CPR Needed for the English Language (IIA)

Part 11A begins the discussion about the English language connection to some of the core competencies in Library Sciences and examines Klausner’s English skills.  Communication, both written and verbal, is crucial to the degree.  Literacy, storytelling, and writing skills are basic to passing the course and they have to be demonstrated before moving on to a masters’ course of work.  To write coherently, communicate well, and convey understandable information, proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar are necessities.

Does Harriet demonstrate the requisite communication skills and writing skills?  In fact, does Harriet have the skills required to graduate from middle school English classes? 

A slice of 600 reviews over about a three-month period of time gives us searing insight into her English language abilities.  They show pervasive grammar and punctuation problems with:

1.	The proper use of commas
2.	The proper use of semicolons
3.	The proper use of colons
4.	Proper use of hyphens
5.	Consistent verb tenses
6.	Singular and plurals
7.	Relationships of dependent clauses
8.	Relationships of introductory clauses
9.	Possessives
10.	How a series is punctuated
11.	How series within series are punctuated
12.	Prepositions and prepositional phrases
13.	Capitalization
14.	Using nouns as adverbs, adjectives, and verbs
15.	Using adverbs as nouns, adjectives, and verbs
16.	Using verbs as nouns, adjectives, and adverbs
17.	Using adjectives as nouns, adverbs, and verbs
18.	Run-on sentences
19.	Unrelated compound sentences
20.	Unrelated compound thoughts
21.	When to use “who” and when to use “whom”
22.	Correct use of pronouns
23.	Relationship of descriptive phrases
24.	Past tense and future perfect tense
25.	Compound words
26.	Oxymorons
27.	Redundancies
28.	Conjunctions and connectors
29.	Incorrect Words/Spelling

This is basic English.   Proper punctuation, adjectives, adverbs, dependent clauses and how they are placed in the order of a sentence, run-on   sentences, descriptive clauses, improper capitalization, unrelated compound thoughts, conjunctions, and connectors are so common that you  see them in every one of Harriet’s reviews.  For those categories that are not linked above, you can look at any of Harriet’s reviews and see the problems.

There are others, though that are not quite as prevalent, although they are common.  They're linked to the reviews where these incidences occur.

As I read through about 30 pages of reviews, proper word selection really began to stick out.  Every word identified below was used incorrectly many, many times in reviews, showing a clear pattern .  I didn’t select words where Klausner made the mistake only once or twice because I was looking for habitual errors that show a consistent pattern:

Klausner’s Word		Correct Word
compulsive obsessive		obsessive compulsive
nourish		noirish
heroin		heroine
impoverish		impoverished
festive		festivity
to include		including
hi-jinx		hijinks or high jinks
anti oxymoron		no such word
comprising		compromising
viscous		vicious
relational		relationship
promulgate		propagate
passed		past
entreating		endearing
fratricide		patricide
has lied		has lain
pending		impending
climatic		climactic
comingle		commingle
sight		site
affect		effect
visa versa		vice versa
capitol		capital
relaying		relating
precedent		precedence
enthused		enthusiastic
metamorphic		metaphoric

Related to wrong words, misspellings, and incorrect grammar are compound words.  Many of the mistakes are common, everyday words; many are a little more difficult; and some are not easy.  Keep in mind that there are instances where Klausner’s word(s) may appear to be correct, such as “anyway” “backyard” “nightshift”, but whether or not they are compounded depends on the context in which it was used.  For example, Klausner may have said “I wanted to see if there was anyway that the protagonists could overcome their fears.”  In that case, “anyway” was incorrect and it should have been “I wanted to see if there was any way  the protagonists could overcome their fears”.

Klausner’s Word		Correct Word
giantkiller		giant killer
backstory		back story
backyard		back yard
death bed		deathbed
backdoor		back door
wrong doing		wrongdoing
break through		breakthrough
home made		homemade
tax payer-funded		taxpayer-funded
backroom		back room
frontlines		front lines
first hand		firsthand
can not		cannot
hell hounds		hellhounds
shop lifters		shoplifters
blood sucking		bloodsucking
body guard		bodyguard
show stopper		showstopper
triple crosses		triplecrosses
anyway		any way
fish bowl		fishbowl

These aren’t advanced or difficult words.

Part IIB continues the discussion of Harriet's English language skills and addresses problems related to plurals and singulars, verb tenses, and redundancies.  To proceed, click here.

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