Examples of SAT grammar rule violations found in educational websites

This is simply a collection of SAT grammar rule violations found on the web — mostly excerpted from sites purporting to teach English and writing skills.  Oddly, these are much easier to find than one would think.   There are very few English language sites that are not riddled with errors.

  • This proves that good writing can be learned at any stage of life—and underscores the reasons why every high school student should seize the opportunity to boost his or her SAT score by learning the rules of English grammar once and for all.  — from The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation (http://www.grammarbook.com/sat.asp) “Reasons why” constitutes causality redundancy.  See The Reason Is Always The Why in Language and Grammar.
  • You job is to identify whether the sentence actually contains an error, and, if so, which underlined word or phrase is ungrammatical.  From SAT Preparation Identifying Sentence Errors http://hubpages.com/hub/SAT_Preparation_Identifying_Sentence_Errors.  Use of “you” when possessive, “your,” is required.
  • Most online classes do not required on-campus attendance. Many online courses can be taken entirely from your home. In some cases a few institutions may require a minimal class attendance so you want to verify the delivery method of your online degree program.  — from Online Edublog, http://www.onlineedublog.com/2009/12/.   “Do not required” verb badly mangled.  “require a minimal class attendance” article “a” should not be used: “minimal class attendance”.
  • “Seeking a new job can be a terrifying experience—especially if the reason you’re in the job market is due to a downsizing or you’re just starting out on a new career path.”  — From http://www.powerful-sample-resume-formats.com/.   Error: Redundancy: “The reason is due to …” This is clearly a variant of the expressly prohibited: “The reason is because…”
  • We use an in front of a word that begin with a consonant sound and an in front of a word that begin with a vowel sound. — From http://speakwell.co.nr/.  Error: subject verb mismatch: “… a word that begin with …”
  • “Nowadays Universities around the globe place more and more emphasis on the written assignments. The reason for that is because essays, courseworks and dissertations enable students to understand the subject matter and be able to apply theory onto practice.” — From http://university-essays.tripod.com/.  Errors: definite article used where it should be omitted: “the written assignments,” redundancy: “the reason is because,”  mass-noun/count noun confusion: “courseworks,” further redundancy: “enable students to … be able to,” poorly chosen preposition: “apply theory onto practice.”)
  • “If Rudolph had not invented the diesel engine my life would be quite different, for example there would not big trucks for delivering mass amounts of goods. It would be more complicated for stores and other companies to get goods. It also supplies jobs for many people. “  — from http://www.essaysample.com/essay/000017.html.  Errors: comma splice run on sentence,  missing antecedent: “It also supplies jobs for many people.”
  • Orator School Of English, Vikaspuri.Spoken English Program,Voice & Accent,Customized Corporate Training,The BPO Learning Solutions,Placement Services,IELTS, TOEFL TRAINING French & German Language Courses,We Offer a range of programs to enhance communication skills such as Soft Skills, Sales and Customer Service as well as specialized program for BPO/ Call Center industry through its Master English Courses– from An English language school in India.  Error: Singular noun used without an article where an article is clearly required.
  • We can put men on the moon; we can send spacecraft beyond the edge of the solar system and into deep space; we can move mountains; we can fly; we can extract the riches of the Earth from wherever they lie; but we are laid low by something a billion times smaller than us.  From R.I. Chalmers’ Passionate about English
  • Writing college essays could be bit tough for students as they are just beginners and might not know all basics about the essay writing. There is no harm in taking the help of outers to have the best quality essay especially if you lack the writing and researching skills or do not have enough time to spend on writing an essay.  From UK Essay Writing Service.