常见英语句法错误SentenceFragmentDanglingModifierandFaultyParallelism.docx

常见英语句法错误SentenceFragmentDanglingModifierandFaultyParallelism.docx

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常见英语句法错误SentenceFragmentDanglingModifierandFaultyParallelism

SentenceFragments

ASENTENCEFRAGMENTfailstobeasentenceinthesensethatitcannotstandbyitself.Itdoesnotcontainevenoneindependentclause.Thereareseveralreasonswhyagroupofwordsmayseemtoactlikeasentencebutnothavethewherewithaltomakeitasacompletethought.

Itmaylocatesomethingintimeandplacewithaprepositionalphraseoraseriesofsuchphrases,butit'sstilllackingapropersubject-verbrelationshipwithinanindependentclause:

InJapan,duringthelastwarandjustbeforethearmistice.

Thissentenceaccomplishesagreatdealintermsofplacingthereaderintimeandplace,butthereisnosubject,noverb.

Itdescribessomething,butthereisnosubject-verbrelationship:

Workingfarintothenightinanefforttosalvageherlittleboat.

Thisisaverbalphrasethatwantstomodifysomething,therealsubjectofthesentence（abouttocomeup）,probablytheshewhowasworkingsohard.

Itmayhavemostofthemakingsofasentencebutstillbemissinganimportantpartofaverbstring:

SomeofthestudentsworkinginProfessorEspinoza'slaboratorylastsemester.

Rememberthatan-ingverbformwithoutanauxiliaryformtoaccompanyitcanneverbeaverb.

Itmayevenhaveasubject-verbrelationship,butithasbeensubordinatedtoanotherideabyadependentwordandsocannotstandbyitself:

Eventhoughhehadthebetterargumentsandwasbyfarthemorepowerfulspeaker.

Thissentencefragmenthasasubject,he,andtwoverbs,hadandwas,butitcannotstandbyitselfbecauseofthedependentword（subordinatingconjunction）eventhough.Weneedanindependentclausetofollowupthisdependentclause:

...themorepowerfulspeaker,helostthecasebecausehedidn'tunderstandthejury.

StylisticFragments

Thereareoccasionswhenasentencefragmentcanbestylisticallyeffective,exactlywhatyouwantandnomore.

HarrisonFordhassaidhewouldbemorethanwillingtotakeonanotherIndianaJonesproject.InaNewYorkminute.

Aslongasyouareclearlyincontrolofthesituation,thisispermissible,butthefreedomtoexercisethisstylisticlicensedependsonthecircumstances.PerhapsyourfinalresearchpaperinEnglishCompositionisnottheplacetoexperiment--or,thenagain,maybeitis.Askyourinstructor.

窗体顶端

Ofthethreesentencesineachgroup,selecttheonethatisNOTasentencefragment.SubmittheformusingtheSUBMITAPPLICATIONbuttonattheendoftheexercise.

1. 

Mrs.Blancogonetovisithermotheratthehospital.

Findingaparkingspacethereisusuallyeasyduringtheweek.

Drivinginthecityduringtheeveningrushhour.

2. 

Toapplyforajobatthenewstoreinthemall.

Askingtheinterviewerhowoftenhewouldhavetoworkonweekends.

Shakinghisnewboss'shand,Tonyknewhewouldlikeworkingthere.

3. 

BythetimeFrancesfoundouthowexpensivethewallpaperingjobwouldbe.

Aftergettingestimatesfromfivecontractors,shedecidedtodotheworkherself.

Beforepickingoutaninterestingwallpaperpatternthatwentwellwithherfurniture.

4. 

WhoborrowedStefanie'scarSaturdaynight.

Thenineteen-year-oldcarlookedoutofplacenexttothenewmodels.

Whichthesalesmanwassurprisedtofindinsuchgoodshape.

5. 

Whilewaitingforherneighbortomovethecarthatblockedthedriveway.

Toavoidhittingtheothercar,Michaelhadtobackacrossthecornerofthelawn.

Bymakingsurethatnoonewillparkacrossthedrivewayagain.

6. 

BecauseManuelwassurehehadheardthesamestrangestorymanymonthsago.

AlthoughIwillneverforgethowcoldwewerewhenwelostourheatlastwinter.

SinceAnnawasn'tatthemeeting,Itooknotessothatshewouldn'tmissanything.

7. 

WhenmycousinmovedtoTroy,NewYork,afterhefinishedschool.

Afterhewenttoallthetroubleoffixinguphisapartment.

Whilelivingthere,hemadeveryfewfriends.

8. 

Mybrotherhasbeenrunningacharterfishingboatforfiveyears.

Manyofhiscustomerscomingbackthreeorfourtimesoverthesummer.

Hisbusinessbeensobusythathehasverylittletimeforanythingelse.

9. 

InthehidingplacethatCarlhadbeenusingforyearstogetawayfromthenoisyhouse.

Bythetimethateveryonehadquieteddown,myfavoritetelevisionshowwasover.

Beforeplanninganotherfamilyget-togetheratthealreadycrowdedpark.

10. 

AlthoughIknewshemightwearsomethingoutrageous,Iwasstillshockedbyherdress.

Becauseshedidn'twanttotellwhereshehadboughtthestrangeoutfit.

Whenwefinallyheardthatshehadmadethedressherself.

DANGLINGMODIFER

MisplacedandDanglingModifiers

Youhaveacertainamountoffreedomindecidingwheretoplaceyourmodifiersinasentence:

Werowedtheboatvigorously.

