The Political Science Department has adopted a uniform code of notation for providing students with feedback on their written work. Your instructor will employ the following numbering system to identify unclear constructions and grammatical, punctuation, and usage errors. If, for example, your paper includes a sentence in which the subject and verb fail to agree either in number (singular or plural) or in person (first, second, or third), your instructor will underline or circle the offending sentence and place in the margin the number "3." This notation will direct you to the #3 in the code below, where you will find the chapter(s), section(s), and, in some cases, pages in the 17th edition of the Hodges Harbrace Handbook (referenced below as Hodges) that both describe this error and offer instructions for how to correct it.

The Uniform Code
 
Clarity, Grammar, and Punctuation

No. 1: Sentence Fragments: Hodges, Chapter 2

Incorrect: When the president gives a press conference.

Correct: When the president gives a press conference, he tries to sound like Andrew Shepherd.

No. 2: Comma and Semicolon Errors: Hodges, Chapters 12–14

2a.)  Comma Errors
 
Incorrect: Nicolas Sarkozy worked assiduously to be a good family man but, he was alas, French.
 
Correct: Nicolas Sarkozy worked assiduously to be a good family man, but he was, alas, French.                    

2b.) Semicolon Errors
 
Incorrect: Queen Elizabeth resolved to lay down for her God, for her kingdom, and for her people her honor and her blood; even in the dust.
 
Correct: Queen Elizabeth resolved to lay down for her God, for her kingdom, and for her people her honor and her blood, even in the dust. 

No. 3: Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences: Hodges, Chapter 3
 
Incorrect: "We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord," this statement causes modern audiences to think of mushroom clouds, though Roosevelt was merely trying to persuade his supporters that a Bull Moose could not be domesticated by an effete; wooly headed Princeton political scientist.
 
Correct: "We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the lord"; this statement causes modern audiences to think of mushroom clouds. Roosevelt, however, was merely trying to persuade his supporters that a Bull Moose could not be domesticated by an effete, wooly headed Princeton political scientist. 

No. 4: Subject-Verb Agreement Errors: Hodges, Chapter 6, Section a
 
Incorrect: High levels of pollution causes damage both to the respiratory tract and to Los Angeles' campaign to be featured in the AMA's "Black Lung Prevention" public service announcement.
 
Correct: High levels of pollution cause damage both to the respiratory tract and to Los Angeles' campaign to be featured in the AMA's "Black Lung Prevention" public service announcement.

No. 5: Pronoun-Antecedent Disagreement: Hodges, Chapter 6, Section  b

Incorrect: The American government years ago abandoned their effort to rule the Philippines.
 
Correct: The American government years ago abandoned its effort to rule the Philippines.

No. 6: Ambiguous Pronoun Reference: Hodges, Chapter 28, Section a
 
Incorrect: Jed Clampett and Mr. Drysdale were neighbors in Beverly Hills; he had moved there after finding oil on his Tennessee homestead.

Correct: Jed Clampett and Mr. Drysdale were neighbors in Beverly Hills; Jed had moved there after finding oil on his Tennessee homestead.

No. 7: Incorrect Use and Misuse of Prepositions: Hodges, pp 32–34
 
7a.)  Incorrect Use of Prepositions
 
Incorrect: President Uribe was bored of plantains. He asked his mother to start packing Razzles in his lunchbox.

Correct: President Uribe was bored with plantains. He asked his mother to start packing Razzles in his lunchbox.
 
7b.) Misuse of Prepositions
 
Incorrect: This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.
 
Correct: I will not put up with such bloody nonsense. 

No. 8: Parallel Constructions: Hodges, Chapter 26
 
Incorrect: The Secret is not to be tossed lightly aside, but it was hurled with great force.
 
Correct: The Secret is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled with great force. 

No. 9: Incorrect Pronoun Case: Hodges, Chapter 5, Section b

Incorrect: Just between you and I, "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman was raised in Crackerbox Palace.
 
