Grammar and Usage Pitfalls

 

Modifiers

• A modifier is a word or phrase that adds extra information to another word or phrase within a sentence.

• Problems arise when a modifer doesn’t point clearly to what it modifies.

To avoid modifier mistakes:

Place limiting modifiers next to the word they modify. Limiting modifiers are words like only, even, almost, nearly, and just.

• Incorrect: The Joads almost end up with nothing. This sentence suggests that they don’t end up with nothing—that they almost do but ultimately do not.

• Correct: The Joads end up with almost nothing. The meaning changes when the limiting modifier is placed correctly: now it’s clear that the Joads do indeed end up with very little.

Make sure modifiers are clear and placed correctly. Always place modifiers close to the word(s) they modify and be sure that what they modify is clear.

• Misplaced: Rose of Sharon dreams about her future in the truck. This sentence implies that Rose of Sharon is happy about the possibility of remaining in the truck.

• Correct: In the truck, Rose of Sharon dreams about her future. This revision makes clear that Rose of Sharon has dreams that go beyond the truck’s interior.

Beware of dangling modifiers. A modifier dangles when it fails to refer logically to any word in the sentence. Dangling modifiers usually appear at the beginning of a sentence and often include the present participle form of a verb (a verb ending with -ing). Any time you see a word ending in -ing at the beginning of a sentence, be sure it’s modifying what it’s supposed to.

• Dangling: Hoping to reach California, the old truck was driven down the dusty roads by the Joads. In this sentence, it appears that Hoping to reach California modifies the old truck—yet it seems unlikely that the truck itself was hoping anything.

• Fixed: There are two ways to fix a sentence that has a dangling modifier:

  • Name the actor in the subject: Hoping to reach California, the Joads drove the old truck down the dusty roads.

  • Change the modifier into a phrase that names the actor: Since the Joads hoped to reach California, they drove the old truck down the dusty roads.

Eliminate the passive voice from your writing and you’ll find far fewer dangling modifiers in your work. When you use passive voice, you take away the actor—and a dangling modifier often results from an actor being absent.

 

Paralellism

A sentence that contains two or more ideas or details must present those ideas or details in the same fashion or in a balanced way. This practice is called parallelism.

The following sentences are careful to maintain parallelism:

• Neither Connie nor Rose of Sharon knew what the future would hold. Here, the words that fall after the neither and nor both are nouns.

• The Joads worked hard, remained hopeful, and tried to stay together even when their luck was running out. Here, each item in the list is a verb in the past participle form.

Sentences that contain lists are common sites for parallelism problems. To fix such sentences, make sure that you phrase all the items in a list so that they are the same part of speech:

• Incorrect: Rose of Sharon wanted a house, a car, and going to the movies whenever she wanted. In this sentence, two of the items in the list (house and car) are nouns, and one is a participial phrase (going to the movies . . .)

• Correct: Rose of Sharon wanted a house, a car, and money to use for the movies whenever she wanted. This sentence fixes the parallelism problem by making all three items in the list nouns (house, car, and money).

 

“Hopefully”

The word hopefully is an adverb that means “in a hopeful manner.” In conversational English, however, we commonly use hopefully to mean “I hope that.” In formal essay writing, this usage is incorrect.

In written English, hopefully is an example of a disjunct—a word that breaks into a sentence and exposes the writer’s personal feelings on the content of the sentence.

• • Incorrect: Hopefully, the mother will give in and buy the girl the doll. This sentence implies that the writer holds a personal hope that the mother will buy the girl the doll.

  • Corrected: At the toy store, the girl looked up at her mother hopefully. This sentence clarifies that the girl, not the writer, is the one who is expressing hope.

 

Gendered Language

Whenever possible, avoid gendered language in your writing.

• • You may risk alienating readers if you use the use the masculine pronouns he, him, and his to represent both sexes.

  • At the same time, avoid using the feminine pronouns sheand her simply to “make a statement”—this can be jarring for your readers.

  • Similarly, don’t try to avoid the issue by using the third-person plural pronoun their—that can create a pronoun/antecedent agreement problem.

• To refer to third-person singular subjects or objects when gender is unclear, use the phrases he or she, him or her, or his or hers. Alternatively, change third-person singular subjects or objects to plural and use they, them, their, or theirs.

  • Grammatically incorrect: A writer should do research before writing their essay.

  • Grammatically correct but gendered: A writer should do research before writing his essay.

  • Better: A writer should do research before writing his or her essay.

  • Best: Writers should do research before writing their essays.