Professional Documents
Culture Documents
a sentence that starts with one grammatical form and ends with another.
The result of the
improperly mixed forms is confusion.
Examples:
Wrong: For most North American soccer fans who watch the World Cup cannot
understand British hooliganism.
(This sentence begins with a long phrase that promises to be a modifier, but
suddenly turns into the subject of the sentence. However, this mixed form is
wrong. If the sentence is to begin with a phrase, there must be a subject and a
verb.)
Corrected: Most North American soccer fans who watch the World Cup cannot
understand British hooliganism.
Corrected: For most North American soccer fans who watch the World Cup,
British hooliganism is hard to understand.
Wrong: Because the shuttle program since the tragic 25 th shuttle flight has
enjoyed several notable achievements gradually regained the confidence of the
public.
(The opening dependent clause starts off on one track, but the independent
clause goes off in another. The independent clause must have a proper subject,
or the sentence must omit opening the subordinate conjunction "because.")
Corrected: Because the shuttle program since the tragic 25 th shuttle flight has
resulted in several notable achievements, space flight has gradually regained the
confidence of the American public.
Corrected: The shuttle program since the tragic 25th shuttle flight has enjoyed
several notable achievements, which have gradually regained the confidence of
the American public.
Wrong: Although he comes from a family of alcoholics does not make him an
alcoholic.
(The opening dependent clause starts off the sentence, but then a verb
intervenes without a subject.)
Corrected: Although he comes from a family of alcoholics, his unfortunate social
situation does not make him an alcoholic.
Faulty Coordination
-
Faulty Parallelism
-
"notso much as." Make sure that the grammatical structure following the second half of the
pair is the same as that following the first half.
Wrong: The doors in the cottage were not only too narrow but also were too short.
(The "not onlybut also" construction is not parallel. The "not only comes after the verb in
the first part of the sentence, but the "but also" comes before the verb in the second part. The
second verb is not needed, since the correlative conjunctions are balancing words not
clauses.)
Corrected: The doors in the cottage were not only too narrow but also were too short.
Wrong: I was counselled either to quit my job or ask for a higher wage.
(The second part of the sentence does not balance with the first. The second "to" is left out.)
Corrected: I was counselled either to quit my job or to ask for a higher wage.
Wrong: Either you leave town by the train or by the road.
Corrected: You leave town either by the train or by the road.
Misplaced Modifier
- a word, phrase, or clause that has landed in the wrong place in the
sentence. A modifier must be placed next to the word it modifies. When
the modifier is incorrectly placed, the sentence either communicates
meaning the writer did not intend--or makes no sense at
all!
Example:
Throw mother out the window a rope.
Obviously, the writer doesn't mean to throw mother out the window,
but to throw the rope out the window to mother.
Correct a misplaced modifier error by placing the modifier next to the word
it modifies.
Dangling Modifier
-
Sentence Fragments
-
A word group set off as a real sentence by an initial capital letter and a
final period; however, it does not qualify as a real sentence, since it
lacks a subject, or a verb, or both. To be a grammatically correct
sentence, a group of words must consist of at least one independent
clause, which must possess a subject and a verb