Correct: Just between you and me, "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman was raised in Crackerbox Palace. 

No. 10: Overuse of Passive Voice: Hodges, Chapter 7, Section c and Chapter 29, Section e
 
Incorrect: The British Expeditionary Force was shredded by the German Luftwaffe.
 
Correct: The German Luftwaffe shredded the British Expeditionary Force.

No. 11: Misplaced, Dangling, and Unattached Modifiers: Hodges, Chapter 25
 
Incorrect: Upon entering the symposium, the buffet table enticed Socrates.
 
Correct: Upon entering the symposium, Socrates first noticed the buffet table. 

No. 12: Misplacement of Modifier "Only": Hodges, Chapter 25, Section a(1)
 
Incorrect: The lonely only know the way I feel tonight.
 
(Placement of "only" suggests that the lonely know nothing other than the way that "I" feel tonight; that is, "the lonely's" SAT verbal score is "1")
 
Correct: Only the lonely know the way I feel tonight.
 
(This placement of "only" suggests that no people other than the lonely can understand my despair, which is the meaning that the "celebrated Orbison" wished to convey to his auditors)  

No. 13: Mixed Metaphors: Hodges, Chapter 23, Section b
 
Incorrect: Leaders of developing countries cannot eat their seed corn without gumming up the wheels of commerce.
 
Correct: Leaders of developing countries cannot eat their seed corn without reducing economic yields. 

No. 14: Subjective Verbs
 
Incorrect: I feel that Moby Dick is white.
 
Correct: Moby Dick is white. 

No. 15: Inconsistency of Verb Tense/Sequence of Verb Tense: Hodges, Chapter 7, Section b
 
Incorrect: Gandhi was fond of salt. He thinks that by marching to Dandi to protest the British salt tax he would gain the upper hand on both "perfidious Albion" and unpalatable popcorn.
 
Correct: Gandhi was fond of salt. He thought that by marching to Dandi to protest the British salt tax he would gain the upper hand on both "perfidious Albion" and unpalatable popcorn.  

No. 16: Incorrect Use of Common Abbreviations (e.g., i.e., pp., etc.): Hodges, i.e., pp. 749, etc., p. 748
 
Incorrect: Castro did not accept Kennedy's gift of a herbicide-lined wet suit (e.g., he wanted to maintain his smooth, rosy-hued skin).
 
Correct: Castro did not accept Kennedy's gift of a herbicide-lined wet suit (i.e., he wanted to maintain his smooth, rosy-hued skin). 

No. 17: Ungrammatical Incorporation of Quotations: Hodges, Chapter 16

Incorrect: Lincoln said to Herndon that he was, "go to Gettysburg on the same train that broke John Henry's heart."

Correct: Lincoln said to Herndon that he was "going to Gettysburg on the same train that broke John Henry's heart." 

No. 18: Anachronisms
 
Incorrect: Thomas Aquinas loved to turn back the clock.
 
Correct: Thomas Aquinas would have loved to turn back the clock but the clock had yet to be invented. 

No. 19: Jargon/Slang: Hodges, Chapter 19, Section c
 
Incorrect: Webster kept dogging Hayne, despite the latter's statement that he subscribed to synergistic approaches to reconciliation.
 
Correct: Webster continued to question Hayne's argument, despite the latter's statement that he was committed to reconciliation.  

No. 20: Unidiomatic Expressions: Hodges, Chapter 20, Section c
 
Incorrect: Senator McCain says that I am green behind the ears.

Correct: Senator McCain says that I am wet behind the ears. 

No. 21: Unnecessary Words and Pleonasm: Hodges, Chapter 21
 
21a.) Unnecessary Words
 
Incorrect: Indeed, the fact that there is no capitalism without failure means that there is no religion without sin.
 
Correct: Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin.
 
21b.) Pleonasm
 
Incorrect: Dr. House called Foreman a stupid idiot for failing to harvest cancer boy's kidneys before he expired.
 
