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

1、常见英语句法错误Sentence-Fragment-Dangling-Modifier-and-Faulty-ParallelismSentenceFragmentsASENTENCEFRAGMENTfailstobeasentenceinthesensethatitcannotstandbyitself.Itdoesnotcontainevenoneindependentclause.Thereareseveralreasonswhyagroupofwordsmayseemtoactlikeasentencebutnothavethewherewithaltomakeitasacomplet

2、ethought.Itmaylocatesomethingintimeandplacewithaprepositionalphraseoraseriesofsuchphrases,butit'sstilllackingapropersubject-verbrelationshipwithinanindependentclause:InJapan,duringthelastwarandjustbeforethearmistice.Thissentenceaccomplishesagreatdealintermsofplacingthereaderintimeandplace,butthe

3、reisnosubject,noverb.Itdescribessomething,butthereisnosubject-verbrelationship:Workingfarintothenightinanefforttosalvageherlittleboat.Thisisaverbalphrasethatwantstomodifysomething,therealsubjectofthesentence(abouttocomeup),probablytheshewhowasworkingsohard.Itmayhavemostofthemakingsofasentencebutstil

4、lbemissinganimportantpartofaverbstring:SomeofthestudentsworkinginProfessorEspinoza'slaboratorylastsemester.Rememberthatan-ingverbformwithoutanauxiliaryformtoaccompanyitcanneverbeaverb.Itmayevenhaveasubject-verbrelationship,butithasbeensubordinatedtoanotherideabyadependentwordandsocannotstandbyit

5、self:Eventhoughhehadthebetterargumentsandwasbyfarthemorepowerfulspeaker.Thissentencefragmenthasasubject,he,andtwoverbs,hadandwas,butitcannotstandbyitselfbecauseofthedependentword(subordinatingconjunction)eventhough.Weneedanindependentclausetofollowupthisdependentclause:.themorepowerfulspeaker,helost

6、thecasebecausehedidn'tunderstandthejury.StylisticFragmentsThereareoccasionswhenasentencefragmentcanbestylisticallyeffective,exactlywhatyouwantandnomore.HarrisonFordhassaidhewouldbemorethanwillingtotakeonanotherIndianaJonesproject.InaNewYorkminute.Aslongasyouareclearlyincontrolofthesituation,this

7、ispermissible,butthefreedomtoexercisethisstylisticlicensedependsonthecircumstances.PerhapsyourfinalresearchpaperinEnglishCompositionisnottheplacetoexperiment-or,thenagain,maybeitis.Askyourinstructor.Ofthethreesentencesineachgroup,selecttheonethatisNOTasentencefragment.SubmittheformusingtheSUBMITAPPL

8、ICATIONbuttonattheendoftheexercise.1.Mrs.Blancogonetovisithermotheratthehospital.f*Findingaparkingspacethereisusuallyeasyduringtheweek.Drivinginthecityduringtheeveningrushhour.2.Toapplyforajobatthenewstoreinthemall.Askingtheinterviewerhowoftenhewouldhavetoworkonweekends.Shakinghisnewboss'shand,T

9、onyknewhewouldlikeworkingthere.3.BythetimeFrancesfoundouthowexpensivethewallpaperingjobwouldbe.Aftergettingestimatesfromfivecontractors,shedecidedtodotheworkherself.Beforepickingoutaninterestingwallpaperpatternthatwentwellwithherfurniture.4.WWhoborrowedStefanie'scarSaturdaynight.TThenineteen-yea

10、r-oldcarlookedoutofplacenexttothenewmodels.WWhichthesalesmanwassurprisedtofindinsuchgoodshape.5.'Whilewaitingforherneighbortomovethecarthatblockedthedriveway.Toavoidhittingtheothercar,Michaelhadtobackacrossthecornerofthelawn.Bymakingsurethatnoonewillparkacrossthedrivewayagain.6.BecauseManuelwass

11、urehehadheardthesamestrangestorymanymonthsago.AlthoughIwillneverforgethowcoldwewerewhenwelostourheatlastwinter.SSinceAnnawasn'tatthemeeting,Itooknotessothatshewouldn'tmissanything.7.WhenmycousinmovedtoTroy,NewYork,afterhefinishedschool.Afterhewenttoallthetroubleoffixinguphisapartment.Whileli

12、vingthere,hemadeveryfewfriends.8.Mybrotherhasbeenrunningacharterfishingboatforfiveyears.ManyofhiscustomerscomingbackthreeorfourtimesovertheHisbusinessbeensobusythathehasverylittletimeforanythingelse.9.InthehidingplacethatCarlhadbeenusingforyearstogetawayfromthenoisyhouse.Bythetimethateveryonehadquie

13、teddown,myfavoritetelevisionshowwasover.Beforeplanninganotherfamilyget-togetheratthealreadycrowdedpark.lAlthough10.Iknewshemightwearsomethingoutrageous,Iwasstillshockedbyherdress.Becauseshedidn'twanttotellwhereshehadboughtthestrangeoutfit.Whenwefinallyheardthatshehadmadethedressherself.DANGLINGM

14、ODIFERMisplacedandDanglingModifiersYouhaveacertainamountoffreedomindecidingwheretoplaceyourmodifiersinasentenceWerowedtheboatvigorously.Wevigorouslyrowedtheboat.Vigorouslywerowedtheboat.However,youmustbecarefultoavoidmisplacedmodifiers-modifiersthatarepositionedsothattheyappeartomodifythewrongthing.

