Beware the following common construction errors and logical mistakes. These grammatical and logical mistakes occur not just when writing, but also when revising. Always review drafts carefully to make sure that you do not inadvertently create an error when revising.
Gerunds.
What is a gerund?
A gerund is a verb with an identity crisis. Instead of functioning like a verb in the sentence, it serves as a subject, a subject complement, a direct object, or the object of a preposition. Gerunds have -ing endings (running, golfing, being). These parts of speech offer variety in sentences, but they do take some care to use properly.
Examples:
In the early 2020s, interim fasting replaced the focus on caloric intake. (gerund as a subject)
One healthy habit is running. (gerund as a subject complement)
After she graduated, she turned teaching into the main focus of her academic life. (gerund as a direct object)
The high salary prevented her from exploring other options. (gerund as the object of the preposition “from”).
Subordinating conjunctions.
What are subordinating conjunctions?
These parts of speech appear at the beginning of an independent clause (a complete idea with a subject and a verb), and they change the clause from independent to dependent (an incomplete idea). They help writers link clauses to show relationships, such as cause/effect or sequences. Commonly used subordinating conjunctions include after, although, while, and when.
Examples:
After he spent many nights staring at the stars, Sheldon finally found the constellation Orion.
Sheldon finally found the constellation after he spent many nights staring at the stars.
[Note: When the subordinating conjunction begins the sentence, the dependent clause it’s in should have a comma after it to separate it from the independent clause that ends the sentence (first example). When the dependent clause is at the end of the sentence, no comma is necessary because the subordinating conjunction separates the the two clauses (second example).]
Dangling modifiers.
What are danging modifiers?
Dangling modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses (almost always dependent) that do not have a clear or proper referent. In other words, the subject of the main clause is missing or does not align properly with the modifier.
Example:
Trapped in the snowy pass, food was running out for the beleaguered army.
What’s wrong?
Trapped in the snowy pass should refer to the army. However, this sentence makes it seem like food is trapped. While it’s true that the food also is trapped, it is not the main point of this sentence.
Change to: Trapped in the snowy pass, the beleaguered army was rapidly running out of food.
Parallelism.
What is parallelism?
Parallelism occurs when words in a list or compound predicates (verbs and their modifiers) are in the same form. For example, four verbs in a list should be the same tense and form; for instance, if the first verb has a past-tense ending (-ed), all four verbs should end in -ed or an alternate past-tense ending if the verb is irregular (ran).
Examples:
Compound predicates: When the hero returned, the whole town greeted him and welcomed him home.
Items in a list: As a child, riding his Big Wheel, playing with the family’s dog, and hiding in boxes were his favorite activities. He also loved to smell flowers, to pick them, and to make bouquets for his mother.
Commas between subjects and predicates.
Do not put a comma between a subject and its predicate unless the predicate is in a list of more than two predicates.
Example:
Traveling by night, the fugitives never felt completely safe, and were literally running for their lives.
What’s wrong?
This sentence has only one subject, the fugitives, which is also the subject of the second predicate, were running. This predicate should not be separated from its subject by a single comma.
Change to: Traveling by night, the fugitives never felt completely safe and were literally running for their lives.
Overusing semi-colons.
Do not use more than one semi-colon in a sentence (unless in a list following a colon).
Example:
The storm had appeared to pass, and the sky was blue; therefore, the people were happy and filled with hope; however, they did not know what would follow this calm.
What’s wrong?
This sentence has too many ideas in it. Although the connections between these ideas are important, they can be more clearly and smoothly expressed in several sentences. Group the ideas that are most closely related in the same sentence, or use short sentences to add emphasis to certain ideas.
Change to: The storm had appeared to pass, and the sky was once again blue. As the sky cleared, the people were happy and filled with hope; however, they did not know what would follow this calm.