Do you get that “ouch” feeling when you go through a well-designed e-learning module having grammatical errors?  While to err is human but these seemingly small grammar mistakes can leave a bad taste both for the learners and the buyers of e-learning.

Now let us see the common grammar mistakes in e-learning, which can be overcomed by attention to detail and proper proofreading.

1.Subject-verb agreement

The fundamentals of English grammar say that the subject and verb have to agree in number and person. Singular nouns in the subject require the singular form of the verb and plural nouns require the plural form of the verb.

Example-  “A learner will take their e-learning courses seriously if they are engaging.” In this, the mistake is, “learner”, which is the noun is singular, but “their” is plural. The easiest way to correct this is by making the entire sentence plural. So the correct sentence will be

“Learners will take their e-learning courses seriously if they are engaging.”

2.Apostrophes

The two most common misuse of the apostrophe is while using contractions and possessives or ownership.

A case of Contraction:

The learners can’t concentrate if the modules are very long- here the apostrophe is used in can’t as a contraction of cannot.

A case of Ownership:

Learner’s of English language should not make fundamental grammar mistakes-here without the apostrophe “learners” will become plural which means there are more than one learners which is not proper in the context of the sentence.

3.Exclamations

Exclamation marks are generally used to express a feeling of joy, excitement, sorrow, despair etc.
In the context of e-learning-the exclamation marks are commonly used in a conversation style (like depicting a meeting room conversation or a conversation between the boss and his subordinate etc)  or wherever a theme or story is used.

For example: ‘Wow! I am excited to experience the newly launched gamification module.’  The usage of exclamation gives the learners a feel of excitement about the module.

It a common myth that using multiple exclamation marks can enhance the emotions of the learners and can grab their attention. But the truth is overusing of exclamations may be dangerous as they spoil the flow and expression of the content.

4.Overusing of passive words

While using passive voice is not necessarily wrong but the general accepted standards of English (more so for e-learning) demands framing the sentence in active voice. Active voice is direct and clear to the point whereas passive voice can stretch the sentence unnecessarily and put an overload in terms of understanding the meaning of the sentence.

For example,  Which company has designed this amazing e-learning module? (active voice)
This amazing elearning module has been designed by which company? (passive voice)

5.Possessive & Plural Confusion

In e-learning, incorrect use apostrophes is common to indicate plural and possessive forms while framing the sentence. Care should be taken to put the apostrophe at appropriate places and not to confuse the learners.

Possessive example -The learner’s smartphone was having the moodle app installed.(here the word learner’s denotes the possession or ownership).

Plural example- The learners are viewing the module through the moodle app.(here learners are plural)

 6.Comma

Comma has always created big headaches for even the grammar experts.

The comma is used generally for the following cases-

1.To Separate Independent Clauses -which means those clause which can stand by their own.

2.To Separate an Introductory Word or phrase- At the beginning of a sentence like while you begin a sentence with “For example,”.  Hereafter writing the word example its mandatory to put a comma.

To find what are the other common errors while using comma you can visit here

7.Referring to a Brand or an Entity as “They”

This is usually seen in the business write-ups where the brand is called as they.

A business is not plural nor identified as he or she, hence the most appropriate usage is “it”

A simple grammar error can be a cause of embarrassment and also can lead to a reputational loss. I recommend exercising a lot of caution while framing sentences and doing a double check on grammar before your final e-learning module is delivered to your learners.