15、Infact,youcanimproveyourwritingquiteabitbypayingattentiontobasicproblemslikemisplacedmodifiersanddanglingmodifiers.MisplacedWordsIngeneral,youshouldplacesingle-wordmodifiersnearthewordorwordstheymodify,especiallywhenareadermightthinkthattheymodifysomethingdifferentinthesentence.Considerthefollowings

16、entence:WRONGAfterourconversationlessons,wecouldunderstandtheSpanishspokenbyourvisitorsfromMadrideasily.DoweunderstandtheSpanisheasily,ordothevisitorsspeakiteasily?Thisrevisioneliminatestheconfusion:RIGHTWecouldeasilyunderstandtheSpanishspokenbyourvisitorsfromMadrid.Itisparticularlyimportanttobecare

17、fulaboutwhereyouputlimitingmodifiers.Thesearewordslike"almost,""hardly,""nearly,""just,""only,""merely,"andsoon.Manywritersregularlymisplacethesemodifiers.Youcanaccidentallychangetheentiremeaningofasentenceifyouplacethesemodifiersnexttothew

18、rongword:WRONGRandyhasnearlyannoyedeveryprofessorhehashad.(hehasn't"nearlyannoyed"them)WRONGWealmostatealloftheThanksgivingturkey.(wedidn't"almosteat"it)RIGHTRandyhasannoyednearlyeveryprofessorhehashad.RIGHTWeatealmostalloftheThanksgivingturkey.MisplacedPhrasesandClausesI

19、tisimportantthatyouplacethemodifyingphraseorclauseascloseaspossibletothewordorwordsitmodifies:WRONGByaccident,hepokedthelittlegirlwithhisfingerintheeye.WRONGIheardthatmyroommateintendedtothrowasurprisepartyformewhileIwasoutsideherbedroomwindow.WRONGAfterthewedding,Iantoldusathisstagpartythathewoulds

20、tartbehavinglikearesponsibleadult.RIGHTByaccident,hepokedthelittlegirlintheeyewithhisfinger.RIGHTWhileIwasoutsideherbedroomwindow,Iheardthatmyroommateintendedtothrowasurprisepartyforme.RIGHTIantoldusathisstagpartythathewouldstartbehavinglikearesponsibleadultafterthewedding.SquintingModifiersAsquinti

21、ngmodifierisanambiguouslyplacedmodifierthatcanmodifyeitherthewordbeforeitorthewordafterit.Inotherwords,itis"squinting"inbothdirectionsatthesametime:WRONGDefiningyourtermsclearlystrengthensyourargument.(doesdefining"clearlystrengthen"ordoes"definingclearly"strengthen?)RI

22、GHTDefiningyourtermswillclearlystrengthenyourargument.ORAcleardefinitionofyourtermsstrengthensyourargument.SplitInfinitivesTheinfinitiveformoftheverbconsistsoftheword"to"followedbythebaseformoftheverb:"tobe,""toserve,""tochop,"etc.Insertingawordorwordsbetweent

23、he"to"andtheverbofaninfinitivecreateswhatisknownasasplitinfinitive.Prescriptivegrammarians,whoknewLatingrammarbetterthanEnglish,oncedecreedthatasplitinfinitivewasanerror,butnowitisgrowingincreasinglyacceptableeveninformalwriting.Nevertheless,somecarefulwritersstillprefertoavoidsplittinginf

24、initivesaltogether.Ingeneral,youshouldavoidplacinglong,disruptivemodifiersbetweenthe"to"andtheverbofaninfinitive.However,youmustuseyourjudgementwhenitcomestosingle-wordmodifiers.Sometimesasentencebecomesawkwardifasingle-wordmodifierisplacedanywherebutbetweentheelementsoftheinfinitive:WRONG

25、Themarketingteamvotedto,beforetheylaunchedthenewsoftware,runananticipatoryadcampaign.(disruptive-theinfinitiveshouldnotbesplit)RIGHTThemarketingteamvotedtorunananticipatoryadcampaignbeforetheylaunchedthenewsoftware.DanglingModifiersThedanglingmodifier,apersistentandfrequentgrammaticalprobleminwritin

