| 1. DANGLING PARTICIPLES--When a sentence
starts with a participle (usually an -ING word), the participle must
modify the subject of the sentence. If it does not, it is said to be
dangling at the end of the sentence with nothing to modify.
WRONG: Looking to the left, the mountains rose majestically.
(The mountains
aren't doing the looking.)
RIGHT: Looking to her left, Jill saw the mountains rising
majestically. (Jill is doing the looking.)
2. MISPLACED MODIFIERS--Modifiers must
be close to the words they modify.
WRONG: I gave the dog a bone that was lost. (The bone wasn't lost.)
RIGHT: I gave a bone to the dog that was lost. (The dog was lost.)
3. SQUINTING MODIFIERS--It must be
clear what word the modifier is modifying. If a modifier could modify two different
words, it is used incorrectly.
WRONG: The customers who came often won. (Did the customers
come often or win often?)
RIGHT: The customers who came often were likely to win.
RIGHT: The customers who came to the sales often won.
4. PARALLEL STRUCTURE--Parts of the
sentence that function in the same way should be parallel; that is,
they should have the same grammatical structure.
WRONG: We were alone, afraid, and were not sure where we
were. (Adjective, adjective, and subordinate clause)
RIGHT: We were alone, afraid, and lost. (Adjective, adjective, and adjective)
5. COMPARISONS--
A. Be sure to compare two things that
are alike.
WRONG: My ring is more expensive than Ruth? (How expensive
is Ruth? She's not the same thing as a ring.)
RIGHT: My ring is more expensive than Ruth's. (Correctly
compares my ring
to Ruth's ring. RING
is understood.)
B. Make logical comparisons. Use -ER with OTHER and
-EST
with ALL.
WRONG: I am the tallest of the other girls in my class.
(If I am only
talking about the OTHER girls, I can't be the tallest because I'm
not
even included in that group.)
RIGHT: I am the tallest of all the girls in my class.
RIGHT: I am taller than any other girl in my class.
C. Don't forget the AS in compound
comparisons.
WRONG: My dog is as cute if not cuter than yours.
RIGHT: My dog is as cute AS if not cuter than yours |
