Common Faults in Sentence Structure

Student essays are often difficult to read because of poorly constructed sentences. Common problems are:

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are groups of words that do not express a complete thought, and that do not make sense on their own. e.g. "Research that is poorly conducted." This statement contains a dependent clause ("that is poorly conducted") describing "research", but no main clause. Consequently, it does not make sense by itself. To complete the sense, a statement such as "does not provide reliable results" needs to be added.

Often, when a group of words begins with a conjunction, it is a dependent clause, a clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence. Look for the conjunction that signals a dependent clause in a sentence. These are words such as that, when, even though, as, if, so, after, once, unless, until, because, before, since, whenever, wherever, however, although, because, while, which, what, who.

A sentence may also be a fragment because it does not contain a subject and/or a verb. e.g.

"The student reviews his module notes. Two hours before the audio conference. He is keen to be prepared for the lecture."

In this example, "Two hours before the audio conference." does not contain a verb, so it is not a sentence. This fragment could be eliminated in one of two ways.

1. Add the fragment to the sentence before or after it, making sure the new sentence makes sense. e.g. "The student reviews his module notes two hours before the audio conference." or

2. Add a new subject/verb to the fragment to form a complete sentence. e.g. "He reads them two hours before the audio conference."

To spot a fragment put each phrase through a simple test:

- Does it have a verb and/or a subject?

Can the phrase make sense standing alone (is it a dependent clause or phrase)?

Misplaced modifiers

Misplaced modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that do not point clearly to the word or words they modify in a sentence.

1. Limiting modifiers (only, hardly, even, almost, nearly, just) should be placed in front of the words they modify. The entire meaning of a sentence can be changed if you place these single word modifiers next to the wrong word. e.g.

Unclear:

"The guests almost ate all of the food." (the guests can't "almost eat" all of the food).

Revised:

"The guests ate almost all of the food." (most of the food was eaten)

2. Place modifying phrases and clauses as close as possible to their headword, the word or phrase they modify. e.g.

Unclear:

"The mayor was described as a round, squat man with a droopy beard weighing 60kg."

Revised

"The mayor was described as a round, squat man weighing 60kg with a droopy beard." (60kg describes the man, not the beard).

3. Sentences should flow from subject to verb to object without lengthy interruptions along the way. When this happens, the sentence becomes unclear. e.g.

Unclear:

"Susan, after trying to phone for a taxi, decided to walk to the station."

Revised:
"After trying to phone for a taxi, Susan decided to walk to the station."

4. A squinting modifier is an ambiguously placed modifier that can modify either the word before it or the word after it. It is said to be "squinting" in both directions at the same time.

To correct a squinting modifier, place the modifier so that it clearly modifies its headword. e.g.

Unclear:

"The lottery win that everyone thought would satisfy them totally disillusioned them."

Revised:

"The lottery win that everyone thought would totally satisfy them disillusioned them." (They were expected to be totally satisfied.)
or
"The lottery win that everyone thought would satisfy them totally disillusioned them." (They were totally disillusioned with the lottery win.)

5. Infinitives ("to" + verb such as "to be", "to go", to eat", "to run") usually should not be split unless necessary in writing. e.g.

Unclear:

"She hoped to, by doing lots of revision and studying, pass the exams."

Revised:

"She hoped to pass the exams by doing lots of revision and studying."

6. A Dangling Modifier is a word or phrase that does not refer logically to any word or word group in a sentence. When a sentence begins with a modifying word, phrase or clause we must make sure the next thing that comes along can, in fact, be modified by that modifier.
e.g.


Unclear:
"Born in New Zealand, it is natural to enjoy eating roast lamb." This is unclear because "it" was not born in New Zealand.

Revised:
"For a person born in New Zealand, it is natural to enjoy eating roast lamb." Or
"Born in New Zealand, I enjoy eating roast lamb."
In the second sentence, a subject "I" is introduced.
To correct a dangling modifier we can create a new subject;

Unclear:

"Using a microscope, the wings of the butterfly were examined."(The modifier cannot logically modify the word wings.)

Revised:

"Using a microscope, the scientist examined the wings of the butterfly."(The scientist is the subject and refers back to who is using the microscope.)

create a dependent clause

Unclear:

"Planted in the field only a month ago, its size surprised the farmers." (The first phrase cannot logically modify the word size.)

Revised:

"Because the turnip had been planted in the field only a month ago, its size surprised the farmers."