26、g,isoften(thoughnotalways)locatedatthebeginningofasentence.Adanglingmodifierisusuallyaphraseoranellipticalclause-adependentclausewhosesubjectandverbareimpliedratherthanexpressed-thatfunctionsasanadjectivebutdoesnotmodifyanyspecificwordinthesentence,or(worse)modifiesthewrongword.Considerthefollowinge

27、xample:RaisedinNovaScotia,itisnaturaltomissthesmellofthesea.Theintroductoryphraseintheabovesentencelooksasifitismeanttomodifyapersonorpersons,butnooneismentionedinthesentence.Suchintroductoryadjectivephrases,becauseoftheirposition,automaticallymodifythefirstnounorpronounthatfollowsthephrase-inthisca

28、se,"it."Theconnectioninthiscaseisillogicalbecause"it"wasnotraisedinNovaScotia.Youcouldrevisethesentenceinanumberofways:ForapersonraisedinNovaScotia,itisnaturaltomissthesmellofthesea.(thephrasenolongerfunctionsasanadjective)RaisedinNovaScotia,Ioftenmissthesmellofthesea.(thephrasef

29、unctionsasanadjectivebutnowautomaticallymodifies"I,"alogicalconnection)Adanglingmodifiercanalsoappearwhenyouplaceanellipticalclauseimproperly:Althoughnearlyfinished,welefttheplayearlybecausewewereworriedaboutoursickcat.Thewaythissentenceisstructured,theclause"Althoughnearlyfinished&qu

30、ot;illogicallymodifies"we,"thepronoundirectlyfollowingtheclause.Aneasywaytorectifytheproblemistore-insertthesubjectandverbthatareunderstoodintheellipticalclause:Althoughtheplaywasnearlyfinished,weleftearlybecausewewereworriedaboutoursickcat.FaultyParallelismPrintablePDFVersionFair-UsePolic

31、yWhatisfaultyparallelism?Lookoutforfaultyparallelismwheneveryouuseoneofthefollowingconstructions:aandba,b,andcaorba,b,orcnotonlyabutalsobTheclausesorphrasesjoinedbytheconjunctionsshouldhavesimilargrammaticalstructurestoensurethatyourreadercanfollowthelogicofyoursentenceandtoavoidawkwardness.Consider

32、thesentence,Myfirst-yearphilosophyprofessorwasinformative,lively,andasourceofinspiration.Noticethatthefirsttwophrasesinthea,b,andcconstructionareadjectives,whilethethirdisanounphrase.Thissentencesuffersfromfaultyparallelism.HowtoidentifyandrepairfaultyparallelismTocheckwhethertheelementsofaconstruct

33、ionareinparallel,placeboxesaroundthem.Next,labeltheboxes.Myfirst-yearphilosophyprofessorwasinformativea,livelyb,andasourceofinspirationc.Torepairthefaultyparallelismhere,youwillhavetochangetheelementsaandbintonounphrasesortheelementcintoanadjective.Alwayschoosethesimplestoption.Inthiscaseitiseasiest

34、tochangethefinalelement,c,intoanadjective:Myfirst-yearphilosophyprofessorwasinformativea,livelyb,andinspiringc.Oftenfaultyparallelismcanberepairedbypayingcloseattentiontowhereyouplaceyourverbs.Thefaultyparallelisminthefollowingsentenceiseasytodetectonceyouplaceboxesaroundthetwoelementsofthenotonlybu

35、talsoconstruction:Myphilosophyprofessornotonlydemonstratedhowtoreasonpersuasivelyabutalsohowtoavoidlogicalfallaciesb.Notethatelementabeginswithaverbbutelementbdoesn't.Torepairthefaultyparallelism,youcanaddaverbtothestartofelementb.However,sincethesameverbwillworkforbothpartsoftheconstruction,the

36、moreelegantsolutionistodragtheverbdemonstratedtothefrontofthewholeconstruction:Myphilosophyprofessordemonstratednotonlyhowtoreasonpersuasivelyabutalsohowtoavoidlogicalfallaciesb.Problemswithparallelismoftenarisefromthecarelessuseofclausesbeginningwiththesubordinatingconjunctionthat:Hewarnedmetorevis

37、emyessayaandthatIshouldpaycloseattentiontoparallelstructuresTorepairtheproblem,chooseeitheraninfinitive(to+verb)orathatclauseonbothsidesoftheaandbconstruction.Inthisexample,theinfinitiveprovidesthemoreelegantsolution:HewarnedmetorevisemyessayaandtopaycloseattentiontoparallelstructuresDirections:Foreach"non-parallel"sentence,replacetheunderlinedportionwiththechoicethatcreatesaparallelstructure.Clickontheletterthatprecedesthebestchoice.Ifthesentenceisfine,click"nochange."