Language Review: Sentences II

Lesson #34

In This Lesson You Will Learn:

• Lack of Parallelism
• Choppy Sentences
• Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
• Interrupted Sentence Structure
• Faulty and Incomplete Comparisons
• Inappropriate Shifts in Tense, Mood, Person, and Voice
• Pronoun Reference and Pronoun Case

Lack of Parallelism

• Parallelism means that sentence elements performing the same function should have the same grammatical form.

• Words or phrases joined by coordinating conjunctions should be structurally parallel.

• Headings and subheadings should be consistent at each level.

Choppy Sentences

• Avoid using too many short sentences in succession.

• Combine related ideas using dependent clauses or phrases.

Misplaced Modifiers

• Place modifiers close to the words they modify to ensure clarity.

• Poor modifier placement can create ambiguity.

Interrupted Sentence Structure

• Long modifiers placed between subject and verb weaken sentence structure.

• Keep core sentence elements close together.

Dangling Modifiers

• A dangling modifier lacks a clear connection to the word it modifies.

• Revise the sentence to clearly identify the intended subject.

Faulty and Incomplete Comparisons

• Comparisons must be logically and grammatically parallel.

• Always include both elements being compared.

Inappropriate Shifts

• Avoid unnecessary shifts in tense, mood, person, or voice.

• Consistency improves readability and clarity.

Pronoun Reference

• Pronouns must clearly refer to a specific antecedent.

• Avoid unclear or overly broad pronoun references.

Pronoun Case

• Pronouns appear in subjective, objective, or possessive cases.

• Choose the correct case based on grammatical function.

Practical Tool for Writers

To analyze sentence length, readability, word count, and structure, use the Text Statistics tool before finalizing your draft.