Common Sentence Errors

1. Sentence Fragments
A sentence fragment is a group of words that does not express a complete idea. It looks like a
sentence, but is not. When you are reading sentence fragments, you can feel that some words are
missing to complete the idea or the idea by itself is sense less.
a) Genealogy, the study of family history.
b) Although several large rivers have been cleaned up.
c) The green fields humming with sounds of insects.
d) From Mizan to Tepi.
What do you think are the possible ways of correcting the above sentence fragments?
Now, notice how the above fragments are revised and made into complete sentences.
a. Genealogy is the study of family history.
b. Although several large rivers have been cleaned up, there is shortage of clean water
in the village.
c. The green fields hummed with sounds of insects.
d. It takes 1hour from Mizan to Tepi by car.
Any dependent element such as a phrase, a clause or a subordinate, if written alone
(without a subject and or a predicate), it is a sentence fragment.
Ways of correcting sentence fragments
Sentence fragments can be corrected in the following ways:
(1) Adding a subject and /or a predicate to make the sentence complete
(2) Attaching the fragment to an adjacent sentence and making it an integral part of
the sentence.
(3) Omitting some elements and making a separate sentence
1. Run- on Sentences
A run- on can be happened in three ways;
A. Fused sentence is an error because it is really two or more sentences written together as
one sentence without using any punctuation.
While sentence fragments leave ideas out, the fused sentences combine ideas that should be
separated.
Fused: My father is a chairman of the committee on foreign relations he also heads the warrant
commission.
Correct: My father is chairman of the committee on foreign relations, and he also heads the
warrant commission.
Correct: My father is chairman of the committee on foreign relations; he also heads the Warrant
commission.
Correct: My father is chairperson of the commission. He also heads the warrant commission.
B. comma splice : a run-on sentence can also be formed when there is a comma splice
consists of two or more independent clauses that follow one another and are incorrectly
linked together only with a comma (or commas). This means comma splices occur when
two independent clauses are joined with a comma which is not followed by a
coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet).
Notice the following example
Comma splice: I listened to the football game all afternoon, my wife went to the movies.
Correct: I listened to the football game all afternoon, but my wife went to the movies.
Correct: I listened to the football game all afternoon; my wife to the movies.
Correct: I listened to the football game all afternoon. My wife went to the movies.
C. When comma is omitted before coordinating conjunction: This is when two
independent clauses are joined by coordinating conjunction without a preceding comma..
Example:
Error: You had better do what we say or I will punish you.
Correct: You had better do what I say, or I will punish you.
Correct: You had better do what I say; I will punish you.
Correct: You had better do what I say. I will punish you.
2. Misplaced Modifiers
Misplaced modifiers are words that, because of awkward placement, do not describe the words
the writer intended them to describe. Misplaced modifiers often obscure the meaning of a
sentence .To avoid them, place words as close as possible to what they describe and make sure
the modifier clearly refers to the element you want it to.
 1. I placed the television in the corner of the room that I had recently
purchased.
2. The boy collided with a ninety years old woman who was riding a bicycle.
3. The patient was referred to a psychiatrist with emotional problem.
3. Dangling Modifier
A dangling modifier modifies a word which has been left out of the sentence. It does not modify
any word in the sentence in which it appears. A modifier that opens a sentence must be followed
immediately by the word it is meant to describe. Otherwise the modifier is said to be dangling,
and the sentence takes on an unintended meaning.
Examples: 1. While taking shower, the doorbell rang.
2. Washing the windows, the ladder fell down.
3. At the age of two, my mother taught me how to dance “eskista”
What do these sentences mean? The words or phrases that need to be modified are left out of the
sentences. By supplying a word that can be modified by the dangling modifier, you can correct
the sentences.
 While I was taking shower, the doorbell rang.
 While Almaz was washing the windows, the ladder fell down.
4. Agreement Errors
1. Subject-verb agreement error
The basic rule states that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject takes a
plural verb. But an error in subject-verb-agreement occurs in writing either because students
forget this general principle or fail to identify the two subjects in a sentence.
Examples
1. The man who is standing with the president win a prize for his endurance.
2. Neither the heads nor the dean have decided to understand the problem.
3. The politician, along with the newsmen, are expected to arrive shortly.

2. Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement error

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number (singular or plural), in person (first, second
or third person) and in gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter). An antecedent is the word or
group of words to which a pronoun refers to or that a pronoun replaces.
1. Inconsistency in number and person
Confusing: A student is an important member of a society, and you should express your opinion
freely. (Inconsistency in number and person)
Clear: A student is an important member of a society, and he/she should express his/her opinion
freely.(the antecedent is A student, a third person singular)
Confusing: In USA, anyone can vote as long as they are eighteen and above years old.
2. Vague pronoun reference
Vague: Hellen visited the woman before she went to school.
Clear: Before hellen went to school she visited the woman.
Clear: Before the woman went to school hellen visited her.
5. Faulty parallelism
Words in pair or a series should have a parallel structure. By balancing the items in a pair or a
series so that they have the same kind of structure, you will make a sentence clearer and easier to
read. In other words, nouns should be coordinated with nouns, verbs with verbs, adjectives with
adjectives, adverbs with adverbs, phrases with phrases, and clauses with clauses.
Error: I resolved to lose weight, to study more, and watching less TV.
Revised: I resolved to lose weight, to study more and to watch less TV
Non parallel: Martha likes to water her garden, walking her fox terrier, and arguing with her
husband
Parallel: Martha likes watering her garden, walking her fox terrier, and arguing with her
husband
7. Tense Shift
Tense shift is the problem of jumping from one tense to another. Example:
 We finished our meal and then he turns to me and asks if I minded paying.
 I played football before I decide to do some homework.
8. Vague Diction
Diction– choice of words
Vague- something which is not clear or ambiguous
One of the errors which affect the clarity of a sentence is vague diction. Vagueness is one of the
major weaknesses in diction. Words are vague when, in context, they do not convey to a reader
one specific meaning. We may have a word with several meanings. And any word that has more
than one meaning is bound to cause trouble. Consider this sentence:
Example: I could tell by the funny look on her face that she was mad.
If you take the word mad
Very angry: affected by great displeasure or anger
Mentally ill: affected with a psychiatric disorder
Exciting: very exciting or boisterous
Passionate about something: very fond of, enthusiastic about, or interested in something, often
to the exclusion of everything else
I’m not mad about the color.
I am football mad
The other major weakness in diction is jargon. Jargon is a language that is used by a particular
group, profession, or culture, especially when the words and phrases are not understood or used
by other people. The chief characteristic of jargon is: highly abstract diction, often technical,
with a fondness for “learned” rather than popular words.
A word in one profession may give a different meaning in the other profession.
Medical jargon Common Use
Patient patient
Stool stool
Examination room examination room
9. Wordiness
This refers the use of too many and overloading words in a sentence. It is an extravagant or
uneconomical use of words. The extra words smother the meaning. A writer with a sharp eye can
spot excess words and delete them during revision of the work.
Example:
1. Wordy: Hilina is of the opinion that the death penality should be allowed.
Revised: Hilina believes in the death penality.
2. Wordy: I would like to say that my subject in this paper will be how my father was a generous
person.
Revised: My father was generous.