Correct: Dr. House called Foreman an idiot for failing to harvest cancer boy's kidneys before he expired. 

No. 22: Hyphen v. Dash: Hodges, Chapter 18, Section f and Chapter 17, Section e
 
Incorrect: Stalin had well—thought--out ideas- including many that Beria thought were whacky- for directing the kulaks "toward the light."
 
Correct: Stalin had well-thought-out ideas—including many that Beria thought were whacky—for directing the kulaks "toward the light."
 
No. 23: Incorrect Word Choice: Hodges, Chapter 19, Section c
 
Incorrect: William Jennings Bryan told the Democratic Convention that he would not be tacked to a cross of gold.
 
Correct: William Jennings Bryan told the Democratic Convention that he would not be crucified on a cross of gold. 
 
No. 24: Incorrect Possessive Case Formation: Hodges, Chapter 15, Section a
 
Incorrect: If you fail to protect farmers rights, then a guy named Goober will run the gas station on every corner of every city in this country.  
 
Correct: If you fail to protect farmers' rights, then a guy named Goober will run the gas station on every corner of every city in this country. 

No. 25: Apostrophe Errors: Hodges, Chapter 15, Section a
 
Incorrect: Roosevelts patrician upbringing gave him all the intellectual heft of a feather duster.
 
Correct: Roosevelt's patrician upbringing gave him all the intellectual heft of a feather duster. 

No. 26: Quotation Mark Errors: Hodges, Chapter 16
 
Incorrect: Louis XIV said, "I am the state".
 
Correct: Louis XIV said, "I am the state." 

No. 27: Misuse of/Failure of Capitalization: Hodges, Chapter 9
 
Incorrect: The united states senate operates according to rules drafted by Gilbert Gottfried.

Correct: The United States Senate operates according to rules drafted by Gilbert Gottfried.  

No. 28: Lack of Reference or Footnote Marks
 
Incorrect: A melancholy John F. Kennedy once averred, "There is always inequity in life.  Some men are killed in war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country."
 
Correct: A melancholy John F. Kennedy once averred, "There is always inequity in life.  Some men are killed in war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country." (1)

Paper Structure: Hodges, Chapters 33–35
 
No. 29: Introductions
 
No. 30: Transitions between Sentences and Paragraphs
 
No. 31: Conclusions 

Incorrect Usage: Hodges, pp. 739-757
 
No. 32: Affect/Effect
 
No. 33: Among/Between
 
No. 34: Bad/Badly
 
No. 35: Double Negative (Hodges, Chapter 4, Section c)

No. 36: Farther/Further
 
No. 37: Fewer/Less
 
No. 38: Imply/Infer
 
No. 39: In Regards to or In Terms of
 
No. 40: Its/It's
 
No. 41: Lead/Led
 
No. 42: Lie/Lay
 
No. 43: Like/As
 
No. 44: Precede/Proceed
 
No. 45: Respectfully/Respectively
 
No. 46: Than/Then
 
No. 47: That/Which
 
No. 48: There/Their/They're
 
No. 49: To/Too
 
No. 50: Unique
 
No. 51: Who/Whom
 
No. 52: Who's/Whose
 
No. 53: Your/You're
 

Common Spelling Mistakes: Hodges, Chapter 18, Section c and pp. 739–757
 
No. 54: Capital/Capitol
 
No. 55: Cite/Site
 
No. 56: Complement/Compliment
 
No. 57: Principal/Principle
 
No. 58: Borders/Boarders
 

Use of Irritating Terms and Phrases
(most provided by Jeremy Butterfield in Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare)
 
No 59: At the end of the day
 
No. 60: Fairly unique
 
No. 61: I personally
 
No. 62: At this moment in time

No. 63: With all due respect
 
No. 64: Absolutely
 
No. 65: It's a nightmare
 
No. 66: Shouldn't of
 
No. 67: 24/7
 
No. 68: It's not rocket science
 
No. 69: The fact of the matter is
 
No. 70: Let me be perfectly clear