Sentence Correction

At a glance 10 rules

1. 1Split on the differencesRead the versions side by side and settle the difference you are surest of first. One error rules a version out; the answer survives every check.
2. 2One of the best'One of the' takes 'the' and a plural noun: 'one of the tallest buildings'. 'Best' is already a superlative, so never 'most best'.
3. 3Word forms'So' and 'very' go before an adjective: 'so useful', not 'so usefully'. An adverb describes an adjective: 'surprisingly cheap'.
4. 4Cannot help + -ing'Cannot help' means cannot stop yourself, and it takes -ing: 'She could not help smiling'. Never 'help to smile' or 'help from smiling'.
5. 5Despite, in spite of'Despite' takes a noun or an -ing form with no 'of'; 'in spite' always keeps its 'of': 'despite the delay', 'in spite of the delay'.
6. 6One negative only'Hardly', 'scarcely' and 'barely' are already negative, so they take 'any', never 'no': 'hardly any time', not 'hardly no time'.
7. 7No 'not' after until'Until' already marks where something stops, so it takes no 'not': 'We played on until it got dark', not 'until it did not get dark'.
8. 8Keep tenses in stepVerbs joined by 'and' share a tense. After 'says' or 'has announced', a future stays 'will'; after 'said', it usually becomes 'would'.
9. 9Negative openers'Not until', 'never', 'seldom' and 'only then' at the start flip the order: 'Not until noon did he call', with 'did' + subject + base verb.
10. 10Fixed patternsAccused of, charged with, begin on Monday. For a job someone else does: 'have' or 'get' + thing + past participle, 'we had the fan repaired'.