Grammar Checklist

Spanish Composition & Conversation is a course that focuses primarily on grammar, while literature and culture courses do not.  Nonetheless, even in those courses where the focus is on literature or culture, one of the goals of the course is to give you practice in speaking and writing Spanish.  If you do not have a grammar to refer to, I have several in my office, and you are welcome to borrow one for the term.  There are also online grammar  tutorials (for an example check out Gramática electrónica).  At this level of Spanish the expectation is not that you will write flawlessly in Spanish, but the correctness of your  expression in the language will affect the grade of all written assignments in the course.  Below are some areas to check after you have written a rough draft.

Agreement.    There are many grammatical errors that are difficult to eliminate from your writing, but there are two types of grammar mistakes that students at this level of Spanish should be able to eliminate completely through careful proofreading:

You should check your essays carefully for these types of agreement errors, as the presence of many such mistakes indicates sloppy writing and/or poor proofreading.  Check to be sure that each verb agrees with its subject, and that all adjectives governed by a given noun reflect the appropriate gender and number markings for that noun.   Every conjugated verb is associated with a specific subject, and every adjective is associated with a specific noun, and there must be correct agreement between subject and verb, adjective(s) and noun.  If you do not know the gender of a noun (Is trama masculine or feminine?  How about tema?), look it up in a dictionary.  Your essays will be marked down for these types of mistakes.  (There are dictionaries on line.  One is  Diccionario de la Real Academia. There are also Spanish dictionaries in the Reference section of the library.)  If you are having difficulty or little success in finding agreement errors--in other words, if you are a poor proofreader--I suggest the following technique: read what you have written from the last word to the first.  Begin reading at the end of your essay and work back to the beginning.  This technique will eliminate the distraction of the content/meaning of your words, and will help you focus exclusively on spelling and grammar, such as subject/verb and noun/adjective agreement.  (Obviously, the meaning  is also very important in any analysis, and you should proofread for that, too, but you can, and should, proofread your compositions more than once.)

While catching most agreement errors is just a matter of putting in the time to proofread carefully, a few reminders/tips are offered below:  (1) there is one  case where Subject-Verb agreement in Spanish differs from its English counterpart;  (2) adjectives are sometimes separated from their nouns, which can make their connection less obvious; (3) past participles (=forms like abierto, dicho, comido, hablado) may be used as adjectives or as parts of verbs, and their forms will be different according to how they are used.  In these cases, it is important to be especially careful.  Also, (4) the gender and appropriate definite article (=el, la, los, las) to use with Spanish words that begin with a stressed "a" sound merits special attention.   Here are some examples of each of these four points.

Verb Tenses and Forms.  Make sure the tense of your verbs corresponds to the situation, and that the forms are correct.   It is permissible in Spanish, as in English, to use the "historical present" when you are writing about most topics.   Irregular verb forms are to be found in the appendices of most standard grammars.  If you are not sure of a form, look it up.

Subjunctive Mood.    In English it is common to replace the subjunctive with an infinitive, even when there is a change of subject: "I want you to go."  In Spanish, however, every subject almost always has its own conjugated verb:  "Quiero que (tú) vayas."  If you see that you have a subject with no conjugated verb, it is very possible that you have committed a grammatical error. 

Another common English construction that cannot be translated literally into Spanish involves the preposition "for:"  "It's important for you to leave at eight o'clock" cannot be translated into Spanish with an infinitive:  "Es importante que salgan ustedes a las ocho."  (It would be wrong to say "Es importante *para ustedes salir*").

Gustar.    Remember that gustar does not mean "to like," although we use it to translate the English verb "to like".  Gustar means "to be pleasing to," and the subject in English will need to be preceded by the preposition "a" in Spanish (because in Spanish it will be the indirect object).  For instance, "Marisol likes peaches, but her brother doesn't like them very much," would look like this in Spanish:  "A Marisol le gustan los duraznos, pero a su hermano no le gustan mucho."

The verb is plural in both parts of the sentence because the subject is plural (it is duraznos, not Marisol or her brother; they are indirect objects).  An "A" must precede "Marisol" and "su hermano," because they are indirect objects.   Finally, the word le must appear (the first time it refers to "Marisol", the second time to "su hermano").  Even though the indirect object nouns Marisol and su hermano are present, the indirect object pronoun le must also appear.  In Spanish, this sentence would be grammatically incorrect if le were omitted in either part of the sentence, even though the word le is redundant.  [The literal meaning of the Spanish sentence in English would be "To Marisol the peaches are pleasing to her, but to her brother they are not very pleasing to him."]

Por and Para.    For an on-line grammar discussion of this point go to una gramática electrónica, which has grammar explanations as well as practice exercises.  "Por and Para" is number 54 on the index of grammar topics at that site.

Ser and Estar.  For an on-line grammar discussion of this essential point go to una gramática electrónica which has grammar explanations as well as practice exercises.  "Ser and Estar" are numbers 15-18 on the index of grammar topics at the site.

Orthography (Spelling).    A Spanish spell checking program is available on college computers.  It is a good idea to use  this spell checker.  For instructions on how to do this, read the page "How to Use the Spanish Spell Check."   If you are interested in buying software, the college bookstore either carries or can order a Spanish grammar and CD package called Atajo. This software includes a bilingual dictionary, and the conjugation of verbs for all tenses and subjects, but the most recent version that I have seen (4.0) does not have a spellchecker.  Another software procuct, Sin falta, is similar to Atajo but it does include a spell checker. Neither of these programs includes a grammar checker. Both are useful for identifying the gender of nouns in the bilingual dictionary. I am not recommending that you buy these products. I mention them here purely as information.

Synonyms and Vocabulary.     Make an effort not to repeat the same word or phrase  too many times in a composition.  There are a couple of books in the reference section of the library that can help you find synonyms, and you should also consult "Useful Expressions for Writing Spanish."

Try especially not to overuse the verb ser.  Notice new expressions and vocabulary in our readings and videos which can help you vary and improve your written Spanish. Try to learn a few new words and expressions each time you write an essay in Spanish.