Using Language Correctly
© Colleen Callahan
SES: ENGLISH
NELSON MANDELA BAY METRO DISTRICT
Paper 1: Question 5
Question 5 always consists of a prose text
with language-based questions on the
text. These questions include the
following aspects:
PUNCTUATION
In order to answer questions on PUNCTUATION, you need to know
what the punctuation signs look like and what their function is.
You may find the following information helpful. This information was
taken from the following website:
PUNCTUATION
PUNCTUATION
PUNCTUATION
PUNCTUATION
PUNCTUATION
TASK
Another 2023 Comrades Marathon record: 92% of 1. Give the function of the colon in the headline:
runners made it to Durban finish line
Another 2023 Comrades Marathon record: 92% of runners
Published Jun 13, 2023 made it to Durban finish line
Durban – Provisional results released by the
Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) revealed that
of the more than 16 000 runners who started the 2. Give the function of the fullstop at the end of
paragraph 1:
down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban on
Sunday, over 92% finished. The association said there were more than 16 000 runners
at the start and nearly 15 000 of them finished the race.
1. The association said there were more than 16 000
runners at the start and nearly 15 000 of them Refer to paragraph 2:
finished the race.
2. This year’s Comrades had a 92.68% finish rate – 3. What is the function of the apostrophe in “This year’s
Comrades …”?
the highest in the history of the race, said the CMA.
4. Give the function of the dash in paragraph 2:
[Source: https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news/another-2023- This year’s Comrades had a 92.68% finish rate – the highest in the
comrades-marathon-record-92-of-runners-made-it-to-durban- history of the race, said the CMA.
finish-line-9819ae5e-96ab-4556-b35b-da3a0c5312ad]
Spelling
The following SPELLING RULES, may help you to recognise and correct
any spelling errors that may be in the given prose text in question 5.
This material is all taken from the following source:
Spelling
Spelling
Spelling
Spelling
Spelling
Spelling
Spelling
Spelling
TASK
1. The assosiation hosted a 2023 Comrades 1. Correct the spelling error in paragraph 1.
Champions prize-giving breakfast on
2. Correct the spelling error on paragraph 2
Monday, presented by Brand South
Africa, at the Southern Sun Elangeni
Hotel.
2. At the event were race winners Tete
Dijana and Gerda Steyn, who both
claimed their second victories, other top
performers, CMA sponsors and partners,
goverment dignitaries and road-running
officials.
[Source:
https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news/another-
2023-comrades-marathon-record-92-of-runners-
made-it-to-durban-finish-line-9819ae5e-96ab-4556-
b35b-da3a0c5312ad]
ACTIVE VOICE AND PASSIVE VOICE
In an ACTIVE VOICE SENTENCE, the In a PASSIVE VOICE sentence, the
Subject of the sentence carries out SUBJECT of the sentence is having
the action referred to by the verb. the action referred to in the verb
done to it.
SUBJECT
SUBJECT
• Pretty Yende sings opera.
• Opera is sung by Pretty Yende.
VERB
VERB
To change a sentence from the ACTIVE into
the PASSIVE VOICE:
(1) Find the verb
(2) Swop the Subject and the Object of the Active Voice Sentence
• The Object of the Active Voice sentence becomes the Subject of the Passive sentence.
• The Subject of the Active Voice sentence becomes the Object of the Passive voice sentence.
(3) Check the tense of the verb.
• If the verb is in the PRESENT TENSE, change its form to is/are+verb ending in –ed/-en (i.e. past
tense form of the verb) + by
• If the verb is in the PAST TENSE, change its form to was/were+verb ending in –ed/-en (i.e. past
tense form of the verb) + by
• If the verb is in the FUTURE TENSE, change its form to will be +verb ending in –ed/-en (i.e. past
tense form of the verb) + by
NB: STEPS 1-3 work in most cases but there are some exceptions.
ACTIVE VOICE AND PASSIVE VOICE
In an ACTIVE VOICE SENTENCE, the In a PASSIVE VOICE sentence, the
Subject of the sentence carried out SUBJECT of the sentence is having
the action referred to by the verb. the action referred to in the verb
done to it.
SUBJECT OBJECT
SUBJECT OBJECT
• Pretty Yende sings opera.
• Opera is sung by Pretty Yende.
VERB
VERB
TASK
1. Correct the error of concord in
1. The Mercury report on the 2023 Comrades
Marathon.
paragraph 1.
2. Nedbank Running Club’s Dijana won the 2. Re-write the following sentence in
men’s race in a time of 5:13:58. He succeeded
in breaking David Gatebe’s 2016 best time of
the passive voice:
5:18:19 by over four minutes. Steyn claimed Nedbank Running Club’s Dijana won
her victory in a time of 5:44:54.
the men’s race in a time of 5:13:58.