Parallel structure

Parallel structure means using grammatically consistent words, phrases, clauses or sentence structures to express ideas that have the same level of importance. When constructing a sentence, use the same pattern of words such as all -ing words, all verbs in the past tense, all starting with nouns, or not changing from the active voice to the passive voice.

Types of Parallel Structure

1. Words and Phrases

(a) Coordinated ideas of equal importance, connected by "and", "but", "or", or "nor".
With the -ing form of word, e.g.

Unbalanced:
"I am looking forward to meeting you and to hear about your trip."

Parallel:
"I am looking forward to meeting you and to hearing about your trip."
The -ing is matched with the -ing form in this sentence.
With infinitive phrases, e.g.

Unbalanced:
"Jane likes to ski, run, skate and swimming."

Parallel:
"Jane likes to ski, run and swim." (or "Jane likes to ski, to run and to swim.)
(Note: You can use "to" before all the verbs in a sentence or only before the first one.)

(b) Compared ideas
With the -ing form of word e.g.

Unbalanced:
"He prefers writing assignments rather than to sit exams."

Parallel:
"He prefers writing assignments rather than sitting exams."
The -ing form is paired with another -ing form.

With infinitive phrases:

Parallel:
"He prefers to write assignments rather than to sit exams."
The infinitive is paired with another infinitive.

With articles and prepositions:
Parallelism requires that an article (a, an or the) or a preposition (by, for, to, in, at, on, since, etc) applying to all items in a series must, either appear before the first item only, or be repeated before each item. e.g.

Unbalanced:
A dollar, a pound, lire or yen
In January, February, or in March

Parallel:
A dollar, a pound, a lire or a yen
In January, February or March or (in January, in February or in March)

© Correlative expressions/ideas (such as not only/but also, both/and, either/or, neither/nor and whether/or) should also be parallel. Here, the kind of word or part of a sentence that follows the first expression must be the same as the kind following the second. e.g.

Unbalanced:
"The earthquake not only wrecked railway lines but also the trains."
In this case, the verb "wrecked" cannot balance the noun "trains." The sentence should be rewritten so that "wrecked" appears before "not only", and so that nouns follow both connectors.

Parallel:
"The earthquake wrecked not only railway lines but also the trains."

2. Clauses

When elements that have the same function in a sentence are not presented in parallel structures, such as changing from active to passive, not matching nouns with nouns, and not matching verbs with verbs, the sentence will have faulty parallelism. e.g.

Unbalanced:
"The lecturer told the students that they should do a lot of study, that they should get a lot of sleep and to do some relaxation exercises before the exam."

Parallel:
"The lecturer told the students that they should do a lot of study, that they should get a lot of sleep and that they should do some relaxation exercises before the exam."
or
"The lecturer told the students that they should do a lot of study, get a lot of sleep and do some relaxation exercises before the exam."

Unbalanced:
"I will go to the library tomorrow, returning the book that is five days overdue, and apologised for holding it up."

Parallel:
"I will go to the library tomorrow, return the book that is five days overdue, and apologise for holding it up."

Lack of subject-verb agreement

The correct form should be used i.e. a singular subject needs a singular verb and a plural subject needs a plural verb. E.g. "The rose is red." "Violets are blue."
Apply the following "rules" to avoid confusion.

1. Ignore words and phrases that come between the subject and verb:
e.g.."The rose, as well as the tomatoes, is red."
Violets, as well as the sky, are blue."

2. When the subject of a sentence is made up of two or more nouns or pronouns joined by "and" a plural verb is used:
e.g. "The rose and the tomatoes are red."
"He and his friends are ... "

Note: phrases such as "as well as", "in addition to", and "along with" are not the same as "and" when inserted between the subject and the verb. They do not change the number of the subject. See Example 1.

3. Singular subjects joined by "or", "nor", "either ... or", or "neither ... nor" take a singular verb. e.g. "Either the student or the teacher was lying."

4. If one subject is singular and one plural, the verb agrees with the closest subject when two or more subjects are joined by "or", "nor", "either ... or", or "neither ... nor".
e.g. "Neither the waiter nor the chefs are aware of the fire in the restaurant."
"Neither the waiters nor the chef is aware of the fire in the restaurant."

5. "It" is always followed by a singular verb.
e.g. "It is their holiday that will be ruined."

6. When the subject follows the verb (particularly in sentences starting with "there is", "there are" or "here is", "here are", check carefully to see that the verb agrees with the subject. Since "there" is never the subject, the verb agrees with what follows.
e.g. "There are two questions I would like to ask you."
"There is a long queue to buy bread."

