In this lecture we will learn:
•Lack of Parallelism
•Choppy Sentences
–Misplaced Modifiers
•Interrupted Sentence Structure
•Modifiers of Nouns
•Adverb Modifiers
•Dangling Modifiers
•Double Negatives
•Inappropriate Shifts
–Tense
–Mood
–Person
–Voice
•Sequence of tenses
•Pronoun Reference
–Unclear Pronoun Reference
–Broad Pronoun Reference
•Pronoun Case
Lack of Parallelism:
•Parallelism refers to the principle that parts of a
sentence that are the same in function
should be the same in structure.
•Words or phrases joined by coordinating conjunctions should
have the same form.
•Make sure all
headings and subheadings
are parallel with the other headings
and
subheadings of the same level.
•Make sure all entries of the same level in an
outline
are parallel.
•Let us work an example of such a sentence.
Choppy Sentences:
•Avoid using too many short sentences that will create
choppy prose. Vary your
sentence
types and combine
short related sentences by making some elements dependent clauses or
phrases .
•Compare the following choppy sentences and the revised
version (as the author actually
wrote it).
Misplaced Modifiers:
••To ensure
clarity,
place your modifiers carefully.
•Make sure that your placement of modifiers does not
interrupt the sentence
structure or
create ambiguity.
Interrupted Sentence Structure:
•Placing a
modifier
between the subject and the
verb
or between the verb and the
direct
object can weaken the
structure of the sentence and make the sentence difficult to interpret.
•In general, the longer and more complicated the modifier,
the more it weakens the
sentence.
•Although you can often get away with interrupting the
structure of the sentence with a short
(one-word) modifier, adding a longer modifier significantly
worsens the sentence.
Modifiers of Nouns:
• Modifiers
of
nouns
should be placed either immediately before
or immediately after the
noun.
•If another
phrase
is allowed to separate the noun and its
modifier, the modifier may be
misinterpreted as applying to a noun in the separating
phrase rather than to the original
noun.
Adverb Modifiers:
• Adverbs
should be placed as close as possible
to the words or phrases that they modify.
•If you allow an adverb to be separated from the word or
phrase
that it modifies, the
interpretation of the adverb may become ambiguous.
•Always place a
quantity adverb
immediately before the word it modifies.
Dangling Modifiers:
•A
modifier whose connection to the
sentence is implied or intended but not actually made
explicit is said to dangle.
•Dangling modifiers detract from the
clarity
of your writing, so you should make sure
your
modifiers are properly connected to the words they modify.
•To repair a dangling modifier, add the noun or
phrase
that the modifier was intended to
modify and rephrase the sentence accordingly.
Double Negatives:
•Use only one negative word to express a negative idea.
•In English, using two negative words to express one
negative idea creates a positive rather
than a negative interpretation.
Faulty Comparisons:
•Comparing one item with another can be a very powerful way
to describe an objector a
process (see the discussion of comparison and contrast).
•To make your comparison effective, however, you must
maintain parallelism in your
comparison,
include the basis of your
comparison, and
ensure that your comparison
is not
ambiguous
Nonparallel Comparisons:
•When you construct a
comparison,
you must make the two items being compared
parallel
in structure .
Incomplete Comparisons:
•Incomplete comparisons detract from the
clarity
of your writing.
•To be complete, a
comparison
must include both the item being compared
and the item it is
being compared with.
•If you leave out the item being compared with, the reader
may not understand your
intended meaning.
Inappropriate Shifts:
••Be consistent in your choice of
tense,
mood, person,
and voice.
•Shifting any of these categories without good reason will
detract from the
clarity of your
writing.
Inappropriate Shifts in Tense:
•As a general rule,
verb tenses
within a sentence or a paragraph should be
consistent.
•A
shift in tense without reason
distorts the sequence of events being described and will
confuse your reader.
•For example, if you begin a description with a verb in the
past tense,
do not switch to a verb
in the
present tense.
Inappropriate Shifts in Mood:
•Be consistent in your choice of
mood.
•A shift in mood without reason will confuse your reader.
•For example, do not combine an
imperative clause
with an
indicative clause
in the same
sentence.
Sequence of Tenses:
•Choose the
tenses
of your verbs accurately to express the
timing or sequence of events
that you are describing.
•Often, the particular sequence of events that you are
describing will require you to use
several different verb tenses within a single sentence or
paragraph.
•Although it is appropriate to vary your verb tenses in
accordance with the actual timing of
the events, you should avoid shifting tenses unnecessarily.
•Sequence of
Tenses and Timing of Events
–To emphasize that an event occurred or was completed before
another event, use a form
of the
perfect
auxiliary
have.
Pronoun Reference:
•Pronoun reference refers to the identification of a pronoun
with its intended
antecedent.
•Two common problems in pronoun reference are unclear
pronoun reference and broad
pronoun reference.
•Make sure all of your pronouns can be easily identified.
Unclear Pronoun Reference:
•Use a
pronoun
instead of a noun only if the connection to
the intended antecedent of the
pronoun is quite strong.
•Make sure no other nouns with the same
gender
and number appear between your
pronoun and its intended antecedent.
•Otherwise, your
pronoun reference
may be unclear.
Broad Pronoun Reference:
•Use a
demonstrative pronoun
only if the connection to the intended
antecedent
of the
pronoun is quite strong.
•Otherwise, your pronoun reference may be too broad, thus
unclear.
Pronoun Case:
•A
pronoun can appear in one of three
cases:
–subjective, in which the pronoun functions as a subject;
–objective, in which the pronoun functions as an
object;
–and possessive, in which the pronoun functions as a
possessor. The following list shows
the subjective, objective, and possessive forms of the personal pronouns.
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