3. Ngcobo congratulated the winners of the 96th
Comrades Marathon. “We commend these 3. Rewrite the following in reported
two superb athletes on their proudly South (indirect) speech:
African performances and take immense pride
in celebrating their victories and new best “We commend these two superb
times,” he said. athletes on their proudly South African
performances and take immense pride
in celebrating their victories and new
[Source: Adapted from:
https://www.iol.co.za/mercury/news/another-2023-
best times,” he said.
comrades-marathon-record-92-of-runners-made-it-to-durban-
finish-line-9819ae5e-96ab-4556-b35b-da3a0c5312ad]
Ambiguity
Ambiguity refers to a word, idea or situation that can be understood in more
than one way.
Ambiguity in a text causes vagueness because of the many possible
meanings.
When a question asks you to explain the ambiguity you will need to refer to
the various possible meanings.
When you are asked to remove ambiguity, you need to rewrite the sentence
so that the meaning is matched to the given context and clearly understood.
Ambiguity
The information that follows is all taken from the following source:
https://literaryterms.net/ambiguity/
The most frequent types of ambiguity are:
• Semantic ambiguity (Polysemy): a word has
multiple meanings according to various contexts.
• Syntactic Ambiguity caused by sentence
structure, in particular word order.
Examples of Types of Ambiguity
Semantic Ambiguity, also known as Polysemy
When a word has multiple meanings, this is called “polysemy.”
Nearly all words in English are polysemous, meaning that many
sentences have semantic ambiguity. We can usually resolve the
ambiguity using context, but sometimes this doesn’t work. The
word ‘play’ is a great example of polysemy. You can play a role,
play a guitar, play a game, or play the fool (among other
meanings). In most contexts, you wouldn’t have any question
about which one you are talking about. But if you were hanging
out with both a guitar and an mp3 player and someone asked you
to ‘play’ some music, it would be ambiguous!
Syntactic Ambiguity
This sort of ambiguity comes out of the structure of the
sentence rather than the words. For example, “The
murderer killed the student with a book.” We know what
all these words mean individually, but altogether they
are ambiguous; was the book used as a murder
weapons? Or was the victim carrying a book during the
attack? As we’ll see in later examples, this kind of
ambiguity can easily be caused by poor grammar.
• Pun
By including a polysemic word or phrase for humour, the speaker gives the sentence two
possible meanings. This is called a pun.
E.g. Always trust a glue salesman. They tend to stick to their word.
• Equivocation
Also known as “doublespeak,” equivocation is when someone speaks in a purposely
ambiguous way in order to hide something, confuse people, or simply avoid committing
to something. For example, in 1919 Emir Faisal I of Iraq signed an agreement with the
Allies stating that he would be given control of “The Arab Lands” after World War I. But
after the war, it turned out that this phrase had never been defined; it was left
ambiguous. So, Faisal was given a territory far smaller than what he expected.
Homonyms
Homographs
and Homophones
Source:
MALAPROPISMS
• A word that sounds similar to another word, but is used in error. This
device is named after the character , Mrs Malaprop, from a play by
R.B. Sheridan.
• Examples of MALAPROPISMS:
(1) There are four angels in a square. (Angels instead of angles)
(2) She was delighted to except the gift. (except instead of accept)
(3) The business typhoon made R6 million profit last month. (typhoon
instead of tycoon)
TAUTOLOGY
• Repetition of an idea in different words
• The repetition is unnecessary.
• For example:
1. In my opinion, I think …
2. First and foremost
3. Please R.S.V.P.
4. Close proximity
PARTS OF SPEECH
[Source: https://www.learnenglishteam.com/the-eight-parts-of-speech-in-english-pdf/]
SYNONYMNS AND ANTONYMS
Synonyms are words of SIMILAR meaning
e.g. GOOD
• Fine
• Excellent
• Great
Antonymns are words of OPPOSITE meaning
e.g. WAR
• Peace
SOME GRAMMATICAL ERRORS
SPLIT INFINITIVE
• An infinitive is the word TO + AN ACTION
E.g. To run
An infinitive should not be split by another word.
Thandi was told to quickly read through the article. X
Thandi was told to read through the article quickly. √
OR
Thandi was told to read quickly through the article. √
MISRELATED PARTICIPLE
A participle needs to be placed as near as possible to the noun linked
to it. If it is not, then we have a MISRELATED (DANGLING) participle.
For example:
Driving recklessly through the reserve, the antelope was hit and
killed. X
Driving recklessly through the reserve, Jim hit and killed an
antelope. √
PHRASES AND TYPES OF SENTENCES
A phrase is a group of words without a finite verb
e.g. The house with a red roof is on the corner of Fourth Avenue and
Mati Street.
A sentence is made up of one or more clauses. A clause is a group of
words with a finite (complete) verb.
TASK
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
