English: Sentences That Hold Together

This is Unit One, part two, of ACT Preparation. Part one closed with the five repairs for a comma splice; this part keeps the same question and turns it on the parts inside a sentence. The question is still whether each word group stands alone and is joined correctly, and now it reaches further: do the parts of a sentence fit together, match in form, and sit next to what they describe? By the end you will be able to repair a mixed construction by giving the sentence a real subject. To make a series and a correlative pair parallel without changing the meaning. To place modifiers next to what they describe. To find a dangling opener and repair it by naming the doer. And to choose the revision that fixes one error without making another.

Four entries on parts that must match: mixed constructions, parallel series and correlative pairs.

When a phrase tries to be the subject.

ACT 0017 Mixed Construction

A mixed construction joins parts that do not fit in grammar or meaning, often by asking an introductory phrase to act as the subject. "By practicing every morning improved her serve" has no subject; "by practicing every morning, she improved her serve" repairs it. A by-phrase tells how something happened; it cannot also name who did it.

Items in a series must match.

ACT 0018 Parallel Structure

Parallel structure means items in a series, or ideas joined by a conjunction, share one grammatical form. "Lifting boxes, driving a van and to answer phones" breaks the pattern, and "answering phones" restores it. Line up the first word of each item; the odd one out gets rewritten.

Conjunctions that come in pairs.

ACT 0019 Correlative Pairs

Correlative conjunctions come in pairs: both and, either or, neither nor, not only but also, and what follows each word must match in form. "She will either take the train or the bus" is unbalanced; "either the train or the bus" balances it. If a verb follows the first word, a verb must follow the second.

Repairing a series, step by step.

ACT 0020 Making a Series Parallel

A series is repaired in three steps: mark where it begins and list each item, name each item's form, and rewrite the one that differs to match the others while keeping its meaning. Praising a team "for its speed, its discipline and because it never quit" mixes two nouns with a clause, so the clause becomes a noun, its persistence. The same steps fix "neither the heat bothered him nor the long climb" by moving neither. Check form first, then meaning: "its quitting" is parallel and says the opposite.

Four entries on modifiers. These rest on one source in this course, Writing for Success, and the lecture says so as it goes.

A modifier too far from its target.

ACT 0021 Misplaced Modifier

A modifier describes another part of the sentence. A misplaced one sits too far from its target, so it seems to describe something else: "we adopted a puppy from the shelter with a curly tail" gives the shelter the tail. The repair is placement, moving the modifier next to its target, and the rule rests on Writing for Success alone in this course.

Small words that move the meaning.

ACT 0022 Limiting Modifiers

Limiting words such as only, almost, nearly and barely change meaning with their position, and each belongs directly before the word it limits. "Maya almost scored ten points" says she scored none; "Maya scored almost ten points" says she scored nearly ten. Move the word, then reread to hear what the sentence now says.

A modifier with nothing to describe.

ACT 0023 Dangling Modifier

A dangling modifier describes something the sentence never names, usually in an opening phrase whose doer is not the subject that follows. "Hiking up the trail, the view grew wider" has the view doing the hiking. Ask who performs the opening action, then check that the subject after the comma names that doer.

Two repairs for a dangling opener.

ACT 0024 Repairing a Dangling Opener

A dangling opener has two repairs, and both put the missing doer into the sentence. Make the doer the subject right after the comma, or turn the opening phrase into a clause with its own subject. "Finishing the exam early, the room felt very quiet" becomes "finishing the exam early, Priya noticed how quiet the room felt," or "when Priya finished the exam early, the room felt very quiet." Moving the phrase repairs nothing: the doer has to be added, not relocated.

Two entries to close the unit: testing every choice in the full sentence, and the whole unit in one paragraph.

Choices that trade one error for another.

ACT 0025 Fixing One Error Without Making Another

In an item asking for the best version of an underlined portion, a choice can repair the error in front of you and create a new one. Name the error in the original, or decide there is none; cross out every choice that leaves it; then read each survivor in the full sentence and cross out any that makes a fragment, a splice, a broken series or a dangler. In the festival example, "and the vendors running out of food by noon" ends the splice but leaves no working verb, while a semicolon with the full clause survives every check.

The whole unit in one paragraph.

ACT 0026 One Paragraph, Three Repairs

One test runs through this unit: can each word group stand alone, and is it joined to its neighbors correctly? A sentence needs an independent clause; a subordinate clause leans on another; clauses join in three ways; and every error breaks one of those rules. In the skate-park paragraph, "hoping to give teenagers somewhere to go" is a fragment to attach; "the park opened in May, it filled every afternoon" is a splice, repaired with when because the relation is time; and "arriving after school, the ramps were crowded" dangles until skaters are named as the doers. Read each word group alone, decide punctuation by the clauses, and repair by adding what is missing.

Look at what you can now do. You can repair a mixed construction by giving the sentence a real subject, never a by-phrase. You can make a series and a correlative pair parallel, checking form first and meaning second. You can place a modifier next to its target, and put a limiting word directly before the word it limits. You can find a dangling opener and repair it by naming the doer. And you can test every choice in the full sentence, so that a repair does not create a new error. Unit two asks where each independent clause begins and ends, for the sake of punctuation.