常见英语句法错误SentenceFragmentDanglingModifierandFaultyParallelism.docx

1、常见英语句法错误SentenceFragmentDanglingModifierandFaultyParallelismSentence 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 no

2、t have the wherewithal to make it as a complete thought.It may 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 armistic

3、e.This sentence accomplishes a great deal in terms of placing 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 m

4、odify something, the real subject of the sentence (about to 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. Remembe

5、r that an -ing verb form without an auxiliary form to accompany 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 powerf

6、ul speaker. This sentence fragment has a subject, he, and two 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 b

7、ecause he didnt understand the jury. Stylistic FragmentsThere 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 a

8、re clearly in control of the situation, this is permissible, 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 se

9、ntences in each group, select the one that is NOT a sentence 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

10、evening rush hour.2. To apply for a job at the new store in 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 estimat

11、es from five contractors, she decided to do the work herself.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 fin

12、d in such good shape.5. While waiting for her neighbor to move 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 s

13、tory many months ago.Although I will never forget how cold we 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 a

14、partment.While living there, he made very few friends.8. My 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 h

15、ad been using for years to get away from the noisy house.By 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.

16、Because she didnt want to tell where she had bought the strange 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.

17、We vigorously rowed the boat. Vigorously we rowed the boat. 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 m

18、odifiers and dangling modifiers.Misplaced WordsIn general, you 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 co

19、uld understand the Spanish spoken by our visitors from Madrid 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 ca

20、reful about where you put limiting modifiers. These are words 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

21、nearly annoyed every professor he has had. (he hasnt nearly 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 imp

22、ortant that you place the modifying phrase or clause as close 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 Af

23、ter the wedding, Ian told us at his stag party that he would 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 to

24、ld us at his stag party that he would start behaving like a 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 ti

25、me:WRONG Defining your terms clearly strengthens your argument. (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

26、 of the verb consists of the word to followed by the base form 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 de

27、creed that a split infinitive was an error, but now it is growing 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 a

28、n infinitive. However, you must use your judgement when it comes 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 ant

29、icipatory ad campaign. (disruptive - the infinitive should not 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 al

30、ways) located at the beginning of a sentence. A dangling modifier 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

31、wrong word. Consider the following example:Raised in Nova Scotia, 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

32、their position, automatically modify the first noun or pronoun 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 phr