7. When used as subjects, words such as "each", "each one", "either", "neither", "everyone", "everybody", "anybody", "anyone", "nobody", "somebody", "someone" and "no one" are singular and require a singular verb.
e.g. "No one is allowed out of their dormitories after nine pm."
"Each of the students has to attend a residential school. (Even though "of the students" (a prepositional phrase) is plural, remember it is "Each" which is the singular subject.

8. Other words such as "none", "any", "all", "more", "most" and "some" may, however, take either singular or plural verbs depending on what they are referring to. (Is the thing referred to countable or not?) The phrases "of the carrots" and "of the puzzle" do affect the subject here because they tell you whether you are talking about a part of one thing (singular) or about a number of things (plural).
e.g. "Some of the carrots are mouldy."
"Some of the puzzle is missing."

9. Look at the subject, not its complement, when deciding agreement with linking verbs.
e.g. "The future is flat screen televisions."
"Flat screen televisions are the future.."

10. When collective nouns refer to the group acting as a whole such as team, group, family, class and committee, they require singular verbs, and when the group is acting as individuals, they require plural verbs.
e.g. "The committee is meeting this week."
"The members of the committee are going to discuss fundraising methods."

11. First person singular subjects require singular verbs, and first person plural subjects require plural verbs.
e.g. "I was busy."
"We were busy."
Second person subjects require plural verbs.
e.g. "You seem busy."
Third person singular subjects require singular verbs, but third person plural subjects require plural verbs.
e.g. "He seems busy."
"They seem busy."

12. Nouns such as "civics", "dollars", "mathematics", "measles", and "news" require singular verbs.

13. Nouns such as "scissors", "glasses", "tweezers", "trousers", and "shears" require plural verbs.

Run on sentences, Comma splices, Fused Sentences

A "run-on" sentence or comma splice occurs when two independent clauses (sentences) are blended into one without using enough punctuation, such as a semi-colon, or a comma with a conjunction ("and", "but", "for", "or", "nor", "so", "yet", "which"). The length of a sentence does not have anything to do with whether a sentence is a run-on or not. It is a structural flaw. A fused sentence occurs when two independent clauses are joined with no punctuation. e.g.

Incorrect:

"Howard Hughes was a billionaire, he was also a recluse." - comma splice
A comma is not strong enough to hold these two complete thoughts together.
"Howard Hughes was a billionaire he was also a recluse." - fused sentence

Revised:
"Howard Hughes was a billionaire. He was also a recluse." or
"Howard Hughes was a billionaire; he was also a recluse." or
"Howard Hughes was a billionaire, and he was also a recluse."

To repair run-on sentences:

 Place a full stop between the two complete thoughts;
 Place a semi-colon between the two complete thoughts;
 Place a comma and a linking word (such as "which" or "and") between the two complete thoughts;
 Place the less important idea in a dependent clause, creating a complex sentence.

Run-on sentences can occur:

1. when an independent clause gives an order or directive based on what was said in the first independent clause: e.g.
Incorrect:
"The last module contains essential facts and figures, you should revise this in depth for the final examination."
Revised:
"The last module contains essential facts and figures. You should revise this in depth for the final examination."
or
"The last module contains essential facts and figures; you should revise this in depth for the final examination."
or
"The last module contains essential facts and figures, and you should revise this in depth for the final examination."

2. when two independent clauses are connected by a transitional expression such as "however", "moreover", "nevertheless". The transitional word must be preceded by a semicolon and followed by a comma. e.g.

Incorrect:
"Bill often went to the cinema to see a new film, however, Jane preferred to wait until the film came out on video."

Revised:
"Bill often went to the cinema to see a new film; however, Jane preferred to wait until the film came out on video."
or
"Bill often went to the cinema to see a new film. Jane, however, preferred to wait until the film came out on video."

3. when the second of two independent clauses contains a pronoun that connects it to the first independent clause. e.g.

Incorrect:
"The refugees were not spies, they were asylum seekers."

Revised:
"The refugees were not spies. They were asylum seekers."
or
"The refugees were not spies; they were asylum seekers."

4. when the ideas in two independent clauses which are not of equal importance are joined by a comma. e.g.

Incorrect:
"George Orwell's novel '1984' worried people when it was published, its message was too grim."

Revised:
"George Orwell's novel '1984' worried people when it was published because its message was too grim."