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I have a feeling not all of these might be errors, but as a non-native speaker I don't have much confidence. Can anyone weight in and if they are wrong, let me at least learn why? Thank you.

We follow him as he (is exploring) the new kingdom and trying to find his place, accompanied by his self-appointed guide, Rowan. [explores]

We follow him as he is exploring the new kingdom and (trying) to find his place, accompanied by his self-appointed guide, Rowan. [tries]

The whole family seems to be very aware of how lucky they are to be in their position of power and money, and it (made) them very likable. [makes]

For example, when Galen is very free with giving away his money(,) when bribing a guy, [unnecessary comma]

Marie Chalupova wrote: ↑08 Nov 2022, 15:27 I have a feeling not all of these might be errors, but as a non-native speaker I don't have much confidence. Can anyone weight in and if they are wrong, let me at least learn why? Thank you.

Hi Marie,

You have given some very good cases.

1. We follow him as he is exploring the new kingdom and trying to find his place, accompanied by his self-appointed guide, Rowan.

For this sentence, you are using the present continuous versus simple present tense for the two verbs. In general, it is ok to use present continuous for dynamic verbs (ones that show action), and you are consistent in your usage within the sentence, so I don’t think this is an objective error. It is more of a style preference.
This Grammarly blog does a great job of describing the present continuous tense and when to use it.
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/present-continuous/

2. The whole family seems to be very aware of how lucky they are to be in their position of power and money, and it (made) them very likable. [makes]

In this sentence, the first independent clause is in the present tense, but the second clause is in the past tense. The tense can change in a sentence if there is a change in the timing or perspective of an action. Otherwise, it is best to keep the entire sentence in one tense. It is hard to tell without the context of the paragraph if two tenses have been established prior, making this sentence a combination of the two perspectives. If that is the case, your tense usage may be ok.

These two links describe using different tenses well.
https://www.iup.edu/writingcenter/writi ... fting.html
https://webapps.towson.edu/ows/tenseconsistency.htm

3. For example, when Galen is very free with giving away his money(,) when bribing a guy, [unnecessary comma]

For this one, the entire sentence is needed to determine if this comma is needed. If “when bribing a guy” is nonessential, and you could take that element out without changing the meaning of your sentence, your commas are fine. Often, comma usage depends on the intent of the writer. I would be remiss if I did not include at least one Purdue OWL link in my response. Here is a great one on commas that I think fits in this situation.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writ ... ments.html

I hope this has been helpful.

MsH2k wrote: ↑03 Dec 2022, 20:49

Marie Chalupova wrote: ↑08 Nov 2022, 15:27 I have a feeling not all of these might be errors, but as a non-native speaker I don't have much confidence. Can anyone weight in and if they are wrong, let me at least learn why? Thank you.

Hi Marie,

You have given some very good cases.

1. We follow him as he is exploring the new kingdom and trying to find his place, accompanied by his self-appointed guide, Rowan.

For this sentence, you are using the present continuous versus simple present tense for the two verbs. In general, it is ok to use present continuous for dynamic verbs (ones that show action), and you are consistent in your usage within the sentence, so I don’t think this is an objective error. It is more of a style preference.
This Grammarly blog does a great job of describing the present continuous tense and when to use it.

2. The whole family seems to be very aware of how lucky they are to be in their position of power and money, and it (made) them very likable. [makes]

In this sentence, the first independent clause is in the present tense, but the second clause is in the past tense. The tense can change in a sentence if there is a change in the timing or perspective of an action. Otherwise, it is best to keep the entire sentence in one tense. It is hard to tell without the context of the paragraph if two tenses have been established prior, making this sentence a combination of the two perspectives. If that is the case, your tense usage may be ok.

These two links describe using different tenses well.

3. For example, when Galen is very free with giving away his money(,) when bribing a guy, [unnecessary comma]

For this one, the entire sentence is needed to determine if this comma is needed. If “when bribing a guy” is nonessential, and you could take that element out without changing the meaning of your sentence, your commas are fine. Often, comma usage depends on the intent of the writer. I would be remiss if I did not include at least one Purdue OWL link in my response. Here is a great one on commas that I think fits in this situation.

I hope this has been helpful.

Thank you for the explanations. I will definitely check out the links.
This post is quite old as it took long to be approved. I already got it re-checked by admin and only the last one was considered error.