常见英语句法错误Sentence-Fragment--Dangling-Modifier-and-Faulty-Parallelism

1、Sentence FragmentsA SENTENCE FRAGMENT fails to be a sentence in the sense that it cannot stand by itself. It does not contain even one independent clause. There are several reasons why a group of words may seem to act like a sentence but not have the wherewithal to make it as a complete thought.It m

2、ay locate something in time and place with a prepositional phrase or a series of such phrases, but its still lacking a proper subject-verb relationship within an independent clause: In Japan, during the last war and just before the armistice.This sentence accomplishes a great deal in terms of placin

3、g the reader in time and place, but there is no subject, no verb. It describes something, but there is no subject-verb relationship: Working far into the night in an effort to salvage her little boat. This is a verbal phrase that wants to modify something, the real subject of the sentence (about to

4、come up), probably the she who was working so hard. It may have most of the makings of a sentence but still be missing an important part of a verb string: Some of the students working in Professor Espinozas laboratory last semester. Remember that an -ing verb form without an auxiliary form to accomp

5、any it can never be a verb. It may even have a subject-verb relationship, but it has been subordinated to another idea by a dependent word and so cannot stand by itself: Even though he had the better arguments and was by far the more powerful speaker. This sentence fragment has a subject, he, and tw

6、o verbs, had and was, but it cannot stand by itself because of the dependent word (subordinating conjunction) even though. We need an independent clause to follow up this dependent clause: . . . the more powerful speaker, he lost the case because he didnt understand the jury. Stylistic FragmentsTher

7、e are occasions when a sentence fragment can be stylistically effective, exactly what you want and no more. Harrison Ford has said he would be more than willing to take on another Indiana Jones project. In a New York minute.As long as you are clearly in control of the situation, this is permissible,

8、 but the freedom to exercise this stylistic license depends on the circumstances. Perhaps your final research paper in English Composition is not the place to experiment - or, then again, maybe it is. Ask your instructor.窗体顶端Of the three sentences in each group, select the one that is NOT a sentence

9、 fragment. Submit the form using the SUBMIT APPLICATION button at the end of the exercise. 1. Mrs. Blanco gone to visit her mother at the hospital.Finding a parking space there is usually easy during the week.Driving in the city during the evening rush hour.2. To apply for a job at the new store in

10、the mall.Asking the interviewer how often he would have to work on weekends.Shaking his new bosss hand, Tony knew he would like working there.3. By the time Frances found out how expensive the wallpapering job would be.After getting estimates from five contractors, she decided to do the work herself

11、.Before picking out an interesting wallpaper pattern that went well with her furniture.4. Who borrowed Stefanies car Saturday night.The nineteen-year-old car looked out of place next to the new models.Which the salesman was surprised to find in such good shape.5. While waiting for her neighbor to mo

12、ve the car that blocked the driveway.To avoid hitting the other car, Michael had to back across the corner of the lawn.By making sure that no one will park across the driveway again.6. Because Manuel was sure he had heard the same strange story many months ago.Although I will never forget how cold w

13、e were when we lost our heat last winter.Since Anna wasnt at the meeting, I took notes so that she wouldnt miss anything.7. When my cousin moved to Troy, New York, after he finished school.After he went to all the trouble of fixing up his apartment.While living there, he made very few friends.8. My

14、brother has been running a charter fishing boat for five years.Many of his customers coming back three or four times over the summer.His business been so busy that he has very little time for anything else.9. In the hiding place that Carl had been using for years to get away from the noisy house.By

15、the time that everyone had quieted down, my favorite television show was over.Before planning another family get-together at the already crowded park.10. Although I knew she might wear something outrageous, I was still shocked by her dress.Because she didnt want to tell where she had bought the stra

16、nge outfit.When we finally heard that she had made the dress herself.DANGLING MODIFERMisplaced and Dangling ModifiersYou have a certain amount of freedom in deciding where to place your modifiers in a sentence:We rowed the boat vigorously. We vigorously rowed the boat. Vigorously we rowed the boat.

17、However, you must be careful to avoid misplaced modifiers - modifiers that are positioned so that they appear to modify the wrong thing.In fact, you can improve your writing quite a bit by paying attention to basic problems like misplaced modifiers and dangling modifiers.Misplaced WordsIn general, y

18、ou should place single-word modifiers near the word or words they modify, especially when a reader might think that they modify something different in the sentence. Consider the following sentence:WRONG After our conversation lessons, we could understand the Spanish spoken by our visitors from Madri

19、d easily. Do we understand the Spanish easily, or do the visitors speak it easily? This revision eliminates the confusion:RIGHT We could easily understand the Spanish spoken by our visitors from Madrid. It is particularly important to be careful about where you put limiting modifiers. These are word

20、s like almost, hardly, nearly, just, only, merely, and so on. Many writers regularly misplace these modifiers. You can accidentally change the entire meaning of a sentence if you place these modifiers next to the wrong word:WRONG Randy has nearly annoyed every professor he has had. (he hasnt nearly

21、annoyed them) WRONG We almost ate all of the Thanksgiving turkey. (we didnt almost eat it) RIGHT Randy has annoyed nearly every professor he has had. RIGHT We ate almost all of the Thanksgiving turkey. Misplaced Phrases and ClausesIt is important that you place the modifying phrase or clause as clos

22、e as possible to the word or words it modifies:WRONG By accident, he poked the little girl with his finger in the eye. WRONG I heard that my roommate intended to throw a surprise party for me while I was outside her bedroom window. WRONG After the wedding, Ian told us at his stag party that he would

