Common Grammatical Errors In John Updike's A & P

Comma splices are also another form of common grammatical errors. Comma splices are also called run-on sentences; two main clauses are joined together and attempt to create one single sentence. One of the most common types of comma splice that is considered unacceptable is “a sentence of two independent clauses joined, or interrupted, by a conjunctive adverb preceded by one comma or enclosed by two” (A Few Good Words for the Comma Splice 185). In A&P, there are a few instances in which John Updike’s writing contains a comma splice. The following is an example of a comma splice: “There was this chunky one, with the two-piece -- it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale so I guessed she

“The tenses determine time with reference to the time point of the act of speech, i.e., of the token uttered” (Reichenbach 71). Tense shift occurs when a writer or speaker switches from the past or present tense. Contrary to popular belief, “English only has two tenses” (Rodby 67). How is this so? Is there not a future tense? There is not a future tense, but there is a future time. “It is important to distinguish between the grammatical concept tense and the idea of time. We might say that tense is a formal aspect of sentences and clauses, whereas time is a concept about the way the world works”. If one would like to discuss a time in the future, the sentence will contain the word “have”, and may read something like the following example: “John will have ridden the bus to school”. Here a a few sentence examples of what it would look like if one were to use tense shift in either written or spoken English. “Yesterday, mother petted our family dog Spot. Yesterday, she pets him so gently, and Spot liked it”. This example is not grammatically correct, because the phrase “Yesterday, she pets him” refers to two different and separate tenses. The sentence should instead read “Yesterday, she petted him so gently, and Spot liked