Wevigorouslyrowedtheboat.

Vigorouslywerowedtheboat.

However,youmustbecarefultoavoidmisplacedmodifiers--modifiersthatarepositionedsothattheyappeartomodifythewrongthing.

Infact,youcanimproveyourwritingquiteabitbypayingattentiontobasicproblemslikemisplacedmodifiersanddanglingmodifiers.

MisplacedWords

Ingeneral,youshouldplacesingle-wordmodifiersnearthewordorwordstheymodify,especiallywhenareadermightthinkthattheymodifysomethingdifferentinthesentence.Considerthefollowingsentence:

[WRONG]Afterourconversationlessons,wecouldunderstandtheSpanishspokenbyourvisitorsfromMadrideasily.

DoweunderstandtheSpanisheasily,ordothevisitorsspeakiteasily?

Thisrevisioneliminatestheconfusion:

[RIGHT]WecouldeasilyunderstandtheSpanishspokenbyourvisitorsfromMadrid.

Itisparticularlyimportanttobecarefulaboutwhereyouputlimitingmodifiers.Thesearewordslike"almost,""hardly,""nearly,""just,""only,""merely,"andsoon.Manywritersregularlymisplacethesemodifiers.Youcanaccidentallychangetheentiremeaningofasentenceifyouplacethesemodifiersnexttothewrongword:

[WRONG]Randyhasnearlyannoyedeveryprofessorhehashad.（hehasn't"nearlyannoyed"them）

[WRONG]WealmostatealloftheThanksgivingturkey.（wedidn't"almosteat"it）

[RIGHT]Randyhasannoyednearlyeveryprofessorhehashad.

[RIGHT]WeatealmostalloftheThanksgivingturkey.

MisplacedPhrasesandClauses

Itisimportantthatyouplacethemodifyingphraseorclauseascloseaspossibletothewordorwordsitmodifies:

[WRONG]Byaccident,hepokedthelittlegirlwithhisfingerintheeye.

[WRONG]IheardthatmyroommateintendedtothrowasurprisepartyformewhileIwasoutsideherbedroomwindow.

[WRONG]Afterthewedding,Iantoldusathisstagpartythathewouldstartbehavinglikearesponsibleadult.

[RIGHT]Byaccident,hepokedthelittlegirlintheeyewithhisfinger.

[RIGHT]WhileIwasoutsideherbedroomwindow,Iheardthatmyroommateintendedtothrowasurprisepartyforme.

[RIGHT]Iantoldusathisstagpartythathewouldstartbehavinglikearesponsibleadultafterthewedding.

SquintingModifiers

Asquintingmodifierisanambiguouslyplacedmodifierthatcanmodifyeitherthewordbeforeitorthewordafterit.Inotherwords,itis"squinting"inbothdirectionsatthesametime:

[WRONG]Definingyourtermsclearlystrengthensyourargument.（doesdefining"clearlystrengthen"ordoes"definingclearly"strengthen?

）

[RIGHT]Definingyourtermswillclearlystrengthenyourargument.ORAcleardefinitionofyourtermsstrengthensyourargument.

SplitInfinitives

Theinfinitiveformoftheverbconsistsoftheword"to"followedbythebaseformoftheverb:

"tobe,""toserve,""tochop,"etc.Insertingawordorwordsbetweenthe"to"andtheverbofaninfinitivecreateswhatisknownasasplitinfinitive.Prescriptivegrammarians,whoknewLatingrammarbetterthanEnglish,oncedecreedthatasplitinfinitivewasanerror,butnowitisgrowingincreasinglyacceptableeveninformalwriting.Nevertheless,somecarefulwritersstillprefertoavoidsplittinginfinitivesaltogether.

Ingeneral,youshouldavoidplacinglong,disruptivemodifiersbetweenthe"to"andtheverbofaninfinitive.However,youmustuseyourjudgementwhenitcomestosingle-wordmodifiers.Sometimesasentencebecomesawkwardifasingle-wordmodifierisplacedanywherebutbetweentheelementsoftheinfinitive:

[WRONG]Themarketingteamvotedto,beforetheylaunchedthenewsoftware,runananticipatoryadcampaign.（disruptive--theinfinitiveshouldnotbesplit）

[RIGHT]Themarketingteamvotedtorunananticipatoryadcampaignbeforetheylaunchedthenewsoftware.

DanglingModifiers

Thedanglingmodifier,apersistentandfrequentgrammaticalprobleminwriting,isoften（thoughnotalways）locatedatthebeginningofasentence.Adanglingmodifierisusuallyaphraseoranellipticalclause--adependentclausewhosesubjectandverbareimpliedratherthanexpressed--thatfunctionsasanadjectivebutdoesnotmodifyanyspecificwordinthesentence,or（worse）modifiesthewrongword.Considerthefollowingexample:

RaisedinNovaScotia,itisnaturaltomissthesmellofthesea.

Theintroductoryphraseintheabovesentencelooksasifitismeanttomodifyapersonorpersons,butnooneismentionedinthesentence.Suchintroductoryadjectivephrases,becauseoftheirposition,automaticallymodifythefirstnounorpronounthatfollowsthephrase--inthiscase,"it."Theconnectioninthiscaseisillogicalbecause"it"wasnotraisedinNovaScotia.Youcouldrevisethesentenceinanumberofways:

ForapersonraisedinNovaScotia,itisnaturaltomissthesmellofthesea.（thephr