Parallelism Grammar Ex: Lacking parallelism: She likes cooking, jogging, and to read Parallel: She likes cooking,

jogging, and reading Lacking parallelism: The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and down the alley he sprinted. Parallel: The dog ran across the yard, jumped over the fence, and sprinted down the alley. Lacking parallelism: Corey admires people with integrity and who have high moral standards. Parallel: Corey admires people who have integrity and who have high moral standards. Parallel: Corey admires people who have integrity and high moral standards. Lacking parallelism: Repairing this table can be done in one, two or in three steps. Parallel: Repairing this table can be done in one, two or three steps. Active and Passive Voice
In an active sentence, the subject is doing the action. In passive voice, the target of the action gets promoted to the subject position. Ex:

Active Voice
Steve loves Amy (Steve is the subject) I Heard It through the Grapevine

Passive Voice
Amy is loved by Steve (the subject is Emy) It was heard by me through the grapevine

Dangling & Misplaced Modifiers Other times we write descriptive phrases that point to or modify words that are not clearly stated in our sentences, making our sentences illogical. We call these phrases dangling modifiers. For example, in "Walking to college on a subzero morning, my left ear became frozen," the underlined phrase modifies "my left ear." This doesn't make sense; some person must have been doing the walking. We can clarify the sentence by putting a logical word after the phrase: for example, "Walking to college on a subzero morning, I froze my left ear." Or, we can change the phrase so that it has a logical subject and verb in it: "When I was walking to college on a subzero morning, my left ear became frozen."

Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin landed on the moon, watched by nearly a fifth of the world's population. After seeing the benefits of reduced employee turnover, absenteeism, and lateness, onsite daycare is being provided more frequently as a perk for working parents. An author who did not receive much attention until after her death, readers of all ages enjoy Emily Dickinson's poetry today. Cost-efficient and convenient, many of today's corporate employees are being trained through computerassisted instruction. Having submitted the conference registration form after the deadline, special permission by the chairperson was needed before she could give her presentation. When purchasing a cellular phone, the wide variety of calling plans and features overwhelms many people. New York Stock Exchange members shout out opening bids and offers, acting on behalf of institutions and individual investors. BE-VERB

Revisions Watched by nearly a fifth of the world's population, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. After seeing the benefits of reduced employee turnover, absenteeism, and lateness, more and more companies are providing onsite daycare as a perk for working parents. Today, readers of all ages enjoy the poetry of Emily Dickinson, an author who did not receive much attention until after her death. Cost-efficient and convenient, computer-assisted instruction is being used by many companies to train employees. Having submitted the conference registration form after the deadline, Susan needed special permission from the chairperson before she could give her presentation. When purchasing a cellular phone, many people become overwhelmed by the wide variety of calling plans and features. Acting on behalf of institutions and individual investors, New York Stock Exchange members shout out opening bids and offers.

The to-be verbs: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been are state of being verbs, which means that they unduly claim a degree of permanence. Problem-Solving Strategies to Eliminate the To-Be Verb 1. Substitute-Sometimes a good replacement just pops into your brain. For example, instead of That cherry pie sure is good, substitute the to-be verb is with tastes as in That cherry pie sure tastes good. 2. Rearrange-Start the sentence differently to see if this helps eliminate a tobe verb. For example, instead of The monster was in the dark tunnel creeping, rearrange as Down the dark tunnel crept the monster.

3. Change another word in the sentence into a verb-For example, instead of Charles Schulz was the creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip, change the common noun creator to the verb created as in Charles Schulz created the Peanuts cartoon strip. 4. Combine sentences-Look at the sentences before and after the one with the to-be verb to see if one of them can combine with the to-be verb sentence and so eliminate the to-be verb. For example, instead of The child was sad. The sensitive young person was feeling that way because of the news story about the death of the homeless man, combine as The news story about the death of the homeless man saddened the sensitive child.