English Composition

English Composition Study Guide

Dangling constructions: Dependent clauses can function as an adjective or adverb. As is true with phrases, if the word the dependent clause modifies is positioned far away or is missing, the clause is dangling. • When it is hot, Ed drives his car with the convertible top removed. What is hot in this sentence? The convertible top? The car? In this case, it is best to rewrite the sentence with the missing word included. • When the weather is hot, Ed drives his car with the convertible top removed. Agreement between clauses: Both types of clauses contain a subject and predicate. The nouns and verbs in clauses within one sentence must agree. Agreement issues can be caused by the tense of the verbs, or the number or person of the nouns and pronouns. In sentences where there is not agreement between clauses, the meaning of the sentence can be ambiguous. These sentences should be revised to clarify their meaning. Ambiguous tense: The verb tense in both clauses must agree. • When Morgan started his shift, he attends a meeting to hear today’s priorities. Started is past tense and attends is present tense. • When Morgan starts his shift, he attends a meeting to hear today’s priorities. Ambiguous pronoun: The noun to which the pronoun refers to should be clear. • The manager told Morgan his assignment because he wanted to start work immediately. It is unclear if the manager or Morgan wanted to start immediately. • The manager told Morgan his assignment because he wanted Morgan to start work immediately. Ambiguous number: The nouns in the sentence should agree in number. • If you touch your fingers to the stove, it gets burned. It is unclear if your fingers or the stove get burned. Fingers is plural and it is singular. • If touch your finger to the stove, it gets burned. Dependent clauses after a linking verb: Writers sometimes create sentences in which a dependent clause follows a linking verb. The linking verb can cause redundancy within the sentence. • The reason I chose to attend is because I thought the party would be fun. The reason… is because creates redundancy. The sentence can be revised to avoid this. • I chose to attend because I thought the party would be fun. • Because I thought the party would be fun, I chose to attend. Either of these changes makes the sentence clearer.

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