23、 start behaving like a responsible adult. RIGHT By accident, he poked the little girl in the eye with his finger. RIGHT While I was outside her bedroom window, I heard that my roommate intended to throw a surprise party for me. RIGHT Ian told us at his stag party that he would start behaving like a

24、responsible adult after the wedding. Squinting ModifiersA squinting modifier is an ambiguously placed modifier that can modify either the word before it or the word after it. In other words, it is squinting in both directions at the same time:WRONG Defining your terms clearly strengthens your argume

25、nt. (does defining clearly strengthen or does defining clearly strengthen?) RIGHT Defining your terms will clearly strengthen your argument. OR A clear definition of your terms strengthens your argument. Split InfinitivesThe infinitive form of the verb consists of the word to followed by the base fo

26、rm of the verb: to be, to serve, to chop, etc. Inserting a word or words between the to and the verb of an infinitive creates what is known as a split infinitive. Prescriptive grammarians, who knew Latin grammar better than English, once decreed that a split infinitive was an error, but now it is gr

27、owing increasingly acceptable even in formal writing. Nevertheless, some careful writers still prefer to avoid splitting infinitives altogether.In general, you should avoid placing long, disruptive modifiers between the to and the verb of an infinitive. However, you must use your judgement when it c

28、omes to single-word modifiers. Sometimes a sentence becomes awkward if a single-word modifier is placed anywhere but between the elements of the infinitive:WRONG The marketing team voted to, before they launched the new software, run an anticipatory ad campaign. (disruptive - the infinitive should n

29、ot be split) RIGHT The marketing team voted to run an anticipatory ad campaign before they launched the new software. Dangling ModifiersThe dangling modifier, a persistent and frequent grammatical problem in writing, is often (though not always) located at the beginning of a sentence. A dangling mod

30、ifier is usually a phrase or an elliptical clause - a dependent clause whose subject and verb are implied rather than expressed - that functions as an adjective but does not modify any specific word in the sentence, or (worse) modifies the wrong word. Consider the following example:Raised in Nova Sc

31、otia, it is natural to miss the smell of the sea. The introductory phrase in the above sentence looks as if it is meant to modify a person or persons, but no one is mentioned in the sentence. Such introductory adjective phrases, because of their position, automatically modify the first noun or prono

32、un that follows the phrase - in this case, it. The connection in this case is illogical because it was not raised in Nova Scotia. You could revise the sentence in a number of ways:For a person raised in Nova Scotia, it is natural to miss the smell of the sea. (the phrase no longer functions as an ad

33、jective) Raised in Nova Scotia, I often miss the smell of the sea. (the phrase functions as an adjective but now automatically modifies I, a logical connection) A dangling modifier can also appear when you place an elliptical clause improperly:Although nearly finished, we left the play early because

34、 we were worried about our sick cat. The way this sentence is structured, the clause Although nearly finished illogically modifies we, the pronoun directly following the clause. An easy way to rectify the problem is to re-insert the subject and verb that are understood in the elliptical clause:Altho

35、ugh the play was nearly finished, we left early because we were worried about our sick cat. Faulty ParallelismPrintable PDF VersionFair-Use PolicyWhat is faulty parallelism?Look out for faulty parallelism whenever you use one of the following constructions:a and ba, b, and ca or ba, b, or cnot only

36、a but also bThe clauses or phrases joined by the conjunctions should have similar grammatical structures to ensure that your reader can follow the logic of your sentence and to avoid awkwardness. Consider the sentence,My first-year philosophy professor was informative, lively, and a source of inspir

37、ation.Notice that the first two phrases in the a, b, and c construction are adjectives, while the third is a noun phrase. This sentence suffers from faulty parallelism.How to identify and repair faulty parallelismTo check whether the elements of a construction are in parallel, place boxes around the

38、m. Next, label the boxes.My first-year philosophy professor was informativea, livelyb, and a source of inspirationc.To repair the faulty parallelism here, you will have to change the elements a and b into noun phrases or the element c into an adjective. Always choose the simplest option. In this cas

39、e it is easiest to change the final element, c, into an adjective:My first-year philosophy professor was informativea, livelyb, and inspiringc.Often faulty parallelism can be repaired by paying close attention to where you place your verbs. The faulty parallelism in the following sentence is easy to

40、 detect once you place boxes around the two elements of the not only but also construction:My philosophy professor not only demonstrated how to reason persuasivelya but also how to avoid logical fallaciesb.Note that element a begins with a verb but element b doesnt. To repair the faulty parallelism,

41、 you can add a verb to the start of element b. However, since the same verb will work for both parts of the construction, the more elegant solution is to drag the verb demonstrated to the front of the whole construction:My philosophy professor demonstrated not only how to reason persuasivelya but al

42、so how to avoid logical fallaciesb.Problems with parallelism often arise from the careless use of clauses beginning with the subordinating conjunction that:He warned me to revise my essaya and that I should pay close attention to parallel structuresb.To repair the problem, choose either an infinitiv

43、e (to + verb) or a that clause on both sides of the a and b construction. In this example, the infinitive provides the more elegant solution:He warned me to revise my essaya and to pay close attention to parallel structuresb.Directions: For each non-parallel sentence, replace the underlined portion with the choice that creates a parallel structure. Click on the letter that precedes the best choice. If the sentence is fine, click no change. 1Learning a new lang