Sentence Structure Mistakes Summary

Harbrace College Handbook (Eleventh Edition) Hodges, John; Whitten, Mary

Sentence Fragment occurs when a part of a sentence that isn't able to stand by
itself is written as if it were a sentence. E.g. Soon I began to work in the company.
First in the rock pit and later in the highway.(This cannot stand by itself)

Run-on sentence: they consist in Comma Splice and Fused Sentences. They
occur when a comma is placed instead of a period, a semi-colon or conjunctions or
when no punctuation is used at all.
E.g. The wind was cold they decided not to go. (This must have punctuation)
Better: The wind was cold, so I decided not to go.
Subordination and Coordination

Faulty Subordination takes place when two different ideas are placed in
coordinate clauses as though they deserve equal emphasis or when the wrong
subordinating conjunction is used.
e.g. Susan studied hard for her final exams although it was very important that she do well
on them.
Better: Susan studied hard for her final exams beacause or as it was very important that
she do well on them.

Faulty Coordination occurs with two unequal ideas; they are coordinated as if they
deserve the same emphasis.
e.g. Yesterday I fell off a tree and I was taken to the hospital. (These ideas cannot be
coordinated)
Better: Yesterday I fell off a tree, so I was taken to the hospital.
Placement of Modification
Misplaced modifier takes place when the modifier is wrongly placed.
E.g. The professor made it clear why plagiarism is wrong on Monday.
Better: On Monday, the professor made it clear why plagiarism is wrong.
Dangling modifier mainly occurs with participial clauses without subject.
E.g. Not able to swim that far, a lifeguard came to my rescue. (Who is the Subjet? The
lifeguard?)
Better: As I was not able to swim that far, a lifeguard came to my rescue.

Squinting modifier occurs when the modifier can modify one thing/element or the
other.
E.g. Mary said during the meeting that Joe acted like a fool.
Better: During the meeting, Mary said that Joe acted like a fool.
Reference of pronuouns

Ambiguous reference: reference is ambiguous when a pronoun refers to two

different antecedents.
e.g. The president appointed senator Moore as chairman because he was convinced of the
importance of the committee's work.
Better: The president, who was convinced of the importance of the committee's work,
appointed Senator Moore as chairman.

General reference: it occurs when relative pronouns (which, etc.) or

-demonstrative- pronouns (it, this, that, etc.) refer confusingly to an idea expressed
before.
E.g. The boys wore ski boats to their classes which the principal disapproved of.

Better: The boys wore ski boats to their classes. Such fashion the principal disapproved of.
Weak reference: It takes place when the antecedent is only in the speaker's mind.
E.g. She is a great believer in witchcraft but she doubts that they ride on broomsticks
Better: She is a great believer in witchcraft but she doubts that witches ride on
broomsticks.

Parallelism

Faulty parallelism: it occurs when the balance of coordinate elements is disrupted.

It can deal with parallel structures or correlate coordinators (Either...or,
neither...nor, not only...but also, both...and)

Parallel structure
E.g. The committee studied all aspects of the problem -humane, political and cost.
(The problem lies in the noun COST since it must be an adjective as the previous ones)
Better: The committee studied all aspects of the problem -humane, political and
financial.
Correlative coordinators
E.g. Either they obey the manager or get fired (the problem is the same grammatical
structure after each part of the correlative coordinator in the example)
Better: They either obey the manager or get fired.