the author states that 820,000 people in the UK suffer from dementia and the number will increase to one million in 2025 and two billion in 2050.

New Month, New Season...same old mistakes?


In class we looked at noun phrases and collocations.  In terms of collocations, we decided identified some good, bad, and funny expressions, but with some correction we arrived at the following beautiful examples:

- provide Halal chicken monthly
- repair a badly broken camera
- desperately need unconditional love
- ask a terrible question
- smell fresh flowers
- found an international organisation
- decorate a Christmas tree
- boycott drive-through McDonalds
- punish a (not particularly) smart thief

We also attempted to correct some collocation errors from your writing.  Can you suggest any better alternatives than the following?  Write your suggestions as comments underneath:
  1. Go through a challenge
  2. Opinionated questions
  3. Manage harder
  4. Wrong habitual eating styles
  5. Very necessary
  6. Before I received my first child
  7. Less quality alternative
  8. Make more research